Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
Directed by Hal Needham
A race car driver tries to transport an illegal beer shipment from Texas to Atlanta in under 28 hours, picking up a reluctant bride-to-be on the way.
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What critics compared Smokey and the Bandit to
A chicken-fried treat akin to Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run , with a little Blues Brothers tossed in, the heist comedy Logan Lucky (*** out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Thursday night) centers on a West Virginia group of accidental crooks and usual suspects who plan to plunder Charlotte Motor Speedway during a major NASCAR race.
Logan Lucky is a movie filled with so many Southern-fried yahoos, it makes the characters in Smokey and the Bandit look as cultured as those in Howards End by comparison.
It’ll never make us forget about Smokey and the Bandit, but not solely for the reason that Tatum is no Burt Reynolds.
If the “Oceans” series represented his updating of Kennedy-era Rat Pack swagger, “Logan Lucky” revives the irreverent, hell-raising outlaw vibe of “Smokey and the Bandit.”
However, Soderbergh is also the first to point out that if how much fun the actors had on a film is indicative of the quality, then “Smokey and the Bandit” would have been the greatest film ever made.
Black, cinematographer Phillippe Rousselot and the production design team re-create an ultra-smoggy, 1977 Los Angeles filled with touchstones from the era, from the signage at The Comedy Store touting Robert Klein, Richard Lewis and Tim Allen to the billboard for “Smokey and the Bandit” to the fashion and the cars of the time to a hired assassin nicknamed “John Boy” because he resembles the young hero of “The Waltons.”
From the opening establishing shot, which creeps out from behind the decaying and disrepaired Hollywood sign to the tiny background details (the 1977 setting is reconfirmed by billboards for the blockbusters of the day, like Smokey and the Bandit and Airport ’77) to the in-jokes (the porn producer’s latest is an adult version of Pinocchio, using the “It’s not my nose that grows” tagline of an actual porn film from earlier in the decade) to the tributes (a drunken Gosling discovers a dead body, and his wheezing, yelping take is full-on Lou Costello).
Clearly going for the “Fast and Furious” vibe with a side order of “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Need for Speed” tries to capitalize on the buzz around newly graduated “Breaking Bad” star Aaron Paul.
Adapted by stuntman-turned-auteur Scott Waugh (the Navy SEALs actioner Act of Valor was his feature debut) from the street-racing video game, Need for Speed revs its engines appreciatively at some cinema car chases: Steve McQueen's Nob Hill careen in Bullitt is seen early on at a drive-in (foreshadowing Paul's own San Fran run), various cop-car crash-ups echo Smokey and the Bandit , and at one point, Paul and Poots are gunning straight toward the oblivion of Dead Horse Point in Moab, Utah - the same precipice Thelma and Louise hurtled over.
The runaround in the exploding Russian space station is a nail-biter, and Affleck�s attempt to rekindle the glory days of Smokey and the Bandit when faced with a seemingly-impassable canyon is like a comic-book brought to life (and that is by no means a disparaging remark � �sense of wonder� is an overused term, but in this instance it evokes exactly that, as do most of the other set-pieces).
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Forty years ago, this could have been the premise for a raucous comedy destined for drive-ins, in the vein of Smokey and the Bandit .
That distinction may belong to Hal Needham, the guy who went from stunt-doubling for Burt Reynolds to directing him in ‘70s films such as Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run .
While the original had near-equal amounts of action, humor, and enough seriously badass rebel attitude to choke Smokey and the Bandit-era Burt Reynolds, Vol. 2 ups the ante by introducing Kurt Russell as Ego, a planet-sized entity in human form who is in actuality – stunned gasp! – cocky-ass Peter Quill’s, aka Star-Lord’s, father.
The stars play Tarantino’s fictional variations on early Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen but, especially, on Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham—before, that is, Deliverance saved Reynolds’ bacon, and before their later Smokey and the Bandit windfall that made them a two-man money machine.
But all that is outside the movie’s scope; Rick is still in his Navajo Joe phase, and hasn’t yet had his Deliverance or his Smokey and the Bandit.
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Anyone seeing the title of the movie and hoping for a pedal-stomping update on “Convoy” or “Smokey and the Bandit” will, by now, be feeling a mite confused.
The driving scenes shake off the torpor that lingers over too many car chases of the past and provide viewers with white-knuckle thrills without stumbling into "Smokey and the Bandit"-style excess--these are the kind of chases that you can imagine witnessing in real life.
The photographer (Karl Glusman) is framed like a serial killer when he's behind his camera, but outside the studio, he's a gentleman, taking Jesse in his "Smokey and the Bandit" Trans Am to an overlook, where they take in the twinkling L.A. cityscape, a low moon brooding overhead.
Alana (Alana Haim), who’s got a firm hand and wild eyes; the chaotic vehicular choreography at once parodies and honors period car chases in comedies like The Sugarland Express or Smokey and the Bandit.