Thunder Run

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