General News
ROLLING THUNDER Midnights April 8th and 9th at The Moolah
“You learn to love the rope. That’s how you beat ’em. That’s how you beat people who torture you. You learn to love ’em. Then they don’t know you’re beatin’ ’em.”
ROLLING THUNDER (1977) screens Midnights next weekend (April 8th and 9th) at The Moolah Theater and Lounge (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108) as part of Destroy the Brain’s monthly Late Night Grindhouse film series.
Paul Schrader followed his TAXI DRIVER screenplay with the one for ROLLING THUNDER, a gritty revenge thriller directed by John Flynn in 1977. Similarities abound as both are about Vietnam vets who are ticking time bombs pushed to the brink by the violence they’ve come home to. But ROLLING THUNDER’s plot eventually veers from character study into a DEATH WISH-style vigilante thriller. Like TAXI DRIVER, it leads slowly toward a cathartic bloodbath finale. ROLLING THUNDER is highly regarded by fans and critics alike, and now you have the chance to see it on the big screen when it plays at The Moolah April 8th and 9th as part of Destroy the Brain’s Latenight Grindhouse Midnight series
Major Charles Rane (William Devane) and Sergeant Johnny Vohden (Tommy Lee Jones) return home to their Texas town after spending seven years as Prisoners of War in Vietnam. At a town square celebration, Rane is presented with a new Cadillac and 2555 silver dollars, one for every day he was held captive. He meets the beautiful Linda Forchet (Linda Haynes) who has worn his POW bracelet throughout his ordeal. Back home he discovers that his wife Janet (Lisa Richards) has fallen in love with a local deputy Cliff (Lawrason Driscoll), and his young son has no memory of him, yet Rane is unaffected. The physical and psychological torture he experienced in confinement (shown in haunting flashback) has left him devoid of all emotions. The publicity of Rane’s homecoming attracts the attention of some unwashed rural outlaws who break into his house and beat him, demanding to know where he keeps the silver dollars. Reverting to his POW-mode, he stoically refuses to tell them so they torture him by shredding his hand in a garbage disposal. When Janet and their son unexpectedly arrive home, the kid tells them where the coins are hid. The gang then murders the wife and child and leave Rane for dead. But vengeance is the one sentiment that has withstood his Vietnam ordeal and, teaming up with Johnny, Rane (now sporting a deadly hook where his hand was) tracks the killers into Mexico where ROLLING THUNDER climaxes in a Peckinpah-esque shootout in a ramshackle bordello.
Schrader’s intelligent script takes its time humanizing Rane and Johnny before setting them loose on their violent mission. The difficulties experienced by Vietnam veterans’ rehabilitation into American society have been explored in many subsequent films but ROLLING THUNDER was among the first and best. In an intense early scene Rane demonstrates to Cliff the torture techniques the Viet Cong inflicted upon him daily and reveals how he survived, providing insight into why he stays so dispassionate while Cliff takes his wife away from him. William Devane is well-cast in the lead role as Charles Rane. Devane played a memorable villain in MARATHON MAN the year before and is mostly known for TV work but his Rane is a tough and complex protagonist and I’m surprised he didn’t star in more serious movies in the 70’s. As disturbed as Rane is, his buddy Johnny is even worse off mentally and clearly has the more difficult time adjusting back to civilian life. This is the first film I saw Tommy Lee Jones in (so young here he really looks a lot like Josh Hartnett) and, though he doesn’t say much, his Johnny is both electrifying and scary. Linda Haynes is sexy as the discarded love interest Linda and familiar character actor Luke Askew (EASY RIDER) is menacing as the lead heavy with the great villain moniker Automatic Slim. Director John Flynn was an underrated talent whose other action credits include THE OUTFIT in 1973 with Robert Duvall and Joe Don Baker, BEST SELLER starring James Woods in 1987, and the superior Steven Seagal thriller OUT FOR JUSTICE in 1991. ROLLING THUNDER is superbly paced and Flynn (who died in 2007) does a great job of building tension, particularly during the climactic gun battle.
I saw ROLLING THUNDER at a dilapidated theatre in Piggott Arkansas in 1977 on a double-bill with ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS (those were the days!) and it’s been a favorite since. Another huge fan of ROLLING THUNDER is Quentin Tarantino and he named a distribution company he founded after it that briefly distributed reissued cult films in the late ‘90’s. Tarantino’s ROLLING THUNDER PICTURES even had William Devane’s hook hand as part of it’s logo and it’s too bad he disbanded the outfit before he could re-release its namesake. In a 2002 Sight and Sound Directors’ poll, Tarantino listed his top-twelve favorite films of all-time and ROLLING THUNDER was #5 (Christopher Walken’s Captain Koons in PULP FICTION spoke of being in a POW camp for seven years, a reference to Charles Rane) . ROLLING THUNDER was originally produced by Twentieth Century Fox but its dark tone and extreme violence so shocked the suits there, they sold it to American International.
Dont miss ROLLING THUNDER when it plays at The Moolah April 8th and 9th as part of Destroy the Brain’s Latenight Grindhouse Midnight series!
A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE
0 comments