Thunder Run
A vicious band of nuclear terrorists is threatening America's atomic weapons research. Truck jockey Charlie Morrison (Forrest Tucker) volunteers for a last-ditch, suicide scheme to lure them into a trap, baited with a vital shipment of bomb-grade plutonium. Soon, Charlie's high-balling it down a remote desert road with a small army of lethally equipped bandits zeroing in on him. Charlie's secret weapon? "Big Thunder", a 65-foot, 18-wheeled war wagon of merciless high-tech destruction!
-
- Cast:
- Forrest Tucker , John Ireland , John Shepherd , Jill Whitlow , Wallace Langham , Graham Ludlow , Alan Rachins
Similar titles
Reviews
People are voting emotionally.
Fresh and Exciting
Captivating movie !
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Charlie, a Korean War veteran, is paid to drive a truck which is transporting plutonium from Nevada to Arizona. But there are a bunch of terrorists who want to steal the truck, and all of its contents....Thunder run is the cinematic equivalent of one of those £2.99 spectrum games you used to get from the chemist when you got your pocket money.It does exactly what it says on the tin, hardly any build up, straight forward plot, and bad guys that seemingly get progressively harder as the film reaches its climax.It's completely silly, the first twenty or so minutes are absolute nothing more than bonding between grandfather and grandson, but as soon as they get in the truck, it's mindblowingly brilliant in an 'only in the eighties' way.We get girls on bikes cooked to death, guys in dune buggies with missiles attached, and the actual truck filled with pound shop gadgets such as barrels filled with explosives, flame throwers, and a ram at the front.And then it finishes.It's not brilliant, but if you want something to entertain in a way that Cannon films did, you'll find something to entertain here.
This is very straightforward and rudimentary action-cheese from the 1980's, no more and no less. First, we have 45 minutes of obligatory character introductions, depiction of clichés and mood-setting tableaux. Then, we have a good 45 minutes of crowd-pleasing action sequences that include explosions, ramming, 18-wheel truck stunts and impressive accidents. That's how simple movies can be, and it's great! Charlie Morrison was a Korean War veteran and furthermore notorious heavy truck driver, but that was a long time ago. Now he, his beloved wife Maggie and daredevil grandson Chris unsuccessfully try to exploit a mine in Nevada. Charlie receives a visit from his former army buddy turned government agent George, who hires him to transport a chest of plutonium to Arizona in a specially armored truck named "Thunder" and earn $250.000. During his trip Charlie has to be wary of well-organized terrorists with special tricks and gimmicks up their sleeves (like Volkswagen Beetles with rocket launchers on the roof), but he gets help from his grandson and his nerd friends. At first, I assumed "Thunder Run" would be a delightful and joyous "hillbilly" movie! There are bar sequences where the band plays songs like "Cotton Eye Joe" and "Bullsh*t". The elderly townsfolk dance in the bar while the younger generation are out in the streets organizing illegal street races. Furthermore there's the weird romance between a blond babe (with a really fine bottom) and the world's biggest nerd and the Chevy pick-up with gas injection which predates the similar "The Fast and the Furious" with approximately fifteen years. Later, there's the typical pimping of the truck with explosive gadgets (immensely popularized by "The A-Team") and the introduction of ultra-evil villains. You can clearly tell these guys are pure evil because they either have icky scars in their faces or non-Americans! The finale contains some wondrous action highlights including 65ft long Thunder jumping over a moving train and an exhilarating showdown between trucks. "Thunder Run" is fantastic, monumental 80's guff!
The only reason I remember this movie is because it was (and still is) the biggest waste of time and money ever spent. I was 17 and my friend was 18. We were the age when action movies were our thing to enjoy most (ok 2nd most). We walked out feeling so insulted, we wanted our money back, but the time could never be regained.The editing is what killed this movie. As the truck gets attacked by more and more vehicles with rocket launchers attached the movie completely insults the intelligence of the audience by having these rogue bad guys in 4x4 VW Bugs shooting rockets at the truck. Please, rockets at a truck known to be carrying plutonium? What's worse is the these VW's manage to get 15-18 shots off of a 4 rocket launcher. You would see on VW with 4 rockets fire 2 of them, cut around the truck with the last one attached, come back a second later with two rockets attached, fire another, then go in front of the truck and now it's back to a full set of 4 rockets.We toughed it out hoping for a big finish that never happened. It looks like they just ran out of money and stopped.Just ridiculous.
I would describe this film as being a 'Road' film, because that is basically what it is. It has all the usual moments but is not overridden with action at all, in fact it has a bit of a story behind it aswell, which is suprising. This film is very Mad Max like in the truck scenes. I enjoyed this film, but it is the kind of thing that you could only watch a few times before you went mad!!!!!!!!