Lucas Doolin (Robert Mitchum) works in the family moonshine business, running liquor his father distills to clandestine distribution points throughout the South in his hot rod. However, Lucas has more problems than evading government "revenuers".
Both a hothead and a fatalist, he is concerned that his teen-aged younger brother Robin (James Mitchum), who is also his mechanic, will be tempted into following in his footsteps. An aggressive urban gangster, Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon), is trying to gain control of the independent local moonshine producers and their distribution points. Dead shiners strewn along Thunder Road prove he is willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. Determined Treasury agent Troy Barrett (Gene Barry) is drawn in to stop the bloodshed, and its cause.
Barrett's attempt to engage Lucas are thrown right back in his face. The stakes rise when an attempt by Kogan to kill Lucas results in the deaths of another moonshine driver, Jed Moultrie (Mitchell Ryan), and Treasury Agent Mike Williams (Dale Van Sickel) mistaken for him and one of Barrett's men.
Still, Lucas does not back off, a stubbornness and strike-first hostility attributed by townsfolk to a "machine-gunner's mentality" they feel he brought home from the Korean War, which pervades his every doing. Only with nightclub singer Francie Wymore (Keely Smith) can he drop his guard, as far as he is able. At the same time, he steadfastly resists the attentions of the belle of the mountain girls, innocent Roxanna Ledbetter (Sandra Knight), who has a crush on him and fears for his life.
When a series of government raids destroy local moonshiners' hidden stills, Lucas's father and the others shut down production "for a spell" to let the government deal with Kogan in its own time. In spite of this, Lucas is forced by circumstances and his own code of honor to make one final run of his dad's shine.
Kogan's men successfully trick Robin into agreeing to drive for them, infuriating Lucas, who sends Robin home on the bus. Barrett tries to enlist Robin's help in convincing Lucas it's Kogan his Bureau is after, not his brother, but is rebuffed. In the exchange Barrett reveals Lucas never left the States in the Army and implies he may have spent his hitch in its stockade instead, explaining his pent-up anger and seeming death wish.
After Lucas meets with Francie and forebodingly gives her a large sum of money to hold for him, he calls Kogan to let him know he is coming to kill him for trying to set up his brother. Meanwhile, Roxanna spills all she knows about Lucas's intended final moonshine run – for now, anyway, till things sort out – to agent Barrett's wife when she can't contact Barrett directly. He deploys a sweeping dragnet of Bureau men and state police in an attempt to intercept Lucas before he gets caught, or killed, in Kogan's trap.
Kogan sends his top henchman after Lucas just before Barrett and his officers arrive and arrest Kogan for murder. Lucas turns the tables on Kogan's driver and runs him off the road. Kogan's men then set spike strips to blow out Lucas's tires, which send his car careening down an embankment into an arcing electrical transformer. Barrett arrives too late to help with anything.
As a snake of headlights winds up the lonely mountain road back home, Robin and Roxanna stand alone in silence. The same cortege of mourners bring their own back home as when a local boy was taken out by Kogan's men early in the conflict. As the glows draw closer Robin and Roxanne approach one another slowly. Without a word they clasp hands and walk away together into the dark.
Nicholas Mann Konrad as Robert Mitchum's stunt driver
Production
The film was a production of Mitchum's own company, DRM, but no producer was credited.[2]
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, 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.[3]
Casting
The part of Lucas's younger brother, Robin, was originally written for Elvis Presley per Mitchum's request. Mitchum personally submitted the script to Elvis in Los Angeles. The singer was eager to play the role, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded Elvis be paid a ridiculous sum of money, more than the entire budget for the movie, which ended negotiations. Mitchum's elder son, James, who strongly resembled his father, got the part instead. It was his first credited film role.[2]
In the film, Mitchum drove a souped-up black 1950 Ford two-door sedan (which was later repainted gray) with a custom tank in the back for moonshine liquor and a newer OHV Ford V8 with three two-barrel carburetors, but after it was blown up by Kogan's men, it was replaced with a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 two-door sedan.
Most of the scenes were filmed in Woodfin, North Carolina, along U.S. Route 19 and others at Lake Lure. Some scenes were filmed in Beech, east of Weaverville. Scenes include Reems Creek Road, Sugar Creek Road, and the Beech Community Center. Some scenes were actual local moonshine drivers shot with a camera mounted on a pickuptailgate. Many city scenes were filmed in Asheville, North Carolina, including the explosion of Doolin's car.[4]
The film's theme song, "The Whippoorwill", was sung by Keely Smith in her role as a nightclub singer, and a different studio rendition by her was released as a 45 rpm single on Capitol Records. Mitchum wrote the music with lyrics by Don Raye.[2] The film's opening song, also co-written by Mitchum, is "The Ballad of Thunder Road", sung by Randy Sparks, a different arrangement of which was recorded by Mitchum and released as a popular 45 rpm single, also on Capitol.
Reception
A contemporary review by "Whit." of Variety said it was "Burdened with an overage of dialog and an abundance of uneventful footage", but it had "plenty of fast auto action".[2]
In popular culture
Bruce Springsteen said at a 1978 concert that the name of his song "Thunder Road" had been inspired by seeing a poster of the movie, but he had not seen the movie.[5]
In the episode of Cheers titled "And Coachie Makes Three", Sam and Coach watch the movie as part of a long-running tradition they have with viewing Robert Mitchum movies.
^"Top Grossers of 1958". Variety. 7 January 1959. p. 48. Please note figures are for US and Canada only and are domestic rentals accruing to distributors as opposed to theatre gross
