emotionlessly shoots him several times. Bloodied and wounded, Rane and Vohden, supporting each other, stagger out of the whorehouse. Cast William Devane as Major Charles Rane Tommy Lee Jones as Master Sergeant Johnny Vohden Linda Haynes as Linda Forchet James Best as The Texan Dabney Coleman as Maxwell Lisa Blake Richards as Janet Rane Luke Askew as Automatic Slim Lawrason Driscoll as Deputy Cliff Nichols James Victor as Lopez Cassie Yates as Candy Jordan Gerler as Mark Rane Randy Hermann as Billy Sanchez Charles Escamilla as T-Bird Pete Ortega as Melio Jacque Burandt as Bebe Paul A. Partain as Ethan James N. Harrell as Grandpa Production The film was originally written in 1973 for AIP, where Lawrence Gordon was head of production. Gordon took the script with him when he left for Columbia, and for a time writer Paul Schrader was going to direct. However that fell through and the film was set up at 20th Century Fox. John Milius said Schrader wrote the movie for Milius to direct but Milius turned it down. "I didn’t think I wanted to do something that dark at the time...Boy it was a good script, with wonderful stuff in it. Paul at his best." Schrader's script was rewritten by Heywood Gould. It starred William Devane who director John Flynn says "back then they were priming ... [him] to be a big film star." The movie was shot in San Antonio, Texas in 31 days. Flynn: We knew we were doing something fairly bold. The producer, Lawrence Gordon, told me to shoot the garbage disposal scene like open-heart surgery, make it as bloody as I possibly could. So I did. When we submitted Rolling Thunder to the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) for a rating, we expected deep cuts, but the censors passed uncut one of the most violent movies in the history of film. Rolling Thunder was given an R rating! Release Test screening The film was originally produced and scheduled for release by Twentieth Century-Fox. The studio previewed it in San Jose in an audience who had just watched the Dirty Harry film, The Enforcer. Director Flynn later explained, "The first 20 minutes of the film were placid by design -- Devane's homecoming, reunited with his family. Then violence overtakes this family. In the space of two minutes, Devane's hand is ground off and his wife and son are shot dead