Until very recently I knew the name Burt Reynolds, but to be honest I think I'd only completed one of his movies, the original The Longest Yard (1974). I bailed on Deliverance (1972) pretty early. It was parody I was most familiar with, thanks to SNL and Norm MacDonald. Yes, I'm talking Celebrity Jeopardy.
Smokey and the Bandit (1977), seemingly the quintessential Burt Reynolds movie, is another I'd been interested in seeing for a while. I got the chance in noticing it's on Netflix. And oh boy, was it pure delight.
The premise is stupid, basically non-sensical, but in the end it doesn't matter. Supposedly here, in the 70s, it's illegal to transport beer east out of Texas, past the state-line (this was never illegal). Two cartoon-character-looking rich guys are paying any truck driver they can find to run a truckload of Coors to Atlanta simply so they can throw a rager. The movie starts with a bunch of drivers getting pulled over and caught by the police, thereby failing the mission. These two then decide seek out a driver with a reputation for this kind of operation. His name is Bandit.
Unlike the other drivers we've seen thus far Bandit (Reynolds, obvi) has a plan in mind. He barters extra money in advance to get himself a fast car (a black Trans Am, soon to be wildly popular) and brings in an at-first skeptical partner. The deal, more like a wager, is they'll be paid $80k to complete the journey, making it from Atlanta to Texarkana and back with the beer in a little over a day. To be more exact it's about 1300 miles (a figure I had to look up) in 28 hours. Bandit will be driving the car, as he calls it a 'blocker,' and his partner will be in the truck. The window is tight and they set off.
Getting to Texarkana and loading up the Coors on schedule isn't much of a problem, the issue was always going to be getting back. This is when the movie really gets fun. The guys are absolutely flying down the road (mostly two lane highways) the whole time, with Bandit usually over 100 mph. His role, as a blocker, is to divert any law enforcement away from the semi with the beer. He certainly succeeds in drawing a whole lot of attention, both good and bad. Over and over again he gets into big chases and does a remarkable job escaping the ever-growing posse following him. Not only are there cops from several states on his tail, some more motivated than others, but he's become a celebrity amongst everyone using CB radio along their route. All manner of people hear about them, want to see them make it and assist in humorous ways.
On the way Bandit runs into a woman, not literally but figuratively, though she is in the middle of the road. 'Frog' (Sally Field), as Bandit soon nicknames her, who is absolutely adorable, has run away from a wedding. Bandit wants to drop her off as quickly as possible but that's made complicated by the rush he's in, the chase and well, let's say, some mutual attraction. Their interactions are almost as good as the hijinks with the cars.
In the end this has about everything you want to see. There are a ton of car chases, fun flirty banter and literal laugh-out-loud moments as you're rooting for Bandit to make it. In the end the beer doesn't even matter nearly as much as completing the trip. It's just so fun and a great example of why we love the movies.
Oh, it's also where Eastbound and Down comes from. It's a description of the plot!
Definitely check it out.
That was one of my favorite movies as a young teenager. I saw it several times. In those days, not necessarily because of the movie, but it certainly helped CB radios were as ubiquitous as cell phones today. I can remember having one in each of my parents cars, and when we would go on long car trips, we would be able to communicate back-and-forth. It also launched the trucker craze. I can remember wanting to be a truck driver. And a whole new language of radio lingo. It’s interesting how one movie, in those days, could change the way, so many people fought about things. Jaws did a similar thing to summers before. Thanks for sharing. It brought bac…