Thunder Run (1986)

Who payed the critics

Perfectly adorable

Admirable film.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is very straightforward and rudimentary action-cheese from the 1980's, no more and no less. First, we have 45 minutes of obligatory character introductions, depiction of clichés and mood-setting tableaux. Then, we have a good 45 minutes of crowd-pleasing action sequences that include explosions, ramming, 18-wheel truck stunts and impressive accidents. That's how simple movies can be, and it's great! Charlie Morrison was a Korean War veteran and furthermore notorious heavy truck driver, but that was a long time ago. Now he, his beloved wife Maggie and daredevil grandson Chris unsuccessfully try to exploit a mine in Nevada. Charlie receives a visit from his former army buddy turned government agent George, who hires him to transport a chest of plutonium to Arizona in a specially armored truck named "Thunder" and earn $250.000. During his trip Charlie has to be wary of well-organized terrorists with special tricks and gimmicks up their sleeves (like Volkswagen Beetles with rocket launchers on the roof), but he gets help from his grandson and his nerd friends. At first, I assumed "Thunder Run" would be a delightful and joyous "hillbilly" movie! There are bar sequences where the band plays songs like "Cotton Eye Joe" and "Bullsh*t". The elderly townsfolk dance in the bar while the younger generation are out in the streets organizing illegal street races. Furthermore there's the weird romance between a blond babe (with a really fine bottom) and the world's biggest nerd and the Chevy pick-up with gas injection which predates the similar "The Fast and the Furious" with approximately fifteen years. Later, there's the typical pimping of the truck with explosive gadgets (immensely popularized by "The A-Team") and the introduction of ultra-evil villains. You can clearly tell these guys are pure evil because they either have icky scars in their faces or non-Americans! The finale contains some wondrous action highlights including 65ft long Thunder jumping over a moving train and an exhilarating showdown between trucks. "Thunder Run" is fantastic, monumental 80's guff!

The low budget, the synthesized soundtrack, the emphasis on action scenes over script...it has to be a Cannon studios action film from the 1980's!Forrest Tucker was one of the key action stars for Republic Studios in the 1950's. In many ways, Republic was the Cannon of its day. Like Cannon, it specialized in low budget action films, occasionally luring a big star from other studios (John Wayne, for example) and eventually overextending itself with pricey flops (i.e. "Jubilee Trail" and "Fair Wind to Java") and going bankrupt. Almost 30 years after leaving Republic to do a series of films for the British Hammer studio, Tucker's theatrical swan song would be his lone action effort of the 1980's."Thunder Run" is hurt by its low budget and inexperienced director (Hudson was doing his first feature), but many action sequences deliver the goods; terrorists chase Tucker through the desert, Road Warrior-style, in VW beetles equipped with heat-seeking missiles; Tucker jumps over a moving train in his 18-wheeler; "space age plastic" and some well-placed Molotov cocktails are among Tucker's defense mechanisms; and the chief terrorist is played by Dharma's TV dad (with a scar on his face, so we'll know he's the bad guy).MGM/UA has been slowly, but surely releasing Cannon's 1980's output on DVD, but this classic slice of cheese has yet to be released. Hurry up, MGM/UA! This one is not to be missed!A fun chase movie and a fitting farewell for veteran action icon Tucker (Cannon would do the same for another long-time action icon, Lee Marvin, in THE DELTA FORCE the same year). 7/10

I've seen this film about 20 times, I used to love it as a kid I even wrote an essay on it, the truck was cool especially the gadgets.I saw it a couple of months ago and It wasn't that good, oh well at least I have my memories.

This must be one of the most enjoyable B-action movies I have seen. I first saw it in 1986 when it was new on video in Sweden and I have never manage to forget it - even if that was 13 years and a lot of other movies ago. The plot is easy - just 100% action all the time with as little focusing on the actors as possible. The movie is about a truck-driver who has agreed to transport plutonium to some outback testing ground, and there are many badguys who want to get their hands on that plutonium. To aid him in the transport he has a very well equipped truck and a lot of fuel. The actors do perform an okay job and the movie really isn't any worse than the other more costly productions. So I must say that watching it is one and a half hour acceptably well spent.