burt reynolds smokey and the bandit movie

BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT MOVIE MOVIE
BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT MOVIE SERIES
BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT MOVIE TV

The jilted groom was played by former movie Tarzan Mike Henry, who must have been delighted to be out of the jungle and in the backwoods. Thanks largely to the success of the Bandit movies, Reed won a People's Choice Award in 1979 as Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actor. Gleason and country singer Jerry Reed, who contributed to the soundtrack, returned for both the sequels, but Field came back only for the first one. Justice, the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Burt Reynolds' father, who was once Chief of Police of Jupiter, Fla. The part of Carrie earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.Ĭomic legend Jackie Gleason took on the role of Buford T. She and Reynolds had a much-publicized love affair around this time (It was enough of a threat to cause Reynolds' future wife, Loni Anderson, to talk him out of co-starring with Field in the comedy Soapdish in 1991). The picture also stars Sally Field - before her Oscars for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984) - as the runaway bride, an updated down-home take on characters in similar predicaments in 1930s screwball comedies. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975, on which Needham served as stunt coordinator), and Gator (1976, directed by Reynolds). He then found his niche as a tough guy with a sense of humor, and began honing the 'good-ol-boy' image that would serve him so well in Smokey with roles in such movies as White Lightning (1973), W.W. He got his first major break in John Boorman's Deliverance (1972) when proposed stars Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, and James Stewart each backed out of the project because of the hazards of filming on the Chatooga River.

BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT MOVIE TV

A native of Waycross, Ga., and a former Florida State University football star until an injury ended his athletic career, Reynolds had been kicking around Hollywood almost 20 years before this picture, first as a TV actor. It was also the first of nine collaborations with his good friend Burt Reynolds, with diminishing degrees of success. Smokey and the Bandit was the directorial debut for former stuntman Needham.

BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT MOVIE SERIES

Needham also made a series of TV movies in 1994 with Brian Bloom as Bandit. The movie also gave rise to the popular TV action-comedy series The Dukes of Hazard (1979-1985). Sam Peckinpah did a more dramatic, violent variation on the CB scene in his trucker movie Convoy (1978), and Jonathan Demme gentle, appealing comedy about the CB craze, Handle with Care (1977, aka Citizen's Band), followed this picture by about four months. The success of the film spawned two hit sequels in 19 and a number of similar movies, including Hooper (1978), The Cannonball Run (1981), Stroker Ace (1983), and Cannonball Run II (1984), all starring Reynolds and directed by Smokey and the Bandit director Hal Needham. Justice, so father and son set out on a high-speed pursuit across the Southeast to catch Bandit and company. It turns out Junior is the son of Portague County Sheriff Buford T. The pair gets the beer, but on the way back, they pick up a hitchhiker, Carrie, who just left her groom, Junior, at the altar. Two truckers, Bandit (Reynolds) and Cledus (Jerry Reed), accept a dare to retrieve a truckload of beer from Texas and return it within a specified amount of time. The plot of Smokey and the Bandit is simple enough and really just an excuse for fast-paced comic action and a crowd-pleasing flouting of the law. The success of the film catapulted Reynolds to the number one box office spot and inspired a string of similar movies and TV shows (not to mention igniting a short-lived CB trend among non-truckers). But it was actually only 25 years ago when Smokey and the Bandit was a runaway favorite at the drive-in and the second highest grossing film of the year after Star Wars (1977). It seems like a hundred years ago when redneck bad boys were all the rage, Burt Reynolds was a top star, CB radios were the hot technology with phrases like '10-4' and 'good buddy' as familiar parlance, and movie action sequences were achieved by daring stunt men in souped-up cars without benefit of digital enhancement.

Burt reynolds smokey and the bandit movie