Blu-ray Review – Thunderbolt & Lightfoot (1974)
Michael Cimino made his feature film debut with Thunderbolt & Lightfoot in 1974 and had already made his name in the 60s through his numerous commercials. In the early 70s, when Cimino had done all he could in commercials, he left the world of Madison Avenue for the sunny sights of L.A. He ended up writing screenplays for the great sci-fi classic Silent Running and the first sequel to Dirty Harry and that’s how he met Clint Eastwood.
Thunderbolt & Lightfoot is a textbook example of a 70s crime film: Thunderbolt (Clint Eastwood) is a bank robber and is picked up by Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges) after there is assassination attempt on his life. The people after Thunderbolt are ex-gang members who he did a heist with, but in reality he stashed the money. They run into them again and after Thunderbolt fights with them they agree to rob the same company they did before.
Clint and The Dude have great chemistry, so much so Jeff Bridges was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar. It’s been often said Clint’s performance was equally worthy and it certainly remains one of his finest non-western performances to date. Clint and Cimoino had a strained relationship because Clint’s demanding 3 takes were aplenty. Cimino, of course, was a perfectionist-but Clint’s production company Malpaso was behind it so he had to bow down to Clint’s power. Despite everything Cimino had said, he owes everything to Mr. Eastwood.
The film has a fun tone and is much more offbeat than many of the roles Clint Eastwood has done before and since. It’s part road film, part buddy film and part heist film and it’s hardly surprising the film ends on a pessimistic level, but after all, this was a regular occurrence in most 70s crime films. It may not have the power and artiness of Chinatown or The Friends of Eddie Coyle, but it remains good Saturday afternoon viewing like so much of Mr. Eastwood’s filmography.
After Thunderbolt & Lightfoot Cinimo would go on to make cinematic history for two reasons: The Deer Hunter and Heaven’s Gate are both are great films. The latter bankrupted a studio and arguably ended the director lead films of the 70s and early 80s to more commercial fair.
***1/2 (out of 5)
Ian Schultz
Genre:
Comedy, Crime, Drama
Distributor:
Second Sight
Rating: 18
BD Release Date:
23rd June 2014 (UK)
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Director:
Michael Cimino
Cast:
Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy, Geoffrey Lewis, Catherine Bach
Buy: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot [Blu-ray]
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