I was flipping the channels on ye ol’ television while I was seeking the motivation to get out of bed this morning. While I was involved in this struggle of guilt vs. pleasure I stumbled across a movie I haven’t really seen in about a decade but was just ecstatic to see: Smokey and the Bandit.
There are just so many things that make Smokey & the Bandit (S&tB from this point forward) a film that you can enjoy time and time again. First, of course, there is the fact that it is a film I remember from my childhood (although completely inappropriate for me at the age I saw it) so that instantly makes it a classic in my book. I share the same types of feelings for Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, The Goonies, Back to the Future, Corvette Summer, Flash Gordon, The Man with the Golden Gun and Doc Savage. Some of them may be good movies, some of them may be bad movies, but they are movies that instantly transport me back to being that wide eyed innocent young spoiled brat who loved to watch movies.
You also can’t deny that S&tB has the one thing that all guys (at heart I feel) want to be able to do: drive fast, outrun the law, and have a great time doing it and never getting hurt. Bandit was the personification of the miracle man behind the wheel who could push the pedal to the metal without worry of repercussions or fear of bodily harm. I’d almost say I could blame a lot of my speeding tickets in life on this example that Burt Reynolds presented to me as a kid.
The last thing that makes S&tB a classic that I can watch time and time again is the use of the CB. Let’s face it folks, the CB craze was very very real and we all at some point either had one in the family or knew someone that had one and we always came up with our own handle. CB’s have a special memory for me because a group of friends and myself all started using CB’s in the last year of high school in order to coordinate what we were doing and for having fun. Granted this was a good decade AFTER S&tB, but you can’t deny that Bandit
and the Snowman showed us the light on how these wonderful little boxes could make for a real good time when you were behind the wheel.
It’s amazing the things that I reflect on, isn’t it?
-WW