THE BANDIT IS A KING-OF-THE-ROAD TRUCKER HERO WHO ACCEPTS THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE: PICK UP A TRUCKLOAD OF COORS BEER INTEXARKANA – THE CLOSEST PLACE IT CAN LEGALLY BE SOLD – & HAUL ITCROSS-COUNTRY TO ATLANTA IN 28 HOURS. THE REWARD? $80,000! THERESULT? THE WILDEST SERIES OF CAR CHASES & CRASHES EVER FILMED.It’s easy to assume this is just another dumb redneck comedy from Burt Reynolds’s years of underachievement. But it’s not bad as a dumb redneck comedy at all. Directed by career stuntman Hal Needham, Smokey and the Bandit is just a goofy chase starring a bunch of Reynolds’s Hollywood cronies. New to the job as film boss, Needham brings a silly but energized sensibility to the production and an action man’s need to see things moving. But he also has a distinctive feeling for relationships, and he’s good with a joke. Put all that together, and Smokey is, at the very least (and unlike its sequels), a simple and original pleasure. –Tom Keogh
Buy “Smokey and the Bandit – Special Edition” For Only $5.75
March 5, 2010
#1
IF NOT FOR THE MUSIC? THIS MOVIE WOULD BE LEFT WANTING.
THE MOVIE GAVE JERRY THE INSPIRATION,
THE MUSIC GAVE THE MOVIE IT’S HEART.
JERRY’S MUSIC WILL LAST, LONG AFTER THE SHOW IS DONE!
March 5, 2010
#2
Burt Reynolds signature film but not as
funny to me after the first time I saw
it in the theatre. Number three is slightly
better than weird number Two that has Reed,
Reynolds, Sally and Dom DeLuise(!) tranporting
elephant to Dallas for Republican Party meeting!
March 5, 2010
#3
While HD-DVD is awesome, this movie is not.
I remember seeing his when I was a kid and just had to get it. Movie is o.k., but I didn’t get as big a kick out of it as I did when I was younger.
Picture is very good for a 30? year old movie. Sound is good but very front heavy. Did they even have surround back then?
March 5, 2010
#4
Being a huge fan, first in childhood when the Corvette and Trans Am were THE COOLEST cars, and later in teen years when I became a real car buff, I not only own several model Trans Ams, a real back/gold “Bandit” Trans Am, a Trans Am Firehawk, but also the VHS and first two DVD releases of this movie (Smokey I and Pursuit Pack)both of which are widescreen to my disgust.
Everyone knows the premise of this show by now. Certainly not a great movie by movie standards but a very fun and funny film with impressive car stunts.
I am firmly against converting old movies like this to so-called “widescreen” by chopping off the top and bottom in order to give it the wide aspect ratio. Watch it on cable or VHS and then the DVD and you’ll start to see you are losing part of the image. Observe the Trans Am ramp onto the football field and on the “widescreen” DVDs the car actually goes off the bottom part of the screen! If it was shot for full screen leave it that way!
I’d like to buy the Special Edition version for the attractive packaging and commentary but cringe as it appears to only be offered in widescreen. It would be nice if they ever included the additional footage that the cable broadcasts have as bonus footage or something.
It would also be nice if they discuss what this movie did for Pontiac Motor Division. It not only spiked Firebird sales significantly for 1977, more for ’78, but in ’79 drove them to a record high when more than 200,000 Firebirds were sold and over half were Trans Ams. Burt has been called their best salesperson. The newly kindled interest in performance cars brought about by this film helped Corvette and Camaro sales, too. Furthermore, had it not been for Smokey’s great success, it is likely there would have been no Dukes of Hazzard.
March 5, 2010
#5
I bought this for my son and he thought it was hilarious. However, I had forgotten how much bad language there is in it.