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Thunder Road is the title of a 1958 movie about running moonshine in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee in the early 1950s. It was directed by Arthur Ripley and starred Robert Mitchum, who also produced the film and co-wrote the screenplay, and is rumored to have directed much of the film himself, uncredited. The film became a cult classic and continued to play at drive-in movie theaters in some southeastern markets through the 1970s and 1980s. Mitchum played an anti-hero and rebel against the government, which may have contributed to the film's popularity. In the film, he drove a hot-rodded 1950 Ford coupe with a custom tank in the back for moonshine.
The film was based loosely on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have crashed to his death on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road.
Its theme song, sung by Mitchum, became a popular single record.
Lyrics & recording: Ballad of Thunder Road
Thunder Road is also the title of a 1996 movie directed by Mix Ryan.
"Thunder Road" is also the lead song on Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album, Born to Run. Springsteen declared that he was somehow inspired from the movie even if he stated: "I never saw the movie, I only saw the poster".
Thunder Road was also the name of the home-made spaceship in the film Explorers starring Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, and Jason Presson. When asked how he came up with the name, Presson's character replies, "It's from an old Bruce Springsteen song".
Thunder Road was the name of a famous Canadian country band in the early to mid 80's. Though the band members changed around often, the lead singer, David Thompson, was in the band for its entire, short life. Though the band is not often remembered, David Thompson's voice is often thought of as being the purest Canadian country has ever seen. The songs Rachel, Loser's Bar and Grill, and many others were on the top hits list.