Thunderbolt and Lightfoot successfully welded two of those classic American genres: the buddy/road movie and the heist movie. And it did so with two awesome performances by Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, respectively). These were the days where Eastwood was more well-known for playing toughs, rather than his later Oscar-nominated roles. But Eastwood is great here, even if he wasn't nominated for an Academy Award (although the critical response to this film led him to believe he should have been). It's an odd vehicle for Eastwood of this era and not your typical road/buddy film. For a start, the two principals keep the bickering to a minimum and seem to be having a genuinely great time on screen. Bridges was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Eastwood confided in friends and co-workers that he felt upstaged by his younger co-star, but that's besides the point: the film works so well because they work so well together. This was the first feature film directed by Michael Cimino (he of The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate game/infamy), although according to many involved in the production, Eastwood was very influential in the direction, too (he would usually limit his scenes to three takes). He turned out to be a pretty good director himself, actually.
