![burt reynolds smokey and the bandit stunt man burt reynolds smokey and the bandit stunt man](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c7/67/7b/c7677bda9fae14e9428858566bd509a8.jpg)
- BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT STUNT MAN MOVIE
- BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT STUNT MAN DRIVER
- BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT STUNT MAN ARCHIVE
BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT STUNT MAN MOVIE
"I read it and I said, 'Hal, if you can get somebody to give you the money, I'll star in it and you can direct it,'" the movie star wrote. The idea of smuggling Coors beer across the country sparked Hal's imagination for Smokey and the Bandit, and Burt loved it. īack then, Coors was not available east of the Mississippi River and could only be sold in 11 western states because it didn't have preservatives in it and had to be kept cold, The New York Times reports.
BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT STUNT MAN DRIVER
Over time, he realized that the driver was "bootlegging" the beer and the maid was stealing it. Hal wrote on Fortunethat he was inspired to pen the film after a driver captain on set of Burt's 1976 movie Gator brought some Coors beer with him from California and asked Hal to hold a few cases of it in his hotel room. The film will make its television premiere on CMT later this year.The story goes that Hal approached him with the "script" for the flick, which was handwritten on yellow pads. Jayson Dinsmore, Lewis Bogach and John Miller-Monzon executive produce for CMT. Amanda McBaine produces for Mile End Films.
BURT REYNOLDS SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT STUNT MAN ARCHIVE
The film tells the action-packed story of the making of Smokey and The Bandit, while tracing the vivid personal journeys of Reynolds and Needham from obscurity to stardom and success and highlighting one of the most extraordinary relationships in Hollywood history.įeaturing new interviews with Reynolds, rare and never-before-seen archive material, including photographs, and footage from Reynolds’ personal archive, as well as candid interviews with the late Hal Needham, and other close friends and key players, the documentary offers a kaleidoscopic perspective on their relationship, and tells an exhilarating and moving story about loyalty, friendship and creative risk.Jesse Moss produces and directs. His decision to act in his best friend’s film not only changed both of their lives forever, but created a legendary character and a movie that is still revered today, forty years later. After appearing in a string of similar pictures, he hungered for more serious dramatic roles, but he was intensely loyal to his friend. In 1976, Needham approached Reynolds with a script he’d written, “Smokey and The Bandit.” A modern moonshine picture about smuggling Coors beer across state-lines, it was admittedly poorly written. debut in 1977 with the Burt Reynolds blockbuster Smoky and the Bandit. As one friend describes it, “Burt wanted to be doing what Hal was doing.' Needham hungered for stardom in his own right, but lived in Reynolds’ shadow. He would soon become Americas highest paid stuntman, working nonstop in such TV. Reynolds admired Needham and was drawn to the close-knit community of stuntmen that gathered around him. It was a mutually beneficial but complex and competitive friendship, dating back to the late 1950s when they met on the set of “Riverboat.”
![burt reynolds smokey and the bandit stunt man burt reynolds smokey and the bandit stunt man](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/68/da/d2/68dad21c9c328236b25db724be473882.jpg)
In addition to performing the car stunts, fights and falls that made Reynolds an action hero, Needham became Burt’s confidante and roommate - they lived together for nearly the entire 1970s.
![burt reynolds smokey and the bandit stunt man burt reynolds smokey and the bandit stunt man](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ARCFQBHekmA/TOsDzxdDwmI/AAAAAAAADLA/iGxobetQtOE/s1600/smokeyandthebandit_08.jpg)
Reynolds’ success on screen – and place in the popular imagination - was due in large part to the daring and death-defying work of Needham, who was Hollywood’s top stuntman. But beneath the swaggering machismo, mustache, and hair-raising stunts is a more complex story told in the feature-length documentary “The Bandit” which features new, original interviews with superstar Burt Reynolds.ĭirected by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jesse Moss, the documentary tells the little-known story of Burt Reynolds and his best friend, roommate and stunt-double, Hal Needham. He lit up the decade like a comet, from his breakout dramatic role in “Deliverance” (1972) through a string of Good Ol’ Boy pictures, and the box office smash hit “Smokey and the Bandit,” (1977) which became one of the most successful films of the decade. In the 1970s Burt Reynolds was one of American’s biggest movie stars. 'If Hal had been a woman, we would have had a wonderful marriage' - Burt Reynolds