Thunder Road *** (1958, Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry, Jacques Aubuchon, James Mitchum) – Classic Movie Review 7646

Director Arthur Ripley’s 1958 Thunder Road stars Robert Mitchum as Lucas Doolin, the definitive moonshine merchant, in this well-done, exciting and eventful film noir crime action thriller about bootlegging Kentucky mountain family folk dodging cops trying to put him in prison on one side and big-city gangsters trying to take over the moonshining business on the other.

Mitchum is at his most laconic, his bad-boy behaviour excused by his Korean War veteran status. Robert Mitchum’s 20-year-old son James Mitchum appears in his first film as Lucas’s younger brother, Robin Doolin.

It was a personal pet project of Robert Mitchum, who produces, co-writes (with James Arlee Philips and Walter Wise) and sings the hit title song, Ballad of Thunder Road.

Also in the cast are Gene Barry, Jacques Aubuchon, Keely Smith, James Mitchum, Trevor Bardette, Sandra Knight, Peter Breck, Jerry Hardin, Betsy Holt, Peter Hornsby, Francie Koon, Robert Porterfield, Mitch Ryan, Randy Sparks and Dale Van Sickel.

Thunder Road is directed by Arthur Ripley, runs 92 minutes, is made by D R M Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by James Atlee Phillips, Walter Wise and Robert Mitchum, is shot in black and white by Alan Stensvold, is produced by Robert Mitchum and is scored by Jack Marshall, with music by Robert Mitchum and Don Raye.

Keely Smith sings Robert Mitchum and Don Raye’s song The Whippoorwill.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7646

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