Rolling Thunder
American International Pictures (AIP) | Release Date: October 14, 1977 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The GuardianPhilip French
Devane gives a performance of anguished depth, the final carnage is spectacular and it's a time capsule of a movie. Read full review
80
The TelegraphPatrick Smith
William Devane's performance – as Major Charles Rane, a former POW who sees his family get killed by hoodlums – remains magnetic: stoic and unhinged. Read full review
80
Time OutTom Huddleston
At times deeply insightful, at others wholly crass, Rolling Thunder is a fascinating curio, the meeting point between realism and exploitation. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
While Rolling Thunder suffers from Schrader's predictable obsessions with masculine ritual and gunplay, Devane and Jones enhance the material with their nuanced, sensitive portrayals of men who have lost their souls in another land. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck Bowen
Essentially a liberal vigilante film that’s rife with all the contradictions that description implies, Rolling Thunder has a pared, weirdly principled grace that still packs a punch. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
Performances are made crystalline through a sixth sense for camera placement and curt cutting from director John Flynn, whose 2007 passing was little noted, though his no-BS way of laying down a story is a rare commodity in any era. Read full review
70
Washington PostGary Arnold
John Flynn's crisp, laconic direction and evocative use of Southern Texas locations - the San Antonio area, with particularly effective, sinister excursions to border towns like Del Rio - transorm Rolling Thunder into a more distinctive exploitation movie than it deserves to be. [29 Oct 1977, p.B7]
67
The A.V. ClubTom Breihan
Rolling Thunder is a bloody, nasty, complicated action movie for a bloody, nasty, complicated moment in American history. Read full review
60
CineVueLee Cassanell
If you can forgive the cardboard villains and suspicious editing, there is plenty here to hold your interest. Read full review
60
Washington PostArt Harris
Rolling Thunder certainly has enough to recommend it to Walking Tall fans with strong stomachs. But moviegoers yearning for a sensitive attempt to graft the nation's most recent scar tissue onto the screen will have to wait. [04 Nov 1977, p.11]
50
The New York TimesVincent Canby
The movie has some good things, but in the way it has been directed by John Flynn it moves so easily and sort of foolishly toward its violent climax that all the tension within Charlie has long since escaped the film. Read full review
50
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Excellent cast performs well, but not well enough and Paul Schrader's story is strong, but not strong enough. In sum, it neither rolls nor thunders. Read full review
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