THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT: The Story 2: A Relationship Movie

[Matt]

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot was a relationship movie. Also, again, it's four outsiders adrift in middle America. My character definitely tries to push the other characters away. He not only tries to push his past away but he doesn't want to get involved with any new people either. ... It does transcend its genre. It's not just waiting for the next action sequence. It actually has time to develop its characters and the relationship between all the different characters throughout the piece.

(Clint Eastwood, from an interview for the 1995 Starwave CD-ROM Eastwood, available as an audio file on the Clint Eastwood World Wide Web Page)

Although Thunderbolt and Lightfoot was made ten years after the first film in which Eastwood played a starring role (A Fistful of Dollars), it is the first film in which Eastwood's character forms a real friendship with someone. The film has been placed by reviewers in the same buddy/crime caper category as Bonnie and Clyde and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as well as Midnight Cowboy and The Sting. Do you see the relationships in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot as comparable to those in any of these films? What about the relationships among the other characters? Do you feel the relationships are well-developed?

[Christopher]

Of those films listed, the only one I haven't seen is The Sting. I've always liked the friendship formed between Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and I believe it's as well developed as the friendships in any of those other films. I'll probably always think Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is the best caper movie ever.

Like other Eastwood movies, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is made special by the relationships it shows between the characters. When I think of a movie like The Gauntlet, the best aspect of the movie is the relationship between Ben and Gus. Or at least it separates that movie from being just another "action" film.

[Bronco_Billy]

 In the same way as in the Outlaw josey wales Eastwood reluctantly took a kid under his wing , that is the only comparison I see in another movie.
Certaintly I wouldnt call them buddies , I think Eastwood was just looking out for the kid , least until the kid got knowledge.



 

[allycat]

Perhaps Thunderbolt and Lightfoot could be described as the ultimate buddy film. It’s obvious Lightfoot looks up to Thunderbolt and sees him as a hero. He seems to be in awe of him throughout the film. He tries to emulate his hero. Red just doesn’t understand Lighfoot. He sees him as just a dumb kid, but Lightfoot has more to him than that. Red mourns the apparent loss of traditional values, saying “Young kids. They don’t believe in anything anymore.” But Lightfoot admires and respects Thunderbolt. It’s so heartbreaking at the end but also beautiful, because Lightfoot finally feels like he is somebody, he feels like he’s the hero. Surely that’s what the American Dream is all about? It allows Lightfoot to dream. It’s clear that he thinks a lot of Thunderbolt when he talks about his military career just after Red has administered the brutal beating:

L: Hey, you got the silver star. You’re the real hero, not Leary.
T: What difference does it make?
L: No difference. Just wanted to know, that’s all.

And at the end of the film:

L: You know something? I don’t think of us as criminals, you know? I feel we accomplished something. A good job.
(T. looks at him, unsmiling. He realises L. is seriously unwell.)
L: (smiling) I feel proud of myself, man. I feel like a hero.

My heart broke in two right at that point.

(I've mentioned the end scene here and not under the one about Lightfoot's death because I have other thoughts I want to add there. My posts seem to be overlapping quite nicely, anyway )

I don't suppose that Thunderbolt would have embarked on the heist if it weren't for Lightfoot. Lightfoot is the literal embodiment of the notion of living fast and dying young. Lightfoot gives Thunderbolt a kind of direction.

[mgk]

My favorite part of this movie is the relationship between Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Eastwood's character, as he states in the quote within the question here, pushed people away and wanted to be a loner.  But, Lightfoot was so easily likeable that it didn't take Thunderbolt any longer than it did us to think of Lightfoot as his friend (buddy).  It ends up to be a charming relationship where two characters really cared about each other and enjoyed the company of each other.

Ally's right when she says that Lightfoot looked up to Thunderbolt........he actually is in awe of him.  Lightfoot wanted to be just like Thunderbolt was in his youth..... fearless, adventurous, risky, exciting, and care-free.  He looked up to him as if he were a hero.

It's interesting that in the relationship between Red and Goody, you also have one looking up to the other.  Goodly looks up to Red and will do just about anything Red wants him to do.  The biggest difference here is that Red doesn't have any respect for Goody whereas Thunderbolt does  have respect for Lightfoot and treats him accordingly.

The relationship between Red and Lightfoot is covered in another question but one thing I think is worth pointing out is that maybe some of the jealousy and, therefore, rage that Red feels toward Lightfoot is that he has won the friendship of Thunderbot and his word carries more weight with Thunderbolt than Red's does.

[mgk]

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[The Schofield Kid]

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[The Schofield Kid]

Lightfoot is the literal embodiment of the notion of living fast and dying young. Lightfoot gives Thunderbolt a kind of direction.

Maybe Lightfoot reminds Thunderbolt of himself 20 years ago. A cocky young soldier who got wounded in Korea. This robbery gets Thunderbolt thinking about the old days and that's why he decides to do the same crime again.

[The Schofield Kid]

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