Molecules to Movies: Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

This contains spoilers ahead. This is not a review, but rather more of an analysis.

Star Wars was the number one movie in America in 1977, obviously. The movie featured Harrison Ford as a smuggler who piloted the Millennium Falcon. The number four movie of that year starred Burt Reynolds as a smuggler who drove a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Well, maybe both movies say something about American audiences in 1977. The other top movies of that year, according to the-numbers.com, are Close Encounters of the Third Kind (2) and Saturday Night Fever (3). Also in the top ten are two religiously themed movies with In Search of Noah's Ark (6) and Oh, God! (7). So American audiences spent the year watching movies about outer space, God and masculinity.

After watching this movie, I kind of struggle as to what to focus on in writing this article. This movie is very much about Southern culture in America. I grew up in New York, which has quite the opposite culture. Growing up, all I knew about the South was The Dukes of Hazzard. I guess that's an appropriate reference since that TV show owes a lot to the popularity of this movie. The Bandit is a legend in the South. It's not clear what made him a legend, but his fans only seem to grow as he nears the finish of his run.

I guess I should give a short summary for anyone who hasn't seen it in awhile or who doesn't care about spoilers. At the time, Coors beer was illegal west of Texas. Big Enos and his son Little Enos have the money to entice drivers to smuggle a truckload of Coors beer across state lines to Georgia, but the driver gets caught each time. They hire the Bandit (Burt Reynolds) to make the next attempt at bringing them their favorite beer, for $80,000. They have just 28 hours to get to Texas and back. The Bandit has his partner Snowman (Jerry Reed) drive the truck loaded with beer, while he speeds ahead in a Trans Am to divert the attention of any “smokeys” (police). He sees Carrie (Sally Field) on the side of the road in a broken down car, wearing a wedding dress. She is a runaway bride. The jilted groom is the son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason). He and his son pursue the Bandit across state lines for the rest of the film, although they have no idea what the Bandit looks like.

So where lies the appeal of this movie? It's a road movie, and also an early buddy comedy. It's a modern Western where the hero and the villain both proudly wear their cowboy hats It's also about the struggle of the everyman against government power. The Bandit is only an outlaw because the law is unjust. Buford T. Justice is the perfect ironic name for a Southern lawman exceeding the boundaries of his jurisdiction. The Bandit has a diverse group of people willing to help him out. Sheriff Justice is a racist horrified to discover that there is a black sheriff in Mississippi. Although the Bandit is pursued by all police, the sheriff routinely has to threaten state police to get him to follow his orders. This is despite having no jurisdiction. But he can sure throw his weight around.

While the Bandit and Snowman are breaking the law, they are also not portrayed as outlaw criminals. Seemingly just to show this difference, there is a brief scene where Snowman is beaten up for no reason by outlaw bikers. It is a quirk of American politics, that one can be against government overreach and the law when it is abused for those purposes, while still being pro law enforcement. It's just that the law is supposed to go after those other people, whoever they designate as the real criminals. In some sense this has a bit in common with Star Wars, where the rebels are the heros in the face of government overreach.

Also in the mix are the characters of the bride and jilted groom. The bride, Carrie (CB handle Frog), does not appear to be Southern. She has danced on Broadway. She has traveled. She is out of the Bandit's class. He finds her amusing and sometimes annoying. She was to marry Sheriff Justice's son, but perhaps left him when realizing he was a class below her. The groom is completely emasculated, not by her but by his own father. He spends nearly half the movie literally holding his father's hat on to keep it from being blown off during car chases. His father is embarrassed by him and threatens to beat his mother in revenge. But his son does nothing to stand up to him.

It is hard to say if this film holds up today. A lot of the risque humor between Reynolds and Field seems tame by today's standards. The racism espoused by Gleason may put off today's audiences, even though he is supposed to be the villain. But this is a tale that may appeal to many today. It's a tale of everyday struggle, finding a common cause with the people. It's uniting against tyranny, even if it's just about drinking the beer you want to drink. It's wanting both cops and actual criminals to leave everyone else alone, so long as they don't harm anyone. Of course, it's only in a movie that driving at reckless speeds across crowded athletic fields doesn't harm anybody.