Smokey & the Bandit * FIRST TIME WATCHING * reaction & commentary 

Don't care what anyone else thinks but Jerry Reed is the one who makes this movie totally complete.

I bagged Sally Field's groceries once. She was in town filming Lincoln. I didn't know it at the time. As she is placing her stuff on the belt I ask her 'Has anyone ever told you that you look like Sally Field? She doesn't respond, keeps her head down. So, I say 'Im sorry but there are worst people to resemble than America's Sweetheart.' She say's, 'Youre so sweet'. So, by the time she is paying she is closer and I ask, 'Forgive me, but are you actually Sally Field?' She says 'yes' and brings her finger to her mouth motioning 'Shshsh'. She was hoping to get through the store without being spotted. I get the hint and she shuttles out undetected. Ever since tho like when I am dating someone if a girl calls me an asshole or tells me I am a jerk because of some circumstance where I probably was one I will say, 'Well, Sally Field is America's sweetheart and she told me I am sweet. Who the hell are you?" Haha.

Jackie Gleason adlibed most of his lines and acting in the movie... NOBODY knew what the hell he was gonna say or do next, which is what makes his acting in this SO brilliant! especially how he interacts with Mike Henry (Junior). originally Gleason was going to be alone but he told production "i have to have someone in the car with me to play off of" the result was genius

"Thought '70s movies were supposed to be wholesome ..." Oh, Ashleigh, how precious LOL We have such sights to show you ....

It might interest you to know, Ashleigh, that actor Billy Bob Thornton once told Burt Reynolds that in the south in the 1970s, Smokey & the Bandit was considered a documentary. lol 😆

Sheriff Buford T Justice aged exactly how the filmmakers expected him to age I think.

I think Jackie Gleason makes the movie hilarious with His son.. the whole cast is funny

In regards to the saucy dialogue, double entendres and general randy nature of this movie I can offer only one timid excuse: It Was The Seventies!

"I may not have been the best actor but I was the best Burt Reynolds" Burt Reynolds R.I.P.

"I feel like for 1977 movies were still supposed to be wholesome" Now I think she should watch the 1976 Bad News Bears. Its a kids movie so you know it will be wholesome. :)

The "whoever they are" to Fred and Ginger or Lester and Earl made me cry inside. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were a famous movie dance couple, they did 10 movies together, and Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs are a famous bluegrass duo, they did Foggy Mountain Breakdown and the theme to the Beverly Hillbillies.

It’s nice to see a millennial appreciate the classics that many of us Gen Xers grew up with. So many do not. You are funny, witty and charming. I’m already hooked on your channel. Been binge watching lol. Keep up the great work Ashleigh!

Just so you know, this was made at a time when COORS wasn’t allowed to be sold in the eastern half of the United States.

Can't help but laugh at the notion of the 1970s being "wholesome."

Directed by Hal Needham, who prior to this was the most legendary stuntman ever. He believed in fun. Big, dumb, fun movies.

One of my favorite moments in "The Walking Dead" was when a couple of characters were hiding, they hid behind an old rusty abandoned semi trailer. When the camera pulled back for a longer shot, we could see that it was Bandit's trailer from this movie. Someone on "The Walking Dead" was a "Smokey and the Bandit" fan. For anyone who is interested, it's episode 10 of season 7.

Fun Fact: Smokey is slang for State Troopers. The slang term comes from the hat that state troopers typically wore, which is the same style hat that Smokey Bear wears. "Remember, Only YOU can prevent forest fires." 🐻💦🔥

It's actually the other way around, Dukes of Hazzard was inspired by Smokey and the Bandit.

Throwback to pre-PC days comment wins the Internet: "You couldn't even reach his ass." 🤣🤣🤣

The Eastbound and Down song was written and performed by Jerry Reed, who played the driver of bandit 2. Jerry Reed was an extraordinary musician and performer. His guitar playing was legendary. If you get a chance, do a RU-vid search on him.

“This film has a lot of cussing for the 70’s” *Laughs in Slapshot* PS, watch Slapshot!

"This is like Country GTA." I have never seen a film summed up so succinctly since the review of Alien "Nobody listened to the smart woman and they all died except the smart woman and her cat, five stars".

“There ain’t a mystery left in them jeans.” 😂 Yup, that’s Burt!

"Why is everyone so passive aggressive and mean?" Bless your heart... because the South.

Ashley: "Oh, that's...inappropriate," followed by multiple "Oh, my Gods" and "I feel like 1977. Movies were still supposed to be wholesome." Me: "Oh, you Sweet Summer Child. The 70's was insane! It was the last decade before AIDS and the modern movie system.

The actor playing the "smokey" is Jackie Gleason, one of the GOAT comic actors.

The thing about Coors beer is that, at this time, you could not get that brand east of the Mississippi. Seems odd now, but it was not legally available in the east until a few years after this movie was a monster hit, which may have had something to do with changing things (not sure about that). That’s why Big Enos hired the Bandit and Snowman to haul a bootleg load to him. He wanted that brand of beer.

Love this movie! I grew up watching it, my parents weren't afraid to show it to us lol. And fun fact, the only movie that was bigger than this at the box office in 1977 was Star Wars

Cannonball run is a good movie if you're into car chase type movies.

Did you realize the singer of East Bound and Down, The Bandit, and a few others in the movie is Jerry Reed. Jerry also plays Snowman, the driver of the semi with Fred?

Fun fact: according to the director 85% to 90% of Jackie Gleason’s lines were ad lipped or improvised they didn’t know what he was gonna say from one scene to the next but the result was always hysterically funny

my favorite line of the whole movie "hold my hat!" "my hat blew off daddy" "i hope your god damn head was in it!"

The little guy in the blue suit is Paul Williams actor, singer and songwriter. He wrote it is not easy being green for Kermit the frog among others.

The chemistry between Burt and Sally lifts this movie to another level. They look like they’re having the time of their lives all the way through.

Nothing was inappropriate in 1977 because nobody was uptight like they are today.

As someone that used to drive a semi, a roadside inspection is a reason the can be pulled over. You could be driving the speed limit, use your turn signal, not tailgate, and have your seatbelt on, and still get pulled over for an inspection. With a roadside inspection, they're looking for lights that are out (every light on a semi needs to be functional at all times) or the wrong color (white or amber in the front and sides, red on the back except for the Antilock Brake System light on the back left on the trailer), brakes that are out of adjustment (this means they won't touch the brake drum when they need to), too little tire tread (4/32" on the steer tires. 2/32" everywhere else), incorrect tires (brand new virgin steer tires. Retreads can be used everywhere else), or hours of service violations (you can be on duty for up to 14 hours. Within that 14 hours, you can drive for up to 11 hours. Within that 11 yours, you have to have a 30 minute break within the first 8 hours of driving. You have to have a minimum of 10 hours off duty or in the sleeper every day. You can have a maximum of 80 hours on duty every 9 days with a 34 hour off duty or sleeper off to reset all the clocks). They are also looking for overweight trucks (absolute maximum without permits is 12,000 pounds on the steer axle, 34,000 pounds on the drive axles and 34,000 pounds on the trailer axles for a total maximum weight of 80,000 pounds.) A roadside inspection can take an hour or two and does count against your 11 hour drive time clock

As the old saying goes: "Trousers so tight, you can tell what religion he is."

The song “Eastbound and Down's" lyrics change depending on which direction they're traveling, Ashleigh. When they're going to Texarkana it's “westbound and down, eighteen wheels a-rollin'," but after they get the beer and they're headed back to Atlanta it's “eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin'." They're not loaded up yet at the start of the movie.

This is the first time that truck driver, Snowman played by Jerry Reed, ever acted. He was a country music singer/songwriter that was friends with Burt Reynolds. He wrote the East Bound and Down song in one hour and that's him singing and playing guitar.

Interesting fact. When aired for TV back in the 80s, they decided to tone down the language and overdubbed the "SUM BITCH" line with "SCUM BUM" and ironically, it became a new insult and a lot of us kids would say it a lot.

This movie was the inspiration for “Dukes of Hazard” as well as “BJ and the Bear”.

This movie was a smash hit in '77; Overnight turning Burt Reynolds from a well known actor into a bona fide bankable movie star. Studios at the time were making gritty, deep, sometimes depressing films quite a bit. This movie was the ultimate escape. Fun fact: Up until his death, Alfred Hitchcock himself called this movie his favorite guilty pleasure.

Enjoyed this. And nice seeing all the cab overs.

I saw this movie multiple times as a kid then I saw it again in theaters for the 40th anniversary. When I saw it in theater I snuck a few Coors in and shared them with the gentlemen next to me. It was a great time with everyone singing along

Also - they don't play Convoy in this one. That's for Convoy, with Kris Krostofferson as Rubber Duck.

Another hilarious Burt Reynolds movie is "The Cannonball Run", featuring an all star cast, and the best bloopers in cinema history. It is as you'd say.... very witty.

This movie brought Burt and Sally together. Their relationship lasted many years and quite a few movies together.

Cannonball Run is a similar type of movie pacing, theme, and one-liners.

You're going to love "Cannonball Run" staring Burt Reynolds and evrybody else.

I always felt that Burt's little 4th wall breaks were him saying "I'm getting _paid_ to do this!"

I’m so glad you liked this movie. It’s a lot of fun, and your reaction was golden! All those one-liners, lol

Hal Needham, the actor/stunt man/ director of this movie was doing a movie in the east and brought Coor's beer with him for his motel room refrigerator. For some reason, his beer stash kept shrinking. When he found out the hotel staff was swiping it, he asked them why they just didn’t buy their own? He was informed that Coor's, at that time, couldn’t not be purchased east of the Mississippi under the brewing laws, and so was considered "bootlegging" (illegal transporting of alcohol for profit). Hal figured the premise would make a great movie and Smokey and the Bandit was born! Jerry Reed, a country singer/ songwriter was asked to write the music by Hal Needham. The next morning, Jerry performed EAST BOUND AND DOWN for Needham in his room. After playing the sound, Jerry said, "If you don't like it. I can change it!" Hal told him, "If you change it, I'll kill you!"

The absolute best line in ALL OF movie history - Branford: "The fact that you are a Texas Sheriff is not germaine to this conversation." Justice: "GAWDAMN GERMANS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS."

Jackie Gleason in this was absolute GOLD. He INVENTED that character as he went. "Sumbitch" was used by him after Reynolds told him about an old time southern sheriff who used the word and it was forever cemented into southern lexicon. This line is absolutely brilliant and I cannot count the times I have looked at one of my kids an thought this in my head. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Sn9-nNLzcWE.html

Back in the 1970s, some beers were not sold in the Eastern US. Coors--- the beer in the truck--- is brewed in Colorado and it was illegal to possess this beer on the East coast. That was a crime.

The final chase is full of hilarious antics. The Rollercoaster collapse was real footage. Lakewood Amphitheater used to be fairgrounds and that was demolishing the coaster for removal.

The actor playing the truck driver was the singer of Eastbound and Down - Jerry Reed.

Sheriff Justice's comment about Sheriff Branford aged exactly like it was supposed to. If Buford wasn't immoral he'd be the good guy in this story about bootleggers.

You nailed it! Dukes Of Hazard used this film for inspiration as that show aired in the early 1980's.

The interesting thing about the "Breaker breaker, Rubber Duckie. If you know what song I'm talking about." There's another movie for you, right there. The song Convoy inspired a fantastic movie, of the same name, staring Kris Kristofferson. Also thank you for the earworm, that's not going to leave me today. :P EDIT: The reason they don't play Convoy is as above (19.10). C.W. McCall's Convoy was the inspiration for the Convoy movie, which Smokey and the Bandit was sort of a cash in on.

Buford T. Justice will remain the best character ever created.

The reason why they didn't play Convoy is that it's a whole different movie.

Also back in the day a lot of trucks ran coors east of the Mississippi River and the cops stopped them constantly looking for illegal beer.

Fun fact: There are brief cameos from four of the Dukes of Hazzard cast members. When Little Enos asks where he might find the Bandit, the man with the moustache that replies "I ain't seen him" is played by Ben Jones who also plays Cooter Davenport on Dukes. The motorcycle cop that pulls over Snowman is played by Sonny Shroyer who also plays deputy Enos Strate on Dukes. John Schneider (Bo Duke) and Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) have brief walk-on cameos, but I haven't been able to spot them yet.

You asked why the truck needed the blocker: The truck is hauling illegal Coors across the Mississippi and going way over the speed limit to make the run on time. There are random inspections to catch such a thing too.

"Westbound And Down" and "Eastbound And Down" were actually separate songs. The latter had the "loaded up and truckin'" lyric, while the former had "18 wheels a rollin'", since they weren't actually "loaded up" yet. But it was otherwise the same basic song.

Great reaction Ash, loved it :)

It was "Westbound and down,18 wheels a-rollin'" going to Texarkana, then "Eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin'" on the way back.

“East Bound and Down” was written and sung by Jerry Reed, (“Snowman” in this film.) Also, Burt Reynolds’ hair was “perfect” because he was wearing a hairpiece. Even at this point in his career, his hair was starting to thin. He started wearing hair pieces pretty young and he’s got one on in this film. But I’ll give him credit: To my knowledge, he never denied wearing a hair piece or a wig and in fact, was comfortable with it; and the ones he wore were top quality and weren’t ever cheap, obvious, cheesy ones.

No, the truck was speeding to make the time. Bandit was just making sure he was the target and it let Snowman drive fast without getting stopped first.

catching up with your brilliant reaction videos a year on absolutely love that you are reacting, exactly the way everyone else has over the last 40 years from Britain, movies like this were a window on another world, the really BIG trucks, the massive vistas (on the big screen), and all the product placement of things we didn't have in Britain back then (but do now) and yeah, movies were usually 90-100 minutes, films in the cinema were 6 reels of film = 100 or so minutes is your max

Where they jumped the creek, the marks for the stunt are still there. And I drive right by where that roadblock scene was filmed all the time.

Such a fun movie and you’ll be hearing Jerry Reed singing the main theme song stuck in your head for days!

"can't believe they haven't play the song Convoy yet!" - that would be in the film "Convoy" :D

I remember when I was a kid, this was on TV and my dad let me stay up late to watch it as it was one of his favourite movies

Grew up on this film.. i was born years after it.. but still a childhood fav

The semi isn't obeying the law. They have such a short time windows, that the semi has to "hammer down" (i.e. keep his foot on the gas) and make very few stops. Bandit 1 is running "blocker" to make sure that all the attention is on him, rather than a Semi that is doing 20-30+ mph over the speed limit. Also, the "Smokeys" know that is a route for bootleggers, because they all know Big Ennis has been trying to get truckers to make that run. So they are watching for them.

Sally and Burt dated for 5 years after meeting on this movie.

Thank you! I enjoyed this movie in the theater when I was a kid. I haven't seen it since Your interpretation is Great!

I've been watching reaction videos since 2015 or 16 and I've never seen anyone do Smokey and the Bandit. OH MY GOD. Love you little girl!

You played only a part of my favorite lines in the movie. Buford : "Junior, there is no way, no way, that you could come from my loins! When we get home, I'm gonna punch yo momma in her mouth." Not socially correct but still funny. Oh, and "Beaver" did mean what you thought it meant in this movie.

Dukes of Hazzard Note: The State Trooper in the movie that pulled over Snowman and the semi is the same actor, Sonny Shoroyer, who played Enos Strate in Dukes of Hazzard.

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned but the snowman was played by singer and songwriter Jerry reed who wrote and sang east bound and down.

You have such an endearing personality💕❤❤

my mom has 2 cats, one black, one gray. The gray one is Smokey and the black one is Bandit.

“Why is everyone so passive aggressive?” It was the 70’s Ashleigh. Convoy was another movie from the 70’s.

The song Convoy is from the movie Convoy.

Motorcycle cop is the actor that played Enos straight in the dukes of hazzard

i watch this movie religiously on Christmas Eve. This movie is the second highest grossing film of 1977, fell short of number 1 by a little movie called Star Wars. Glad you liked this one Ashleigh!!!

Trucks used to be routinely pulled over for inspection. You didn’t need to break the law to get pulled over. Nowadays, it’s more streamlined with weigh stations.

loving that i came across ypur chanels pretty funny lady !!

What a lot of people don't know is that there is a link to the Dukes of Hazard... The scene with the motor cop is the actor who played Enos in the Dukes of Hazard... Sonny" Shroyer played Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate...

The ‘dwarf’ is Paul Williams, one the the most prolific song writers of 70s and 80s. Songs by The Carpenters, Three Dog Night and others. Look up his catalog!

The Fred and Ginger he mentions are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who starred in a lot of RKO musical films

I loved this movie for as long as I can remember. It inspired me. I now own my own trucking company and still can't ignore the call of the open highway. Also, a "bear" is State Police or Highway Patrol. A "smokey" or "county mountie" is a Sheriff. "Bear cub" is a local cop. "Kojak with a Kodak" is a cop with a radar gun. "Evil Knievel" is a motorcycle cop. "Seat cover" is a female passenger. "What's your 20?" = "Where are you?" I think that's most of the slang used in this film. And while I haven't quite hit 96 mph in a truck, I will say my truck isn't speed limited. 😎

That 'song' Convoy also has a movie attached to it that's worth watching.

This got a whole generation wanting one of those black Trans-Ams

Burt said before he died, letting Sally get away from him was his biggest regret. She was the love of his life.

The song Convoy is from another movie with a similar vibe called Convoy!!

this movie was required viewing for all males between 13 and 21 in the Southeast US during the summer of 1977. i watched it about ten times that summer. it is also in my DVD collection along with Cannonball Run.