The very first shot of "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" a faultless composition, fifty per cent wispy Idaho sky, fifty per cent cornfield establishes an elegant style which Cimino maintains throughout the film
The second scene Clint Eastwood as we have never seen him before, wearing spectacles, his hair slicked back and dressed as a vicar delivering a sermon in a crowded country church immediately makes one realize that the film may be quite different from any of Eastwood's previous ones
But the third scene, in which the vicar is chased across a seemingly endless cornfield by an irate gun-firing George Kennedy establishes that all is not as it seems to be
Eastwood is rescued by Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges), who has just relieved a car salesman of $3000 dollars' worth of automobile, and a partnership is quickly created, with the veteran Thunderbolt asserting his experience and virility over the inexperienced Lightfoot... Casting off his vicar's clothes Thunderbolt then takes his belt and endures agonizing pain as he uses it to pull his dislocated shoulder into place
Thunderbolt is being pursued by Red Leary (George Kennedy) and Eddie Goody (Geoffrey Lewis) who are former partners of his in crime and who believe he has the half million dollar takings from their last bank raid They mean business While Thunderbolt and Lightfoot enjoy themselves with two young ladies named Gloria and Melody, Leary and Goody wait outside. 'Are you sure that's their car?' wonders Goody. 'That's their hearse,' says Leary
The film was a triumphant debut for Cimino His script combined wit and the naive philosophy of the motorized cowboys 'Leary, I had a dream about you last night." "About what?" "I dreamt you said hello to me.'
At the beginning of the film when Eastwood recites his sermon for the benefit of his felonious friend, 'and the lion shall lie down with the leopard' (Cimino used it purposely to indicate the liaison between Lightfoot the lion and Thunderbolt the leopard), the younger man asks 'What's that a poem?' 'No,' replies Thunderbolt, 'a prayer'. At the end of the film the younger man is still seeking answers from his senior partner 'Where you heading?' 'See what's over the next mountain! We won, didn't we?' 'I guess we did for the time being.'
Cimino created the part for Eastwood and in doing so drew greatly on his actual personality For those people who know the real Clint Eastwood, no film part better conveys the style, the warmth, and the dry delivery of the man himself
Eastwood is rescued by Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges), who has just relieved a car salesman of $3000 dollars' worth of automobile, and a partnership is quickly created, with the veteran Thunderbolt asserting his experience and virility over the inexperienced Lightfoot... Casting off his vicar's clothes Thunderbolt then takes his belt and endures agonizing pain as he uses it to pull his dislocated shoulder into place
Thunderbolt is being pursued by Red Leary (George Kennedy) and Eddie Goody (Geoffrey Lewis) who are former partners of his in crime and who believe he has the half million dollar takings from their last bank raid They mean business While Thunderbolt and Lightfoot enjoy themselves with two young ladies named Gloria and Melody, Leary and Goody wait outside. 'Are you sure that's their car?' wonders Goody. 'That's their hearse,' says Leary
The film was a triumphant debut for Cimino His script combined wit and the naive philosophy of the motorized cowboys 'Leary, I had a dream about you last night." "About what?" "I dreamt you said hello to me.'
At the beginning of the film when Eastwood recites his sermon for the benefit of his felonious friend, 'and the lion shall lie down with the leopard' (Cimino used it purposely to indicate the liaison between Lightfoot the lion and Thunderbolt the leopard), the younger man asks 'What's that a poem?' 'No,' replies Thunderbolt, 'a prayer'. At the end of the film the younger man is still seeking answers from his senior partner 'Where you heading?' 'See what's over the next mountain! We won, didn't we?' 'I guess we did for the time being.'
Cimino created the part for Eastwood and in doing so drew greatly on his actual personality For those people who know the real Clint Eastwood, no film part better conveys the style, the warmth, and the dry delivery of the man himself