Why Smokey and the Bandit is a National Treasure

I know every word to this album to this day.

Anyone who knows me knows that if I say "I'm going to write a super long blog post about one of the greatest movies of all time" it's not going to be about a film by Kurosawa or David Lean or even the guy who makes those incredibly dark superhero movies that everyone but me seems to get a kick out of. No, I'm not a cineaste. I wouldn't even attempt to say that word aloud. I like and appreciate great movies to be sure but I don't go on and on about them because frankly they tend to speak for themselves.

"Look at that excellent use of light and shadow" 

"Gee, ya think?"

No, I spend most of my time banging on about movies that I love that I don't think are given the appreciation they deserve. AKA Big Fun Comedies. I can go on for an hour about why Animal House is a much better movie than people give it credit for being. Or why Dirty Rotten Scoundrels should have won a couple of oscars. These aren't overlooked or forgotten films, they're just not the sort of movies film bores spend their time dissecting because popular comedy is rarely given that treatment.

Anyway, I was watching Smokey and the Bandit for the umpteenth time the other day and I was struck by just how simple, funny and goddamn FUN the movie is. So I figured what the heck. Why not write a blog about it. People blog about considerably less consequential things on the daily.

So here goes!

So this movie came out in 1977 when I was 8. For reasons I can't possibly explain, America was obsessed with long haul truckers in the mid to late 70's. I'm sure it had something to do with the song CONVOY and the rise in popularity of CB radios but whatever the reason, truckers were - for a brief shining moment - cool. We all wanted to drive big rigs and say breaker one nine and have cool handles like Rubber Duck or Pigpen and call cops Smokey and take 10-100's instead of pees.

According to the internet S&tB was released two days after Star Wars and ended up making a pretty unbelievable $126 million.  I probably saw both in the theater an equal number of times. Burt Reynolds was pretty much my movie hero back then. I went to see everything he was in, whether it was The End or Starting Over. Burt was The Man.

And he was never more The Man than in Smokey and the Bandit.


Let me begin by putting on my screenwriter hat and observing that the film is deeply flawed structurally. There is no third act. In fact in the place where the third act should take place, Bandit is chased by a bunch of anonymous cops and Justice is inexplicably sidelined until the final scene. Why would a movie take the antagonist out of the picture as it's reaching it's peak? Well it's safe to assume that Burt, Hal and Jerry were more concerned with having a good time than worrying about egghead stuff like act breaks and escalating tension.

Also the film has no real stakes. Sure, if the Bandit is caught he'll go to jail for a while and Snowman will lose his license, but those are self-imposed consequences brought on by what could be construed as a very bad decision. If you take a step back and think about it, Cletus is a blue collar father of six and is risking his livelihood for this run just to make some quick cash. Is that a Bad Dad move?

So there's no real reason for the boys to make the run other than "they say it can't be done." Now that's a good enough reason to do something and perhaps it speaks to the characters more than some artificial external "need" ("we have to make this run to pay for that operation/tax lien/orphanage") but I can't help but think that in the process of modern development someone would insist that there be a very specific reason why this run has to happen and why it can't fail.

The movie starts with an information dump. Over the opening credits Jerry Reed sings about the Legend of the Bandit - a trucker who's outsized feats of driving expertise and general derring do have made him a sort of gearhead folk hero. It helps because we never actually SEE Bandit drive a semi. Right off the bat we see a random trucker being arrested for bootlegging Coors beer over state lines.  This is the horrible fate that awaits anyone who runs afoul of interstate commerce laws!

I plan to make this a Halloween costume for my son and I.

The director Hal Needham knows not to dwell on this boring information stuff and instantly takes us to a truck rodeo where Big and Little Enos Burdette are looking for the legendary Bandit to make him a bet. According to Paul (Little Enos) Williams, Burt Reynolds was preparing to go on The Tonight Show when he saw Williams standing next to Pat (Big Enos) McCormack who was a writer on the show and Burt said "I need to put the two of you in a movie."

That is what we call a stroke of sheer genius.

They find Bo "Bandit" Darville (He introduces himself to Sally Field as "Bo" and refers to himself as "Bandit Darville" to Justice in case you're wondering if and when his name is said in the flick). The first sound out of Burt's mouth is that laugh. Another stroke of sheer genius. There may be an entire generation of young people who are unfamiliar with Burt Reynolds' laugh and that is a goddam travesty. The Burdettes lay out the challenge - bring 400 cases of Coors beer to Georgia from Texarcana in 28 hours. If he can make it they'll give him $80,000. If not well.... they never really say. We know he'll get arrested if he gets caught, but if he runs out of time without getting caught I guess he gets to keep the beer? It doesn't matter but it's something I noticed.

(Also I shall refrain from making comments about their beer of choice but suffice it to say I could write an equally long and opinionated blog on that subject as well.)

This is one of the greatest guitar players
that ever lived. BTW.

So the stakes of the movie are laid out. Bring the beer, get the money. Simple. Bandit heads to call on his partner and best buddy Cletus "The Snowman" Snow played by underrated guitarist/country singer/70's variety show fixture Jerry Reed. Cletus is a fellow long haul trucker with six kids who is resistant to Bandit's plan because of all the trouble Bandit has gotten him in in the past. But when he hears how much money is on the line he quickly signs on. Burt pulls a gorgeous black 1977 Trans-Am out of the back of his truck. As their costar was so famous for saying, AND AWAY WE GO!

Would you buy a used car from this man?

The run to Texarcana is almost entirely uneventful but there is a car chase with a single cop at the 13 minute mark. Bandit distracts the cop with the Trans-Am so Snowman can continue haulin' ass. Bandit easily evades the cop and just in case anyone was mistaking this for a serious, perilous car chase like the one in Bullit or The French Connection, Burt breaks the fourth wall, looks right down the barrel of the camera and smirks at the audience. And we love him for it.

They pick up the beer without event and head back. Looks like this is gonna be the easiest $80 grand they ever made! Not so fast, on the run back Bandit picks up a runaway bride played by Sally Field. This is Carrie, a high strung motormouth with Broadway aspirations who was adorkable decades before we knew that was a thing. Bandit and she are mismatched opposites but their chemistry is - as they say - undeniable. He calls her Frog and that's easier to type than Carrie so I shall as well.

And then we meet Justice.

Sheriff Buford T. Justice. Jackie Gleason in a hall of fame performance from start to finish. I believe that the unexpected mega-success of this film is largely because of Gleason's tour-de-force performance. You make this exact same film but replace Gleason with one of Burt's equally qualified  buddies like Ned Beatty or Brian Keith (both fine actors) and the movie is still good but probably not a mega hit that bloggers spend their precious time on this Earth writing long posts about.

I'm a 300 lb alcoholic who chain smokes
and I'm gonna live to 71. Take that, fuckers.

Gleason is pure rage and fragile Southern dignity in human form. There are moments in the film where it looks like he will literally explode. So much can be said about his performance and how unlikely it sounds on paper so I'll just move on and try to mention some of the highlights as I go.

Justice's son has been left at the altar by Carrie and the sheriff intends to run roughshod over the sombitch who is helping her get away. Justice is aided by some dudes scavenging Carrie's car who helpfully saw and memorized the Bandit's personalized license plate, state and everything. Good eye, dudes! Also good work getting a personalized plate on such short notice, Bandit. Although is a personalized plate a good idea when you're trying to avoid capture?  Who cares.

Along for the ride with Justice is his son Junior and this is the one casting flaw of the film. Junior is played by a fellow named Mike Henry who was a former football player and while it would be gilding the lilly to stick Gleason in a car with a fellow comedic genius, Henry isn't even a particularly good straight man. Yeah, I get it, we have to understand why Frog left him and he exists as basically an object for Gleason to be enraged by but in a film full of perfect performances he still seems wooden and out of place.

As you know most of the movie is a series of long and well choreographed car chases with some super practical stunts. Justice is on his ass and closing in and Bandit is always one step ahead. Frog and Bandit are total opposites but they begin to fall for each other. Jerry Reed has his basset hound with him. For most of the film Bandit and Justice only speak over CB radio.

That is until 37 minutes in when the Bandit and Justice wind up at the same lunch counter in a greasy spoon diner. This scene is - as the kids say - epic. Bandit knows who he is but Justice has no idea he's sitting next to his nemesis. Bandit playfully winds Justice up to the point where he looks like he's going to have a heart attack in real life while trying to choke down his Diablo sandwich. This is one of my favorite scenes in movies and kills me every time I watch it.
Click here to see the scene (TRT 2:00)

The rest of the movie is more of the same - cars crash into cars and buildings and trucks. Cops are made to look like fools, many "beaver" jokes are made and as Bandit's fame spreads via CB radio other truckers and CB enthusiasts come to his aid to elude the Smokeys. It's anti-authority at its finest.

Toward the end of what should be the second act, two things happen. Bandit and Frog hook up romantically and Cletus gets the shit beat out of him in a roadside diner when he takes on some punk-ass bikers who were harassing his dog. At first the scene is oddly out of place in the movie, it's a gin-u-wine beat down and Cletus takes the worst of it but he can still drive and they aren't that far off schedule so it doesn't affect the plot. It seems like this scene doesn't serve any real purpose but upon a moment's reflection it actually plays out like a verse from a classic outlaw country song and for that reason it's in fact perfect for the film.

Also Stroker Ace is a metaphor for the first Punic war.

I did have one of those useless bullshitty revelations while watching the movie this time. Bandit is the downhome southern blue collar fellow and he wears a RED shit. Frog is the big city, artsy dreamer and she wears a BLUE shirt. He represents red states and she represents blue and they still fall in love and work together to get what they both want!! CAN'T YOU PEOPLE SEE HAL NEEDHAM SENT US THIS MESSAGE OF COMPROMISE AND UNDERSTANDING 37 YEARS AGO!!

Sorry. I should have mentioned I had a few beers when I was watching it.

Anyway, as things wrap up Justice is incapacitated for reasons the movie isn't clear on and Cletus is pulled over by an anonymous cop. To get the cop off his ass Bandit pulls up and Frog gives the cop the finger and the chase is back on. More and more anonymous cars follow bandit and Snowman and a helicopter joins the chase and Justice is nowhere to be seen. Regardless of his inexplicable absence it looks like it's all over for our guys. They have a helicopter for the love of George Jones! But in that moment of hopelessness, the Snowman rallies the fuck up, puts the pedal to the medal and makes it across the finish line with mere minutes to spare. Yay! The rich rednecks get their shitty beer! (Sorry I said I wouldn't comment on that)

Contrary to popular belief, much like The Matrix
there are NO sequels to this movie.
Not even the second one which while funny
isn't on the same plane of existence as this movie. 

Justice pulls up as Bandit and crew are taking off in the Burdette's Caddy. bandit gets him on the CB and they compliment each other on the good chase and then our crew heads off for Boston to get clam chowder. Everyone - except Justice - lives happily ever after.










So why do I love this damn film so much?  Because it's pure, unadulterated anti-establishment fun. Justice is never portrayed as corrupt or evil, just hubristic and impotent. Bandit is a criminal but the laws he breaks don't hurt anyone. It's pretty much a Warner Brothers cartoon in live action form. Bugs vs. Yosemite Sam. Roadrunner V. Coyote. There's no message here, no lessons, no big picture. A bandit runs from justice. Simple as that. There's a real art to simplicity like that executed well.

These days car chase movies are deathly cool and complex. Yes, the Furious movies have a self-awareness and a sly wink behind the antics but they are also heavy on an "attitude" that I like but just isn't the same as the simple "fun for the sake of fun" of Smokey.  Like the Marx Brothers outwitting those stuffy society types or Delta House tormenting Dean Wermer and Omega house, Bandit outruns justice and that's all that matters.

(Also I think we all agree that car stunts are much better with real cars crashing into each other instead of CG creations defying the laws of physics and logic. But that goes without saying.)

So that's it.

I like Smokey because it's fun and purely fun movies are few and far between anymore.

What a deep insight!

Thanks for reading (if you did) this was longer than I expected but it was fun to write!