Movie · 1974 · Comedy, Action, Drama, Adventure · 1h 56m · R · English
Curator score: 5.7/10 (67.7K ratings)
Thunderbolt… the man with the reputation. Lightfoot… the kid who's about to make one!
Overview
With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.7/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.66/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 62
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Michael Cimino
Production
Malpaso Productions, United Artists
Cast
Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy, Geoffrey Lewis, Catherine Bach, Gary Busey, Roy Jenson, Burton Gilliam, Claudia Lennear, Bill McKinney, Vic Tayback, Dub Taylor, Gregory Walcott, Eugene Elman, Erica Hagen, Luanne Roberts, June Fairchild, Leslie Oliver, Karen Lamm, Cliff Emmich
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A loose, funny, and unusually tender heist-road movie with great chemistry between Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges, then a sharp tonal turn into something darker and more fatalistic. It’s especially rewarding if you like outlaw buddy dynamics, 1970s genre hybrids, and films that feel both shaggy and carefully controlled.
Best for
fans of buddy-cop or buddy-crime chemistry
viewers who enjoy 1970s American genre films
people who like heist movies with hangout energy
fans of Clint Eastwood or Jeff Bridges
viewers open to a bittersweet, violent ending
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted, mechanics-first heist film
you dislike tonal shifts from comedy to tragedy
you prefer clean-cut heroes over charming lowlifes
you want a fast, modern pace with constant action
Overview
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is one of those 1970s crime pictures that feels relaxed on the surface and quietly dangerous underneath. The movie runs on the easy, lived-in chemistry between Eastwood and Bridges, who make their characters feel like they’ve been improvising a friendship for years even when they’ve barely met. That hangout quality gives the film a lot of charm: cars, beer, schemes, and aimless confidence become the real pleasures.
Worth noting
What makes it stand out is the tonal balance. It starts as a jokey outlaw caper, but Cimino keeps letting in sadness, menace, and a sense that these men are already doomed by their own habits. The Montana landscapes add a wide-open melancholy, and the ending lands with real force because the film has spent so much time making its characters feel funny, human, and disposable all at once.
Bottom line
It’s not the most intricate heist movie, and that’s part of its appeal. The pleasure is in the vibe, the performances, and the way the film keeps slipping between comedy, camaraderie, and violence. If you like crime films that feel shaggy but memorable, this is an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (4★) · 861 likes
Eastwood & Bridges: a great duo that should have made at least five movies together
Josh Lewis (4★) · 655 likes
Would've pulled the trigger on this way sooner if I had known it was mostly Eastwood and Bridges stealing cars, drinking beer and eating pistachio ice cream. Just hanging out, plotting heists, messing up constantly. Dudes rock, etc. That is until the very upsetting conclusion. :(
Matt! (3.5★) · 612 likes
Nowadays, every movie about bank robbers has to have some ulterior motive where they need the money to pay for their daughter’s cancer treatment or some shit. But back in the day, it was ok for two sleazy assholes to just meet up and say “hey, I’m a sleazy asshole, you’re a sleazy asshole, we should just be sleazy assholes together and rob a bank.” And we’d cheer for them! Those were the days.
Clint Eastwood stars here once again… more
Timcop (4★) · 368 likes
Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges on the search for the perfect pistachio ice cream encounter rabbits in the car trunk, a homicidal George Kennedy, homicidal department store dogs, and tales of putting cocks in hands as pranks. There are very few survivors.
Christof88 (4★) · 279 likes
Clint Eastwood is SO LIKEABLE in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”! If you're only familiar with the older, grouchy Eastwood, you might be surprised to see him as the charming and fun-loving outlaw “Thunderbolt.”
In the opening scene, we learn that his preacher character is actually a bank robber. This storyline sounds familiar because he has portrayed this type of character before. Thunderbolt is on a quest for redemption through living a righteous life, but trouble always finds Eastwood, and that's part… more