same again, and, worst of all, one veteran must live the remainder of his life with hook prostheses for hands. Although the epic film cov- ers mostly downbeat subject mat- ter, it concludes on an optimistic note for the post-WWII era. The post-Vietnam era authored by Schrader offers less encourage- ment for the displaced soldier, who seems incapable of ever es- caping his traumatic wartime ex- perience. The title ROLLING THUNDER references Operation Rolling Thunder, the US-led air/ ground military campaign against North Vietnam during the late 1960s. In 1973 San Antonio, TX, returning POW Major Charles Rane receives a hero’s welcome. Also coming home is Rane’s friend Sergeant First Class Johnny Vohden (Jones), who appears par- ticularly uncomfortable with the day’s cheerful festivities. For his considerable trouble, Rane is gifted a new red Cadillac convert- ible and one silver dollar for each day he was held captive in Hanoi, where he was held hostage for seven years and endured unspeak- able torture. Unfairly, the US Air Force officer’s public homecom- ing contrasts with any proper re- sumption of his private life: Rane learns his wife Janet
(Lisa
Richards) is now engaged to Cliff (Lawrason Driscoll), information he receives with indifference, and he only clumsily relates to the son (Jordan Gerler), who has no memory of him. Even Rane’s sleeping pills fail him. His response is to recreate “Hanoi’s Hellhole” in his backyard tool shed and masochistically continue his tor- ture. After years of abuse, he ex- plains, “you learn to love the rope.” The sunglasses that fre- quently mask both Rane and Vohden emphasize their inability to reconnect with the living—Rane
recalls being alive only before his capture. In a poignant moment, Rane puts on his sunglasses and
walks away from a game of catch with his son after Cliff (the living) arrives on the scene.
Things suddenly look upbeat romantically for Rane with the appearance of an infatuated blonde named Linda (Linda Haynes), but he proves unable to adjust to a civilian future any bet- ter than return to his civilian past. Once that point is established, a shocking turning point takes place, and a DEATH WISH-style revenge narrative commences. As Rane hunts down a gang of opportu- nistic outlaws (memorably por- trayed by THE KILLER SHREWS’ James Best and EASY RIDER’s Luke Askew), he fights his own revisionist Vietnam south of the border. His road trip is part ven- geance and part military exercise; whether he fired a weapon of any kind during the war is uncertain, but there is no doubt his training will not go to waste.
The alienated veteran, a fish- out-of-water following wartime service, probably first emerged in
earnest during the film noir move- ment (THE BLUE DAHLIA, COR- NERED, HIGH WALL, ACT OF VIOLENCE, to name just a few examples). Schrader was well
Noir” (FILM COMMENT, Spring, 1972). As conceived by Schrader, ROLLING THUNDER and his bet- ter-known TAXI DRIVER have a lot in common, starting with the re- spective main protagonists, out- siders who confine themselves to small, prison-like environments (tool shed, taxi cab). Both physi- cally-fit men are almost impervi- ous to pain, even to fire, and each has devised a mechanized arm, carefully honed for violent attack. Neither man can connect with women in any meaningful, lasting way, so it does not seem inappro- priate that a whorehouse should provide each film’s backdrop for a
aware of noir conventions, as he convincingly demonstrated with his seminal essay “Notes on Film
Western-style shootout, with those we are meant to identify donned in military garb. Though Bickle and Rane never cross paths on screen in ROLLING THUNDER, the original Schrader script placed Rane at a drive-in showing of DEEP THROAT:
Feeling someone staring at him, he turns and looks to his left: there, two cars away, sits a YOUNG MAN hunched in the front seat with a beer can in his hand. The young punk’s face is gaunt and drained of color. He wears a green plaid western shirt and Army jacket.
Those who have read another script of mine titled TAXI-DRIVER will recognize this young man. His name is Travis Bickle.
Travis and Rane stare at each other for a moment: two fuses slowly burning down.
Schrader’s work inspired a di- verse lot of motion pictures that feature traumatized veterans who bring the war home, such as THE DEER HUNTER, THE EXTERMI- NATOR, CUTTER’S WAY, FIRST BLOOD, and more modern vari- ants like GRAN TORINO, STOP- LOSS, and BROTHERS. Schrader characters also anticipate the war hero-turned-criminal “Snake” Plissken (Kurt Russell) from ES- CAPE FROM NEW YORK, the chainsaw-empowered Ash (Bruce Campbell) from EVIL DEAD II, and the machine-gun leg of Cherry (Rose McGowan) from PLANET TERROR.
Directed by underrated film- maker John Flynn (THE OUTFIT, LOCK UP, OUT FOR JUSTICE), ROLLING THUNDER was a Twen- tieth Century-Fox production, but due to its level of violence it was sub-licensed to American Interna- tional. Prior to this Blu-ray release, domestically it was available only on laserdisc and as a no-frills, manufactured-on-demand DVD. This 1080p HD transfer upholds the theatrical aspect ratio of
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