Movie review: ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot’

FloridaGator80

Clint Eastwood’s movies from the 1970s run a cinematic gamut from being a soldier (“Kelly’s Heroes” in 1970 – click here to read my review) to being a cop (“Dirty Harry” in 1972 – click here to read my review) to being a bare-knucklers brawler (“Every Which Way But Loose” in 1978 – click here to read my review) and even a bad guy in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” from 1974. However, not all are of the same quality except that all have at least an interesting plot. It’s just how and how long it takes to get to the climax is key. “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” certainly takes its time getting to that climax.

‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot’
(1974; 115 minutes; rated R; directed by Michael Cimino and starring Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, Jeff Bridges and Geoffrey Lewis)

TAKING TOO LONG TO (RE)TELL A TALE OF (RE)CRIME

I like the creativity in the plot of “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” with Clint Eastwood. He’s a bad guy hiding out from former buddies and then gets talked into re-doing a caper involving using a cannon to break into a money vault. The problem with “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” is that it just takes too damn long to tell the story.

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Having the backstory told in detail is good to improve the audience’s understanding of the characters, but initially it takes too long to get to the good stuff. Then, throughout the film you get other bits and pieces of characters’ backgrounds that helpfully flesh out the story.

As the film opens, Eastwood, who plays “John ‘Thunderbolt’ Doherty,” is a preacher in a small church. A man comes into the church mid-sermon, pulls out a gun and tries to kill Eastwood. You also meet in a separate scene, a young man Jeff Bridges, whose name is “Lightfoot” and he steals a car.

So begins the tale of “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” and they come together as Eastwood is fleeing the guy with the gun and Bridges rescues him by hitting the guy with the gun and Clint hops a ride (literally). You soon find out that Eastwood was part of a crime team that used a cannon to crack an armor-car company vault in a daring robbery that made headlines. Hence, Eastwood’s nickname as “Thunderbolt” from the shots from the cannon.

However, the team hid the money (in an old one-room schoolhouse in rural Montana) but the money disappeared as the schoolhouse was rebuilt as the town expanded. Sigh. His former buddies, including a violent and vicious George Kennedy as “‘Red’ Leary,” catch up with Clint and Jeff and they decide to do it all over again: rob the same place in the same way – not a bad story line.

The rest of the film plays out as the group works somewhat menial jobs to stake themselves to the money needed to buy supplies, including another cannon. Now, here’s my take on the top-of-the-cast …

  • A four-time Oscar winner and seven-time nominee and five-time Golden Globe winner and seven-time nominee, Eastwood, best known as tough cop “Dirty Harry” (click here to read my review), is smooth and cool in this one and the camera is his best friend. He does a good job in conveying his mastery of the gang, even though others tried to kill him at first. I like him in “Kelly’s Heroes” (click here to read my review) and my favorite Western is his magnificent “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (click here to read my review). Eastwood was also in the war-espionage flick “Where Eagles Dare” with Richard Burton (click here to read my review). I’m not going to run down his resume as it would take two reviews to cover. You can click here for Eastwood’s complete awards list … or you can click here for his complete CV …
  • An Oscar winner and two-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Kennedy is continually volatile and violent throughout the film, but pulls off what could have all to easily become annoying. Like with Eastwood, his professionalism comes through in every scene. He was also with Eastwood in “The Eiger Sanction” the year following this one (click to read my review), but he was a better friend in that one. I liked him in the “Naked Gun” franchise and he won his Oscar for “Cool Hand Luke” with Paul Newman. He was nominated for Globes for it and “Airport.” Like Eastwood, Kennedy had an impressive CV of great films and you can review his career by clicking here. He died at 91 in 2016.
  • An Oscar winner and four-time nominee and a two-time Golden Globe winner and three-time nominee (none for this one), Bridges does an energetic job with a character whose backstory that you have to guess about more than be told about. Given the name “Lightfoot,” he’s asked at one point if he’s indigenous and replies, “American.” Also, at times it appears he’s favoring one leg, but not in all scenes. Overall, a decent effort. Of course, Bridges is best remembered as “Jeffrey ‘The Dude’ Lebowski” in the Coen Brothers’ cult favorite “The Big Lebowski,” but his award-winning career includes rebooting John Wayne’s character “Rooster Cogburn” in the remake of “True Grit.” He won his Oscar and a Globe for “Crazy Heart” and was nominated for both for “Hell or High Water” and “The Contender.” He was nominated for an Oscar for “True Grit” and “Starman” and for a Globe for the TV series “The Old Man” and was presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award by the Globes in 2019.
  • A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Geoffrey Lewis plays “Eddie Goody” and he’s the most timid member of the gang and he acquits himself well as doing a solid job in support without dragging down the film or other characters. Lewis was with Clint in “Every Which Way but Loose” (click here to read my review) and its sequel “Any Which Way You Can” (click here to read my review). He was also in “The Lawnmower Man.” Lewis was also in the excellent vampire flick “Salem’s Lot” (click here to read my review) as well as te sci-fi/horror effort called “Night of the Comet” (click here to read my review). Lewis was nominated for the TV series “Flo.” The veteran supporting actor died at 79 in 2015 of a heart attack after notching 228 acting credits, including three after his death, over a career spanning six decades with the first in 1963.
  • Catherine Bach has the female lead in the film (such that it is) as “Melody,” who is picked up by Bridges for a one-night stand. Although she only has a few lines, Bach does actually manage to make her notice you more than her friend, who becomes Clint’s date. Bach is best remembered as “Daisy Duke” in the iconic hit TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard” and has been in the TV series “African Skies” as well as done work on a soap opera. She was also in “You Again” with Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver. I also enjoyed that she did an episode of TV’s “Monk.”

You’ll recognize several of the supporting actors in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” including a young Gary Busey (his first name is spelled “Garey” in the credits) as “Curly,” who is a laborer alongside Bridges; Vic Tayback as their boss “Mario Pinski;” and Jack Dodson as the “Vault Manager.” With the exception of Dodson, who has more screen time than the other two combined, you don’t get much out of any of them, so I’m not spending any time evaluating their work in this one. FYI … Tayback died at 60 in 1990 of a heart attack and Dodson, who was the cuckold husband to Sally Struthers in Sam Peckinpah’s magnificent “The Getaway” with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw (click here to read my review), died at 63 in 1994 of heart failure.

By the end, you’ll find Bridges dressed as woman, a clever getaway method for the gang and a couple of twists of fate that lead back to the beginning of the film and the denouement for each character.

One of the toughest things to watch in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” is the sartorial splendor: some of the clothes just make your eyes hurt! Bridges’ character either has a white belt and shoes or he’s wearing leather pants (even to do manual labor) and the white belt/shoes combination is shared by Tayback in one scene where Vic’s blue outfit can be nothing but described as an eyesore. Well, white shoes were “in” back then, but Eastwood’s character is always in subdued shirt and monochrome slacks.

All in all, “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” was a modest effort from two-time Oscar-winning and nominated writer-director Michael Cimino. It’s not really bad, per se, but it certainly isn’t a top-of-resume effort either in writing or direction. Cimino is probably best remembered for directing one of Hollywood’s biggest bombs (“Heaven’s Gate” from 1980), but should be remembered first for his direction of “The Deer Hunter” from 1978, which is one of the best-ever American films (right up there with the “Godfathers”). He won his Oscars for “The Deer Hunter” as best film and for direction and was nominated for writing. Cimino died at 77 in 2016.

“Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” was the 18th ranked film at the U.S. box office for 1974 with $25 million in ticket sales, according to The Numbers website. The No. 1 film of the year was the magnificent “Blazing Saddles” from Mel Brooks with $119.5 million (click here to read my review). At No. 2 was “The Towering Inferno” with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen earning $116 million; and at No. 3 was “The Trial of Billy Jack” with $89 million. Here are the films from 1974 that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Bridges’ middle name is Leon and his nickname is “The Dude;” Kennedy’s full name was George Harris Kennedy Jr. and he stood 6-foot-4, just as Eastwood does; Lewis’ middle name was Bond; Bach’s full name is Catherine Bachman; Busey’s first name is William; Dodson’s middle name was Smeaton and he stood 6-foot-3; Walcott’s birth name was Bernard Wasdon Mattox, his nickname was Barnyard and he, too, stood 6-foot-4.
  • I mentioned the actors’ heights in the item above because of how so many actors today are Hollywood micro-men who stand only 5-foot-5 or so and try to come off way taller. Director Michael Cimino was only 5-foot-5 and his nickname was “The Ayatollah.”
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Jeff Bridges was seen in drag in this movie. Bridges once said of this: “It’s mind blowing! When you glance in a mirror, you feel like you’re looking at your sister!” Jeff got a bit of flak and wisecracks about his role as a leading lady from his brother and father, Beau and Lloyd.”
  • Eastwood did the stunt where his character jumps onto a moving car driven by Bridges early in the film.
  • Eastwood gave Cimino the chance to write and direct this film after the rewrite Cimino did for Eastwood’s “Magnum Force” sequel to “Dirty Harry” (click here to read my review of “Magnum Force” … or you can click here to read my review of “Dirty Harry” …).
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “According to Steven Bach’s ‘Final Cut,’ Clint Eastwood was disappointed with this movie’s initial disappointing $9 million receipts, and blamed United Artists for inadequately promoting the movie. Despite his relationship with the studio on the Spaghetti Westerns, and a two-movie deal from the studio, he never made another movie for them.”

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