Smokey & The Bandit (1977)
By the mid-1970s it seemed like Burt Reynolds could do no wrong
at the box office. With films like White Lightning and The
Longest Yard, he had become one of the biggest movie stars in
the entire world.
In 1977, he decided to mix his star power with one of the most
successful film genres of the 1970s, the car chase movie. The end
result was Smokey and the Bandit, a film that became one of
the top hits of the decade.
Burt Reynolds is in rare form as Bandit, an ultra-macho truck
driver who has become a legend throughout the American South for
his amazing driving skills and his ability to elude the law.
However, Bandit has the bad habit of talking as fast as he drives.
As a result, he unwittingly talks himself into a bet with Big Enos
and Little Enos.
These two colourful entrepreneurs bet Bandit that he cannot
transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta in 18
hours. If he wins, he scores $80,000. Bandit takes the bet,
enlisting his good-ol'-boy buddy Snowman to help him transport the
goods in a truck while Bandit rides flank in his beautiful,
souped-up black Trans-Am.
Bandit and Snowman make their way to Texarkana and pick up the
load of beer with ease. However, they make one big mistake on
their way out: Bandit decides to give a ride to Carrie, a young
woman who has decided to run away from her wedding at the last
moment. In the process, Bandit angers the groom's father, who
happens to be the venerable Sheriff Buford T. Justice.
Justice swears vengeance upon Bandit and gives chase to him and
Snowman, enlisting the help of every lawman along the way to stop
the fast-driving duo before they make it back to Atlanta. As
Bandit, Snowman and Carrie race for the finish line, they go
through an endless array of increasingly insane car chases and
leave plenty of wrecked cop cars in their wake.
The car chases took up a large portion of Smokey and the
Bandit's running time, but they were truly worth it. Simply
put, the chase scenes in this film are to car-chase cinema what
The Three Stooges' routines are to slapstick comedy.
Director Hal Needham was a stunt choreographer before he made
his directing debut with this film, and the experience showed: the
chases were expertly filmed, perfectly timed, and had an
over-the-top, cartoonish sense of inspiration that still never
fails to make a viewer's jaw hit the floor. As a result of this
movie's success, Needham went on to direct many more Burt Reynolds
films.
Another important key to the film's staying power is Burt
Reynold's self-assured leading man charm. No matter how silly the
film got, his charisma kept the viewer riveted to the
screen.
The film also benefited from an array of colourful supporting
performances. Jerry Reed was charmingly 'down-home' as Snowman and
also provided many of the country-and-western tunes on the film's
soundtrack. Sally Field also turned in a spunky performance as the
neurotic but spirited Carrie. Fields also generated a memorable
chemistry with Reynolds. As history revealed, the sparks that flew
between the pair were very real, and they became a romantic item
after making this film.
However, the true acting triumph in the film belonged to Jackie
Gleason. It was his first film performance in seven years and his
wickedly funny performance as the hot-blooded and blustery Sheriff
Justice made a whole new generation of viewers aware of his
comedic skills. As a result, he made a comeback and starred in
further comedy hits like The Toy.
Contrary to popular belief, Smokey and the Bandit did
not invent the car-chase movie. This cinematic territory had mined
successfully throughout the 1970's by hits like Dirty Mary,
Crazy Larry and The Gumball Rally. In fact, most of the
people involved thought of it as a quickie film aimed at the
Drive-In market, and it was made quickly on a modest budget of
$4.5 million.
However, the film ended up grossing over $126 million in the
USA alone. It ended up second only to Star Wars on 1977's
biggest hits list and spawned a wave of imitators on both film (Smokey
Bites The Dust) and television (The Dukes of Hazzard).
In light of Smokey and the Bandit's tremendous success,
it was inevitable that there would be a sequel. In 1980, Bandit
and all the other major characters made their triumphant return in
Smokey and the Bandit II. In this story, Bandit has become
a washout after his original success.
When he is challenged by Big
Enos and Little Enos to transport a pregnant elephant across the
country in 24 hours, Bandit enlists his pals to pull the strange
mission off and once again runs afoul of Sheriff Justice. The end
result was plenty of crazy car chases and another major box office
hit.
Over the years, Reynolds continued to do further car-related
films with Hooper, The Cannonball Run and Stroker
Ace. He never made another Smokey film, but the
series was so successful that another film was demanded by
audiences around the world. Thus, Jackie Gleason was enlisted to
make a film called Smokey Is The Bandit, which revolved
around Sheriff Justice chasing down the Bandit once more, only to
discover that he himself is the Bandit.
The finished film confused test audiences, and it was re-shot
with Jerry Reed filling in as the Bandit. Burt Reynolds also
contributed a brief cameo at the end of the film. The end result
was released as Smokey and the Bandit III to a modest
box-office response. There have been no further attempts to revive
the series since then.
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