Customer Reviews

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Overlooked Eastwood gem has Clint as a thief on the run from former partners in crime (George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis), who mistakingly think he has the loot from their last heist ten years before. He hooks up with young drifter (Bridges) who's eager to join Eastwood in a life of crime. Clint finally convinces Kennedy and Lewis that the money was lost. Undaunted, the happy foursome decide to "re-pull" the same robbery. Great change of pace for Eastwood and Jeff Bridges all but steals the show. Great location shooting in Idaho and Montana and film hasn't lost any originality twenty seven years later. Even though they aren't cops, this is probably one of the first buddy films. Lots of action and laughs, and most definitely worth a look. Look for Gary Busey and Catherine Bach of "The Dukes of Hazzard". Eastwood and Kennedy returned the following year in "The Eiger Sanction."

Well, aside from being a total classic, this movie is all at once, touching, funny, exciting, moving, and riveting. It is the ultimate entertaining film. It has something for everyone. Car chases, guns, girls, beer, fistfights, guys in drag, and yes, a trunkfull of rabbits... who could ever ask for more? eastwood and particularly jeff bridges are excellent, especially at the end of the film. his nomination is well deserved. see this movie if you want to be entertained, but not insulted. good stuff.

Four years before "The Deer Hunter" and six years before the disastrous "Heaven's Gate," Michael Cimino broke through as a writer/director with this somewhat rambling but engaging and quirky heist film starring Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, and George Kennedy. A bank robbery gone wrong has left Eastwood laying low, pretending to be a preacher in a small town. When an old partner hunts him down, he narrowly escapes with the help of a small-time thief named Lightfoot (Bridges). The two become partners, but are soon forced to join up with two more of Eastwood's old cronies (Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis). Together, the four set about executing the same bank robbery that failed several years earlier.

Bridges received an Oscar nomination for his offbeat portrayal of a free-spirited and charismatic young con artist, while Kennedy is an angry, ticking time bomb that you just know will eventually explode and screw things up. Much of the film is light and comical, with a veiled commentary about the aimlessness of America's post-Vietnam generation. The ending is surprisingly poignant, however, and the movie features an underrated Eastwood performance and a great recurring Paul Williams song on the soundtrack. Look for early roles by Gary Busey as Bridges' boss on a construction crew, and Catherine Bach (the one and only Daisy Duke) as a girl Lightfoot rather creatively picks up at a bar.

The very first shot of "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" - a faultless composition, fifty per cent wispy Idaho sky, fifty per cent cornfield - establishes an elegant style which Cimino maintains throughout the film... The second scene - Clint Eastwood as we have never seen him before, wearing spectacles, his hair slicked back and dressed as a vicar delivering a sermon in a crowded country church - immediately makes one realize that the film may be quite different from any of Eastwood's previous ones... But the third scene, in which the vicar is chased across a seemingly endless cornfield by an irate gun-firing George Kennedy establishes that all is not as it seems to be...

Eastwood is rescued by Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges), who has just relieved a car salesman of $3000 dollars' worth of automobile, and a partnership is quickly created, with the veteran Thunderbolt asserting his experience and virility over the inexperienced Lightfoot... Casting off his vicar's clothes Thunderbolt then takes his belt and endures agonizing pain as he uses it to pull his dislocated shoulder into place...

Thunderbolt is being pursued by Red Leary (George Kennedy) and Eddie Goody (Geoffrey Lewis) who are former partners of his in crime and who believe he has the half million dollar takings from their last bank raid... They mean business... While Thunderbolt and Lightfoot enjoy themselves with two young ladies named Gloria and Melody, Leary and Goody wait outside. 'Are you sure that's their car?' wonders Goody. 'That's their hearse,' says Leary...

The film was a triumphant debut for Cimino... His script combined wit and the naive philosophy of the motorized cowboys... 'Leary, I had a dream about you last night." "About what?" "I dreamt you said hello to me.'

At the beginning of the film when Eastwood recites his sermon for the benefit of his felonious friend, 'and the lion shall lie down with the leopard' (Cimino used it purposely to indicate the liaison between Lightfoot the lion and Thunderbolt the leopard), the younger man asks 'What's that - a poem?' 'No,' replies Thunderbolt, 'a prayer'. At the end of the film the younger man is still seeking answers from his senior partner... 'Where you heading?' 'See what's over the next mountain! We won, didn't we?' 'I guess we did - for the time being.'

Cimino created the part for Eastwood and in doing so drew greatly on his actual personality... For those people who know the real Clint Eastwood, no film part better conveys the style, the warmth, and the dry delivery of the man himself...

One of Clint Eastwood's best films, and also one of his most underrated and obscure. Michael Cimino made his directorial debut with this tough, funny action film that also has a surprisingly tender side represented in the relationship between Eastwood and Jeff Bridges. George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis are also fine in this offbeat caper film for which Bridges earned his second Oscar nomination (the first was for "The Last Picture Show").

This 1974 caper movie manages the neat trick of both delivering what the audience wants and subverting their expectations at the same time. Clint 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 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. Writer-director Michael Cimino handles the mood swings adeptly and even injects a subtle undercurrent of sexual ambiguity that never gets in the way of the entertainment: this was a terrific movie in 1974, and if anything it's an even better one today. The transfer isn't great, but it is in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio.

When people talk about buddy-buddy films this one gets overlooked.This was a refreshing break from the Eastwood mold,stepping down from the Dirty Harry altar, to switch sides of the law or God(as a preacher).This has a loaded cast, Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges(Oscar nominee/robbed)to George Kennedy, as another evil meanie.The oddball teaming of Eastwood and Bridges seals the movie as an enjoyable romp, where cross-dressing,wearing disguises and other stuff plays second-hand to the relationship which is supposed to be mentor/rookie but becomes Laurel/Hardy too often.The story itself wanders off in various directions until it comes home with unexpected sadness, marking the arrival of the versatile Bridges.Like "Collateral," where Cruise lets Jamie Foxx run with the movie, Eastwood generously let Bridges vamp for effect. Such a free-wheelin' script has not hit the screen in a long while.

This is not your average crime story. Clint Eastwood plays a man we first encounter as a preacher in a rural church. Shortly into the sermon, a gunman comes in and starts shooting at the preacher. He takes off running and eventually gets picked up by a young man played by Jeff Bridges. The two hit it off and become buddies, even though Eastwood's character is significantly older than Bridges'. Over time, it is learned that Eastwood had been a bank robber. After a big heist, the money disappeared and the people who are trying to kill him think that he stole it (from the other crooks). Eventually, they hit upon a scheme to rob the same bank in the same manner as before. The idea is that nobody would expect them to try and do things the same way again.

There is trouble with the other robbers. One is stupid and the other is just plain mean. After a successful heist, this leads to problems which the film must resolve.

Although the action line of the movie is the story of the bank robbery, it is really about the friendship between the two main characters. It can be touching to watch and is sad at the unexpected end. It's a rather dated film but it is still worth watching.

Michael Cimino makes any effective directing debut with this surprisingly offbeat caper film. Just when you think you are getting a light-hearted heist flick the film takes some dark turns that will shock you. Cimino, also the writer of this film, has populated his film with colorful characterizations. Jeff Bridges is magnetic as Lightfoot and his enthusiasm seems to have rubbed off on the normally taciturn star Clint Eastwood. Good work is also delivered by George Kennedy as Red and Geoffrey Lewis as Goody, the other partners in the heist. Great Montana scenery photography here as well. Here's hoping that Hollywood will give another chance to Cimino to see if he has some more good work left in him.

An inspired story of two men, who with the help of two misfits try to pull off a spectacular caper. The rabbit-shotgun-blasting by a deranged lunatic affixiated by carbon monoxide is classic.