Best Burt Reynolds Movies, Part 1

Hi there. I’m old.

I like old movies. I like talking about old movies. I went to college and got a degree in film where I talked about and studied movies for a few years. I prefer movies from the 70s and 80s, again because I’m old.

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing. I just needed a starting point.

Anyway, I’m going to list the best Burt Reynolds movies. How many movies will I end up listing? I have no idea. Will the movies count down to the best or up to the xth best? I have no idea. Anyway, let’s get started.

The other day I was flipping around channels and had one of those magic moments. The moment where you are flipping through past daytime talk and magically end up on a channel that is showing Smokey and the Bandit. For those of you not familiar this is the first of a trilogy based on the ‘Bandit’ character. Mr. Reynolds was only in the first two. This one is the only one that counts.

The movie itself is pretty simple. Guy in car helps escort a guy in a semi truck (driven by Cletus, CB handle ‘Snowman’, played by singer/songwriter Jerry Reed) to Texas to get 200 cases of Coors beer. They then have to drive that beer to Georgia. I had to explain to my wife why it was a big deal so I’ll explain it here for you.

Until 1986, you couldn’t bring Coors east of the Mississippi River. It was considered ‘bootlegging’.

Yeah, go look that up if you don’t believe me. Anyway, that rule compelled director Hal Needham to start making a movie about that rule — and ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ was born.

So the basic premise is that a father/son duo, Big Enos and Little Enos, hire the Bandit (Reynolds) to smuggle the beer from a wherehouse in Texas to a party in Georgia. To make it interesting, they only have 24 hours.

Fun side note, Little Enos is played by Paul Williams who most people of that time would have known from his signing career. If you’ve ever heard the song ‘Rainbow Connection’ you can thank the guy who played Little Enos in a Burt Reynolds movie about smuggling beer.

In the movie, picking up the beer is easy enough, but on the way back the Bandit picks up Carrie (played by Sally Field) who ran from her own wedding and who is herself being pursued by Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) and his son, Junior. Sheriff Justice chases the Bandit for the rest of the movie. This being a 1970s movie it is mostly one big car chase for the rest of the film. You’ve probably got some questions at this point. I’ll answer them now.

What about jurisdiction?

Oh, that’s actually pretty simple. You see, in the 1970s there was a set of widely used rules in policing that allowed the police to chase offenders across state lines. From there, the police…….

I’m just kidding. This is a 1970s movie. There is no logic and trying to insert logic into a 1970s car chase movie is like trying to teach a piece of bacon how to lace shoes.

What about needing gas while driving 400 miles in cars (and a semi) from the 1970s that got maybe 14 MPG

Again, there is no room for your ‘logic’ here, smarty. You know, to fully appreciate a movie you have to suspend your disbelief for a bit.

After a jump (one of MANY) the Bandit landed and obviously broke his frontend to hell. This is so fake.

Yeah, you’re right. Good for you.

Anyway, some great things in this movie need to not get overlooked. The first is of course the Bandit’s car. It was essentially a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. (I say essentially because they actually used a 1976 model with an updated front end) Apparently, they beat the hell out of the three cars they had. By the end of the movie they had to push the last car around because it no longer ran.

Second great thing: The song “East bound and down”. Here is the original version by Jerry Reed.

Here’s a good cover version too:

The last great thing is the best part — the cast. Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Sally Field, and Jackie Gleason all in the same movie. Gleason is especially at his best when yelling at his son Junior, who he cannot believe came from his loins. I also challenge anyone to watch this movie and not want to punch Junior in the face when the movie is over. He is so brilliantly stupid you just have to enjoy the performance that Mike Henry puts in.

If I told you that a former stuntman turned director (Needham) would get an idea for a movie about bootlegging from a strange law regarding beer (Coors) about a guy played by an ex-college football star (Reynolds) who smuggles beer with his trucker buddy played by a country western singer / songwriter (Reed) who also picks up a bride being chased by her fiance, who is played by a former NFL player (Henry) and his father, you would think I was crazy. However, this was 1977 so it was pretty standard for its day.

So there you have it. Smokey and the Bandit — One of the greatest Burt Reynolds movies ever. Please disagree below. However if you disagree you have to quote sources.

UPDATE: I’m an idiot and forgot to go back and add links to the following entries. Here’s number 2 on the list!