Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
1974 film by Michael Cimino
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is a 1974 crime film about a bank robber and his irreverent young sidekick who get his old gang back together to organize a daring new heist.
- Directed and written by Michael Cimino.
Thunderbolt... the man with the reputation. Lightfoot... the kid who's about to make one! (taglines)
Thunderbolt
edit- I don't wish to be forward, but we'd like to exchange cars with you. So the faster you get out, the better it'll be for your ass.
Lightfoot
edit- You ain't no country preacher, Preacher.
- [to a woman riding a motorcycle in shorts] Hey where did you get those pants? [the womans pulls out a hammer, pounds his truck and rides off] You freak! I love you, come back!
Red Leary
edit- Go... fuck... a duck.
Dialogue
edit- Melody: I didn't get your name.
- Lightfoot: Well, I didn't give it to ya'. My name is Lightfoot.
- Melody: "Lightfoot"?
- Lightfoot: That's right.
- Melody: That's a dumb name. I mean, what kind of person would name a kid that, ya' know?
- Lightfoot: What's your name?
- Melody: Melody.
- Lightfoot: "Melody"? That's not a dumb name?... Hey, maybe we had the same father?
- Thunderbolt: What's your name, boy?
- Lightfoot: Lightfoot.
- Thunderbolt: You Indian?
- Lightfoot: Nope. Just American.
- Red: Does he know everything?
- [at the same time]
- Thunderbolt: No.
- Lightfoot: Yes.
- Lightfoot: Thunderbolt! Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. That sounds like somethin'.
- Thunderbolt: You're forgetting I'm a lot older than you.
- Lightfoot: There are plenty of guys twice my age who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.
- Thunderbolt: I won't fault you there.
- [a woman runs out of a motel crying rape]
- Woman in car: You really want to stay here?
- Husband: [smiling] Why not?
- [Lightfoot shows up with the van, newly dented by the girl on the motorcycle]
- Red Leary: Where'd you get the dents?
- Lightfoot: Progress. I dreamt about you last night.
- Red Leary: What about?
- Lightfoot: I dreamt you said hello to me.
- Red Leary: Don't you get smart with me. I'll break both your arms.
- Lightfoot: I'll keep that in mind.
- Red Leary: Remember what I said. John and me go back a long way. But you don't mean nothin' to me, understand? Nothin'!
- Lightfoot: What'd you try and kill him for then?
- Red Leary: Because we were friends.
- Lightfoot: [John Doherty, aka Thunderbolt, dressed in preacher's garb, has jumped into Lightfoot's stolen Trans-Am] I thought you were the heat.
- John: Do I look like heat?
- Lightfoot: You look like one crazy son-of-a-bitch for a preacher, I'll tell you that.
- Lightfoot: Howdy. How's business?
- Station Attendant: In this business, you're always one step away from bankruptcy. Funny money, credit, speculation... Somewhere in this country's a little old lady with $79.25. The $0.05 is a buffalo nickel... If she crashes in her investment, whole thing'll collapse. General Motors, the Pentagon, the two-party system and the whole and the whole shebang... We're all running downhill. Got to keep running faster or we'll fall down.
- Thunderbolt: In small-town banks, they leave the telephone off the hook in the vault at night so the local operator can listen in.
- Lightfoot: People walk into these banks with paper sacks, fill 'em with money and walk out. Anybody can do it.
- Thunderbolt: Bullshit. The newest bank vaults have walls of reinforced concrete five feet thick, backed by six inches of steel. The vault door is stainless steel-faced. It's an inch and a half of cast steel, another 12 inches of burn-resisting steel, and another inch and a half of open-hearthed steel... A vault door has 20 bolts, each an inch in diameter. Eight on each side, two top and two bottom. This holds the door into a 16-inch steel jamb set in 18 inches of concrete. It's crosshatched by steel bars running both vertical and horizontal. This door is precision-made so you can't pour nitro between the door and the vault. If that isn't enough, there's microphones, electric eyes, pressure-sensitive mats, vibration detectors, tear gas, and even thermostats that detect the slightest rise in temperature. Still interested in banks?
- Lightfoot: I knew you weren't a preacher!
- Lightfoot: You know... you know somethin'? I don't think of us as criminals, you know? I feel we accomplished something. A good job. I feel proud of myself, man. I feel like a hero.
- Thunderbolt: Are you all right, kid? You don't look too well.
- Lightfoot: I believe you're right.
- [Slumps over]
- Thunderbolt: Lightfoot!
Taglines
edit- Thunderbolt... the man with the reputation. Lightfoot... the kid who's about to make one!
- He has exactly seven minutes to get rich quick!
Cast
edit- Clint Eastwood - John "Thunderbolt" Doherty
- Jeff Bridges - Lightfoot
- George Kennedy - Red Leary
- Geoffrey Lewis - Eddie Goody
- Gary Busey - Curly
- Catherine Bach as Melody
- Jack Dodson - Bank Manager
- Gregory Walcott - Car Salesman
- Vic Tayback - Construction Company Owner
- Bill McKinney - Crazed Car Driver w/raccoon and rabbits
- Burton Gilliam - Welder
- Beth Howland - Bank Manager's Wife
- Dub Taylor - Gas Station Attendant
- Claudia Lennear - Secretary
- June Fairchild - Gloria