MovieChat Forums > Thunder Road (1958) Discussion > Thunder Road, the song...

Thunder Road, the song...

posted 20 years ago by yonhope
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Hi, Everyone,

I am lucky enough to have two copies of the Capitol Records single "Thunder Road" written and sung by Robert Mitchum. It is a rock and roll version of the song sung in the movie as a ballad. The movie version uses the word "whippoorwill" but the rock record has an electric guitar and amplified bass and busy drummer.

The movie is excellent if you like the moonshiner lifestyle. Fast cars and tough guys. The opening scene shows a car chase where the moonshiner car makes a sharp turn and rolls over at a high speed and lands on its wheels and speeds off in the opposite direction leaving the pursuer behind as he drives past the chase vehicle. That was supposedly a real accident and the driver had the sense to stay in character and make a mistake into an unforgetable scene.

If you like this one you might also like "Flim-Flam Man" with George C. Scott or Robert Mitchum in "Night of the Hunter."

No wonder he ate beef.

Tom Willett

[–] porkchopbob 20 years ago

If you dig Mitchum music check these albums out. Mitch released a Calypso album after spending time filming in Tobago that is pretty damned sweet.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000000IAE/qid=1081518696/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-3259860-1551003

In the 60s he released an album called That Man. This repackaging includes his Calypso album, the Thunder Road ballad and the Whipporwil theme as well as That Man.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000282RH/qid=1081518696/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/103-3259860-1551003

and then there's this final album that sports some abandoned movie music and themes, as well as some jazz standard demos (you read that right, JAZZ). Interesting stuff, but for diehards only.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000282PT/qid=1081518696/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/103-3259860-1551003?v=glance&s=music