Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, (more)
- Director(s):
- Michael Cimino
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R
Member Rating
My RatingSynopsis of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
As much an eccentric character study as a road movie, Michael Cimino's directorial debut follows the adventures of a quartet of misfits in their life of crime. Retired thief Thunderbolt (Clint Eastwood) and sweet drifter Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges) meet cute when Thunderbolt jumps into Lightfoot's stolen car to escape a gunman. The pair embarks on an oddball journey to get Thunderbolt's loot from an old robbery before his former associates, the sadistic Red (George Kennedy) and cretinous Goody (Geoffrey Lewis), get to it first, but all four are too late; the one-room schoolhouse hiding place has apparently vanished. So instead, the four play house and work legit jobs while they plot to rob the same place Thunderbolt and Red hit before. Although the plan goes awry, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot discover that they may still have succeeded-or so they think. As the easy-going mediator between the two, Eastwood's Thunderbolt was a move away from his tough cop-westerner image; his audience accepted this then-atypical performance enough to turn Thunderbolt and Lightfoot into a moderate hit. Bridges received his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, but Cimino turned down a subsequent deal with Eastwood, moving instead to his artistic peak with The Deer Hunter (1978) and career nadir with Heaven's Gate (1980). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 105 mins
Complete Cast of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
- Clint Eastwood - John "Thunderbolt" Doherty
- George Kennedy - Red Leary
- Catherine Bach - Melody
- Alvin Childress - Janitor
- Gene Elman - Tourist
- Luanne Roberts - Suburban Housewife
- Leslie Oliver - Teenager
- Titos Vandis - Counterman
- Vic Tayback - Mario
- Claudia Lennear - Secretary
- Roy Jenson - Dunlop
- Erica Hagen - Waitress
- Bill McKinney - Crazy Driver
- Jeff Bridges - Lightfoot
- Geoffrey Lewis - Goody
- Gary Busey - Curly
- Jack Dodson - Vault Manager
- Burton Gilliam - Welder
- Gregory Walcott - Used Car Salesman
- Dub Taylor - Station Attendant
- Mark Montgomery - Teenager
- Karen Lamm - Girl on Motorcycle
- Cliff Emmich - Fat Man
- Stuart Nisbet - Couple at Gas Station
- June Fairchild - Gloria
- Director(s):
- Michael Cimino
- Writer(s):
- Michael Cimino
- Producer(s):
- Robert Daley
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R(Violence, Adult Language, Adult Situations, Not For Children)
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