slightlymad22 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)Plot In A Paragraph: A bank robber (Eastwood) gets his old gang back together, to organize a daring new heist, with the help of a young sidekick (A brilliant Jeff Bridges)This is one of my favourite Clint movies that isn't a western or a Dirty Harry movie. There is just so much to savour. The great chemistry between Clint and Jeff Bridges, great locations, wonderful dialogue and not to mention the soundtrack too. Again, Clint clearly did his own stunts. I think Clint should have been nominated for an Oscar for his work here. Apparently he agreed and rumour has it, he was upset Bridges was nominated, whilst he was ignored. Malpaso regulars Geoffrey Lewis and Bill McKinney pop up too.My Dad (God rest his sole) never cared for this movie, citing its homoerotic subtext for his reason (Top Gun and Tango & Cash were also movies he disliked for this reason) and I know a few people who think the same, but it's never been a problem for me and I think if you scrutinize such matters too closely, you lose sight of the movies playful nature. And whilst there are moments, it's not like the two men are without women in the movie!! Bridges picks up two girls, and takes them back to the Motel for him and Clint, then the next day when the go for breakfast, Bridges orders 4 eggs, bacon, toast, fries, coffee and the waitress herself, whilst Clint orders a black coffee and smirks at his companion. Thunderbolt & Lightfoot disappointingly didn't make a dent at the box office grossing only $9 million at the domestic box office!! A huge disappointment to Clint, who blamed United Artists for inadequately promoting the film. Despite his relationship with the studio on the spaghetti Westerns, and having a two picture deal from the studio, he never made another movie for them.

Mark Turner I can remember the first time I saw this movie, back when it was first released and ended up playing at the local drive in. That drive in was the only place to see movies in town so when word reached it was coming I knew I'd be there. I wasn't disappointed. The owner of the drive in would hold posters for me and the half sheet on this one remains in my collection, a perfect piece of movie poster art that captured the movie well. But while the poster displayed star Clint Eastwood with his foot resting on a big gun it was about more than that.The movie kicks off with a panoramic shot of a wheat field, a small country church on a Sunday morning off to the side. A car drives up and we cut back and forth from outside of the church and a man about to enter to a preacher (Clint Eastwood) delivering a sermon. The man enters, pulls out a gun and begins shooting. This prompts Eastwood to run out the back and across that field.At the same time this is happening a young man (Jeff Bridges) walks from train tracks to a used car lot. Talking to the salesman he's invited to sit in and listen to a sporty new car to see how powerful it is. It is indeed and even more so when he speeds off the lot, stealing the car.These two stories intertwine when Eastwood runs out of the field into the road and is nearly hit by Bridges and attempts to jump into the car. As Bridges tries to lose him he careens off into the field, hitting the man chasing Eastwood. The pair drive off and a friendship is begun.As things progress Bridges tells Eastwood his name is Lightfoot and the two travel down the road together, stealing along the way and swapping cars when needed. He lets Eastwood know he could see there was something different about him and he wants to learn from him. When he discovers the men chasing them were involved in a major bank heist years ago he remembers the name of the man who operated a cannon to rob the bank, the Thunderbolt.The pursuing ex-gang members eventually catch the pair with plans to kill them. When they learn that the loot from the old robbery is gone they back down. It's then that Lightfoot suggest that they pull off the same heist all over again. Who would ever suspect a group of thieves doing the same heist using the same plan? It isn't just the story that makes this movie work although there is more story going on here than in many movies being made today. It isn't just a heist movie. It's a movie that talks about friendship, about loyalty, about greed, about achieving a dream and it's done in such a way as to make what should be considered bad guys out to be a combination of killers and anti-heroes. Many movies released at the time had that ambiguous lawbreaker as the central character in their films. Burt Reynolds made a career out of it.At the core of this film is the relationship between Eastwood and Bridges. You get the feeling that in Bridges Eastwood's character sees himself when he was younger. Brash, mouthy and ready to take on the world Bridge's character is constantly joking with the others earning him the rancor of gang member Red Leary (George Kennedy). A butting of heads is inevitable between these two and you're just not sure where that will lead. The interaction between all four crooks, including Geoffrey Lewis as Eddie Goody, makes you wonder at times if they can pull of the heist at all.All of the performances seen here are great. Eastwood's cool demeanor, Bridges' cocky youngster, Lewis' bumbling sidekick to Red and Kennedy's anger driven criminal meld together to make the story work. While you would never think of these four different people coming together to achieve anything the fact that they did once and got away with it seems amazing. That they could possibly do it again is even more questionable.The movie was another landmark as well. It was the first film directed by Michael Cimino. Having written the screenplays for both SILENT RUNNING and MAGNUM FORCE this was his first film in that position. Four years later his next film was released to stunning success. It was called THE DEER HUNTER. While that movie raised his level in Hollywood his next film brought it crashing down, the often discussed financial disaster HEAVEN'S GATE. To date he's only directed 8 movies which is a shame when you watch those that he's made. Hollywood isn't a forgiving town though.Twilight Time is releasing this movie in a limited edition series. As with all Twilight Times films this means there are only a limited number being made so if you want one make sure you get it now. The transfer is amazing with a widescreen presentation that uses the full frame to tell the story. The extras are small in number but it is the movie itself presented this clear that makes this worth picking up. This one is a definite add to the collection for all movie fans and Eastwood fans in particular.

jimbo-53-186511 Here is the IMDb summary for Thunderbolt and Lightning - "With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organize a daring new heist". Sounds like it's the sort of film that would be exciting and lots of fun doesn't it? Yeah well I'm sorry, but this really didn't do a lot for me I'm afraid.For a start the actual plot doesn't really get any focus at all until we're close to the hour mark which isn't necessarily a problem in itself if the first half of the film does anything of interest, but unfortunately that isn't the case here.Even if we overlook the rather contrived set-up to the story it's a really hard film to become involved with. The first hour consists of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot picking up prostitutes, stealing a car and being pursued by Leary (George Kennedy) who has a score to settle with Thunderbolt (Clint Eastwood) as he believes that Thunderbolt set him up on a previous job. I haven't got a problem with silliness in films but it has to feel as though there is some sort of point to any of it. The first half is a rather dumb and random sequences of events serving no real purpose and the second half involves the planning and execution of the heist. For me, the two aspects don't mesh very well together and made the film feel uneven.I also found it a little bit convenient that Leary would suddenly drop everything and decide to join Thunderbolt for one last job - given how angry he was with him previously. If I'm honest I just found many elements of the story to be a little hokey.Another problem in this film is that it suffers from notably weak chemistry amongst its characters. Eastwood and Bridges are OK individually, but share few sparks when they're on screen together. Although to be fair to Bridges he did at least try and inject some fun into the film and managed to be both annoying and funny in equal measure. Kennedy and Lewis fared worse and seemed to add very little to the film.Things improve slightly in the second half of the film when we're actually seeing the 'heist' itself. I thought that the planning and thought that went into the heist was clever, but again it wasn't exciting and once the heist is executed it was rather workmanlike and run of the mill and again just didn't do a lot for me.Simply put, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is a mixture of bad and mediocre and a film that doesn't deliver upon its rather exciting sounding premise.

FilmCriticLalitRao Before making his directorial debut in 1974, American director Michael Cimino had already written two films 'Silent Running' and 'Magnum Force'. The experience of writing these big budget films proved much too beneficial for him. It is with perfect ease that Michael Cimino has been able to mix crime, comedy and drama in his film. These three elements have been merged with beautiful locales to give the film the looks of a complete entertainer. As a film 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot' pays excellent homage to the notion of friendship built on admiration and mutual trust. It is a friendship which builds over a period of time as both friends are able to ascertain their strengths and weaknesses. Actors Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges are this film's friends in question. Apart from admiring each other for unique personalities, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot are also involved in the quest for finding hidden money. It is through a series of hilarious adventures filled with comedy, melodrama and violence that they are able to achieve coveted success. However, it is said time and again that there is a price to be paid for every success. This is the most important lesson one learns from this highly entertaining film.