Rolling Thunder (1977)

[bodieci5]

I'm sure some of you guys will have seen this at some point in your lives. It's one of Tarantino's favourite movies (his production company was named after it) and stars supercool William Devane as a Vietnam vet who goes after the punks who chopped his hand off and murdered his family.

A young Tommy Lee Jones joins in on the fun as Devane's partner. Directed by legendary tough guy filmmaker John Flynn and co-written by Paul 'TAXI DRIVER' Schrader.

A great clip here from RT :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNYrZJpUCG4

Plus the trailer :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-zBlzKgKJw&feature=related

Enjoy!

[magicmikassa]

Having heard about this movie for years and years from people like QT and not being able to ever find it anywhere as its only on tape in the US I had quite a bit of hype build up before I finally bought the tape off of amazon. When I finally watched it I did enjoy the film, but felt it was a tad over-hyped (how could it not be?), but I do think it is an enjoyable film. William Devane does a really good job as the soldier out for revenge. You can see the tension building in his performance. The scene that sets up the revenge plot is pretty gruesome as well. Overall I enjoyed it though I found the story to be pretty typical of any revenge movie and also the directing was nothing spectacular. Still, it has its place in cinema history and is a worthwhile watch.

[daydreamer]

A great gritty vigilante pic with superior script and better actors than usual in this genre. Both William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones are great in this movie!

/Daydreamer

[bodieci5]

Those action clips I posted show what a fucking badass movie this must be! It seems like a believable enough scenario, too, because Devane and Jones come back from 'nam only to get a below-average reception from everybody. Devane's only reward is a set of silver coins. What a fucking great prize for someone who's been through a lot of shit like being tortured and seeing dead bodies around him.

[Jeff Goldblum]

I can't believe this was never released on dvd- even as a barebones title. I agree that it's essentially a pretty standard revenge flick, but it's still worth seeking out.

One subplot has Devane returning, only to discover that his wife has been seeing someone else. The two men go out into the garage, and Devane forces the other guy to perform a VC rope torture on him. Now that's some wonderfully twisted shit. (The scene can be glimpsed in the trailer at the 00:25-00:35 second mark.)

I mentioned in another thread that I always thought Tommy Lee Jones would've been a good Punisher. This film is one of the main reasons why. As soon as he steps off the plane, it's clear that he hasn't truly returned from Vietnam.

I can easily see Jones in that traditional black and white costume, raining down hell in an R-rated comicbook B movie. Of course, nobody in their right mind would've greenlit it at the time.

"Can't just let it slide, Major, they don't have any right to live."

[bodieci5]

Tommy Lee Jones would have been a fantastic Punisher if a film was made in the late 1970s. One film to check him out in is Black Moon Rising with Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn. He kicks some serious ass in that and has a top fight scene with a bad guy near the end.

I could see Devane doing a few more action pics as well. He was great in Marathon Man as a baddie and has a good foot chase scene. He could have played eccentric action heroes who are liable to explode any minute.

[Will Da Beeste]

I will never understand why this and Freebie and the Bean have never been released on dvd.

A really solid film, with all the shraeder touches.

Waste disposal units hurt.

[bodieci5]

The pic quality here is superb. Very well done. I just hope that one day, this can be officially released.

Here is the scene that set Rane on the warpath.