Wednesday 24 February 2021

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974 Michael Cimino & scr)

There's something slightly Houstonesque about this, an ill-fitted gang out to rob the same armoury they robbed before, and how it unravels. Cimino's script is good and he handles it all well - the widescreen is used properly, not just for the fabulous Montana locations but for those long cars (and the armour piercing cannon!) Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges make a delightful couple - the latter breaks your heart at the ending (he was Oscar nominated). With George Kennedy (always so good at playing these brutish thug types, whereas we know he was in real life a lovely fella) and Geoffrey Lewis. There are some nice touches of humour - my wife was particularly tickled by Bridges in drag...

I've got to say though the Bridges character does ask for it, constantly winding up Kennedy who we know is violently powerful - near the beginning he says 'It's a good job I didn't hit him in the face, or he'd be dead"...

One of many cross country car films that appeared in the seventies, probably in the wake of Easy Rider. Interestingly - and displaying the power of Eastwood the star then, he entrusted Cimino with the project following the latter's rewrite of Magnum Force, and that on set Clint wouldn't do more than three takes, saying "No, we got it". It's usually the other way round...

It's a Malpaso film, shot by Frank Stanley and edited by Ferris Webster.




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