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Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
10/14
10/14:
Many times while watching a picture, I always ask myself, "Why should I be rooting for the criminals?"
That's what happened for Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a typical piece of work by Clint Eastwood. But it's a rare one for
Jeff Bridges who usually stars in high quality films with lots of seriousness. It's hard to believe they're together.
No matter what, the latter oozes a lot of energy, making it a fun film
to watch. As a reward, he was given an Oscar nomination although I don't think it was deserved. What's comical is the
former thought his performance was also Oscar-worthy when he did nothing remarkable, save for the stunt when he
grabbed ahold of the '73 Pontaic Firebird Trans Am which is actually his car, one of the 252 ever made.
George Kennedy's character is too much to bear. He should have been summarily dumped by his co-conspirators because his
erratic behavior precludes him as trustworthy. Yet he's needed to wrap things up logically at the end.
Meanwhile, the plot is minimal, and the bank deposit robbery is implausible and therefore simple to believe. Pitting
both, acting and plot, against each other seems to balance the film in order to make it watchable.
All in all, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is the kind of picture that goes from one scene to another randomly just
for the hell of it and thus succeeds.