trivia from smokey and the bandit movies

He and Fields (who was just escaping TV infamy as The Flying Nun) have genuine chemistry and movie star glamour. Reynolds exudes an easy going charm and so does the movie. Justice (Jackie Gleason), a cross-country chase ensues. When he crosses paths with the repulsive and persistent Texas sheriff Buford T. Along with his truck drivin’ buddy “Snowman” (played by country star Jerry Reed), a basset hound, a runaway bride (Sally Field) and a turbo-charged Pontiac Trans Am, the Bandit powers through speed traps and evades multiple law enforcers. The Bandit is offered $80,000 to drive a truck containing 400 bootlegged cases of Coors from Texas to Georgia (the beverage used to be illegal east of the Rockies). Reynolds stars as the Bandit, an outlaw declared a “legend” by his underground fan base of Citizens Band (CB) radio fanatics.

The film itself, directed by stuntman legend Hal Needham, is still a kick even though it turns 40 this year.

Reynolds was one of the most popular movie stars of the ’70s and Smokey and the Bandit was the monster success that put him over the top. How big? After Star Wars, it was the second biggest smash of 1977 (actually, I question this, as the same year’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Saturday Night Fever were in theaters even longer but leave the nerdy movie trivia to me). McCall’s “Convoy” was the number one song in America, The Dukes of Hazzard became the most popular TV show on the airwaves and Burt Reynolds’ Smokey and the Bandit emerged a gigantic hit. pop culture, redneck mania was all the rage.

Trivia from smokey and the bandit movies