Known best for Deer Hunter and Heaven’s Gate, we often forget about Michael Cimino’s directorial debut; Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is a progressively dark take of friendship and crime set in the perpetual beauty of America’s ‘land of the shining mountains’. Trusted with the reigns by the interminable Clint Eastwood who’d planned to direct, I expected a lot from this film and I wasn’t disappointed.
The film surrounds two characters thrown together by unusual circumstance who plot to repeat Thunderbolt’s (Clint Eastwood) former triumph by recreating play by play his gang’s robbery of an unbreakable bank vault. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is filled with faultless characters, crazy adventures, violence and crime but as the film builds it’s obvious this tale is less about the money and more about friendship, loyalty and love. Lightfoot, played by Oscar nominated Geoff Bridges, who steals almost every scene, is a young excitable drifter searching for meaning and purpose; whilst Clint Eastwood, who believed he should also have been Oscar nominated (though I remain unconvinced), plays a shell-shocked, quiet and reserved bank robber trying to hide from those who wish to kill him. Lightfoot seems to bring Thunderbolt out from his shell and the joy of this film is the bittersweet symphony these two create. As the two characters plunge into a life of sex, crime and risk of death their trust grows as the both search for the meaning they’re looking for. The power of their friendship is eclipsed only by the tragedy of the films conclusion in what I have to say is one of the most emotional scenes in film to not have a single line of dialogue.
My only criticism of this film is that the tempo is slow, and at a length of nearly 2 hours; I must say it feels stretched. There is little real action until the end and there are several scenes which could be considered superfluous. In particular there is a scene in which they hitch-hike with a crazed redneck who tries to suffocate them with carbon monoxide before he crashes his car only to open to boot and begin shooting unsuccessfully at the many white rabbits which emerge. Whilst I cannot see the need for this scene I wonder if without this staggered and slow approach I would feel as attached to our two protagonists.
Bringing Geoff Bridges to the forefront of everybody’s minds; Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is more than deserving of its high praise and is a clear influence on all future ‘buddy tales’. A heist with a heart, this is one of Bridges’ best performances and a must watch for all Eastwood fans.
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