John Doherty (a youthful and supple Clint Eastwood) is masquerading as a preacher in a sleepy locale whilst escaping from a past filled with petty crimes and a big heist which forced him into hiding and left his partners imprisoned. His recently released partners track him down to the church, whereupon a gunfight ensues. Whilst fleeing, John runs into Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges), a small-time con artist with big dreams, who helps him get away. Enamoured of being in the company of the infamous "Thunderbolt", Doherty's nickname, Lightfoot clamours to join him on a road trip to recover the loot from the previous heist. As their friendship develops, the duo decide to split the money and leave behind their lives of crime. They stop for a night of R&R (involving Catherine Bach - need more be said?) before continuing on their way. Eventually, the partners catch up with them, and upon discovering that the stash is gone, the quartet lay plans for a copy-cat crime to settle old scores. Needless to say, things go terribly wrong, and only Thunderbolt and Lightfoot manage to get away, but not before Lightfoot is seriously injured. Undaunted, the duo struggle to find a way to survive before accidentally stumbling upon the hidden cache from the previous job. Thunderbolt's relief and joy is however shortlived as Lightfoot succumbs to his injuries and dies as they travel toward their dream of a life free from crime.

Who would have thought that an action-adventure comedy could yield such rich rewards in terms of characterisation? Indeed, the biggest draw of Cimino's film is his unwavering direction of a cast of talented leads, and his (still) refreshing script, which is full of unexpected developments and surprisingly amusing situations. He begins with an action piece, meanders into road movie territory, formulates an elaborate and exciting heist set-piece, before ending as a melancholic drama. In mixing his genres, Cimino has not neglected to pump up the adrenaline, and each action sequence manages to top the next in terms of risk and invention - some of the things done in this film have been ceaselessly copied by more recent action movies, but some of the most interesting stunts have never been replicated. There are some tell-tale signs of age, from the fashion (70s leather bell-bottoms, flared collars, psychedelic prints - all courtesy of the decade that taste forgot) to the dialogue ("you hippy son of a...") to the social perspectives offered (there are the by-now-infamous strong streaks of homophobia running through the film, as well as a politcally-incorrect insistence on portraying women as bimbos), but on the whole, the script is gleefully irreverent to the various genres it pays homage to (or lampoons, depending on how you see it).

The acting is of a uniformly excellent standard, barring one or two curious casting decisions. Catherine Bach, in her pre-Dukes of Hazard days, plays a tramply trollop named "Melody" with about as much conviction as an inanimate object can. Her role is miniscule, and yet, she manages to grate for being so awful and stiff - one wonders why she was cast. A young Gary Busey (spelt "Garey" in the credits) pops up briefly as well for a tiny bit part; although he is nowhere near as abysmal in assaying his role as Bach, he fails to register a presence on screen.

Perhaps it is because the two lead performances are so excellent, that everyone else pales in comparison.

Long before Unforgiven gave him a new resurgence and earned him belated respect, Clint Eastwood was already displaying signs of talent and a knowing sense of self-parody. In this film, his character is an aging con, lured back into the thrill of a heist by a soft-headed ingenue. His performance is laid-back and low-key, but not excessively so, and the overall effect is subtle and effective. The screen chemistry he shares with Bridges is palpable, and the two play off each other in an easy, credible manner, making their friendship in the film believable and, at times, even tender. However, his best comedic work in this film involves his reactions to some of Lightfoot's "throwback to spaghetti-westerns" lines: the camera captures his unbelieving, sardonic and bemused expressions - this is the height of self-parody. Even his early scenes in Absolute Power cannot match the silent comedy on display here.

Jeff Bridges' performance in this film was universally hailed as the best thing on offer. Upstaging Eastwood, the blustery George Kennedy and the hilariously high-strung Geoffrey Lewis, Bridges earned himself a second best supporting actor oscar nomination with this role. His Lightfoot is first glimpsed as a small-time hood with big-time dreams, recklessly alive and imbued with a strange sense of wonder and innocence. Given to sprouting silly sayings ("You're as young as you feel", "In for a penny, in for a pound", You can lead a mule to water, but you can't make it drink" and many other awful things), and with a dress sense from hell (at one point in the film, he's actually wearing powder blue socks with white shoes!), Bridges' Lightfoot is totally convincing: amazingly, he makes this clunky combination of character traits work, very well I might add, and it is his performance which strikes the strongest emotional chord in the script. When Lightfoot finally expires after very briefly having achieved his dream, his brave, quiet death calls to mind the wonderful exuberance Bridges brought to his earlier scenes, and the melancholic wallop of a promising life snuffed out too soon is crushing.

Largely ignored when first released, Thunderbolt & Lightfoot has since achieved cult status, a belated appreciation of a film that took an established genre and turned it on its head, long before it became fashionable to do so. Definitely worth watching repeatedly.

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