This film was a Robert Mitchum film from start to finish. Besides writing the original story, he wrote a song, Whippoorwill", which is performed by his singer-lover in the film, his younger brother Jim is also featured in his debut role as what else, the Mitchum character's younger brother. The film makes great efforts to be respectable to law enforcement, with an opening dialog about ATF efforts to smash moonshiners and save taxpayers millions of dollars. Since Mitchum himself was a member of a chain gang in the early 50's for marijuana possession, this film , while still portraying Mitchum as the rebel, also gained respect for its squeaky clean image of ATF agents.

A veteran, Mitchum, comes home from the service and runs moonshine stored in tanks in his hopped up Ford for his family, who are being threatened by a big syndicate who wants to take over all the moonshine market in the mountains where Mitchum and his country folk live. The attempts to stop Mitchum from his runs are also watched by an ATF agent, played by Gene Barry. Mitchum out runs them all and spends his time with his girl, a lovely Keely Smith, who is a singer in a local lounge. Mitchum has no desire to stop his driving and night after night, makes the run to store the moonshine for distribution. The story escalates when Mitchum confronts the syndicate boss and flattens him. Barry attempts to have Mitchum turn himself in through his brother , a young high school kid, who is Mitchum's car mechanic. Eventually, his brother is persuaded by Barry that Mitchum should save himself. There are many good character performances in the movie as well.

Picture- The film suffers from age-a few vertical lines are present in some scenes and graininess appears in background shots as well, but is remarkably clear and sharp for most of the film. The few flaws were not a hindrance to the enjoyment of the film. There is also some shimmer, especially when Mitchum wears a striped shirt in an opening scene. However, the film has few flaws for a film this old. Sound-The Dolby digital mono soundtrack also is in good shape considering its age. a little hiss is present but is filtered effectively by the Dolby. Dialog through the center channel was clearly understood and no harshness was present. A good, clean soundtrack for a film from 1958.

Not too many on this one-French and Spanish subtitles, a trailer, and chapter stops. It would have been nice to have included the Mitchum version of "Thunder Road", which was a hit song back when the movie was released.

This disc is for Robert Mitchum fans. Obviously, Mitchum was involved in every aspect of its production. The story is unusual, portraying moonshiners as the good guys and puts a new perspective into a land and culture of rural America. It is definitely worth a rent for a glimpse of times gone by ( as far as government agents playing the squeeky clean good guys) and as Mitchum as the classic rebel.