Rolling Thunder (1977)

Love the shit out of it. William Devane deserves to be a bigger star than he is, and this movie is why.

So much greatness - the scene on the couch with his wife, where his eyes are black pools, save for tiny points of light in the middle, is chilling.

The "learn to love the rope" scene in the shed is another moment of 1970s, WTF greatness. You're torn between feeling sorry for Rane and being afraid of him. It's to Devane's credit that you walk away feeling both.

Schrader disowned the film. I'm getting this framed:

If anyone has Netflix, you can watch it online there.

Sometimes you hear about an old movie being great for so long and then when you finally get a chance to watch it it just can't live up to the hype.

This is not one of those movies.

I just googled the image, but I couldn't find an exact pic, but mine is more of a landscape version of that poster (I don't know what that's called, not a quad, smaller). I got it on Ebay a few years back.

Check out this Japanese mini-poster you can get on Ebay right now for $5:

Now that's a poster!

That's hot shit. Schrader's first draft gave AIP all it needed to pimp this as "from the writer who brought you 'Taxi Driver'!"

Embarrassing fact: I bought the sunglasses I have because they look like Devane's in Rolling Thunder. I probably look like a pedophile in them.

Devane should have sported those glasses that same year in THE BAD NEWS BEARS IN BREAKING TRAINING. The hook too.

Interestingly, you can only watch it online. They have no DVD. I guess I'll have to do that. I've been hearing about this thing for years, and haven't gotten around to seeing it.

This has long been one of my favorite movies.

What TLJ says to the hooker is the line that always seems to get quoted, but he has several great moments. There is of course his incredibly badass found-my-reason-to-live "I'll just get mah gear" line. Also his stonefaced "Can't just let it slide, major. They don't have any right to live". He wants it just as bad as Devane.

Devane doesn't have as much cool stuff to say. He's fucking threatening as fuck, though. Especially when he hisses "on your FUCKING KNEES" to that one guy. So legit.

also major props to John Flynn. Love(d) that man and his claustrophobic shotgun shootouts.

Due to stupidity I get this sometimes confused with Blue Thunder and think that Roy Scheider is going to show up with a helicopter.

I never, ever reach down to get something out of the garbage disposal without flashing on William Devane.

I bought this within thirty seconds of reading your post.

I brought my girl and a friend that was visiting to see this when it was showing at Tarantino's Grindhouse festival. It was so great it ruined the rest of the movies for me. There's nothing corny or campy about it. It's just a badass movie. I've been getting friends to watch it on the Netflix Watch it Now feature over the last week.

I hadn't heard this. What was the reason? Didn't like the final product, or disowned his own script?

Props to James Best in his small role. I was a huge Dukes of Hazzard fan (when I was 9) (repeated for emphasis: when I was 9 years old) and when I saw this first time 5-6 years ago I didn't even recognize him as the oily sumbitch bad guy until I looked it up later on imdb.

"He's one macho motherfucker!"

In Schrader On Schrader, there's a throwaway comment about his script being reworked - "I wrote a movie about racism, and they changed it into a racist movie." Disagree.

TLJ: "Let's go clean 'em up."

Devane gets some good lines, like in Beaks' signature and after listening to his wife's confession on that couch, his quiet "I don't think I'm up for any more of this. Why don't you go to bed. We'll work this all out." Terrifying.

Also has the only other noteworthy screen appearance of Paul Partain (fat crippled Franklin from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre).

I have a letterboxed bootleg taped from Showtime or Flix or something, but if you can watch it instantly on Netflix, you have no excuses. Get on it.

Edit: Looking at Netflix's version now. Quality's decent, widescreen. And I forgot Dabney Coleman was in this!

I know everyone loves the "badass" factor, and it's great and shocking (in fact my first viewing was cold - I had no idea what to expect and couldn't believe the turn the plot took), but there's some really great stuff happening in the first act here. Devane's full of brilliant little acting choices - the way he deals with his wife's new man ("that's how you beat people who are torturin' ya...y'learn to love'em. And they don't know you're beatin' 'em....here's to ya."), the way he takes a moment at the gas station to let the sun shine on his face - incredible work from an underrated performer.

I've also never gotten around to seeing this. I'm 5 seconds away from remedying that situation.

When I first heard about Rolling Thunder a few years ago I wondered if it was somehow related to the eponymous computer game.
Thankfully it wasn't.

Ha--I PM'ed Phil this morning to ask if his avatar was from Rolling Thunder, had no idea this thread existed. I saw the trailer on one of the 42nd Street Forever DVDs a few weeks ago and have wanted to see the movie ever since. Looks like I need to get on that.

Packing up my stuff, found the Schrader on Schrader book.

Gotta wonder if Schrader ever saw the film. I can't imagine anyone who saw and understood William Devane's performance would call it a botch job of any kind, and Devane's portrayal is a thousand times more interesting than what Schrader describes above.

I was watching pieces of it again last night, and I can't get over the way Rane has a different front he puts on for different people, depending on who's addressing him at any given moment. Watch how, in ten minutes, he seems to have a different "voice" for the public, his son, his wife, his shrink.

Sounds like a case of Schrader being pissed that there was a rewrite and he wasn't going to be happy with anything that wasn't his original story.

I was able to find the VHS of this in the Milwaukee County library system. While I couldn't shake off the bad tracking on the old tape, I enjoyed the heck out of this movie. Devane and Jones both give really great performances and I love that while their friendship is quiet, you know they completely understand each other. The transition to the credits at the end is unexpected, but awesome.

Bumping because of recent talk of evangelizing. Watch this. It's like a free welcome basket full of awesome for new members.

Schrader's criticism and reading of the film is wrong, but fascinating. Would really love a Special Edition with audio commentary!

If I recall, he didn't care for Scorsese's retooled Raging Bull or Mosquito Coast. Writer's are so irritable and fickle.

Paul Schrader's writing career, and his many scripts improved by directors, forms the backbone of my anti-auteur theory.

Already bookmarked thanks to your bump and Gruber's previous post. Will watch tomorrow and chime in afterward. Good bump, sir!

In regards to any scripts penned by Schrader but directed by someone else, they can't be applied to any auteur theory. The writer is never the "auteur", in regards to film, unless he directs. He or she may be the author, but not the auteur. The director is the only one who can be labeled auteur.

Schrader's hit or miss as an auteur, but he's had his moments. MISHIMA and AUTO FOCUS come to mind.

Let me clarify (I'm drinking); In regards to film, a writer can never be the auteur unless directing as well. A director can be an auteur, even if not involved in the writing.

I didn't care for Autofocus. And I'm talking more about how Schrader's "vision" is best realized through other directors. Schrader the Director is Schrader the Writer's worst enemy, especially in the last 15 years. I have to cop to gaps in seeing some of his older films, though I actually love Blue Collar.

Hey, I'm drinking as well!

Anyone like Flynn's THE OUTFIT? Remember it also being pretty great. Westlake adaptation. Duvall & Robert Ryan. Gritty crime / heist flick.

As for Schrader's auteur ambitions, I think his first three films are near masterpieces (I throw that term around a lot, but rightly or wrongly, believe it)

Patty Hearst is underrated.

No argument there, I'm just arguing semantically about the term "auteur". Schrader is not the auteur of TAXI DRIVER, it's Scorsese.

Yea, booze!

I know! My example is something to do with how one isn't always best served by the auteur theory. Schrader's heavy-handed direction makes his scripts safer bets as collaborative efforts.

OK, sure. But is what you're saying that writers shouldn't direct their own scripts, or is this specific to Schrader? Which is fine if it is, but I don't see how it constitutes as a theory.

I don't know what the specifics of your anti-auteur theory are, is what I'm saying. Drunkenly.

Not much of a theory, really. Just that not only do some people flourish through collaboration, but some falter without it (see: The Beatles)

Heavy-handed or not I love the shit out of Hardcore. Rolling Thunder is great as well (I actually watched it because of your recommendation Phil).

Did he pitch a fit over Last Temptation? I'm googling it right now but I don't think so. But Raging Bull there was definitely fighting on, I remember reading that in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

Well yeah, I know what you're saying there. Have you seen the "directors cut" of THE WARRIORS? It's bad. Not ruin the film bad, but definitely inferior to the theatrical cut.

Producers get a bad rap on these boards and are generally blamed for "fucking up the auteur's vision" but I think that a lot of time, they are they ones who reign it in and help to shape the film in the end. Anyone who is adverse to collaboration, in any facet of filmmaking, is doomed to fail.

I believe that was Robert Evans take on Producers, and if there a love fest on set you know your film is in trouble.

His resume falls apart, but check out when Gary Kurtz stopped producing Star Wars movies.

Sweet living Christ, Phil, thanks for the heads-up on this one via Netflix. I'm still kinda taken aback. More tomorrow once I sleep on it.

You can't just sleep on it. You have to learn to love it.

Don't ever call me a runt again....okay?

That scene in the shed's one of my favorite of the decade. You feel sorry for Major Rane and you're terrified of him, all at once. He's one macho motherfucker.

Glad you liked it, Jake!

I saw a really beat-up print of this at the Brattle a couple of months ago. I really enjoyed it. I loved Tommy Lee Jones performance. i thought he was asleep the whole time, but then once Devane comes and finds him to ask for his help, I understood what he was going for and it works brilliantly. Devane's never been better and I love the way he seems to be addicted to torture and pain. It is terrifying and Devane really sells it.

I agree with your theory, Phil. It's the same thing I've been saying about David Mamet forever (although everybody continues to slobber over his movies, most of which are shit films with decent scripts). The man simply isn't a good director and he really doesn't know how to direct actors doing his dialogue. Watch Heist right after Glengarry, Glen Ross and you'll see a stark difference.

So anyone know the reason why there's no DVD? Switchblade Sisters has a DVD but not Rolling Thunder? Same goes for The Outfit. We don't have Netfilx where I live and I've wanted to see this film for a long while.

There was a DVD, it's just out of print and really hard to find.

Some great "Rolling Thunder" wallpapers on here.

Shit, nice link. Found this email exchange with the screenwriter from there.