Through his collaborations with stuntman/director Hal Needham in the 1970s and '80s, some of Burt's more famous movies included high-speed car chases, jumps, and crashes - which we've enjoyed immensely. It is the Trope Codifier of the 'Moonshiner on the run from Corrupt Hick cops' movie.
Burt reynolds smokey and the bandit car movie#
In fact, he was more interested in having fun, and when watching the bloopers from The Cannonball Run, we're inclined to believe him. Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 movie starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, and country singer Jerry Reed, who also sang the films theme song 'East Bound and Down'. By his own admission, Reynolds didn’t always seek to challenge himself when acting. Acting became Burt's new calling, and he immersed himself in the craft. We have an English professor to thank for Burt's acting career, as he convinced him to act in a play he was producing. According to Burt's memoir, But Enough About Me, he suffered a knee injury in his sophomore year, which was followed by a life-threatening car accident, effectively putting an end his football career. Updated January 2022: If you're a fan of Burt Reynolds and his movies, you'll be happy to know that we've updated this article with more facts about the man himself as well as his cars.Īfter accepting a scholarship to Florida State University (FSU) in 1954, Reynolds played halfback for the Seminoles. In 1977, Smokey and the Bandit did two things: one, it secured Burt Reynolds’ superstar status, and two, made the same-year Pontiac Trans Am one of the most popular movie cars. He wouldn't have been the top box office draw from the mid-1970s into the early 1980s, a Golden Globe and Emmy winner or an Oscar nominee.
If he'd stuck to his original plan, gearheads would never have seen him in popular car movies like White Lightning, Smokey and the Bandit I and II, The Cannonball Run, and the rest. Young Burt, or 'Buddy' as he was called back then, had his mind set on a pro football career, not acting. Late American film and television actor, director & producer, Burt Reynolds played the lead role of Bo Darville, aka the Bandit, in Smokey and the Bandit.
Burt reynolds smokey and the bandit car drivers#
Thanks to some of his movies, Reynolds had earned a reputation as "one of the great drivers in US popular culture", but in real life, he actually wasn't much of a car guy. Mustache-loving women and countless fans mourned when Burt Reynolds passed away at the age of 82 from cardiac arrest in September 2018.