I was 5 when this was made, but the first time i saw it I must have been 9 or 10 - I will never forget the electric-feeling charge that went through me that first time. When viewing the movie today, one has to keep in mind the period in which this movie was made. It looks and feels dated.
Being a car nut even at that young age, I started paying close attention when i saw Lucas Doolin's 50 Ford flying around a curve with a 57 Ford carrying two G-men on its tail. Just when it looks like he's about to get caught by a bumper clamping device on the front of the 57, he activates a lever that releases the rear bumper of the 50 Ford and leaves the G-men sitting there holding nothing but a bumper.
With a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, Robert Mitchum as sleepy-eyed Lucas Doolin seems utterly cool and totally unafraid of anything that stands in the way of his way of making a living, which happens to be transporting illegal liquor. Everyone in his small community of Harlan seems to either look up to him or be envious of him. The scene where Gene Barry walks up to him after a chase and boxes Doolin and the 50 Ford in is classic. Realizing he is caught, Mitchum sits in the car, shuts off the engine, lights a cigarette and leans back in the seat. Barry walks up, leans over to the window and says "I believe I have a bumper that belongs to you." Mitchum nonchalantly replies "Well, why don't you give it back? That's like stealing, ain't it?"
I last saw this about 5 years ago. I would have been 46 then. It still excited me then. I guess it always will.
Being a car nut even at that young age, I started paying close attention when i saw Lucas Doolin's 50 Ford flying around a curve with a 57 Ford carrying two G-men on its tail. Just when it looks like he's about to get caught by a bumper clamping device on the front of the 57, he activates a lever that releases the rear bumper of the 50 Ford and leaves the G-men sitting there holding nothing but a bumper.
With a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, Robert Mitchum as sleepy-eyed Lucas Doolin seems utterly cool and totally unafraid of anything that stands in the way of his way of making a living, which happens to be transporting illegal liquor. Everyone in his small community of Harlan seems to either look up to him or be envious of him. The scene where Gene Barry walks up to him after a chase and boxes Doolin and the 50 Ford in is classic. Realizing he is caught, Mitchum sits in the car, shuts off the engine, lights a cigarette and leans back in the seat. Barry walks up, leans over to the window and says "I believe I have a bumper that belongs to you." Mitchum nonchalantly replies "Well, why don't you give it back? That's like stealing, ain't it?"
I last saw this about 5 years ago. I would have been 46 then. It still excited me then. I guess it always will.
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