Celebrate the Drive-In Week: Smokey and the Bandit

Celebrate the Drive-In is a tribute to a beloved venue of the past. During it's heyday, a trip to the drive-in was one of my favorite things, both on the rare occasions as a child, and in my early adulthood. This blog is going to celebrate Drive-In Day (Jun 6) with a series of movies that I was too young to see (or in a couple of cases, not even born yet) that I wish I could've experienced in a drive-in. Keep coming back for the entire week as there will be one per day for the duration.

 

Sometimes a movie comes along that just tail grabs you and hangs on for dear life. May I present the next Coming Attraction! Smokey and the Bandit!

 

The trucker and the CB craze of the late 70's gave us quite a number of movies that centered on outlaw truckers using the CB to circumvent that annoying law of 55MPH. I've already covered two of these in a recent post (Convoy and The Great Smokey Roadblock), but there are plenty of others just dying to be included at some point in the future. I won't rehash the CB craze story here. If you are of a mind to check the archives, those two movies I reviewed earlier this year will give you some tantalizing tidbits.  Just to note, there are several I will try to get around to in the coming months, including White Line Fever, Breaker! Breaker!, and C. B. Hustlers.

Burt Reynolds was one of my favorite actors in his younger days. One of my fondest drive-in movie experiences was going to see Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II with a couple of buddies. I also saw Stroker Ace and City Heat there too (although not a a double feature). 

Those are the only ones that I got to see at a drive-in, but there are plenty others that are worth checking out. Deliverance, although not a comedy (which I prefer of Reynolds' output) is a highly entertaining movie. And I have always said, and always will say, that the Reynolds' version of The Longest Yard is head and shoulders (and torso, and legs) better than the Adam Sandler remake. (not to disparage Sandler: there are plenty of his movies that are good... just not that one).

The whole concept of the first Smokey and the Bandit just hinges on road mayhem as Reynolds tries to get from Atlanta to Texarkana and back in 28 hours. Probably not near as a rough bet as it was in 1978, when the speed limit was still 55MPH. You'd still have to cut corners and go over the speed limit to make it now, I bet, but with that 70 or sometimes even 80 MPH speed limit, it would be a lot more manageable. But then again, see below for a small nitpick on the whole "road trip" part of the film...

 

Smokey and the Bandit (1978):

Bo Darville (Burt Reynolds), who is more well known by his C.B. handle, "Bandit", is a legend, and not just in his own mind, although that helps. 

 

As such a "legend", local bigwigs "Big Enos" Burdette (Pat McCormick) and his son "Little Enos" Burdette (Paul Williams) seek him out to face a challenge. As established in the prologue, these two have tried this same challenge on every trucker down the line, as one of them is told when he is arrested. The Burdettes make this challenge with Bandit, counting on his overinflated ego to push him into it.

 

What's the challenge? Why, to go to Texas and pick up a truckload of beer and bring it back to Atlanta. In only 28 hours. (Which the movie leads you to believe is 900 miles there and 900 miles back, but a check of Google maps says it's less than 700. depending on starting point and ending point, of course, but nowhere near that "900 miles"... So unless they were taking the scenic route, they could have made that trip without breaking the speed limit. but then we wouldn't have a movie.)

So why are they traveling to Texas to get beer in the first place? Because, at the time, Coors beer, the beer they are trying to get, was not distributed east of Texas. So, what with the law being what it is, they would be guilty of bootlegging. The movie tends to play fast and loose with the geography and the technicalities. Here, the basic reason, again at that time, that you couldn't go long distances with Coors beer was because, with the process by which it was made, it required refrigeration, unlike most beers which can sit on the dock for days or even weeks,  and still be fine. And apparently adequate refrigeration was not a constant in those days. So technically, it wasn't illegal, just logistically impossible.

 

Anyway, Bandit ropes in his buddy, Cledus (Jerry Reed), who also goes by his C.B. handle, "Snowman" to drive the rig, while Bandit himself will drive a Trans Am to block and be a lookout for the journey. They make it to Texarkana with time to spare, but due to the warehouse being closed, they essentially have to steal the beer. So far, so good on the bet, even if they've had to play fast and loose with the law.

 

On the way out of Texas, Bandit picks up a hitchhiker, Carrie (Sally Field). It seems that Carrie is a runaway bride, who ducked out on the wedding. 

 

Unfortunately, the father of the groom did not take kindly to this... The father, Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), also happens to be the county sheriff and begins a hot pursuit of Bandit. Not because of the illegal cargo, however. His goal is to get Carrie back, and arrest Bandit for violating the Mann Act. And possibly force Carrie to go through the wedding...? Shotgun wedding, anyone...?

 

(Since some may not know what the Mann Act is, it is a law created to try to cut down on prostitution across state lines, but was broadly used to arrest other, less despicable violators, such as a couple who were consensual companions. Even eloping couples could be arrested at one time.)

The main gist of the movie is the pursuit of Bandit, not only by Justice, but also various law officers across the southeastern states they are traveling. Some of those are just trying to apprehend him because he has been doing 90-110 MPH in a speed zone established at 55 MPH. Some others may have their own agenda. But Justice keeps up his own pursuit, even though he is constantly told by the local gendarmes that he is WAY out of his jurisdiction.

 

Along the way Bandit causes several cars to become unable to continue pursuit, but at only 10 cars and 1 motorcycle cop, it hardly compares to the mayhem The Blues Brothers  caused a few years later. And the damage that is caused to Justice's own police car would make it break down on the side of the road if it were any other car... I think it may have been a distant cousin to the Bluesmobile that the aforementioned Blues Brothers drove. And that one was also a cop car, originally, that had been recommissioned for it's final purpose, so maybe Timex had a hand in it's make. (Old commercials for Timex watches always claimed the watch "could take a licking and keep on ticking"...)

 

Don't miss the final scenes of the movie. At one point, late in the movie, Bandit takes advantage of a convoy to hide from one of the pursuing cops. In that convoy are several familiar faces. One is Hank Worden, a frequent character actor in John Wayne films. And another guy, who looks a lot like Mickey Dolenz, but is actually a former defensive tackle for the New York Jets, Joe Klecko. You are bound to see a few more faces in the film, including Alfie Wise, who was a frequent actor in Reynolds movies.

Joe Klecko (not Mickey Dolenz)

 

Hank Worden

 

Alfie Wise

 

With a budget of only $4 million, Smokey and the Bandit cleared $126 million, making it only second to Star Wars in money draw for 1977. It currently has a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviews were mostly kind to it, although Gene Siskel, one part of the two-headed monster of Siskel and Ebert, only gave the film 2 out of four stars, citing complaints about Carrie never revealing her jilted groom was Justice's son. (Although her facial expressions state otherwise, she claims to Bandit that she doesn't know why the sheriff is chasing them across state lines, either.)

Nitpicking aside, both on Siskel's part and mine. Smokey and the Bandit is a fun hour and a half ride. Both Reynolds and Gleason had a part in making this movie ring well with viewers. I gather that Gleason did a lot of improvisation throughout the movie, which just shows what a great showman he was.  

The movie also had an effect on the market for the Pontiac Trans Am. Apparently sales of the Trans Am model doubled within two years of the release of the movie, and even outsold the Chevy Camaro for the first time. Reynolds got the promotional Trans Am (one that was only used to promote the film, but never was used during the actual filming). When Reynolds got into financial difficulties in 2014, one of the things he sold to raise money was that Trans Am. Although estimated to probably go for about $80,000, it eventually sold for $450,000, proving once again the impact the movie had on it's fan base.

Well folks, this old Plymouth would be left in the dust if it had to make that trip, but at least I can count on it to get me home. Come back tomorrow for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad!

 

Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy