Pop Culture Movies and More: Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Bandit and Cledus 'Snowman' are two truck-driving southerners who accept a dare from big-shots Big and Little Enos to pick up a truckload of beer from Texas and illegally ship it to them in Atlanta in under 28 hours. Picking it up is simple enough, but as they are leaving Texas, Bandit unwittingly picks up Carrie, a hitchhiking bride-to-be who just left her groom, Junior, at the altar. Junior, however, is the son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice. And when Buford and Junior discover what has happened, they go on a "high-speed pursuit" across the Southeast to catch the bandit. This is just a phenomenal adventure and an easy go-to happy film I watch for a good laugh. If you are a huge car fan and love some good old crazy hijinks then this movie is the one for you! The film will blow you away with its delightful action that goes all out with cars crashing, being sliced in half, and leaping over great heights, which leads to chasing police cars to follow into a ditch or being destroyed in some hilarious scenes. Buford T. Justice's car suffers the most, getting completely and utterly battered. They get damaged so much to the point where they lose the entire top half of their car, leaving him and his son, Junior, driving around in half a police car for the remainder of the chase. Buford has to be the funniest character in the film, alongside the Bandit, with some incredibly funny lines to his son Junior, who is so simple and stupid that he constantly causes trouble for his dad whilst on his high-speed pursuit. Buford would frequently throw amazing quips at him like: "There's no way, *no* way that you came from *my* loins. Soon as I get home, the first thing I'm gonna do is punch yo mamma in da mouth!" All of their scenes together are extremely hilarious notably because of how riled up he gets with him. Buford has a love-and-hate (but mostly hate) relationship with his son, constantly putting him down for his silly comments and inability to do even the simplest of things and making idle talk that gets a wittier remark from Buford. I also love the friendship between the Bandit and Snowman. The quips they make over the radios on their race to Atlanta are brilliant showing how great they are as friends as well as a team which contrasts with Buford's relationship with his son. That is probably why our heroes prevail as they work together on this mission. Snowman's interactions with his basset hound: Fred who comes along for the ride are equally entertaining as he is the most loveable dog I have ever seen and steals the show. Carrie and the Bandit's scenes are really funny too and I like how they develop feelings, becoming a kind of couple as they grow attached on this crazy adventure. Seeing Carrie get swept up in the adventure is also enjoyable, which is seen in my favourite moment where they do a really large jump and she loved it that much she wants to go again. She even gets a chance at the steering wheel which is just as fun. The most entertaining sequence is when other truckers and drivers are radioing the Bandit and offering help to evade the ever pursuing, Smokey. Some of the funniest parts of this film are seeing all the people chipping in to help out the legendary Bandit. From stopping and delaying all following police cars to hiding the team amongst loads of trucks. They are a big help in getting them to their destination unscathed. The Bandit drives a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, which was made very iconic by this film and looks super cool, definitely making it up there as some of my favourite cars in film history. The music is super catchy with the amazing 'West Bound and Down' which is a great joyful song to get you dancing along, bringing a smile to my face every time I hear it. Overall, I have a real fondness for this film as it is very energetic and so good with plenty of action, car chases, memorable comedic quips and loveable characters making it a perfect film, especially for some summertime viewing. Two more films were made in the trilogy with the follow-up film: Smokey and the Bandit II (1980).