Mustache Marathon Movie 4: Smokey and the Bandit


East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’.  We’re gonna do what they say can’t be done.  We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.  I’m east bound just watch ol’ Bandit run.

If you don’t know those lyrics or that song, what have you done with your life?  They’re from the classic film, Smokey and the Bandit.  The movie starts Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, and Sally Field.  The basic plot is that Burt Reynolds’ character, The Bandit, makes a bet with a father and son that he can get to from Atlanta, Georgia to Texarkana, Texas, and back in less than 28 hours while hauling some Coors.  He gets his buddy Snowman to drive the truck while he uses a Trans Am to lure the police away from the truck.  Along the way, he meets a runaway bride and begins to be chased by a bumbling Texas Sheriff.  Basically, Smokey and the Bandit is a movie made to showcase driving.

Boy does this movie showcase the driving.  The director was Hal Needam, I think.  The guy is a former stuntman who used his talents to create a movie filled with driving stunts.  The rest of the movie is filler for the driving that The Bandit does throughout.  From jumping bridges, to quick turns, to dodging objects on the road, the driving is mastered in a way that only few movies and shows did at the time.

The performances by the actors in this movie were fairly good.  Jackie Gleason can’t be beat as his bigoted Sheriff who calls people nonsense names like tit turd.  What is a tit turd?  Jackie Gleason mays up this characters eccentricities so well that you won’t ever find a police officer that bumbles quite as much as he does with his son.  Buford T Justice.  That’s the sheriff’s name.  How can you not like that name?

The other stand out performance is Burt Reynolds as The Bandit.  1970s Burt really has no competition for cheesy coolness.  Especially when he has the mustache.  That ‘stache is one of my favourites.  From the mustache to the way he speaks, all the way down to his laugh.  I don’t know if Burt Reynolds was playing The Bandit or Burt Reynolds is The Bandit.  It seemed so perfect that it could have been Burt playing himself on screen.

I know how tiring seeing people write the same things all the time can be.  That’s why I’m going to end my Smokey and the Bandit write up really soon.  I want to add that there are two sequels and a few made for tv movies.  I’ve never seen the made for tv movies, but the sequels aren’t as fun as this one.  The second film is still kind of entertaining, but the third is a mess.  Oh well.  Sometimes shit happens.

If you want to read up on the other Mustache Movie Marathon films that I’ve done write ups for so far, here are the links to them.
Super Troopers: http://jurassicgriffin.blogspot.com/2011/11/mustache-marathon-movie-1-super.html
The Adventures of Robin Hood: http://jurassicgriffin.blogspot.com/2011/11/mustache-marathon-movie-2-adventures-of.html
Road House:  http://jurassicgriffin.blogspot.com/2011/11/mustache-marathon-movie-3-road-house.html

That brings me to the end.  There are still five more movies left in the marathon.  I don’t know what’s up next, like usual.  You’ll just see something pop up.  See you later, reader people.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Time Watches: March 2019

Image
I’ve been writing these first-time watch posts for a long time. They are a chronicle, month by month, of the movies that are new to me. They could be theatrical releases or they could be older movies that I’m finally getting around to. Either way, they’re fresh to my eyes, never having gone through them before. With that comes pleasant surprise, a great experience, disappointment, or frustration. There could be many more emotions as well. These posts share my emotions from having watched the movies with whoever decides to read them. I fell behind on these posts a long time ago and have been trying to work my way through them to eventually catch up. This post will cover March 2019 and the movies I saw for the first time over the course of that month. Any rewatches will not be a part of this post. If they aren’t first time watches, they don’t count. March was a month full of all kinds of movies. There were good and bad, like usual, and a variety of genres, also like usual. Th...
Read more

Is "Real Steel" Like "Over the Top"?

When I was going through my weekly movie binge a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon two movies that I had never seen before that tackled a very similar story.   It was an odd thing to have happen because I didn’t know of any similarities between the two movies.   The first was Real Steel, a movie about a man who participates in robot boxing while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   The second was Over the Top, a movie about a man who participates in arm wrestling while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   Similar?   I think so. Let’s begin with Real Steel.   I watched this one because, why the hell not?   I quite enjoyed the movie and by the end I was rooting for Hugh Jackman’s character to help his robot, Atom, to a victory.   The thing to point out about Real Steel is how good the visual effects were.   I wasn’t expecting too much going in, but I thought they masterfully crafted each robot in a way that...
Read more

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 8: The Power Stealer

Image
Last time we sat down with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers , Tommy was going through some serious stuff.   His powers were running low because Lord Zedd was targeting him.   He felt hopeless.   His friends were comforting him.   There was also a Robo Goat trying to take a powerful sword and use it against the Earth.   There were fights all over the place and an emotional hook that was unmatched in any episode that wasn’t in a multi-part arc. This episode, there might be follow-up to the Tommy storyline.   It would be nice to see more of the struggle with his powers.   Right now, that’s the one throughline that has been playing out.   II hope this episode continues to have some sort of meaning to the overall story, instead of being a self-contained and meaningless.   The show needs to grow and evolve, with a storyline that builds to something significant.   Having episodes that keep the story at a standstill is boring.   ...
Read more