Enormous good fun.. and I am flabbergasted that this film is 33 years old. In 1977 a 1944 film sure did look old but now in 2009 this 1976 production still looks fairly modern albeit super-bad 70s. In fact I really enjoyed the time-trip to this free 70s with its good natured roadside and trailer-park American fun times which echo all through SMOKEY. Burt Reynolds perfected his good ol' boy image thru DELIVERANCE in 73 then WW AND THE DIXIE DANCEKINGS in 74 via some lovably clumsy tap dancing in AT LONG LAST LOVE in 75 then rum running with doe eyed Robbie Benson and shrieking Liza Minnelli in LUCKY LADY (what a campy film!..no wonder it has never surfaced again ... yet...maybe after Stanley Donen dies)...) and then into SMOKEY which sets the scene for stunt car comedies for the next 5 years. In 1978 we got HOOPER then in 1979 THE BLUES BROTHERS and CONVOY and then more SMOKEY sequels. It was seemingly endless. SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT must be one of the most profitable films ever made. Seen thu 2009 eyes it seems to be the most simple of productions: there is not even ONE set used... every shot is taken on the road in a car or a truck, at a raceway fun-park, in a roadside diner, in a car park or in a picnic ground. It is all real .. and with real ordinary people as extras in most scenes..which was a clever way of ensuring incredible expectant word of mouth for the film to open in a big way. And it did.. one of the biggest cinema successes of the late 70s. More good fun than I remembered and evoking a wonderful nostalgia for the 70s, and with the most awful fashions imaginable.. brown pants and incredibly tight clothes.. eek! The budget must have been less than $3 million and it brought in over $100m in rentals! SMOKEY shows why everyone loved the 70s and Burt Reynolds at 42 years old hit his stride as a mega-star of the time. Sally Field was about 36 when she made this and still looks like a teenager!
