Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

Clint Eastwood: Thunderbolt

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Lightfoot : [Final lines]  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! You all right? What's...

• Lightfoot : [Eyeing the clothes in the back of the car they've just stolen]  Hey, look at this, man. It's like they got a whole department store back here. I like that.

  Thunderbolt : Yeah... Those clothes and your mouth, you could be a big man.

• Lightfoot : [Hitchhiking: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot have accepted a ride from a crazy driver with a mess of a car]  This guy another friend of yours?

  Thunderbolt : Slightly advanced, isn't he?

  Thunderbolt : [Exhaust fumes start billowing up in the back seating area]  Hey, what's wrong with this wreck? We're gettin' gassed back here!

  Lightfoot : This guy's a basket case. He's got the exhaust pipe in here.

• Thunderbolt : 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.

• Secretary : [Thunderbolt is working in a metal shop]  You forgot to give me your Social Security number.

  Thunderbolt : What?

  Secretary : I said that you forgot to give me your Social Security number.

  Thunderbolt : Oh, I've forgotten it.

  Secretary : Forgotten it?... Ha ha!... Nobody ever forgets their number. Where you been workin'?

• Thunderbolt : [Thunderbolt and Gloria are having sex]  Take it easy, Gloria. You're killin' me.

  Gloria : Where'd you get all those scars from?

  Thunderbolt : Marines. Korea.

  Gloria : Oh, yeah? I heard about that war...

• Lightfoot : [Asking about a former heist in which Thunderbolt played a role]  Montana Armored? How did you get into the vault?

  Thunderbolt : 20mm cannon with armor-piercing shells. Wasn't too hard.

• Thunderbolt : You don't look so good, kid.

  Lightfoot : I believe you're right.

• Thunderbolt : Hey, why don't you take this watch, huh? I want you to have it.

  Lightfoot : I don't want your watch, man... I want your friendship!

• Lightfoot : A man can do whatever he sets his mind to. Now, me, I wanna' walk in and buy a white Cadillac convertible. Actually walk in and buy it, cash.

  Thunderbolt : You might set your mind to gettin' us a lift. This walkin' is tough on my bad leg.

• Red Leary : Does he know everything?

  [At the same time] 

  Thunderbolt : No.

  Lightfoot : Yes.

• Lightfoot : [John Doherty, aka Thunderbolt, dressed in preacher's garb, has jumped into Lightfoot's stolen Trans-Am]  I thought you were the heat.

  Thunderbolt : Do I look like heat?

  Lightfoot : You look like one crazy sonofabitch for a preacher, I'll tell ya' that.

• Lightfoot : [Arriving at the site of what was supposed to be the old schoolhouse, now replaced with a modern new school]  Are you sure this is the spot?

  Thunderbolt : Yeah.

  Lightfoot : What? I didn't hear what you said.

  Thunderbolt : I said, yeah, this is it.

  Lightfoot : Well, what happened to it?

  Thunderbolt : I don't know... Progress.

• Lightfoot : The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

  Thunderbolt : Where do you pick up these pearls of wisdom?

  Lightfoot : Books.

  Red Leary : [Mockingly]  You mean you can actually read?

  Lightfoot : I read *you* loud and clear.

  Red Leary : You better believe it.

• 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 : How you feelin' today, preacher?

  Thunderbolt : [Reciting a line of poetry]  The clock uncoils the working day, and he wakes up feeling his youth has gone away.

  Lightfoot : Now what the hell is that? A prayer?

  Thunderbolt : A poem.

  Lightfoot : [In a mocking tone]  A poem?

  Thunderbolt : Poetry.

  Lightfoot : Ah. You stick with me, kid. You can live forever.

• 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.

• Red Leary : What you been preachin' lately, Johnny.

  Thunderbolt : Survival.

• Lightfoot : [Expressing reservations about his role in the upcoming heist]  Look, I don't know if I can pull this thing off. How do I know what to do?

  Thunderbolt : What's the matter? The job too tough for ya'?

• Thunderbolt : What happened to Goody?

  Red Leary : I threw that little sucker out.

  Lightfoot : You prick!

  Red Leary : [Knocks Lightfoot to the ground and kicks him savagely]  Say somethin' funny now, smart-ass!

• Thunderbolt : The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.

• Thunderbolt : Remember that we are all imperfect.

• Thunderbolt : You like to spend money?

  Lightfoot : When I can get it.

  Thunderbolt : Do you care how you get it?

  Lightfoot : No. If it doesn't cost me too much.

• Thunderbolt : You got blue eyes. All great race champions have blue eyes. That's a fact.

  Lightfoot : And all preachers drink like fish. That's another fact.

• Thunderbolt : Sometimes you have to pay for pleasure.

• Lightfoot : Now, in a case like this, you can't take your hands off the wheel even for a second. See.

  [takes his hands off the wheel] 

  Thunderbolt : Get your hands on the wheel!

  Lightfoot : A rolling stone gathers no moss! Woo!

• Lightfoot : [Thunderbolt opens the door and sees Lightfoot arm in arm with two hookers]  Brought back some extra goodies.

  Thunderbolt : Are you outta your mind?

  Lightfoot : This is Gloria and Melody.

  Melody : Nice to meet you.

  Gloria : Nice to meet you.

  Thunderbolt : Melody, Gloria.

  Lightfoot : Go right in, ladies.

  Thunderbolt : You're full of all kinds of surprises, aren't you.

  Lightfoot : Gloria - has a great ass, doesn't she? I think it's the best I've ever seen, really. Wouldn't you say that, Melody?

  Gloria : Mister, I just got out of a bed to come here, you know. And I don't intend to jump right back into one - here.

  Lightfoot : [to Thunderbolt]  Oh, I forgot to tell ya. Gloria - is yours.

• Lightfoot : On the train I met this woman. So the next thing I know, we're getting off the train together in New Orleans, right. Two weeks later, I wake up in some fleabag hotel. Oh, God. But we had ourselves a *good* time, man. So after her, things looked good. I kept moving.

  Thunderbolt : Now you can't stop.

• Thunderbolt : You're better off getting as far away from me as you can, boy.

• Thunderbolt : Well, my good friend, we're broke. Do you have any suggestions?

  Lightfoot : If I knew what you know, I'd never be broke.

  Thunderbolt : Well, what do you think I know that you would like to know?

  Lightfoot : All right. Well, for one thing, I'd like to know if there's a good way of beating a bank.

• Thunderbolt : What do you want, Red?

  Red Leary : What do I want? You got balls, I'll say that for you, Johnny. I want your ass, that's what I want, my friend.

  Lightfoot : Hey, now flattery's not gonna get you guys anywhere.

• Lightfoot : Where are we headed, man? I'm ready.

  Thunderbolt : I don't know. Sometimes when there's nothing to do, it's best just to keep moving.

• Thunderbolt : You are what you do, so to speak.

• Thunderbolt : Why do you think I'd come to a dumb town like this?

  Red Leary : How the hell do I know? You're queer for dumb towns.

• Thunderbolt : What's the matter? The job too tough for ya? You can't stop this thing once you start.

• Lightfoot : Do you think...?

  Thunderbolt : I don't know, but it do present mind-boggling possibilities.

• Thunderbolt : This isn't a game, you know. You gotta get that fat guy before he reports the alarm. Now, you tie him up, you gag him and you put him in the can. Now, people are used to him being in the can for long periods of time. And you leave the place neat. Understand? Just like you found it. Now, at 11.36 Goody comes around back. If you're not ready, he goes without you. You get in the car and hit the floor. You stay there, you don't talk, you don't make any noise, you don't move around until Goody tells you. At 11.39 Goody comes back to the vault. Leary and I will be there with the money. If we're not, you just keep right on going. If we pull this whole thing off, we should be able to make the midnight movie at the drive-in.

• Thunderbolt : Seems there was another hook-up after all.

  Lightfoot : Everything I did was for nothing?

  Thunderbolt : Seems that way, doesn't it?