UDel

There is a interesting documentary on CMT now about "Smokey and The Bandit", Hal Needham(director/writer), Burt Reynolds. "Smokey", "Dukes of Hazard" along with "Knight Rider" were major reasons I got into cars as a child and later on. They might even talk about one of my favorite cheesy movies that came on HBO all the time in the 80's, "Mega Force" which Needham directed. Hal Needham was know for car chases and stunts and movies throughout the 80's and into the 90's.

Fizzboy7

Did someone say Smokey and The Bandit?!

mmarshall

A friend of mine (and ex-co-worker) has a 1979 Black/Gold Smokey-type T/A with the big chicken on the hood. (400 c.i., 4-speed manual). He keeps it in his garage and drives it mostly to old car-shows.

Mike728

I owned that exact car in the early 80's. Mine had the Olds 403, though. Funny, but me ES would run circles around that dog!

UDel

It was a pretty good documentary. I did not even know it existed. Shows how hard it was for a stuntman like Needham to get Southern road movie like "Smokey and The Bandit" made and released and how most in Hollywood thought it would be such a failure, they thought Burt Reynolds starring in it would be terrible for his career. It ended up being one of the highest grossing movies and a major cultural phenomenon to this day. It made the Firebird Trans Am a huge seller almost over night along with CB's and even Basset Hounds. Can't tell you how much I loved "Smokey and The Bandit" as a kid, it would be like Christmas when it came on HBO and I remember sitting close to the TV to watch it playing with my hotwheel cars. I was living in North Carolina at the time so it was not uncommon to see Black Trans Ams and Orange Chargers done up like the General Lee from Dukes on the road. Pretty cool memories.

Aron9000

It wasn't just the car chases and stunts that made that movie great, it was the characters. Jackie Gleason was epic in that movie.

GSMiura

That would be AWESOME!

mmarshall

That Buford T. Justice sheriff-routine, though (and the drawl-acting that went along with it), got a little stale and cut-and-dried after the first couple of scenes. It also presented a somewhat stereotyped (and unrealistic) view of highway patrol in the South.

LexBob2

Waylon Jennings did the narration and sang some songs that added to the atmosphere.

mmarshall

I'm not generally a fan of country music, but Waylon does have an excellent sound.

Here's what I think is one of his best:

Aron9000

Oh I ate that Buford T Justice schtick up when I was a kid. Yeah its cornball and absurd, but that's the whole point, I still watch it and giggle. Now that I'm older and looking back on it, he'd never be able to say some of the things he said in that movie, now that Hollywood is so PC.

Fizzboy7

Count me in on that! Some of the best acting and humor was done by the Sheriff. The idea that he was to have all this respect and a long history of law enforcement, only to be totally destroyed by one guy is what makes the humor. I'd say he was ahead of his time, with much of his lines thought up on the moment. To this day, I am able to use some of his lines at work to getting everyone going.

mmarshall

Yes, the general plot and theme of the film was interesting enough...but the acting was much like the way it was throughout most of the 1970s. You also saw it on TV shows like the A-Team, Starsky & Hutch, P.I. Magnum, The Rockford Files, etc.....

I respect your view on it (it's subjective, of course)...I just found that type of 70s-style acting somewhat stuffy and stereotyped.