Until today's horrific film offerings were unleashed on a sinful and unrepentant world, I'd have said that the 1970s were the worst decade in films. Yes, there were great films like Star Wars or Grease, but there was a lot of nihilistic garbage.
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot falls into the that category.
On the surface, this should be an awesome movie, with Clint Eastwood starring opposite Jeff Bridges in a fun buddy-buddy heist movie. It even has Daisy Duke herself, Catherine Bach.
Yet, despite it's promising opening, it slowly but surely becomes yet another depressing cinematic salute to the "the death of the American Dream."
Part of the problem is that it has George Kennedy essentially reprising his brute, skull-smashing character from Charade. Kennedy would go on to lighter fare (such as Police Squad/The Naked Gun), but at that time he was often a foul-mouthed heavy.
Seeing him do the same thing in a far less light-hearted film felt derivative. I get that having a less than happy ending was part of the zeitgeist of diminishing expectations and anti-heroes, but that doesn't make it enjoyable.
I will here note that it was this kind of depressive film making that made Star Wars the outstanding success that it was. It was a rare happy ending in an age of deep cynicism.
Chateau Lloyd 
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