Quentin Tarantino Calls This Free-To-Watch Crime Thriller “A grippingly detailed character study”
Quentin Tarantino’s book, Cinema Speculation, is filled with enthusiastic recommendations from the cinephile director. Today, we are showcasing one particularly close to his heart. So much so that the filmmaker named his short-lived distribution company (Rolling Thunder Pictures) after the flick.
Rolling Thunder is a classic tale of blood-soaked revenge helmed by John Flynn. The picture features a dynamite cast that includes William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Haynes, James Best, and Dabney Coleman.
Within the pages of Cinema Speculation, the director gushes about the film, saying:
“This opening thirty minutes is a grippingly detailed character study, and by the time it’s over the audience doesn’t just sympathize with Charlie Rane, we really do understand him. Apparently better than anybody else in the film. It’s a much deeper depiction of the casualties of war than the [other movies of that era].”
The setup for Rolling Thunder is as follows:
A Vietnam veteran who returns home after years in a POW camp, Maj. Charles Rane (William Devane) is treated as a hero, but his family proves to be distant. When thugs invade his home to steal silver coins that Rane received for his service, they mangle his hand and leave him, his wife, and his son for dead. Rane survives and becomes obsessed with getting revenge. Aided by his loyal friend Johnny Vohden (Tommy Lee Jones), Rane, now wielding a hook for a hand, sets out on his mission of vengeance.
If you are curious to check Rolling Thunder out, head over to Tubi, where you can find it streaming free (with ads) as of the publication of this post.
That’s all we’ve got for now. Stay tuned to the site for more recommendations from the masters as we learn them. And be sure to follow @DreadCentral on Twitter so you never miss an update.
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