Summary
The Bandit is the legend, the greatest trucker, smuggler, runner of them all, so when two rich southerners want to haul some beer across state lines in a record time, he’s the only one to call, but will the Bandit still be able to make his run on time when he picks up a runaway bride hitch-hiker?
The Legend
I’m to young to have seen “Smokey and the Bandit" in theaters, but it is one of those movies that, even if you have never seen it, you probably know what it is about. The movie is so iconic and, it seems, universally loved that it seemed like there wasn’t even a point in watching it.
The Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights) passed. Like the film, Burt was an actor I could recognize in a heartbeat but not one I felt like I needed to go out of my way to see. He was not a huge influence on me since I hardly saw his films but he seemed as much of an image of a certain kind of American as John Wayne was a cowboy.
As such, I figured as a tribute to him, I would watch one of his most famous movies.
The Film
This won’t be a long review. The film is pretty simple and you either dig it or you don’t. I don’t.
To be honest I’m really not sure why this is such an iconic film. It’s just a guy in a car drawing of police officers from a Semi Truck punctuated by puns and double entendres.
The film is mostly one long chase scene but it’s not a good chase scene. It’s not well shot so you never really know where the cars are in relation to each other or what kind of danger anyone is in. The police are cartoon characters that couldn’t keep a car with a dead battery on the road and in the end, when the Bandit wins, it isn’t anymore glorious of a victory than when the United States Dream Team in the 90s beat everyone in the world at basketball. Of course they did. They were playing amateurs. Similarly, the Bandit does nothing more than beat a police force which falls all over itself anytime someone says, “look over there.”
The performances are equally dreadful. Not Burt Reynolds and Sally Field (Lincoln), but everyone else, especially Jackie Gleason. If no one had told me who he was, I would have thought he was a hack.
The writing is perhaps, one of this movies worst qualities. Nothing like a movie with low stakes, chases that pose no danger, and jokes ripped from a bathroom stall wall. I remember one line in the movie that I thought was good and poignant but I remember it because there was only one.
Thought Provoking
Really, the best thing about this movie, at least as I watched it today, is that it put Burt’s life in perspective for me. As I thought about writing this review and slamming a favorite movie of a beloved actor who has passed, I found myself wondering if it was in poor taste. It got me thinking of how I would want my movies talked about. It got me thinking about the ways that everything we do in life has a shelf life.
In the end it put me in a sort of thoughtful mood, thinking about Burt Reynolds and praying that he, as I hope may be true for all, found happiness in his life and connected deeply with others because, truly, what more can one ask for when the day is coming when no one remembers this film?
Someday, every copy of every movie will pass away. Every memory of every performance as well. But the smiles and joy that Burt brought to millions were real smiles, real joy, and no matter what happens in the future, no matter how many young people watch his films and think the humor is outdated, lives were happier for his presence with us.
That, I believe, is worth celebrating.
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