Thunder and Lightning (1977 film)

Thunder and Lightning
Thunder and Lightning
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Corey Allen
Written by	William Hjortsberg
Produced by	Roger Corman
Starring	Kate Jackson ; David Carradine ; Sterling Holloway ; Roger C. Carmel ; Eddie Barth ; Charles Napier
Cinematography	James Pergola
Edited by	Anthony Redman
Music by	Andy Stein
Production; company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	August 24, 1977;
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$3 million or $3.1 million

Last updated April 10, 2025

Thunder and Lightning is a 1977 action comedy film directed by Corey Allen, and starring David Carradine and Kate Jackson.^[3]

Plot

The plot involves moonshine runners in Florida who are trying to stay independent in the face of attempts by organized crime to take over their business.

Cast

Main

David Carradine as Harley Thomas
Kate Jackson as Nancy Sue Hunnicutt
Sterling Holloway as Hobe Carpenter
Patrick Cranshaw as Taylor
Charles Napier as Jim Bob
George Murdock as Jake Summers
Ron Feinberg as Bubba

Supporting

Roger C. Carmel as Ralph Junior Hunnicutt
Hope Pomerance as Mrs. Hunnicutt
Eddie Barth as Rudi Volpone (credited as Ed Barth)
Malcolm Jones as Rainey
Charles Willeford as Bartender
Christopher Raynolds as Scooter
Claude Earl Jones as Carl (credited as Claude Jones)
Emilio Rivera as Honeydew Driver

Cameo appearance/uncredited

Richard Holden as Race Announcer

Production

At one stage the film was reportedly going to star Susan George and Roger Corman met with Jimmy Connors about playing the male lead.^[4] Carradine signed in March 1976.^[5] Kate Jackson was known for The Rookies and made the film while on hiatus from that series. She had also just made the pilot for Charlie's Angels.

The script was originally set in Georgia but was relocated to the Florida Everglades in order to take advantage of the beauty of that area.^[6]

It was Sterling Holloway's final film role.

Charles Willeford worked as location manager.^[7]

It was Roger Corman's last of four films produced for 20th Century Fox (the others were Fighting Mad , Capone and Moving Violation ).

Lewis Teague did second unit.

Reception

The film was popular and Corey Allen worked for Corman again on Avalanche (1978).^[8]

References

↑ Christopher T Koetting, Mind Warp! The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Hemlock Books, 2009, p. 132
↑ Kilday, Gregg. (Dec 24, 1977). "FILM CLIPS: 'Star Wars' Keeps on Streaking". Los Angeles Times. p. B7.
↑ "Thunder and Lightning". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 9, 2016.
↑ Gold, Aaron. (Dec 9, 1975). "Tower Ticker". Chicago Tribune. p. B2.
↑ Murphy, Mary. (Mar 24, 1976). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Rastar Buys 'First Time' Rights". Los Angeles Times. p. G9.
↑ Jim; Higgins, Shirley. (Aug 14, 1977). "Movie fan's guide: Chasing moonshiners through Everglades". Chicago Tribune. p. C2.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Willeford, Charles (21 November 1976). "Hollywood'S Wild Angel". The Miami Herald. p. 38.
↑ Goldstone, Patricia (17 Dec 1978). "Young Directors: Who Is Using Whom?". Los Angeles Times. p. O6.

External links

Thunder and Lightning at IMDb
Thunder and Lightning at Rotten Tomatoes
Thunder and Lightning at the TCM Movie Database
Review of film at The New York Times

This article about a 1970s action film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article related to an American film of the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[New_World-1] Christopher T Koetting, Mind Warp! The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Hemlock Books, 2009, p. 132

[2] Kilday, Gregg. (Dec 24, 1977). "FILM CLIPS: 'Star Wars' Keeps on Streaking". Los Angeles Times. p. B7.

[Thunder_and_Lightning-3] "Thunder and Lightning". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved March 9, 2016.

[4] Gold, Aaron. (Dec 9, 1975). "Tower Ticker". Chicago Tribune. p. B2.

[5] Murphy, Mary. (Mar 24, 1976). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Rastar Buys 'First Time' Rights". Los Angeles Times. p. G9.

[6] Jim; Higgins, Shirley. (Aug 14, 1977). "Movie fan's guide: Chasing moonshiners through Everglades". Chicago Tribune. p. C2.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[7] Willeford, Charles (21 November 1976). "Hollywood'S Wild Angel". The Miami Herald. p. 38.

[8] Goldstone, Patricia (17 Dec 1978). "Young Directors: Who Is Using Whom?". Los Angeles Times. p. O6.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

v t e Roger Corman
Filmography
Director	Five Guns West (1955) Apache Woman (1955) Day the World Ended (1955) The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955, uncredited) Swamp Women (1956) The Oklahoma Woman (1956) Gunslinger (1956) It Conquered the World (1956) Naked Paradise (1957) Carnival Rock (1957) Not of This Earth (1957) Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) The Undead (1957) Rock All Night (1957) Teenage Doll (1957) Sorority Girl (1957) The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957) I Mobster (1958) War of the Satellites (1958) Machine-Gun Kelly (1958) Teenage Caveman (1958) She Gods of Shark Reef (1958) A Bucket of Blood (1959) The Wasp Woman (1959) Ski Troop Attack (1960) House of Usher (1960) The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) Last Woman on Earth (1960) Atlas (1961) Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) The Premature Burial (1962) The Intruder (1962) Tales of Terror (1962) Tower of London (1962) The Young Racers (1963) The Raven (1963) The Terror (1963) The Haunted Palace (1963) X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963) The Masque of the Red Death (1964) The Secret Invasion (1964) The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) The Wild Angels (1966) The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) The Trip (1967) A Time for Killing (1967, uncredited) The Wild Racers (1968, uncredited) Target: Harry (1969) De Sade (1969, uncredited) Bloody Mama (1970) Gas-s-s-s (1970) Von Richthofen and Brown (1971) Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
Producer only	Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954) The Fast and the Furious (1954) Dementia 13 (1963) Devil's Angels (1967) Boxcar Bertha (1972) Unholy Rollers (1972) I Escaped from Devil's Island (1973) Cockfighter (1974) Big Bad Mama (1974) Capone (1975) Death Race 2000 (1975) Fighting Mad (1976) Eat My Dust! (1976) Thunder and Lightning (1977) Deathsport (1978) Avalanche (1978) Saint Jack (1979) Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider (1979) Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) Smokey Bites the Dust (1981) Galaxy of Terror (1981) Forbidden World (1982) Space Raiders (1983) Love Letters (1984) Cocaine Wars (1985) Big Bad Mama II (1987) Munchies (1987) The Terror Within (1989) Two to Tango (1989) Bloodfist (1989) Lords of the Deep (1989) Time Trackers (1989) Overexposed (1990) Watchers II (1990) Immortal Sins (1991) Kill Zone (1993) Dracula Rising (1993) Hellfire (1995) Scene of the Crime (1996) Black Scorpion II (1997) A Very Unlucky Leprechaun (1998) Running Woman (1998) The Haunting of Hell House (1999) White Pony (1999) Enemy Action (1999) The Suicide Club (2000) Stray Bullet II (2000) Moving Target (2000) Aladdin and the Adventure of All Time (2000) Nightfall (2000) Raptor (2001) When Eagles Strike (2003) The Hunt for Eagle One (2006) The Hunt for Eagle One: Crash Point (2006) Saurian (2006) Cyclops (2008) Splatter (2009) Dinoshark (2010) Sharktopus (2010) Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader (2012) Palace of the Damned (2013) Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda (2014) Fist of the Dragon (2014) Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf (2015) Death Race 2050 (2017)
Related	Julie Corman (wife) Gene Corman (brother) Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel Roger Corman Presents New World Pictures The Filmgroup New Concorde American International Pictures Millennium Concorde Anois New Hollywood