Vitals

Burt Reynolds as Bo “the Bandit” Darville, daredevil driver

Texarkana to Atlanta, Summer 1976

Film: Smokey and the Bandit
Release Date: May 27, 1977
Director: Hal Needham

Background

♫ You’ve heard about the legend of Jesse James and John Henry just to mention some names,

Well, there’s a truck-drivin’ legend in the South today, a man called Bandit from Atlanta, GA… ♫

After seven years of biannual Car Week features, how did it take me this long get around to what might be the most famous “car movie” of all? On a day commemorating the anniversary of American independence, it feels appropriate to celebrate Burt Reynolds bedecked in red, white, and blue (or at least red and blue) as he speeds across half the country in a muscle car, all in the name of beer… or as the Bandit himself declares:

For the money, for the glory, and for the fun… but mostly for the money.

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