Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

Jeff Bridges: Lightfoot

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Melody : I didn't get your name.

  Lightfoot : Well, I didn't give it to ya'. My name is Lightfoot.

  Melody : "Lightfoot"?

  Lightfoot : That's right.

  Melody : That's a dumb name. I mean, what kind of person would name a kid that, ya' know?

  Lightfoot : What's your name?

  Melody : Melody.

  Lightfoot : "Melody"? That's not a dumb name?... Hey, maybe we had the same father?

• Lightfoot : Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. That sounds like something.

• [Lightfoot is driving a truck and he sees a woman riding a motorcycle in shorts] 

  Lightfoot : Hey where did you get those pants?

  [the woman pulls out a hammer, pounds the truck and rides off] 

  Lightfoot : You freak! I love you, come back!

• 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.

  John Doherty : Are you all right, kid? You don't look too well.

  Lightfoot : I believe you're right.

  [Slumps over] 

  John Doherty : Lightfoot!

• Lightfoot : Howdy. How's business?

  Station Attendant : In this business, you're always one step away from bankruptcy. Funny money, credit, speculation... Somewhere in this country's a little ol' lady with $79.25. The five cents is a buffalo nickel... If she cashes in her investment, whole thing'll collapse. General Motors, the Pentagon, the two-party system and the whole shebang... We're all running downhill. Gotta' keep running faster or we'll fall down.

• 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.

  John Doherty : 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?

  John Doherty : Slightly advanced, isn't he?

  John Doherty : [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.

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

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

• Red Leary : [Lightfoot shows up with the van, newly dented by the girl on the motorcycle]  Where'd you get the dents?

  Lightfoot : [Nonchalantly]  Progress. I dreamt about you last night.

  Red Leary : What about?

  Lightfoot : I dreamt you said hello to me.

  Red Leary : Don't you get smart with me. I'll break both your arms.

  Lightfoot : I'll keep that in mind.

  Red Leary : Remember what I said. John and me go back a long way. But you don't mean nothin' to me, understand? Nothin'!

  Lightfoot : What'd you try and kill him for then?

  Red Leary : Because we were friends.

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

  Lightfoot : I believe you're right.

• Lightfoot : [Repeated line]  In for a penny, in for a pound.

• Lightfoot : [Repeated line]  Red-haired women are bad luck.

• Lightfoot : You ain't no country preacher, Preacher.

• John Doherty : 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 : So why did you try to kill him then?

  Red Leary : Because we were friends.

• John "Thunderbolt" Doherty : What's your name boy?

  Lightfoot : Lightfoot

  John "Thunderbolt" Doherty : You Indian?

  Lightfoot : Nope. Just American.

• Red Leary : Does he know everything?

  [At the same time] 

  John Doherty : 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.

  John Doherty : Do I look like heat?

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

• 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.

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

• 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?

  John Doherty : Yeah.

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

  John Doherty : I said, yeah, this is it.

  Lightfoot : Well, what happened to it?

  John Doherty : I don't know... Progress.

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

  John Doherty : 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.

• John Doherty : 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.

  John Doherty : 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?

  John Doherty : [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?

  John Doherty : A poem.

  Lightfoot : [In a mocking tone]  A poem?

  John Doherty : Poetry.

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

• Lightfoot : Thunderbolt! Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. That sounds like somethin'.

  John Doherty : 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.

  John Doherty : I won't fault you there.

• 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?

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

• John Doherty : 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!

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

  Lightfoot : Everything I did was for nothing?

  John Doherty : Seems that way, doesn't it?