Burt Reynolds' best and worst car movies

Friday, 7 September 2018

In the two years after Smokey and the Bandit came out sales of the Pontiac Trans Am doubled.

The late Burt Reynolds made lots of films. Some were great, some were awful, but a surprising amount of them were about cars.

As a tribute to the great man's passing we take a look at the best (and worst) of his car movies.

White Lightning (1973)

Before Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball run, Reynolds was Gator McKlusky - a convicted moonshine runner who goes undercover to expose the corrupt sheriff who murdered his brother.

* Burt Reynolds cinematic legacy: Oscars, Razzies and that 'stache

* Rebooted Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am has Burt Reynolds' approval**

Lots of 70s cars and a thoroughly epic car chase finale make this an early Reynolds car classic.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Possibly the ultimate car movie, stuntman Hal Needham's directorial debut Smokey and the Bandit still holds up remarkably well today.

Fantastic stunts, an array of brilliant (now classic) American cars and Burt Reynolds undeniable easy charm all come together to create one of the best car movies of all time and, as a bonus, also doubled the sales of the Pontiac Trans Am in the two years following the film's release!

Hooper (1978)

Reynolds, Hal Needham and a Trans Am teamed up again almost immediately following Bandit to create the criminally underrated tribute to movie stuntmen, Hooper.

Reynolds stars as 'The Greatest Stuntman Alive', Sonny Hooper in a wonderfully over-the-top movie that culminates in a remarkably meta 'car stunt in a movie about movie car stunts' that includes many explosions, crashing cars, a close call with a falling chimney and a rocket-powered Trans Am.

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

Reynolds and Needham ended their run of brilliant car movies with this sequel to the 1977 classic. Pretty much a film that didn't need to be made and was essentially a remake of the first film with an elephant theft instead of a truck load of beer. Which says it all, really…

The Cannonball Run (1981)

While the sequel to Smokey wasn't great, Reynolds and Needham redeemed themselves the following year with an adaptation of US motoring journalist Brock Yates' account of the 1979 running of the legendary (and illegal) Cannonball Run road race that he created in 1971.

Although it was ripped by critics, the film was nevertheless a financial success and is still an enjoyable (if cheesy) blast today.

Stroker Ace (1983)

Awful and brilliant at the same time Stroker Ace is a terrible film with great car action, again from Hal Needham.

Reynolds plays an unlikeable and arrogant NASCAR racer driving a lame car (an early 80s Ford Thunderbird) in a movie that wasted a strong cast (Loni Anderson aside) and was critically panned and a commercial failure.

Still, the car action is brilliant, so that makes it okay by us!

Cannonball Run II (1984)

Hal Needham was in serious danger of completely ruining his legacy of brilliant car movies with Reynolds by the time they made this pointless and cynical cash-grab of a sequel to the cheesily-lovable original.

While completely lacking the charm and likeability of the original, it did still have some fantastic chase scenes and great stunts that still make it worth enduring.

Dishonourable mentions (he didn't star in these turkeys, but he was in them)

Driven (2001)

Sylvester Stallone's appallingly bad film about the Champ Car series was originally supposed to be about Formula 1. Except Bernie Ecclestone got wind of how awful it was shaping up to be and pulled the plug.

Reynolds plays a paraplegic team owner that was a character originally based on F1's Frank Williams (yes, really) and the whole film is an utter mess of horrific cliches, bad acting, awful special effects and plain stupidity.

The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

Burt Reynolds appeared as himself - and referenced a number of his classic car movies - in the animated series 'Archer'

A thoroughly fairly dismal film all around, this remake of the classic 80s TV series saw Reynolds playing Boss Hogg (yeah, it didn't work) with no charisma and a singular lack of interest.

One critic derided the weak plot as simply existing to tie the chase scenes together, which entirely redeems it, really…

Honourable mention

The Man from Jupiter (Archer episode)

Reynolds' single episode role in the FX network's brilliantly subversive spy cartoon Archer is a wonderfully knowing tribute to his greatest car movies, particularly the extended chase scene where Reynolds, driving Archer's Dodge Challenger, pulls off a sweet manouevre to which Archer exclaims 'I invented that' and Reynolds responds 'Oh, are you Hal Needham?'