Smokey and the Bandit became the second-highest grossing film in North America in 1977, second only to Star Wars… an impressive performance for a mostly improvised movie that had been outlined on legal pads by a stuntman who was also making his directorial debut. The friendship and professional association between the actor and stuntman would inspire the Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth characters and dynamic in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Justice (Jackie Gleason), who calls Bandit “the goddamndest pursuee I ever pursued!”īurt Reynolds and Hal Needham during production of Smokey and the Bandit. Their expedition is further complicated when the Bandit picks up a runaway bride, Carrie (Sally Field)-soon to be redubbed “Frog” for the benefit of our heroes’ CB radios-and invites the dogged pursuit of Carrie’s prospective father-in-law, the excessively proud Sheriff Buford T. Reynolds stars as the eponymous Bandit, a charming anti-authoritarian rogue who swaps out his usual truck for a speedy Trans Am as he and his fellow trucker pal Cledus “Snowman” Snow (Jerry Reed) dodge the police across five states in their mission to haul 400 cases of Coors from Texas to Atlanta in under 28 hours for a $80,000 payday.
Of course, it’s a costume that Burt Reynolds inhabits like few others could, perhaps rooted in less authenticity than the Snowman’s trucker uniform of plaid shirt, puffer vest, and CAT hat but consistent with Reynolds’ swaggering screen persona. I’m sure my initial resistance to chronicling the Bandit’s road trip regalia was its relative inaccessibility, as it’s hard to wear a red rayon shirt, tight jeans, and cowboy hat and boots-let alone the mustache-without looking like costume. Happy birthday, America… from Burt Reynolds and BAMF Style.
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