Cool Cars of ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot’ (1974)

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In the early 1970s road movies had become very popular. Films like ‘Two Lane Blacktop‘ and ‘Vanishing Point‘ struck a chord with the public, with protagonists searching for meaning in a meaningless world. Young Michael Cimino penned the screenplay for his road movie / buddy flick / heist film ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot‘ and shopped it around to Hollywood studios, with the caveat he would have to direct it. Clint Eastwood and his production company took a chance on the freshman film director.

The support Eastwood showed Cimino filled him with confidence, and resulted in a great movie, and launched his career. On the strength of ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot‘ Cimino would go on to direct Oscar winner ‘The Deer Hunter‘ only five years later.

The movie opens with veteran bank robber John “Thunderbolt” Doherty hiding out in a small Montana town, posing as a preacher. In a scene that inspired Tarantino’s bloody wedding scene in ‘Kill Bill, Vol. 1‘ a member of Thunderbolt’s old gang enters the front door and shoots up the church. Our hero escapes, and is randomly picked up by Lightfoot, driving away from town in a car he just stole. The two form an unlikely team, a wily veteran and a wild youngster. The tear across Montana stealing cars, picking up hookers (including Daisy Duke herself, Catherine Bach from TV’s ‘The Dukes of Hazard‘) all while plotting a big bank robbery.

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1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am

The opening scene is the start of the crime spree. Young protagonist Lightfoot strolls into a used car dealership in a pair of Jim Morrison looking black leather pants. Lightfoot takes a seat in a white, mint-condition Trans-Am. The salesman comments that the car only has 1,000 miles on the clock, but the red shaker scoop poking out of the hood make it seem like the engine has already been replaced. The car is equipped with a 455 cubic inch L75 big-block V8 engine. The salesman asks “Are you man enough for this car?” to which Lightfoot responds by stealing it. An interesting side note is the car in the movie was personally owned by Clint Eastwood, who asked the director to include his ride in the flick.

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1973 Buick Riviera Boat-tail

Knowing the police will be looking for their ‘hot’ car, the dynamic duo continue with even more grand theft auto. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot pull into a gas station and notice a bickering, middle-aged couple waiting for their attendant to bring them change. They men menacingly walk up to the seated couple and ‘suggest’ swapping the Trans-Am for the couple’s Autumn Gold coloured 1973 Buick Riviera with a 455 cubic inch V8. The Riviera is true Detroit iron, with neo-classic styling including a boat-tail rear end, and pointed rear glass inspired by the 1963-1967 Corvette Stingray. The couple stare at the men, dumb-founded. But are quickly removed from their seats and placed on the ground next to their (former) Buick.

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1951 Mercury 2-Door Coupe

Thunderbolt’s former gang are after him for allegedly stealing the ‘loot’ from the last bank robbery they pulled together. Bad guys Red and Goody are keeping low key in a primer-grey 1951 Mercury. Today, this movie car may reminds some of lead-sleds like the Hirohata Merc in the 1955 JD flick ‘Running Wild‘ but back in 1974, the Mercury would just have been considered a hopelessly old-fashioned, 20+ year old, used car. But it is one tough car! During a driving scene through Big Sky Country, Goody chases our protagonists in their Riviera off the road and over a cliff. The car eventually gets stuck, but is back up and running in subsequent scenes. The only thing that finally immobilizes the Mercury is being driven through a department store’s plate-glass window and into a display.

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1973 Plymouth Fury III

After blowing up the transmission on their stolen Buick, the heroes are forced to hitchhike. That’s when a moment of automotive absurdity graces the screen. A lunatic driving by in a jacked-up 1973 Plymouth Fury III skids to a stop to pick up Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. This is a very interesting car as it reflects a style of the era called ‘street freak’. The high-riding rear end mimics funny-car dragsters of the 1970’s. The car achieves this stance through Gabriel air-shocks, heavy duty leaf springs attached to the chassis through extra-long spring shackles. The car rides on ‘bigs & littles‘ with massive drag tires on the back axle, perfect for launches at the dragstrip.

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1973 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Convertible

During an early scene in the movie, Lightfoot daydreams about what he’ll do with the money from their latest caper. He rambles on about buying a Cadillac convertible, in white. He even says he’d like to walk into a dealership and pay cash for it on the spot. To honour his friend’s dream,. Thunderbolt takes some of his cash and buys a brand-new, white on lipstick red 1973 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. This land yacht is one of the last full-size, body-on-frame, American convertibles ever built. Under the long hood lies a 500 cubic inch V8, the largest engine Cadillac ever produced. The high torque output of the big-block engine combined with the heft of the big-body car made for the era’s most luxurious driving experience.

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The cinematography and camera work are stunning, and Michael Cimino had an incredible ability to capture the vistas and mountains on Montana. He would later return to the state to shoot his famous flop ‘Heaven’s Gate‘. He should have just stuck to cool car flicks.

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