Why does Thunder In Carolina score a paltry 1.9 rating on IMDb? I'm absolutely puzzled, because while the film is no Citizen Kane it is a million miles better (and better made) than your average Doris Wishman or Al Adamson pic. Heck, it's much better than your average Howco International production - though admittedly that's setting the bar pretty low! Well directed by Paul Helmick, the film features a strong cast (Rory Calhoun, Alan Hale Jr., Connie Hines) in its tale of injured stock car driver Mitch Cooper (Calhoun) living vicariously through grease monkey and aspiring pro racer Les York (John Gentry). Shot in vibrant color by Joseph C. Brun (Who Killed Teddy Bear), this is an entertaining 'B' picture and a solid example of old-time regional filmmaking. You don't need to see it, but you also won't regret watching it.

After completing the run of his television western series The Texan and before departing to Europe looking for work Rory Calhoun did this independent picture in North Carolina concerning stock car racing. I'm wondering if when he read the script he didn't notice that this was taken from the Robert Mitchum/Susan Hayward film The Lusty Men. Just substitute stock cars for the rodeo circuit and this is a remake with a change in the ending.If you like stock car racing than this is your movie. Otherwise I think you will be bored. The whole cast gives rather desultory performances. Calhoun plays a veteran stock car driver who is injured and while injured tutors young Race Gentry in the rudiments of the sport. Of course Gentry's wife Connie Hines is opposed to him leaving their gas station garage where he's making a good living and she hates the influence that Calhoun has developed over her husband. But Rory is certainly noticing her.Shots of the stock car racing are the best thing this film has to offer. And Connie Hines would soon be going into a television series that was longer running than Calhoun's The Texan. That would be Mister Ed.

Rory Calhoun (Farmer Vincent in "Motel Hell") gives a dead bang-on solid portrayal as Mitch Cooper, a smoothly charming former moonshine runner turned professional stock car racer who, after wrecking both his car and his ankle in a brutal smash up, takes time off from racing to teach cocky eager beaver kid Les York (played with bright, wide-eyed gusto by the likable John Gentry) how to drive well on the track. Mitch takes a fancy to York's lovely, no-nonsense wife Rene (a winningly sparky'n'spunky performance by toothsome blonde Connie Hines), which leads to Les ditching Mitch so he can drive for a jerk millionaire who only cares about winning. In fact, success transforms Les into a greedy and selfish egomaniac, therefor causing Mitch and Les to become bitter adversaries. The two race against each other at a grand high stakes race. Granted, Alexander Richards' stand-issue script doesn't cover any new ground, but Paul Helmick's efficient direction, a hearty supporting turn by the always engaging Alan Hale, Jr. (The Skipper on "Gilligan's Island") as an amiable, anecdotal pit crew chief, an interesting, commendably unglamorous warts-and-all depiction of professional stock car racing which shows how the sport can become an addiction and poison a man's blood, a colorful evocation of the grimy, sweaty, ferociously competitive and occasionally dangerous ultra-macho racetrack milieu, a marvelously mawkish ballad called "He's Gone Away" sung by Ann Stevens, Joseph Brunt's nifty cinematography (there's some nice use of cheesy fade-outs and snazzy super-impositions), and authentically gritty racetrack footage of the Darlington, South Carolina Southern 500 that doesn't skimp on the dust-flying, dirt-kicking, rubber-shredding, tire-screaming, butt-tearing floor it and go the distance action movie goods make this honey a perfectly enjoyable and up to speed Southern-fried drive-in potboiler.

Easygoing drama about a stock-car veteran, Mitch Cooper (Rory Calhoun) who is down on his luck. He befriends a mechanic Les (John Gentry) who wants to be a pro race driver so Mitch teaches him. Les is keen to race but his wife, Rene (Connie Hines) is not. Meanwhile Mitch, always ready to romance the ladies, is drawn to Rene who is cool and unresponsive. (Really, what woman in her right mind would resist a handsome dreamboat like Rory?) Later an argument breaks out between Les and Mitch which results in Mitch having to drive a race car himself in the upcoming big event even though he has a bothersome leg injury.Alan Hale Jr. takes on a supporting role as Buddy, a race car mechanic who stands by his friend Mitch when the going gets rough.Events build up to the main attraction, the annual Southern 500 Labor Day race in Darlington, D.C. One gets to see several real-life race car drivers in action and some hair raising film footage too. The constant roar of the race -- this is where the movie title of "Thunder" comes in.Good middle of the road entertainment. It reminds me of "The Big Wheel (1949)" with Mickey Rooney as a race car driver.