Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is an overlong, sometimes hilariously vulgar comedy-drama, about the restaging of a difficult safecracking heist. Debuting director Michael Cimino obtains superior performances from Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, Geoffrey Lewis and especially Jeff Bridges.
Cimino’s story picks up Eastwood as a cowtown preacher, his longtime refuge from Kennedy, a survivor of an earlier caper where the loot was hidden and never found. A Kennedy henchman uncovers Eastwood, who meets Bridges (also on the lam from a car theft), then Kennedy and Lewis. The secret hiding place of the loot, an old schoolhouse, has been replaced by a new structure. Uneasily, the group decides to pull the job all over again.
1974: Nomination: Best Supp. Actor (Jeff Bridges)
