Wie Blitz und Donner

Fatuous, witless, disappointing Southern moonshine adventure, with Kate Jackson as the daughter of a soda pop king and manufacturer of poisoned whiskey; she and thrill-seeking boyfriend David Carradine attempt to stop of shipment of the bad booze but run afoul of both the law and the moonshiner's shotgun-toting stooges. The redneck histrionics are shrill and labored, and the comedy relief is rather obvious (one of the better scenes has two hired killers bemoaning all the violence on TV, though it doesn't have the punch that better writing and directing might have given it). There are car crashes galore, two geezer brothers making whiskey in a swamp-land shack, an alligator wrasslin' preacher, and an ear-splitting soundtrack filled with hick music and squealing tires. Jackson and Carradine aren't bad, but they have next to nothing to work with; supporting cast includes some fine character actors, including a bearded, shaggy-haired Charles Napier, but they get stuck playing unfunny goons. Some of the best lines are delivered by the bit players, such as a garbage collector who points when he talks and a foreign delivery man who sings to himself on the job. *1/2 from ****

A year ago, David Carradine did a high speed movie called "Cannonball". Now he's back in the moonshine thriller, "Thunder and Lightning", he plays a moonshine runner who battle rivals. Unlike "Cannonball", he gets to use his martial arts in the film. Kate Jackson, who is known as Sabrina Duncan on "Charlie's Angels" plays the love interest who discover that her father is part of illegal activity in his business. It has Roger Carmel, "Star Trek's" own Harry Mudd playing the father. They get to stop a truck carrying tainted drinks. They smash up the wrong truck at a store. They were able to find and stop the truck and its selling of bad refreshments.

More high octane. Close to the birth of "The Dukes of Hazzard". This is something to watch on late night.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

Another silly Roger Corman car chase movie, but it actually works thanks to its picturesque setting of the Florida Everglades. David Carradine again plays the heroic character who tries to stop a moonshining operation led by his girlfriend's father (Roger C. Carmel, who was wonderful in The Mothers-in-Law TV series) who's using the ruse to market it under the Honey Dew soda pop brand, apparently a favorite soft drink in the regional south. Of course, a series of car chases between the heroes, the crooks, as well as the local police eventually follow.

I've been in contact with William Hjortsberg (R. I. P), the writer of this film on Facebook a couple years ago and he admitted he was pretty proud of the finished film, as well as his first produced screenplay. It's just a shame most of the numerous scripts he wrote were never produced or sold.

Thunder and Lightning is an interesting movie, it's an action movie with a plot! The characters actually have reasons to do what they do. David Carradine stars as a bootlegger and Kate Jackson is his fiancee. Her father is a soft-drink manufacturer who is secretly making and distributing large quantities of moonshine. The conflict starts when her father's goons decide to close down Carradine's operation. It is pretty much an adventure comedy from then on, with lots of car chases, fights, banjo music, rednecks, hillbillies and moonshine. Watch for the gator-wrestling church!

The only point that seems worth adding here is that the writer William Hjortsberg later wrote the screenplay for Angel Heart filmed by Alan Parker in 1978 with Robert De Niro and Mickey Rourke, based on Hjortsberg's novel Falling Angel.

Aside from this and the aforementioned air boat race and gator-wrestling church it was pretty much business as usual for David Carradine and Kate Jackson at the time.

I enjoyed it when it first came out, when there seemed to be car chase movies every week at the local flea pit (recently I was surprised to see just how few Carradine actually appeared in!)