Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organize a daring new heist.

Director:

Michael Cimino

Writer:

Michael Cimino

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, Geoffrey Lewis

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Thunderbolt
Jeff Bridges	...	Lightfoot
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Eddie Goody
Catherine Bach	...	Melody
Gary Busey	...	Curly (as Garey Busey)
Jack Dodson	...	Vault Manager
Eugene Elman	...	Tourist (as Gene Elman)
Burton Gilliam	...	Welder
Roy Jenson	...	Dunlop
Claudia Lennear	...	Secretary
Bill McKinney	...	Crazy Driver
Vic Tayback	...	Mario Pinski
Dub Taylor	...	Station Attendant
Gregory Walcott	...	Used Car Salesman
Erica Hagen	...	Waitress

Storyline

Seven years after a daring bank robbery involving an anti-tank gun used to blow open a vault, the robbery team temporarily puts aside their mutual suspicions to repeat the crime after they are unable to find the loot from the original heist, hidden behind a school chalkboard. The hardened artilleryman and his flippant, irresponsible young sidekick are the two wild cards in the deck of jokers.

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Plot Keywords:

heist | preacher | ice cream truck | montana | safecracker | 

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Taglines:

He has exactly seven minutes to get rich quick!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 September 1974 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Die Letzten beißen die Hunde

Filming Locations:

Choteau, Montana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$25,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Malpaso Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The high-concept for this picture was devised by Hollywood talent agent Stan Kamen of the William Morris Agency.

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Goofs

When Thunderbolt is delivering his sermon in the church, his hair is heavily oiled but it appears quite dry when he emerges from the church, chased by Dunlop.

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Quotes

Secretary: [Thunderbolt is working in a metal shop] You forgot to give me your Social Security number.
John Doherty: What?
Secretary: I said that you forgot to give me your Social Security number.
John Doherty: Oh, I've forgotten it.
Secretary: Forgotten it?... Ha ha!... Nobody ever forgets their number. Where you been workin'?

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Connections

Featured in A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Where Do I Go from Here"
Composed and Sung by Paul Williams

User Reviews

"Stick with me kid and you'll live forever!"

How times change. Back in 1974, after paying his dues co-writing Silent Running and Magnum Force, Michael Cimino was one of the most promising new directors on the scene thanks to his directorial debut Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. In 1978 he was an Oscar winner whose place in movie history seemed assured by The Deer Hunter. Two years later he was the poster boy for directorial excess and hubris in the wake of the unjustly maligned Heaven's Gate. Now he's unemployable.

Thunderbolt's once-sterling reputation seems to have fallen victim alongside Cimino's career. It's become one of the less-remembered films from the days when Clint Eastwood ruled the box-office yet it holds up as one of the best pictures of its over-rated decade, managing the neat trick of both delivering what the audience wants and subverting their expectations at the same time. Eastwood plays a crook on the run from ex-partners in crime George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis (often hysterically funny here) who teams up with Jeff Bridges' extrovert drifter to retrieve the loot from a previous robbery only to find his old accomplices tagging along and things – naturally – not going at all to plan. It's an almost perfectly judged mixture of comedy and action with both feet firmly on the ground despite the more absurd moments in a way that would be almost unthinkable today. There's a real rapport between the outstanding cast and an affection for the characters that adds to the impact of the very Seventies ending – not only is the central pairing of Eastwood's old hand and Bridges' cocksure kid far more convincing and genuinely affecting than it has any right to be, but Kennedy and Lewis' untrustworthy partners in crime are beautifully drawn too.

Cimino handles the mood swings adeptly and even injects a subtle undercurrent of sexual ambiguity that never gets in the way of the entertainment. While his direction is bang on target - there's a great use of mid-Western landscape too - it's the strength of his script that keeps the film surprisingly fresh today. It's basically a road movie crossed with a heist movie, but Cimino throws in so many unexpected and quirky left turns that catch you off guard that you never get the feeling that you're going over the same old ground. This was a terrific movie in 1974, and if anything it's an even better one today. Just remember; never accept a lift from a man with a raccoon in the passenger seat and a trunk full of bunnies! Sadly the DVD transfer isn't great, but it is in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio.