Packaging Back
Packaging Bookend Spine
Packaging Front

Rolling Thunder

Catalog Number
05-04066
-
Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
Release Year
Country
VHS | N/A | Slipcase
N/A (NTSC)
N/A | N/A | N/A
N/A | N/A
Rolling Thunder (1977)

Additional Information

Additional Information
Major Charles Rane Is Coming Home To War!

A Vietnam Vet Kills For Revenge

Major Charles Rane Has Come Home To War!

Another Shattering Experience From The Author Of "Taxi Driver."

William Devane plays a rare sympathetic role in Rolling Thunder, though his behavior is just as cold-blooded and sharkish as in any of his villainous assignments. Devane is cast as Maj. Charles Rane, a recently released Vietnam POW who is given a hero's welcome in his Texas hometown. Things sour pretty quickly, however: Rane's wife has lost all love for him, his son doesn't recognize him, and there are those in town who consider him a "loser" or "baby-killer." All he really has to show for his ordeal in Nam is a cache of silver coins bestowed on him by the more sympathetic townsfolk. A scumbag gang of thieves decides to relieve Rane of his money; they kill his family, then torture and disfigure Rane to ascertain the whereabouts of the coins. Now living only for vengeance, the taciturn Rane heads to Mexico to exact his own brand of justice on the fleeing crooks. Tommy Lee Jones co-stars as Rane's best friend, Johnny Vohden, who unquestioningly agrees to help Rane in his mission of revenge.
The film was originally produced and scheduled for release by Twentieth Century-Fox. However, the level of violence in the finished version of the film discouraged top executives from Fox, who decided to sell it to American International Pictures. [3] In his Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman defined one of the first screening of the movie as "the most violent sneak reaction of recent years... the audience actually got up and tried to physically abuse the studio personnel present among them.".[4]
For reasons still not convincingly stated, the film was released in Spain in 1982 as El expreso de Corea (sometimes spelled in the media with a hyphen, ex-preso), which translates as "The former prisoner [literally, convict] from Korea". A Korean War setting was included as well in the Spanish dubbing instead of the original Vietnam War scenario. A possible reason could be the title's slight similarity with the hugely successful El expreso de medianoche (Midnight Express), which was released earlier in Spain. However, the replacement of Vietnam by Korea is still left unexplained—even more so considering the fact that the time span of the Korean War, 1950–1953, conflicts with the alleged 7-year stay as POWs in the camp and the actual 1973 setting of the film.


Release Date: Oct 14, 1977

Distrib: American International

Related Releases1

Comments0

Login / Register to post comments

3

0