Car Movies

Thunder Road benefits from a strong story, and an honest appreciation of the redneck code of honor that allows a democratic vote on how the community will break the law and defy outside criminal elements no matter what the cost.
the strong family relationships among the moonshiners are revealed in authentic dialogue. The director never lets the strong and stoic characters become caricatures of themselves. They are slow spoken,and easy with long silence, like the real life people the story depicts. Anyone who has met mountsin folk sees it immediately.

The car chases are not drawn out for effect, they are nasty, brutish fights to the death and Mitchum’s character shows that he knows he is not immune. He chooses to fight and die with honor rather than try and hide from the troubles he faces.

I hear a remake is in the works, spearheaded by James Mitchum. Well done it would be a fine tribute to his father’s work and a way to show a new generation the ethos and values that redneck culture gives to America for good and bad.

When his younger brother, Steve, is killed racing a hot-rod, Jeff Northup blames himself for the accident since he had built the car for his brother and had encouraged him to race it, with other boys on a special course provided by police detective Ben Merrill, who is working to reduce the city’s hot-rod fatalities by providing supervision for the dangerous hobby. Jeff withdraws from participating in races on Merrill’s course and, without his leadership, revert to racing on the streets. “Bronc” Talbott, a newcomers, makes a play for Jeff’s girlfriend, Lisa Vernon. Eventually, the taunting-Talbott forces Jeff into a race which results in the death of a bicycling child, and evidence seems to indicate Jeff was at fault.