"For the money, for the glory, and for the fun...mostly for the money. ": A Burt Reynolds Memorial Poll

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3803/9674933558_6962d41c78_z.jpg

Lol

There's a lot of good and bad on this list, but Smokey & The Bandit works on every level and is infinitely rewatchable. So that.

I only saw it a few years ago. I'm assuming it was one of those "you had to be there" things, or at least you had to have seen it when you were a kid to still appreciate it, but not only didn't I laugh once, I didn't even understand what I was theoretically supposed to be laughing at.

the Bill Forsyth film, Breaking In, was written by John Sayles.

Reynolds was totally miscast in that film and basically ruined it. It was when he was several years past his big box office run and he thought it was enough to just be Burt Reynolds in front of a camera and he'd done his job.

what did you think of Forsyth's film with Robin Williams? (recut by the studio, barely released)

I didn't see that one

re Southernness, Reynolds lied early on that he'd been born in Georgia, not Michigan

Believed he was born in the same town as Gram Parsons, I believe.

Believe he claimed, meant to type

Important day in my moviegoing life was a double feature of Cannonball Run II and 9 to 5 when I was 9 or so.

I watched Hooper last night for the first time - definitely enjoyable, much more in the Smokey & the Bandit vein.

Although I gotta say: Hal Needham’s movies look like fkn local news, they are SO workmanlike it’s almost depressing sometimes. The stunt sequence at the end was so cool but it was shot in such a “fuckit whatever” way that you miss the scope. Everything’s either close up or too far away, lol. But I do love how much room he gives Reynolds & the other actors to just be natural. Lots of personality, even if there is minimal (read: zero) flair

i think Burt's flaw (tied in w/him turning down a number of projects that wound up being exceptionally good) was thinking his talent was for the wisecracking mustache ladies' man thing (which let's face it was probably perfected and made actually likable by Selleck w/Magnum P.I.) when i think he was actually much better as a more serious actor. I think he marginalized himself to the point that he wound up doing Golden Girls cameos and making jokes on Carson and starring in Stroker Ace, when you see him being a bit more tough and even brutal in Deliverance and Sharky's Machine, or just what he did in Boogie Nights (which is a genuinely *great* performance across the board) you see what kind of opportunities he caused himself to miss. I mean it clearly paid off for him, but I think he had an "it" factor potential for other genres he never completely fulfilled.

I didn't know until I read the obit on Alfred's blog that hated the experience of making Boogie Nights, didn't like PTA, and hasn't even seen the whole film!

*Burt hated

As he made clear, the plaudits from the Hollywood community -- he really wanted that Oscar nod -- touched him more than the work itself.

Jackie Chan having to play Japanese was O_o

This. I saw Cannonball in the theatre with a friend and was mortified how the audience laughed at that "Asian music cue" EVERY damn time the film cut to Jackie's car. :/ (Cinemagoing evening was a disappointment from the start - sneak preview of Spielberg's "Raiders" we'd originally intended to see was ultimately canceled or sold out or something)

omar otm. he was clearly talented enough to be more than a big fish in a small pond. he was good at being Burt but you gotta wonder at the “what if’s” if he had spread his wings, acting wise

can't believe no one has mentioned . . . a place called evening shade

<3

i also really like him in Gunsmoke. I dvr the reruns & i like when his episodes pop up now and then. Such a strapping young man <3

The stunt sequence at the end was so cool but it was shot in such a “fuckit whatever” way that you miss the scope. Everything’s either close up or too far away, lol.

This was a big deal in Alabama, because they were basically blowing up an old factory in Tuscaloosa for that sequence. But of course they could only do it once, so Needham could only work with what he had.

What I don't see mentioned much is that he taught theater acting to young students in Florida for many years, so clearly he cared about the art form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY2OE6vBxQM

Yeah, whatever else, Reynolds liked Florida and was involved in the arts wherever he settled down. His dinner theater with Loni Anderson in Jupier was famous for a while.

*Jupiter

Yeah, Burt & Dinah were like the Ashton & Demi of that time. He was also once married to Judy Carne which is somewhat intriguing.

I liked Burt Reynolds in many of his films and most of his appearances with Johnny Carson. There's something very friendly about a handsome leading-man type who doesn't take himself too seriously and can laugh at his own image.

He once appeared on a TV show I worked on but we didn't meet when he taped his spot. A few weeks later though, he dropped by the office about something else and we got introduced. We talked for about ten minutes about nothing that mattered one bit. But it did matter to me that he was the same self-deprecating guy with the hyena laugh who appeared often with Johnny.

Then one evening I was at a party and I listened as his ex-wife Judy Carne told a small group of folks how when she was married to him, Burt used to beat the hell out of her. From that point on, it became somewhat more difficult to like Burt Reynolds.

yeah, that was mentioned in the NYT obit. He also said of Loni Anderson "I never really liked her," which is a shitty thing to put out in public about somebody you have a kid with.

Never saw any of his Gunsmoke era, or Evening Shade.

he was at his Brando-est in Gunsmoke

https://i.imgur.com/JJeFDk4.png?1

YES. where is that? i want to go there

https://2018.xoxofest.com !

i want to go there too

inspired to make bear_on_burt.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uWb784x.jpg?1

oh dear god

i'm biased, but i think it's a very nice pic

speaking of picks, i went for the boring one here (deliverance)

started watching Smokey & The Bandit for the first time, learnt 5 mins in that its back in cinemas next week, stopped.

Just saw The Last Movie Star last week The whole thing feels as shambolic as the film festival at which its set, and Reynolds feels like he’s suddenly realised that for 21 years he squandered the chance at a third act that Boogie Nights should have given him, but doesn’t quite know what to do about it.

I watched the trailer for Sharky's Machine on youtube today and the "up next" video was "the real reason you don't hear from burt reynolds anymore" :(

(I didn't watch it so I don't know)

find him charming and inyeresting in re the way he looked at his acreer and though maybe regretted itt later simply chose to have fun with his life, in his autobio he talks abt how many decisions he made in his films was purely on 'oh, shooting in jamaica? great' or chance to work with friends as opposed to this is a good part. list of roles he turned down/passed on is quite amazing too the Atlantic was citing some of them - 'Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Han Solo in Star Wars, Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the lead in Pretty Woman. He was James L. Brooks’s first choice to play the washed-up astronaut love interest in 1983’s Terms of Endearment'

tho according to Burt, Marlon threatened to quit if he was offered the part so he had no chance there app. attaching long quote from his book re Oscars night for Boogie Nights

THOUGH I’VE SEEN parts of Boogie Nights, I’ve never sat down and watched the whole thing. I asked family members not to see it and they didn’t. A few of the jocks I know gave me grief about it, but it was all in fun. I think.
The picture got rave reviews and my performance was recognized with just about every award you could win, and people were predicting I’d win an Oscar. I sat next to Charley Durning at the ceremony. Best Supporting Actor is always the first award.
Just before the show went on the air, Charley said, “You wanna change seats with me so you can be on the outside?”
“No, what are you talking about?” I said.
“You’re gonna get it tonight.”
“Maybe. But who should I thank?” I was so excited my mind was empty.
“Thank me!” Charley said.
“That’s a great idea,” I said. “That’s what I’ll do, I’ll thank you.”
I changed seats with Charley so I was on the end of the row, all set to dash onto the stage to accept the golden statuette, when Mira Sorvino announced: “And the Oscar goes to . . . Robin Williams for Good Will Hunting.”
I once said that I’d rather have a Heisman Trophy than an Oscar.
I lied.
As Robin ran toward the stage, for some inexplicable reason I saluted him. He claimed I flipped him the bird.
Then I had to sit there for the next two hours with people patting me on the back and saying, “You should have won!” But Charley saved me. He grabbed my arm and said, “I made it through World War II. What the hell’s this thing?”
That night I locked myself in my hotel room and shut off the phone to concentrate on feeling sorry for myself. Jon Voight called to commiserate, but per my instructions, the switchboard wouldn’t put him through. Jon being Jon, he came to the hotel, borrowed a waiter’s uniform, and carried a room service tray into the room. I was in bed with my face in a book and didn’t notice him . . . until he threw himself on the bed and kissed me square on the mouth. It shocked me out of my funk and we spent the rest of the night laughing. Jon can always make me laugh.

That’s kinda great. Durning sounds a kick <3

obit roundup (btw he hadn't shot the Tarantino role)

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5911-remembering-burt-reynolds

I saw it at the time and don't remember anything, but wasn't Pakula's Starting Over the first attempt to remake him as a more serious actor?

well, it was after Deliverance and Hustle.

(i know some ppl saw Hustle as a genre shoot-em-up, which was cloddish of them)

voted for The End, although having not seen it in 30+ years, no idea if it holds up

I thought of both Deliverance and Hustle, but with Deliverance he wasn't yet a big star--he didn't really have a persona yet--and with Hustle, it just wasn't a big film. I was thinking more of something that would get him some critical acclaim, maybe even an Academy Award nomination; Starting Over seemed like that kind of film. (I sometimes get Starting Over and It's My Turn mixed up.)

i'm not a huge Godfather devotee, but damn there was almost several terrible castings of Michael.

per a quick look at the b.o. charts, both Hustle and Starting Over were #17 in domestic b.o. in their respective years.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080605203026/http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1975.shtml

I thought of both Deliverance and Hustle, but with Deliverance he wasn't yet a big star--he didn't really have a persona yet--and with Hustle, it just wasn't a big film. I was thinking more of something that would get him some critical acclaim, maybe even an Academy Award nomination; Starting Over seemed like that kind of film. (I sometimes get Starting Over and It's My Turn mixed up.)

― clemenza, Sunday, September 9, 2018

He was always proud of the film and thought he'd get an Oscar nod (Clayburgh and Candace Bergen did instead).