Thunder Road

Infobox_Film
name = Thunder Road


caption =
amg_id = 1:49836
imdb_id = 0052293
writer = Robert Mitchum
James Atlee Phillips
Walter Wise
starring = Robert Mitchum
Gene Barry
director = Arthur Ripley
producer = Robert Mitchum
music = Jack Marshall
Robert Mitchum
Don Raye
distributor = United Artists
released = May 10, 1958
runtime = 93 minutes
language = English
budget =

"Thunder Road" is the title of a 1958 movie about running moonshine in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee in the early 1950s. It was directed by Arthur Ripley and starred Robert Mitchum, who also produced the film and co-wrote the screenplay, and is rumored to have directed much of the film himself.

The film became a cult classic and continued to play at drive-in movie theaters in some Southeastern markets through the 1970s and 1980s.

Plot

Korean War veteran Lucas Doolin (Robert Mitchum) plays his part in the family moonshine business - delivering the illegal liquor throughout the south in his fast hot rod. However, Lucas has more problems than just evading the usual government agents, led by determined newcomer Troy Barrett (Gene Barry). An outside gangster named Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon) is trying to gain control of all the independent local moonshiner producers. He is suspected of causing the death of one of the other drivers. Also, Lucas tries to prevent his younger brother Robin (James Mitchum) from following in his footsteps.

Cast

*Robert Mitchum as Lucas Doolin
*Gene Barry as Troy Barrett
*Jacques Aubuchon as Carl Kogan
*Keely Smith as Francie Wymore
*Trevor Bardette as Vernon Doolin
*Sandra Knight as Roxanna Ledbetter
*James Mitchum as Robin Doolin

The role of Robin Doolin, Lucas's younger brother, was originally written for Elvis Presley per Mitchum's request. The script was submitted to Elvis in Los Angeles by Mitchum personally. The singer was eager to play the role, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, stepped in and demanded that Elvis be paid an enormous sum of money, more than the entire budget for the movie, so that was the end of the negotiations. Mitchum's son James got the part, which worked extremely well due to the close physical resemblance.

Peter Breck was cast as a rival driver. A young Mitchell Ryan appeared as a decoy driver.

Production

The film was based loosely on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have crashed to his death on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. Per Metro Pulse writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed by James Agee, who passed the story on to Mitchum.

In the film, Mitchum drove a hot-rodded 1951 Ford 2 door sedan with a custom tank in the back for moonshine and later a 1957 Ford coupe with the same alterations. The '51 Ford was modified with a '49 hood and grill and with the rear taillight trim removed. The film's dialogue refers to the car as a '50, but it is not, although at least one exterior shot, when the car spills oil on the road, is of the trunk of a '50.

Some of the scenes were filmed in Lake Lure, North Carolina.

The movie's theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road", was later recorded by Mitchum and became a popular single record, although Mitchum's rendition does not appear in the film itself.

Legacy

The film's popularity has grown over time, in part due to Bruce Springsteen's classic 1975 song "Thunder Road", which the film, or rather the poster for the film inspired, as Springsteen only saw the poster in the lobby of a theater, not the movie itself.

Various other things have been given the same name since then, including a roller coaster at the Carowinds theme park in Charlotte, North Carolina, which was originally themed after the film. Dollywood, another theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee also had an attraction called "Thunder Road" which was directly based on the movie. A motion simulator ride, the attraction used a film that featured a bootlegger chase down a mountain road with ATF agents.

External links

*
* [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/ballad_of_thunder_road.htm Lyrics & recording: "Ballad of Thunder Road"]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=kx-i3VEc_4c&feature=related Thunder Road Movie Trailer]
* [http://www.roanetourism.com/events/show/1 "Thunder Road festival held yearly (April) in Rockwood, TN."]