Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) review

Shifty hooligan "Lightfoot" (Jeff Bridges) steals a car, 'accidentally' rescues "Thunderbolt" (Clint Eastwood) - a bank robber masquerading as a preacher - from being killed by former associate "Red" (George Kennedy), they pal around together, eventually make peace with "Red" and his cohort Eddie Goody (Geoffrey Lewis) and attempt "one last job": robbing the same armory in Montana that they hit years prior.  This is writer-director Cimino's directorial debut, but it's oddly paced with some dopey dialogue: for forty minutes, it's mostly the two main characters kicking up dust and picking up ladies before it realizes the actual "plot" has to kick in, and then the "methodically planned" heist is a bit of a stretch, with Bridges having to dress in drag and Eastwood bringing in a cannon to get into the vault.  Both leads are okay, I guess (Clint was about 44 at the time, Jeff was 25), although it is noteworthy that they would never work with each other again - supposedly, Eastwood was annoyed that Bridges was taking attention away from him - but I found the ending (which is clearly "lifted" from Midnight Cowboy) to be unexpectedly poignant.  In all my time spent teaching, I should have taken a closer look at what's behind the blackboards....