Review of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) by Eric R — 14 May 2012

Thunderbolt and Lightfood is part character study, part road movie, part caper flick about a retired theif, Thunderbolt (Clint Eastwood) and a young drifter, Lightfood (Jeff Bridges) whose chance meeting leads them after long-lost money from an old robbery which Thunderbolt committed.

The reason this film succeeds so well is it's free-flowing narrative. It's rather hard to explain, cause there definitely is a concrete plot, but the film really focuses on these characters, as we follow them on their crazy adventure.

It's a film that relies much more on the interactions between these two men, richly developing the two characters and showing the viewer the type of men they are through these interactions more so than focusing on the narrative, which works extremely well in this film.

The chemistry between Bridges and Eastwood is really stellar stuff. Watching Bridges young, carefree ladies-man character play off the older, stern Eastwood is a thing of beauty. While the film is well shot, it's not nearly as concerned with image as some of Cimino's later films, opting to focus more-so on character, which I think Cimino's later work would suffer from doing too much of the opposite.

It's so much fun yet has some dramatic moments, including a strong emotionally resonant endings. Definitely the best thing of Cimino's I have seen.