Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Director: Hal Needham

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleeson, Mike Henry, Paul Williams, Pat McCormic

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Meet Bo Darville, aka, "The Bandit." Smokies (Cops) hate him. Guys dig him. And even girls can't get enough of him!

Plot: Bandit and Cledus are two truck-driving southerners who accept a dare from big-shots Big and Little Enos to pick up a truckload of beer from Texas and return it to them within a specified amount of time. Picking it up is simple enough, but as they are leaving Texas, Bandit unwittingly picks up Carrie, a hitchhiking bride-to-be who just left her groom, Junior, at the altar. Junior, however, is the son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice. And when Buford and Junior discover what has happened, they go on a "high-speed pursuit" across the Southeast to catch the bandit.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Like CANNONBALL RUN (1981), this is another picture I grew up on.  Burt was the shit for a few years and this movie solidified it.  It's been decades since he was the shit but there's no denying that SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT was the the one that made him a superstar.  Anyway, it's a classic and in no small part to the director, Hal Needham, the great cast lead by Reynolds (the god of mustaches), Jackie Gleason (who shows us why he was called The Great One), Sally Field (was she ever cuter?), Jerry Reed (patron saint of Rednecks everywhere), Pat McCormick (tall AND funny) and Paul Williams (short AND funny) and then there's the great tunes by Jerry Reed, fun car chases and stunts.  Yeah, there are times where the music is Mickey-Mousey and embarrassing as all get-out but it's everything else in the picture that's just so much damn fun I quickly dismiss it, pull my face out of my palm and move on.  I saw the first sequel thirty years ago and that's it.  It's time for another visit.  By the way, did you know that Burt wore a girdle?

Now you do.