Rolling Thunder (1977) on Netflix
Charles Rane comes home after seven years as a prisoner of war. His wife is engaged to another man and his son does not remember him. Four outlaws want his silver dollars.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.9/1014,856 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1973, Air Force Major Charles Rane comes back to San Antonio after seven years of captivity in North Vietnam. He comes home alongside Johnny Vohden and two other soldiers. His son Mark does not remember him, and Janet, his wife, is engaged to Cliff Nichols. At a homecoming ceremony, Linda Forchet, who wore his identification bracelet through the war, presents him with a Cadillac and 2,555 silver dollars, one coin for every day of his captivity plus one for luck. Four border outlaws watch the ceremony on television.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Rolling Thunder (1977)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director John Flynn said he expected deep cuts from the MPAA, but the censors passed Rolling Thunder uncut, one of the most violent movies in film history, with an R rating.
- After Twentieth Century-Fox insisted on making cuts to Rolling Thunder, producer Lawrence Gordon refused and took the film to American International Pictures.
- After the hostile previews, Fox screened Rolling Thunder for psychiatrists to learn what so disturbed the audience; Flynn said they determined it was "like a symbolic castration".
- Quentin Tarantino named Rolling Thunder in his top ten in the 2012 Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll, and his company Rolling Thunder Pictures, which briefly distributed reissues of cult films, was named after the film.
- Paul Schrader's original script made Rane "a Texas trash racist who had become a war hero without ever having fired a gun" and ended with his death. That script was also a companion piece to Taxi Driver and included a cameo by Travis Bickle.
- Joe Don Baker and David Carradine were considered for the lead role in Rolling Thunder, but both declined upon reading the script.
- Rolling Thunder was denied permission to film at Lackland Air Force Base, so the opening sequence was shot at a nearby civilian airport instead.
