1974’sThunderbolt and Lightfootpaired up the gruff on-screen persona of Clint Eastwood with the relaxed, carefree presence of a young Jeff Bridges for a buddy action comedy about an unlikely pair of bank robbers. Like Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in48 Hrs.or Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin inMidnight Run, Eastwood and Bridges are hilariously mismatched in these roles. One is known for playing stern-faced vigilante cop “Dirty” Harry Callahan and the other is known for playing the eternally zen, eternally stoned amateur bowler Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski.
Eastwood plays Thunderbolt, a notorious bank robber. In the opening scene, he’s posing as a preacher giving a sermon before being attacked by an assassin in a crowded church.Bridges plays Lightfoot, who happens to be driving past while Thunderbolt is desperately fleeing from the gunman. He jumps into Lightfoot’s car and their initial bickering quickly blossoms into a beautiful friendship. Lightfoot comes along for the ride when Thunderbolt reassembles his old crew for one last heist and ends up getting a lot more than he bargained for.
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Thunderbolt and Lightfootwas the directorial debut of Michael Cimino, who went on to helm gritty, sobering dramas likeThe Deer HunterandHeaven’s Gate. Although he wrote the movie to accommodate the market (Hollywood studios were eager for road movies about male companionship after the unexpected success ofEasy Rider), Cimino imbued hisThunderbolt and Lightfootscript with raw emotion and palpable personality. It’snot just a by-the-numbers heist movie; it’s anything but. Cimino doesn’t waste too much time on the planning of the heist. Instead, while the crew is laying low and working day jobs to raise the money they need for the equipment, Cimino gives the audience plenty of time to get to know the characters.Thunderbolt and Lightfootis uncharacteristically fun and pulpy for a Cimino movie, but it still has a lot of the grit and edge and humanity that would go on to define his later films.
This movie has deeper themes and substance than meets the eye. In the essay “Two for the Road” from his bookMartin Scorsese and Michael Cimino, author Michael Bliss wrote thatThunderbolt and Lightfootis more of “a meditation on, than a representation of, the male camaraderie theme.”Thunderbolt and Lightfootdoesn’t just blindly depict hypermasculinitylike most action movies; it explores masculinity in some depth. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot are both comfortable in their own skin and confident in their manliness, so they have no problem showing each other brotherly affection. Their partners-in-crime are nowhere near as comfortable with male affection. George Kennedy’s character, “Red” Leary, is so fragile in his masculinity that when Lightfoot pretends to kiss him as a joke, he springs to his feet with a look of horror and threatens to kill him. Lightfoot has to dress up as a woman as part of the elaborate execution of the final heist; there’s no way Red would’ve taken that job. This movie carries a message that was ahead of its time: real men aren’t concerned about whether or not they appear “manly.”
The crew ofThunderbolt and Lightfootis full of Eastwood collaborators. The musical score was composed by Dee Barton, who previously worked onEastwood’s psychological thrillerPlay Misty for Meand his Satanic westernHigh Plains Drifter. Cinematographer Frank Stanley shot four Eastwood movies in a row. On top ofThunderbolt and Lightfoot, he also lensedMagnum Force(which was co-written by Cimino) andThe Eiger Sanction. Stanley brought a visceral, documentary-like realism to the movie’s high-octane action sequences.
Thunderbolt and Lightfootwas edited by legendary film editor Ferris Webster, known for his Oscar-nominated work onThe Manchurian CandidateandThe Great Escape. Webster also cut such seminal films asForbidden Planet,Seven Days in May, andDivorce American Style. He primarily worked with John Sturges, but he spent the final stage of his career working with Eastwood. He editedThe Gauntlet,Firefox, andThe Outlaw Josey Walesin addition toThunderbolt and Lightfoot. Like all of Webster’s work, the pacing inThunderbolt and Lightfootis pitch-perfect. No dialogue scene outstays its welcome and everyaction scenereaches its full potential.
Like many films of its era,Thunderbolt and Lightfootends on a subversively tragic note. After a farcical climactic set-piece, the eponymous duo is beaten to a pulp and left for dead. Then, by chance, they stumble across a happy ending that calls back to the first act. But that stroke of good fortune is disrupted by a stroke of bad fortune that hits like a gut punch. At the tail end ofa lighthearted buddy actioner, the heartbreaking final scene – symbolized perfectly by Thunderbolt ripping up his celebratory cigar – makes the audience realize how much they’ve come to care about these characters.
