In a recent conversation with friends, we talked about how Smokey and the Bandit may have become the largest grossing movie of 1977 had it not run into another small sci-fi flick with the title of Star Wars. Anyway, the movie rules from Jackie Gleason’s amazing (and supposedly mostly) improved lines, the great car chases, and of course the awesome Kenworth 900A tractor trailer that Jerry Reed drove.
I particularly like the end of the movie when Cledus Snow, otherwise known as “the snowman” on the CB when he and the Bandit were talking decides to take matters into his own hands and bust through the police lines and barricades that were going to prevent the two guys from delivering the beer, getting the money, and driving off into the sunset in the big red Caddy. It is always good to see parked cars bounce off the front of semi-trucks like toys and the in-truck angle when the stunt driver makes the very hard left to blast through those police cars is cool because you can hear the tires of the truck chattering and being generally pissed about the whole situation.
One of the funnier lines in the movie comes early in this clip after Snow commits to take the lead and blast into the race where Big Enos and Little Enos are waiting when he looks over at the dog and says, “Hold onto your ass, Fred!”
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE 1974 KENWORTH 900A take the lead and blast the Bandit into the race during the finale of Smokey and the Bandit I !
