The 1977 comedy movie classic Smokey and the Bandit is leaving Netflix on August 1, so now is the time to watch one of my all-time favorite movies! Even if you have seen it before, it is worth watching at least one more time this summer. If you have not ever seen it, read on and then decide.

How to start talking about this iconic film? There are so many ways, but maybe one of the best ways is to recount what Burt Reynolds said in his 2015 autobiography, But Enough About Me, “Lots of movies ridiculed Southerners, and I resented them, I wanted to play a Southern hero, a guy who was proud of being from the South. … Most of those folks are middle-of-the-road, not left or right. They believe in God, they work hard, and they love their country. They’re the people I grew up with, and I like them.” He continues: “But, Billy Bob Thornton had the last word. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘down South, we consider “Smokey and the Bandit” a documentary.’”

I have read much of the script was ad-libbed, including the memorable restaurant scene with Jackie Gleason and Burt Reynolds. And, it is very nice to think a couple of guys who hang around in Hollywood and Nashville, including a stunt man, can get together and come up with a movie that is so much fun and so much not Hollywood (then or now). It might have taken years to get the movie engine started and put the gas pedal to the floor, but they got it done, and I am glad they did!

A word of warning, though, if you have not seen the movie. You may want to park your political correctness meter at the door before you push the play button. There is so much in the movie that is absolutely, totally politically incorrect on so many levels, but it was 1977, and the movie is just so much fun, can’t we just see it in its historical context and love it anyway?

If you are a Smokey and the Bandit fan, please get in touch and let me know your favorite scene or scenes, bits of dialogue, and so forth. Here are a few of my favorite lines from the Bandit himself, in no particular order:

“This is not a convoy. This is a dream.”

“I picked up three brides yesterday, just like you. Very subdued.”

“When you tell somebody something’, it depends on which part of the United States you’re standing in as to just how dumb you are.”

“Oh, I Can Drive Any Forkin’ Thing Around.”

“I Saw ‘Em Do It In Movies.”

And then there is this: The Most Memorable Quotes from Smokey and the Bandit.

And, finally, I leave here, out in the world where somebody just might see it and might be able to do something with it: my wish is someone would make a remake: a movie or a short-run series. Nobody is going to beat Burt Reynolds at the game he invented, and Jerry Reed is a musical legend, but still it could be a lot of fun! Did you know the Yuengling Brewery (America’s oldest operating brewery, Pottsville, Pennsylvania) is not sold in every state of the union and also has a few beers (reportedly) which it will not ship outside the state? Hmmm…. yeah, could be something there, don’t you think? 😉