It’s pretty funny that Tommy Lee Jones and William Devane who star in “Rolling Thunder” do their best to prevent talking about the elephant in the room for the extras in the “Rolling Thunder” Blu-Ray from Shout! Factory. “Rolling Thunder” is one in a line of post-Vietnam films about the defeat of the war and its effects on its veterans. “Rolling Thunder” is a bleak revenge film about a soldier that went to war for nothing, only to come home to nothing. DeVane gives a compelling performance as Major Charles Rane, a man who was imprisoned in a POW camp for seven years with a few other soldiers. Finally freed, he and the group return home to Texas to receive a grand welcome, but they’re unsure how to respond. They’ve lived like savages for almost a decade, and, as Rane admits, he gained something of a Stockholm effect. Not just for his captors, but for the torture inflicted on him and his men every single day.
Rane has lost his mind and has given in to his darker personality a long time ago, and somewhere lost all sense of humanity. He hopes to re-claim that when he re-unites with his wife and son. Only for him to learn that his son barely remembers him, while his wife has fallen in love with another man and plans to divorce him. Of course, Rane has no idea how to comprehend these domestic problems, when he still has trouble with the flashbacks from his days being beaten and tortured. Rane experiences no end of hero worship, though he views himself as anything but, and discovers that he’s been somewhat replaced as the alpha male in his home. After being rewarded over two thousand dollars in silver dollars, Rane is attacked in his home by a group of thugs who torture him for the location of the money.
When Rane refuses, his wife and son are murdered in cold blood while Rane is left for dead. “Rolling Thunder” is a very uneasy and tense look at Rane’s mental unraveling, while finding that the war and vicious evil was never exclusive to Vietnam. Rane, along with gorgeous waitress Linda, who not only gets a full idea of the journey Ranes is on, but becomes all too aware of the dangers of hero worship. Linda is written as a metaphor for the public that viewed the war as something sensational, and she approaches Rane like a fan girl, even when he’s been tortured and lost his family.
Tommy Lee Jones is superb as Ranes’ ex-prison mate who has also lost his idea of purpose, and wanders about in a house that’s moved on without him. When Rane and he decide to team up to take down the men that took all Ranes had left, there’s a veritable blood bath that ensures the men will likely never be out of Vietnam. “Rolling Thunder” is a grim and often vicious revenge thriller focusing on the anti-hero who is still waging wars, and will continue to until he dies. It’s an exceptional seventies gem that deserves a look from audiences who can appreciate this kind of subtle social commentary and blank violence.
The Shout! Factory release comes with a twenty minute Making of, with interviews from Star William Devane, Co-Star Tommy Lee Jones, and Linda Haynes. All three of the stars speak fondly of the film and avoid any and all talk about the themes of Vietnam war and shellshock resonant in the narrative. There’s also the theatrical trailer for “Rolling Thunder,” Radio Spots, TV Spots, and a Photo Gallery.
