Bullet Points: Thunderground
I thought I was quite familiar with the filmography of Governor Jesse Ventura… from his debut in Predator to his smaller roles in No Holds Barred, Ricochet and Demolition Man. I thought I had seen it all where “The Body” was concerned… I’ve even watched Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe more than once!
So color me surprised when I stumbled upon 1989’s Thunderground…
- Three Card Monte: Our tale begins in Hobo Junction, Tennessee… Casey (Margaret Langrick) is running a three card monte game and ripping off her fellow hobos in the process. But then Bird rolls into town and Casey sees a chance to upgrade from her penny ante cons and get some of that sweet sweet bum fights money. Bird was played by Paul Coufos… a name that did not immediately ring a bell with me, but a face that certainly did from several Jim Wynorski projects, including one of my all-time favorites Chopping Mall. Bird is immediately encouraged by Casey to compete in the bum fights and so begins the start of the partnership between young Casey and the alcoholic Bird…
- Riding the Rails: A good chunk of the movie is devoted to Casey and Bird making their way to New Orleans where Casey plans on getting Bird a fight with “The Man” …Bird isn’t even sure if “The Man” is real or just some sort of hobo legend, but Casey is convinced he is the real deal and so is the money that could be won if Bird can defeat The Man. The duo ride the rails out of Tennessee, do some hitchhiking in Mississippi (which leads to a bar fight/impromptu mud wrestling scene), steal a convertible from a perverted used car salesman who was looking to deflower the 18 year old Casey, they even go by boat for a while, but they do eventually make it to New Orleans…
- I Was Told M. Emmet Walsh Was In This Movie: When the duo make it to New Orleans, Casey looks up Wedge… Wedge is a direct link to The Man! Wedge was played by M. Emmet Walsh of Missing in Action fame and much like the used car salesman, Wedge is looking to take advantage of Casey and he may have accomplished his mission if it wasn’t for Bird’s interference. Eventually the trio come to an agreement and Wedge sets up a fight for Bird where Bird is gong to have to take the fall… but the good news is, there’s $10,000 on the line and if you want to fight The Man you need to put up some cash or the fight won’t happen. Bird isn’t too keen on taking the fall, it is not in his nature but decides he will do it… BUT he is going to make his opponent, local favorite Mojo, work for it. It isn’t until Mojo has a broken hand that Bird goes down for good. Wedge does arrange a meeting between The Man and Casey and Bird, but not before taking most of Bird’s $10,000 pay off for himself…
- Five Conditions: The meeting with The Man takes place at a New Orleans cemetery. The Man (Jesse Ventura) is seen for the first time dressed to the nines and he reveals the conditions for this fight… The Man will choose the arena, there is no referee because there are no rules, it is a fight to the death and last but not least, no spectators. If Bird should win/survive he will be rewarded with 100 times the money he is putting up… The Man chooses a swampy battleground for the site of their fight and I wish I could say this was an epic showdown but it really wasn’t… the no spectator condition really took away from the fight, not only for the lack of ambient noise and crowd reaction but because the movie would cut away to a nervous Casey as she waited to find out the result of the big fight. So the big fight had no flow and after being hyped up for most of the movie, it failed to live up to the hype.
As an action movie I’d say Thunderground is below average… the title and the cover of the film would lead one to believe there is a lot more fighting action than there really is. Thunderground is more of a drama with some fight scenes thrown in as part of the overall narrative. At times it felt like they were paying homage to the Charles Bronson classic, Hard Times. At times I was annoyed by the southern accent that Margaret Langrick was using for Casey. The look into the hobo way of life gave the movie a uniqueness, but again this is not the action movie that it appears to be on the surface.
Nothing unique about the way I’m going to end this review, let’s get to the Bonus Bullet Points…
- Montage Alert: With a lot of ground to cover between Hobo Junction and New Orleans, an “on the road” montage is used to speed things along.
- Familiar Face: William Sanderson who recently popped up when I was watching Forest Warrior, pops up at the beginning of Thunderground as the bum fight promoter Ratman. Sanderson has multiple action credits to his name including 1996’s Last Man Standing, Hologram Man, 1987’s Last Man Standing and The Rocketeer.
- Was This a Sequel?: Paul Coufos played fighter Earl Bird in 1986’s Busted Up… did Earl Bird fall on hard times after that movie and end up riding the rails?? The movie was released as Thunderground: Busted Up 2 in Australia so I guess I have my answer.
