Old school movies, what is there to say about them? They can be fantastic, like “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” or they can be shit like “Jaws 2, 3 and 4”. Then we have those with mixed opinion like “Blues Brothers” and “Star Wars”. Speaking of “Blues Brothers”…I love that movie. So what happens when you take a movie with a somewhat similar style but you change out Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi for some other people…and then go back in time three years…then we get the movie of this review.
People…”Smokey and The Bandit”.
The Bandit (Burt Reynolds) is one hell of a driver. That is why he gets sent on a mission by Big Enos (Pat McCormick) and his son Little Enos (Paul Williams) to deliver a lot of boxes of beer to a different state for them. He accepts after getting a fistful of dollars (Haha). But how is he…a guy in a Trans-Am supposed to deliver a shit-ton of beer cross several states? Well he gets help from his truck driving friend Cledus (Jerry Reed), Cledus’ dog Fred and a woman named Carrie (Sally Field) who ran away from her wedding. And that wedding was with a guy called Junior (Mike Henry)…problem is Junior is the son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason). And soon after, Sheriff Justice is on the hunt after Bandit and his friends over all these states…so delivering beer (which in this case counts as bootlegging) is easier said than done. And that is about it. The main plot is not more advanced than that. It plays out like a kind of comedic road movie. With tons of slapstick containing Bandit avoiding cops and making them look like idiots. There are also a few plot points that you can figure out before the second half of the movie even starts. But I honestly don’t mind since this movie is so damn entertaining. I had a lot of fun with the simplistic, yet charming plot.
The characters are amusing. There is not too much to say on that. Sheriff Justice is your typical highly devoted cop who just does his job but got a kind of short temper. His son is not too bright…that’s all I’m saying. Cledus is one of those typical movie truck drivers who is both serious in his job, can joke about different things, but still got his heart in the right place. Carrie is a fun woman…that is all…seriously, she is too entertaining to watch to tell anything about. And finally we have Burt Reynolds as…Burt Reynolds. I have no better words for it.
The music is your typical country-styled road movie music…in other words good. Fun thing is they are both composed and performed by Jerry Reed who plays Cledus (MAYBE because he actually is a country singer). No more comments.
The chases in this movie are entertaining. Think “Blues Brothers” but a little older, not in a city and possibly on a slightly smaller budget. Another reason they are so entertaining is because of the chemistry between Burt Reynolds and Sally Field…it is perfect! They work so well together and have some fun conversations in the car. Yeah. Oh…almost forgot, this movie got Oscar nominated for Best editing.
Reception was good, it was a smash hit when it came out. Rotten Tomatoes has an 81% positive rating for it. Strangely enough, Metacritic has no review or score for this movie…at all. Roger Ebert has no review for this.
imdb.com has a score of 6,8/10 on “Smokey and The Bandit”.
As you may have noticed based on the different parts of the review, I like this movie. I think it is incredibly entertaining and definitely worth a watch. The score for “Smokey and the Bandit” is a 9,12/10. I think you should buy it. It is an entertaining movie that is perfect when there is nothing on TV.
Review of “Smokey and The Bandit” is completed.
By the way, the sequel was fun…but unnecessary…so you only have to watch this.
TheMarckoguy 