Thunder Run

1986 "For 200 miles, the action never stops!"
5| 1h24m| PG-13| en
Details

A vicious band of nuclear terrorists is threatening America's atomic weapons research. Truck jockey Charlie Morrison (Forrest Tucker) volunteers for a last-ditch, suicide scheme to lure them into a trap, baited with a vital shipment of bomb-grade plutonium. Soon, Charlie's high-balling it down a remote desert road with a small army of lethally equipped bandits zeroing in on him. Charlie's secret weapon? "Big Thunder", a 65-foot, 18-wheeled war wagon of merciless high-tech destruction!

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Also starring John Shepherd

Reviews

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment
Cortechba Overrated
Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!
Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
lightninboy Probably hardly anyone has even heard of this movie, and that's all right, because the only people who would care about it are truckers and hot rodders. As far as the plot goes, let's just say there's a secret government operation here, subject to terrorists and internal corruption. Forrest Tucker was a man many people today are not familiar with, but he had a lot of roles and was a common name. And then we have John Shepherd, who is not a familiar name but is worth checking out. His character drag races a Chevy pickup, apparently one of the fastest in existence, and it seems the girls flock to him two at a time. There's also a scene with the "Cotton-eyed Joe." Anyway, Forrest and John are trucking plutonium in a high-tech customized semi with the Chevy on board, just in case they need it. The Kenworth conventional tractor has a 8V-92 Detroit, apparently the best powerplant for this mission. Now for the best part of this whole movie: Where White Line Fever gives you a truck tractor jumping through the air, Thunder Run gives you a whole semi!! Later they have to abandon the rig and use the Chevy to escape from a 12V-71 Detroit-equipped Kenworth cabover which gets wrecked. Anyway, they get like $250,000 for the run, and John asks Forrest what they're going to spend it on, and, like a real man, Forrest says "On anything we damn well please!"
halhorn 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
darkangel2003 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.
Spidey_8487 Bullhead City, Arizona. It was great to see Hollywood coming to town. I'll admit this movie is bad but some of the people I went to high school with are in it. Dennis Deal, the General, was our high school basketball coach. The bar scene, where the two guys get in an argument over a girl (isn't that always the case?), those guys are brothers and the bartender that breaks it up is their father. Funny, eh? Anyway, I said it's bad and it is but I get a big kick out of watching it. I can point out all the places they go in the movie. The final destination is really Davis Dam on the Colorado River. Anyway, watch this movie, laugh at how bad it is and, if you're from the 'Head, it'll mean that much more to you.