Thunder Road

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Thunder Road ★★★ 1958 (PG)

Luke Doolin (Mitchum) comes home to Tennessee from Korea and takes over the family moonshine business, fighting both mobsters and federal agents. An exciting chase between Luke and the feds ends the movie with the appropriate bang. Robert Mitchum not only produced, wrote and starred in this best of the moonshinerunning films, but also wrote the theme song “Whippoorwill” (which later became a radio hit). Mitchum's teenaged son, James, made his film debut as brother Robin Doolin and later starred in a similar movie “Moonrunners.” A cult favorite. 92m/B VHS, DVD . Robert Mitchum, Jacques Aubuchon, Gene Barry, Keely Smith, Trevor Bardette, Sandra Knight, Jim Mitchum, Betsy Holt, Frances Koon, Mitchell Ryan, Peter Breck; D: Arthur Ripley; W: Walter Wise, Robert Mitchum; C: Alan Stensvold; M: Jack Marshall.