John “Thunderbolt” Doherty—a Korean War veteran being pursued by a gunman—hitches a ride with a young drifter calling himself “Lightfoot.” The unlikely friends drive south, switching cars and picking up women, before committing to carrying out a high-reward heist that puts both their lives at risk.

A peppy Jeff Bridges bounds along with a husky Clint Eastwood in Michael Cimino’s lovably loose crime caper. Breezy with scenes of ice-cream-eating and riverside picnics, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot mellows the heist-film genre, only to devastate with the unexpected depth of its odd-couple friendship.