"[footsteps]" " I guess you're asking yourselves why I came down those stairs, walked across these boards, ambled past these props, these theater trunks cluttered with memories of a thousand opening nights." "I guess you're asking yourself," ""What does that have to do with tonight's show?"" "Well, I'll tell you." "Nothing." "[countrymusic]" "♪♪" "♪ Babygirl♪" "♪Gotmy eyeonyou♪" "♪♪" "♪Babygirl♪" "♪Gotmy eyeonyou♪" " My name's Hal Needham." "My face you will not recognize." "But I bet you've seen a lot of my work." "For 20 years, I've been a Hollywood stuntman." "♪♪" "♪ It'snotsomething♪" " Not too bad, huh?" "When a stuntman does that kind of driving, he better have his act together, because there's no room for error." "♪♪" "Butrecently,Igraduated." "I directed a movie." "And that movie starred a dear friend of mine, my old roommate, a good ol' boy that probably you people are gonna recognize... [snaps fingers] like that." "♪♪" "♪ Babygirl♪" "♪Gotmy eyeonyou♪" "♪♪" "♪Yeah♪ [tiressquealing]" "Ladiesandgentlemen, BurtReynolds." "[dramaticmusic]" "BurtReynolds." "Themostexcitingstar onthescreentoday." "♪♪" "BurtReynolds isGatorMcKlusky." "Whetherhe'sracingthe law  orchasingtheladies." "[banjomusic] [dramaticmusicsting]" " Ah!" "BurtReynolds, thequarterback whowilltackleanything." " You saw Charlie Bronson." "[laughter] [sirens]" "Nowyou'reBurtReynolds' stuntman." "Where does Burt like to draw the line as far as doing his own stunts are concerned?" " Well, actually, uh," "I've never seen Burt draw the line." "He'll do just damn near anything you want done." "The insurance companies draw a line sometimes, and, um, but really and truly, he doesn't draw the line." "I've seen him do some things that, uh, werejustflatscary--Imean , there'snootherway toputit." "[dramaticmusic]" " [heavy breathing] [desolatemusic]" "Whatis thejob  ofa stuntman?" " [laughs] Theobjectof thestuntguy is to come in and look as much as you can like the actor." "They'lldressyoulikehimand fixyourhair,whatever, andwhatevertheywanttodo , whetheritbe ahorsefall , highfall,or whoknows, afight, be able to do it as many times" "as you can do it without getting hurt." "Intheold days, theywouldgo out, and they would shoot four or five days with all stuntmen." "No actors." "Thewideshotswere forstuntpeople." "[motor roaring]" "Andthenthey'dbring theactorsout, and they'd do the-- the tight shots, and the medium shots." " If you're the biggest actor in the world, you want to have the best stuntman in the world next to you-- why not?" "[bullets ricocheting] [countrymusic]" " God damn, Pops, didn't tell me they were gonna shoot back!" "♪♪  [geese honking]" " Burt trusted Hal and knew that Hal was gonna do the stunts that would really make him look good." "♪♪  [tires squealing]" "♪♪" "HallandBurtwere guys  whoappeared at a time in the '70s when anything could happen." "Burtwasan actorwithall the accoutrements that an actor has." "AndHalNeedham wasa manof action." " Ready." "[cymbal crashes]" "I 'veseenalot ofactors havegoodrelationships withstuntmen, butneverlike HalandBurtdid ." "Thatwasthe closest relationshipI eversaw inthepicturebusiness." "Butyoudon 'twanttoget toocloseto an actor," "I don't believe." "And--just--you know, you just--it's not gonna work out very good." " Okay, Hal, how'd you meet Burt, like on Smokey and, uh, and the Bear?" " "Smokey and the Bandit."" " And the Bandit." "Was that something that he found as a property and then looked for you to complete the movie, or did you come first?" " No, I--I wrote "Smokey and the Bandit."" " Oh." "I understand you directed this movie?" " Yeah." " This is kind of, uh, an unusual case, isn't it, Hal?" "I mean, I've heard of actors turning director." "I've heard of writers turning director, but never a stuntman." "[dramaticmusic]" "I wasdoingafilm with Burt  downinGeorgiacalled"Gator."" "That'sthethreadthatput "Smokey"together." " We spent a lot of time in the swamp, you know, and I--I remember, everyone said," ""Weren't you scared in the swamp?"" "Only,youknow,Needhamwas fromdownthere." "Therestof us  werefromotherplaces." "Hewas,like,athome ." "We had a lot of Coors beer we'd brought down from Los Angeles, becauseinthosedays, attheendoftheworkday, everyonegotabeer." "NeedhamandIwere talkingabouthow the Coors kept disappearing from our mini-bars." "Sowefinallyrealized thatourhousekeepers werehelpingthemselves toourbeer." "Soweaskedthem,Isaid,  "It'sCoorsbeer,man ." "You know?" "What are you doing?"" "She said, "Well, I get like $20 a six-pack for this beer down here 'cause you can't get it."" "Hal and I looked at each other, and we said, "Well," ""maybe we should-- maybe we should make a movie" ""about getting Coors beer, you know, on the East Coast."" " At the time, I really had some doubts whether this was even true or not." "In other words, I don't know how you prohibit a beer company from shipping beer fromonegeographicallocation totheother." " Said, "Hey, let's just do a trucking movie" ""with Coors and fast cars, and let's see what we can come up with."" "Andatthattime,thetrucking industrywasveryromantic." "♪♪" "Moderntruckers, thelastAmericancowboys." "♪♪" " He told me he was writing a screenplay." "Everybody said, "Nice pipe dream, Hal."" " In between shots, he'd be over in his room, and he's scribbling down, and I said," ""What are you doing?" He said, "I'm writing a story!"" "You know, and he told me a little about it, and I thought, "Eh, okay, whatever," you know?" " He handed me this mash of, you know, legal pad notes, and scenes, and characters, and all this stuff." " In fact, I think my mother typed up the script for "Smokey and the Bandit."" "♪♪" "Weplayedwithdifferent namesforthemovie." "Probablycalledit "TheBandit"" "atonepoint,or" Bandit."" " I want to do, hopefully, action-comedy." "I just want to throw something on the screen that people can be entertained with, and I think laughter's contagious, and I think people enjoy action." "Not violence, action." "♪♪" "Weweregonnasell itto a companycalledAIP, whichmadesmall,exploitive genremovies." "Thatwasitsfirstincarnation." "We wanted to do something on our own." "♪♪" " Look out!" "[gunfire] [dramaticmusic]" "HalNeedhamhad madea living,youknow,sortof fallingonhisheadfor 20or30 years." "And, you know, he's a nice guy-- not a Rhodes scholar." "[trumpetmusic]" "Halsaidtome, "I'mgettingtooold  toburymy head inthedirtanymore."" "In the back of his mind, he always wanted to be either a star or a director." " Every stuntman, every second unit guy, every cameraman, everybody-- you know the old joke, everyone wants to be a director." " He had the script that he had written, and he took it to Universal Studios, and said, "I want to direct this movie."" " People that ran the studios, he--you know, he" ""He's a stuntman." "He can't direct a movie." "What are they talking about?" You know?" "[sweepingorchestralmusic]" "Unlessyouhave thatmoviestar, thatbankablemoviestar, thatsays," ""Iwantto be theBandit,"" "you'renotgonnaget itmade ." "♪♪" "Theysaid, "It'sa nicescript." "Doyouthinkyou can get your roommatetostarinthis ?"" " Hiya." "How are you?" "Big star." "Big star." "Me." "♪♪  [tires screeching] [laughing]" " Burt and I were on a show together, and, uh," "I came in one night, and I said, "You know, Burt,"" "I said, "I got to find me an igloo, a teepee," ""or something to live in, 'cause I just got thrown out of the house."" "And he said, "Hell, come on over--stay at my place for a couple of days, I don't care."" " My father moved into Burt Reynolds' house." "He was gonna stay there for a week or two, and I think he was there for like 11 years." "[laughing]" "Imean,if youcould-- ifyoucanimagine puttingtogetherabachelorpad backthen--itwas-- it was..." "I think, of all the homes that Burt has had," "I--I think I liked that one the best." " The first thing, I think that people would see when they go in the bedroom is,uh,themirrors ontheceiling." "Theywerebothsingle, and,uh, hada lotof girlfriends,and  alotof fun." "Bathroomis big, andittoohas mirrors, andtile." "AndI happento--tileismy second-favoritethingin life." "Itjustgivesmejoy, tile ." "If I could spend the rest of my life in a room, it would be tiled and mirrored." "Thediningroomis, uh,  earlyIndian." "Imean,Indiankindofdesign." "Uh,I thinkit 's kindofclassy." "Third-favorite thing in my life is Indians." "If I could find an Indian with a mirror who did tile work," "I would probably be happy for the rest of my life." " [laughing]" " I took the script home and gave it to Burt." "Burt looked at it and he said, "Hal," he said," ""that's the worst dialogue I've ever read in my life."" "But he said the, uh, the overall concept was pretty good." "He said, "If you can take my name power," ""and go get the money and somebody that's fool enough to let you direct it," says, "you can direct it."" "[upbeatmusic]" "AndBurtsaid,"You know , there'sonlyoneman inAmerica who can direct this movie, that's Hal Needham."" "♪ Shakeit ,shakeit♪  all:" "We want Burt!" "HadBurtsaid,youknow," "AdolfHitler, Iwouldhaveagreed." "Burtwasabig moviestar ." "all:" "We want Burt:" " Are you here to see Burt?" " Who else?" "Who else?" "Whathappenedwas therewas somuchgoodness inBurtReynolds thathemadepeoplehappy." "And that's a natural gift that he had." "BurtReynolds." "Tough." "Sexy." "Superstar." "Isthatalotofpressure, Burt?" "Being this kind of a sex symbol?" "Hestrucksuchachord  withtheAmericanpublic." " We're so glad" " I work alone." "[laughter]" "Thehumor,and the joy , andthehonesty." "Itwasreal,sohebecame thenumber-onestar intheworld." "♪ Shakeyourgroovething, shakeyourgroovething♪" "♪Yeah,yeah,♪" "♪Show'emhow wedoit now♪" "♪Shakeyourgroovething, shakeyourgroovething♪" "♪Yeah,yeah♪" "♪Show'emhow wedoit now♪" " Put one on the cheek." " Huh?" "[crowd cheering]" "♪♪" "I just think I'm the best Burt Reynolds there is." "[laughter] [serenemusic]" "♪♪" "Inanutshell, canyoutellme whatthestoryof" Smokeyand theBandit"is ?" " [laughs] I couldn't tell you what story is of "Smokey and the Bandit"" "if you put a gun to my head." "♪ Thunder,thunder♪" "♪OverThunderRoad♪" "♪Thunderwashis engine♪" "♪AndWhiteLightning washisload♪" "♪Moonshine,moonshine♪" "♪Toquench thedevil'sthirst♪" "♪Thelaw,theynevergothim♪" "♪' Causethedevil gothimfirst♪" "♪♪" " We had done two Burt Reynolds movies at United Artists:" "picture called "Gator," and a picture called" ""White Lightning," and, you know, it was, you know, the same movie over and over again." "He was the good ol' boy, slightlyontheotherside  oftheline regardinglawandorder." " Gator?" "Gator McKlusky?" " Uh..." " Shirley." " Shirley?" "How are you, darling?" " Well, hi, there." "I didn'twanttoplay  goodol'boys fortherestofmylife." "Atthesametime,Iwas  offereda film thathad"Getthe tuxedoout"" "writtenalloverit." "Itwasacareer-changingpart ." "I said "No," and nobody could believe I said "no."" "My agent couldn't believe it, and, uh..." "It wasn't a question of money." "They were asking-- they were offering me more money than Hal was, but I promised Hal thatI 'ddothisfilm." "I 'mgonnagivecredit tomyroommate." "I mean, he put his career, his-- everything on the line so that I could have a shot a directing this." " Candidly, I could not determine whether Hal had the ability to direct a movie or not." "Universalreluctantlyagreed tomakethepicture." "[funkymusic]" "Ifyou'regonnado abootleggingmovie, youneedablocker." "You got a truck driver and you got a-- a blocking car guy, you got two." " I don't remember whether Burt, or Hal, or both of them suggested Jerry Reed." " Hello." "[grunts]" "♪♪  [screaming]" "Jerrywasacharacter." " Hello, ladies." " You know, and then you got to have a girl." " Hi." " Who are you?" " I wanted Sally Field, and they had a lot of, uh-- had a lot of people that were against that." "Theykeptsaying, "She'snotsexy."" "AndI said,"Thisnun  is dangerously sexy."" "♪♪" " And then we had to have someone chasing 'em." "Mywishwas , withthesheriff," ""Let's put somebody in this movie that doesn't belong."" "AndImeantitjustas incongruousasit couldbe." "First of all, I got a pencil moustache for a sheriff." "A Southern sheriff with a pencil moustache?" " When Hal left to do "Smokey and the Bandit,"" "Hilton Green at Universal told Needham, he said," ""I hope you got your roller skates on, 'cause you can't do it."" "Theyhadno faithinHal asa director." "Allthepoliticscreated atremendousamountofpressure onHal." "Heputhisreputation ontheline toget"Smokeyand the Bandit" done." "Myfather,hedidn 't playthegame." "Hewasn'taHollywoodguy." "Hewaswhohewas." "He said, "If I didn't do 'Smokey and the Bandit,'" ""I'd probably be picking up cans on the side of the road for a living."" " We have some childhood photos of you, and I thought maybe, Arnold, see if you can recognize them." "all:" "Aww!" "I wasafarmkid." "AllI rememberabout thatpartof my life was using a mule's backside as a compass up and down some cotton rows in Arkansas." "[laid-backcountrymusic]" "♪♪" "Wasthereany timeatall for--forhobbies, oranythingthatwould" " Hobbies?" "Kindof givesyou pleasure orgiveyoufun ?" " Hobbies?" "I can tell you've never seen a sharecropper." "Hey, listen: just getting food on the table, staying warm in the winter time, was a major accomplishment." "Mychildhood,man, yougotto know, beinga sharecropper'ssonis thebottomof thetotempole ." "There'snothing lowerthanthat." "I thinkhe toldme theyhaddirtfor floors, but he was just very smart for somebody with a very limited education." "He told me one of his friends once said," ""I've never seen anybody do so much with so few tools."" "[plane engine humming]" "I wasin the82ndAirborne, FortBragg,NorthCarolina." "Butafterabout21/ 2 years, Icouldsee thatI gotno credit formycreativity orbeingagreatsoldier, andI wasagoodsoldier." "Isaid,"Gottobe abetterway." "I'm going west till my hat floats."" "Andnextmorning,Iwasinmy carheadingforCalifornia." "Ineverworkedina movie." "ButI hadallthatexperience." "I decided I was gonna be a stuntman." "WhenI gotmy firstchance, Iwasready." "IdidathingwhereI-- I'minan airplane, aguy'sridingalong onhorseback, andI dive outoftheairplane-- orjumpedoutthe airplane-- andknockedhimoff the horse-- it'scalleda" Bulldog."" "♪♪  [gunshots]" "Theypaidme alot ofmoney." "PeoplesaidIcouldn'tdoit  'causeI wastoosmall, too dumb." "I always had to prove otherwise." " Hal Needham." "[applause]" "Wehad30days  tomakeagreatmovie." "[countrymusic]" " The film commission has been very aggressive in terms of luring not only us, but a lot of film companies here." "It's--it's very helpful." "They've closed highways for us, they've, um-- tearingoutpartofanold bridgeforus  that we're gonna throw a car across." "It's just terrific." " Mark." " Hold all the noise." "All the talk, everything." "Quiet." "Theentirepicturewasshot 16,17miles awayfromthecenter ofdowntownAtlanta." "Inthemotionpicturebusiness, youputup asign that says "Entering Mississippi,"" "and you're entering Mississippi." "Butwithrespectand affection forHal, thiswasas newtohim, really, asitwastome." "Whenwewenttowork  thefirstmorning, you know, I got up, sort of stood around, waitingforthingstohappen." "Youknow,theproduction manageraskedme  whatweshoulddo,  andI didn'thavea--  youknow,aclue." "AndIremember, thefirstday," "HalandIpullup tothelocation." "Sittingunderatree ina director'schair, with his Fleetwood stretch gold limo next to him wasJackieGleason." "AndJackiewassitting inthisdirector'schair, wearinga blackGucci leisuresuit witha redcarnation." "And no one was there." "Was the first person on the set." "Nobodyelse!" "Wasdirectinganythingatall likeyouthought itwasgoingtobe?" "Well,Ihad nofear goingin." "Imean,we 'renotdoing "GonewiththeWind"" "or" FiddlerontheRoof."" "It'sactioncomedy." "Justlightit forthe color, andlet'sshootit." "Speed,speed,speed." "Inabig movie,youmaydo  threepagesaday ." "Halwouldshoot 16pagesaday ." "We did things that were insane, right on the edge of insanity." "HalNeedhamdirectingBurt , uh, thiswasabrand-newprocess, youknow,forthem." " I think he just wanted Burt to be Burt." " I--I had no qualms about going in there and saying "Action."" "Yeah." "Oh,my God." "And,well,and ..." "Youwalkona set, and there'sthePanavisioncamera, andallthelights, andthere'sBurtReynolds." " Old legends never die, they just lose weight." " A legend and an out-of-work bum look a lot alike, Daddy." "You go, "Oh, my God, how did I-- how did I wind up here?"" " [laughing]" "Now, getting to Texarkana and back, in 28 hours, that's no problem." " It ain't never been done before--[horn honks]." " Watch your language, little lady." "The problem is that Coors beer, you take that east of Texas, and that's, uh, that's bootlegging." "Therewasalot ofthings abouttheSouth thatI wasembarrassedabout, buttherewerealsothings abouttheSouth thatwerewonderful." "I had hoped to make something out of that ina waythatnobody'dseen ." "Nobodythinksof Florida asbeingSouth, butifwe hadenoughtime  onthisshow," "I could take you places where you'd realize that this is the South." "I wanted to make it so bad when I was growing up here." "I mean, I really wanted to make it bad." "But great, great memories." "Really great memories." "Mydadis acowboy." "He's tough, and leathery, and the most honest man" "I've ever known in my life." "Wehadour little offandons, but he was a-- a normal kid." "He got in just as much trouble as anyone else." "Heputmeinjailonenight forgettingin afight." "I remember he came in, and he says, uh," ""You kids, uh, your father's here." ""You can go home now." "Your father's here, you can go home now,"" "and he looked at me, he says," ""Your father ain't here."" "So I stayed there all night." "There'sa saying intheSouth,that" ""Nomanis aman  untilhisfather tellshimhe is ."" "I thinkhisdad expected alotoutofhim." "Hewaskindofthegolden boyinfootball, anditlookedlikehewasgonna havea great procareerandcollegecareer." "[crowdcheering]" "Hegottoreupin hissenior  yearinhighschool, torethecartilageout ofboth  sidesofbothknees." "Well,he wassortoflost." "He--all he'd ever done is play football." "I was getting ready to cast and direct the play," ""Outward Bound."" "And Burt sat in the front row in my English literature class, and he looked like the guy that I wanted for the role of the alcoholic." " And I said, "You're out of your bird."" "You know, and I said," ""I'veneverbeen ina playin my life."" "Isomehowwenttothat room , and walked in there, and he looked at me, and he said, "Read."" "And I opened the book and went "The--"" "and he said, "That's it." "You've got the part."" " I saw something in Burt." "I--I saw the spark." "[dramaticmusic]" "♪♪" "[fancifulmusic]" " I hated "Riverboat." I hated doing it." "IhadthischaracterIcalled "Dum-DumtheWhistleblower."" "You know...[imitating horn]." "Connie, cut it to half-speed." " Aye, sir." "Half speed!" " They would bring in the stuntmen." "They were the men." "We were the boys." " [screaming]" " The stars always migrated to the stunt guys." "Theysawsomerealness." "Therewasno acting." " They were the jocks, and, uh-- and that's what I'd been." "[upbeatmusic]" "Burtwasverycapable." "Hecoulddo it all." "But you can't do it all." "You got to have a--you got to-- you need a double." "Overat Universal, theyjusthiredme tocomein  anddoublesomebody." "They say, "Yeah, here's your outfit."" "I said, "Who am I doubling?" They said, "Go down" ""to the set and find somebody dressed like you, and that's who you're doubling."" "And I got down there, and it was Burt." "♪♪" " Hal came in to do a stunt, and he was gonna be doubling me, and I thought, "Hell, I can do that."" "♪♪  [horsewhinnies]" "♪♪  [shouting]" "♪♪" "Hesaid,"Youcouldbe reallyhandy."" ""Handy"isasupercompliment fora stuntman." "He always said, "Actors are candy-asses." "I don't want to be an actor."" "[glass shattering]" " I always felt that Burt kind of wanted to be doing what Hal was doing." "Youcomeout tomyplace  onSaturdayandSunday, andthere'dbe 18 ,20 stuntmen outtherepracticing." " Most people are in less than top physical condition." "The first and foremost for every stuntman is a good warm-up, as it should be for you." " Medic!" "Medic!" "Medic!" "Yeah,theywerethepirates." "Runningaround, havinga goodtime." "[groovemusic]" "WhenI firstsawthatgroup, itremindedme  ofButchCassidyand the Hole intheWallgang." "Andwewerekindofall theHolein theWallgang ." "♪♪" "There'sa greatline inthatmovie." "Butch says, you know, "Listen, I got vision." "Everyone else is wearing bifocals."" "HalNeedhamwasthe-- theButchCassidycharacter." "♪♪" "Halwas--hewas aninnovator." "Youknow?" "I never seen him back off from nothing." " They'd say, "We want you to get in this car," ""go down and turn it over at 90 miles an hour," ""blowitup ,comeout onfire , runacrossthestreet, anddie."" "I'd say, "Okay."" "Hemoreorless got agroupof guystogether thatcoulddo anything." "Wejuststarted ourownorganization calledStuntsUnlimited." "Rightwhenwestarted StuntsUnlimited, andwehadanoffice onthelotatParamount." "Paramount didn't even know we had an office there." "Threeor fouryears, wewerethebiggest, best-knownorganization intheworld." "♪♪" "Gotup in the-- earlyinthemorning, andwentto theset , wentthroughwardrobe, makeup,hair, got a burrito, jumped on your horse, wenttowork-- itwasjustthe best." "And then at night, you get back to the hotel, you stop in the bar, you have a couple of belts, have a couple more and say, "Let's go, men."" "Off to the 17 Bar and Grill." "Close it down." "We would come in, the wranglers would be going to work to get the horses ready for us." "We'd grab a shower and go to work." "It was--it was mad." "And Hal really had a rule thatyoudidn'tbring yourwiveson location becauseofthat." "It would cause problems, you know?" "Well, we went through a lot of wives." "♪♪" " What do you two do in the movie?" " Well, we're sitting-- we drink a lot of champagne in the movie." "We're sitting at a table, and just, uh, more or less talkingwithPatMcCormick andPaulWilliams." "AndthenBurtReynoldswalksup tothescene." " Has Burt tried to put the make on you?" " No." "We wish, but not." "[laughter]" " No, we're more-- we're more or less hoping that he'll let us put the make on him." "♪♪" " Watch out!" "Everybody clear." " What you just saw was a scene from the new Burt Reynolds movie" ""Smokey and the Bandit," being filmed here at" "Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta." "Pontiacdivisionat GeneralMotorsgaveus foursedansthatweused  aspolicecars, andtheygaveustwoTrans Ams, andthatwasit." "[engine roaring]" " O-o-kay!" "Bythesecondweek  ofthepicture, boththeTransAms  hadbeendestroyed andwehadtogobackandbeg  togetacouplemore ." " Beautiful, huh?" " Honey, hush." "[laughter]" " Jerry Reed went, "Honey, hush."" "['70srockmusic]" "♪♪" "Thewaythathesaid it, itwas thegreatest-lookinggal you'deverseen." "♪♪" " I love it, I love it!" "I mean, I really get a kick out of driving a Firebird." "♪♪" " There seems to be a thing about that bloody Trans Am." "Asa symbolof  yourgetawaysteed." "The male animal, it is the wannabe warrior who's now working at a factory somewhere connected with that character, that car." "Maybeit'stheelement ofescape." "Imean,it 'san escapistmovie, but it's a movie about escape." "That was a great answer." "Whataboutall the nutty stuntsincars?" "Have you ever had a-- a really far-out car run?" " Oh, yeah." "I mean..." "First of all, see, I love cars." "I mean, I can make a car talk." "Slideitsideways, spinitcompletelyaround, 360degrees, doallthosethingswith it, andknowexactly wherethatcarisat." "Whydo youdrive likethat,Hal?" " Why do I drive like that?" "Well, there's a couple reasons." "Number one's money, and the second one is, uh, we're making a movie." "Fastcars,thatwas dangerousstuff." "Whether we were jumping a boat, or jumping a car, or jumping a horse, it was all the-- it all stemmed from the basics of stunt work, it was all started with the horse and the fight." "[countryrockmusic]" " Whoo!" "♪♪" "I believepersonally that,uh, whenyouworkwithanimals, youstandabetterchance of,uh,of getting somebodyhurt thanyoudo withautomobiles, 'causetheautomobile doesn'tcareaboutthe  explosionsorthebullethits" "orthewhateveritis--  it'll go wherever you steer it, and it'll only go as fast as you mash the accelerator." "♪♪" " It's like the Westerns just slowly faded out, andherecome allthecarpictures." "Okay,fearless, letmeaskyou this:" "hasthereeverbeenastunt  thatsomebodywantedtodo in a movie that you said, flat-out, "No."" "[ chuckles]I 'veneverturned downa stunt." "I said, "If--if you can put a man on the moon, you can damn sure figure out a way to do a stunt."" "Coupleof times,Hal did  getinoverhis head." "Therewasastuntwhere Ishouldhavesaidsomething, but I thought, "Well, wait a minute." "He's Hal Needham." "Keep your mouth shut."" " When you're doubling a leading man, you want to make him look like a hero." "[engines roaring]" "" WhiteLightning," there'sa scenewhere" "BurtReynolds'character,being doubledbyHalNeedham, istryingto escape policeofficers, whereheseesabigoldsand bargepullingout intothemiddle oftheriver." "Soheturnsthe car sideways, andthengoes downthedock andjumpsthecar ." "Thinkitwasprobably70,80 feetacrossto thebarge." "Eventhoughhe wasbangedup prettygood, hegotoutofthecarand continuedtoplaythe part." "And after we cut, and he fell down-- [laughing]" "But he always finished the shot." " Well, I'll be damned." " Busted his spleen." "Damn near died." " You know, stuntmen, you know, [laughing], you can get hurt right there, and they just haul you off and keep shooting." "But the actor goes down, you're done." "Wewereshooting"The ManWho LovedCatDancing."" "Hehadaherniadown in thebottomof thiscanyon." "Itwas200feetup." "Theycouldn'tevenget  achopperin there." "So I turned to Burt and I said, "Tell you what, son,"" "I said, "If you can hold on to my back," ""they throw that rope down here," "I can carry you out of here."" "SoI carriedhimupthe hillsideonmy back." "We got to the top, they had a chopper, which they threw him in, and they forgot to get me out, laying on the ground all out of breath." "Youknow...[laughing]." "That'sjustashot ofBurtandI downathisranchinFlorida." "Itsays,"Tothe bestroomie" ""aguycouldask for , anda helluvaman." "Love,Burt."" "Wehadthiskind ofcrazy  schedule, thatI usedto wakeup inthemorning, andwouldbe stumbling downthehall, andthere'dbe anoteonthe bathroomdoorthatsaid," ""Theplaceis yours," ""but I need it for the next three days." "Hope you don't mind." "Love, Roomie."" "AndthatmeantIgotout, andI did." "I don'tknowthatIfell inloveinstantly, butI suredidliketheguy." "My first date with Hal was at his house with Burt and Dinah Shore." "[laughing]" "It was an interesting time." " Burt and Dinah were lovers." "She was a cougar at the time, I guess." " I'd like to make it eminently clear that there are many areas in which" "Hal does not double Burt." "Okay?" "[laughter and applause]" "I wantto knowsomething:" "he and I started almost simultaneous." "What happened?" "I mean, I'm better looking than he is." "I'm more talented." "What?" "What?" " It--I'll explain it to you." " Okay." "I wish somebody would." " Yeah." "It--it's very simple." "You don't have any problems." " Okay." " Because you're a real choreographer." "I mean, those fights are staged..." "I tellyouwhat, Idon'tcarewho itis." "I always say the biggest thing about a man is his ego." "And I'm no different than anybody else." " All right." " Ready?" "Halwantedtobeastar ." "Ithink,secretly, hewouldhave likedtobe BurtReynolds." " Ah!" "Ontheotherhand ,Ithink" "Burtwantedto be HalNeedham, butknewthathis bread wasgonnabe buttered onthemoviestarside ." "[applause] [laughter]" "[countrymusic]" "♪♪  [cheering]" "ForalittlePR,weput an ad inthepaperthat," ""BurtReynoldsis gonna bethejudge" ""ofa dogshowtopick adog  tobein themovie" andeverything." "[dog barking]" "Thenextday,therewasnot adogin thedog pound." "Wewasin apark,anditwas  justa seaof dogsout there." "Burtsaid,"That'syourdog, "" "andthat'showitgot inthemovie." " Now Bo, I'm telling you," "Fred ain't gonna be a problem." " I can see he's gonna be a major asset." " [laughing] [laughter]" "JerryReedhit itoff witheverybody." "Andontheset , hehadhisbandthere." "HalandIwereinvited uptohissuite, and they played this little song called "Eastbound and Down,"" "and asking Hal, "Do you like it?" "What do you think of it?"" "Ha ha, it was fabulous!" "And it's the-- it's the song in the movie." "A-one,two,three,go." "Breaker,breaker,one-nine?" "HowboutthatBandit?" "Yougotthemearson,son?" "♪♪" "♪ Eastbound and down ♪" "♪ Load it up and truck it ♪" "Break for that Bandit one, break for that Bandit one." " Yeah, Snowman." "Come on back." "♪ Longwaytogoandashort  timetogetthere♪" "♪I 'meastbound,justwatch ol'Banditrun♪" " This is Sheriff Buford T. Justice again." "I lost that Trans Am!" "Set up a road block!" " Good idea." "♪ Theboysare thirsty inAtlanta♪" " Bandit, this here's the Grave Robber." "Put the pedal to the metal, good buddy." "And we'll hold this county mountie as long as we can." "Come on." " Bandit, honey, this is the Good Witch of the North speaking." "You'd better not come this way." "♪ Eastbound,justwatch ol'Banditrun♪" "♪♪  [horn blaring]" "Thisis theBandit,darling." " And how can I help?" "Bring it back." "♪♪" "I knewthemusicbefore Iknewtheman , andthemusicgot tome." "I got that all worked out." "ThisBanditcharacter lovedJerryReed." "We have a relationship that's very similar, in some ways, to me and Hal." "Hewascrazy, butcrazygood." "♪ Well,ol 'Smokey's gotthemearson♪" "♪He'shotonyour trail♪" "♪Andhe ain'tgoingtorest♪" "♪Tillyou'reinjail ♪" "♪Soyougot tododgehim, yougotto duckhim ♪" "♪Yougottokeep  thatdieseltruckin'♪" "♪Justputthathammerdown andgiveit hell♪" "Whatis agoodol'boy?" "Someonethatyoureallylike  hangingoutwith, andyoucantrust." "Doesn't take life too seriously, but always gets the job done." "Not a lot of angst in the good ol' boy, put it that way." " I suppose a lot of people say that people become actors because they're unhappy with themselves, and they get to hide in somebody else's skin." "But that's not true-- people become actors, I think, because we're people pleasers." "And, uh, the only thrill for us, really, is your getting some enjoyment from what we do." "Oh, my God!" "[laughter]" "I'dliketo be considered somebody whopaidtheirdues andisagoodactor." "I think that there's a school of acting, which," "I'm a great believer in this particular school of acting, which is called "Effortless."" "And it--and I worked 20 years to learn how to make it look easy." "Quite honestly, it's very easy to do what I call "The Constipated School of Acting."" "Which is where you let every vein show in the neck, and you just, you know, go for it with every take." "And everybody says, "What a brilliant actor he is."" "Well, he gets an Oscar and Preparation H, and I get a smile." "[laughter]" " That's an actor?" " Well, he was brilliant in "Streetcar Named Desire."" " "Streetcar Named Desire?"" "What was he, a conductor?" " That was the time when everybody wanted to be Marlon Brando." "Andwhowereyou?" " I didn't know who the hell I was." " Question, Rocky?" " Yeah, I mean, what is my, uh, tertiary motivation here?" "I mean, like, I walk through the door, and, uh, I see her." "Why?" " Why what, Rocky?" "What's the question?" " Exactly." "What is the question?" "Iwantedto playthe rebel." "Thekindof labelthey'dgiven meatthestudio." "Said,"JesusChrist, helookslikeBrando."" "WhenIfirst wenttoHollywood, everybodywantedme  tomeetMarlon, andI 'dheardso many MarlonBrandostories." "There's a coffee house on the strip called Cyrano's, and at the time, it was the in place, where all--everybody went toseeor be seen." "Wewalkedin--immediately, therewasadirector namedHubertCornfield whoranovertome and grabbed me and said, "He's here!"" "And I--you know, I, uh-- I said, "He is?"" "And he said, "Come on!"" "Andhewaspullingmeby the shirt,andwe camearound, andwestoppedinfront ofa table." "And I suddenly realized it was Marlon." "And Marlon--everybody was looking at me except Marlon." "Marlon was looking... right about there." "And, uh, Hubert Cornfield said," ""Marlon, isn't this fantastic?"" "And, like a dummy, I was going... like this." "'Cause I thought, you know," "I've been brought over to be introduced." "But he never looked up, he just went," ""Mm."" "And I still had my hand out." "And there was deathly silence in the place." "And I suddenly-- I had the urge to kill." "I mean, to reach across and kill." "AndI wantto be me--whothe  helldoeshe thinkheis?" "Burthadthatthing thatyouhavetohave  tobecomealeadingman." "He could go after you." "If he lost it, and I've seen him lose it with some people, so, you know, he'd-- you couldn't [...] around with Burt too much." " I want to go on killing white men." " [speaking native language]" " He says you will have to prove yourself." " I'll prove myself." "Just give me a chance." "Burtwantedtobeastar ." "AndI thinkhe 'dhavedone mostanything." "[speaking native language]" " Sometimes you learn more from a bad film than you do from a good film." "In that case, I should be a very good actor." "[laughing]" "♪ NavajoJoe,NavajoJoe♪" "♪♪" "♪ NavajoJoe,NavajoJoe♪" "♪ NavajoJoe♪" "♪NavajoJoe♪ [horse whinnies]" "♪ NavajoJoe,NavajoJoe♪  [grunting]" " I got a lot of parts because they didn't have to hire a stuntman, you know?" "They'd say, "Get that guy, he falls down the stairs and he talks okay," you know?" "So I--I fell down the stairs and talked." "As the years went by, I-- I fell less and talked more." "Thought you were an authority on architecture." "I didn't know your hobby was boating!" "[dramaticmusic]" "♪♪" " Ah!" "♪♪  [snake hissing]" " I think I've probably chosen worse than any actor in the history of films." "[speaking native language]" "Somefilms,Isaid  "What'sthelocation?"" "Andtheysaid,"Tahiti."" "AndI said, "I'lltakethatpicture."" "[mellowmusic]" "♪♪" "I did, uh, "Deliverance,"" "which was my deliverance out of bad films, I thought." "[heavy breathing]" "Sometimes you have to lose yourself before you can find anything." " Any snakes around here?" "I thinkGeorgiaiskind of agood-luckcharmfor you ." "Doyoulookonitas areal  goodplaceto makefilms?" " I'd like to shoot 4 out of 5 pictures here, which really wouldn't-- wouldn't sit too well with a lot of people who want to do desert movies." ""Deliverance" was kind of like coming home, you know?" "Changedeverythingforme." "Ihadneverdone apartthatgood." "BecauseI understandthisguy ." "Yee-hoo!" "Whoo!" "And I--I could play him." "We got to get rid of that guy!" " How you gonna do that, Lewis?" "Where?" " Anywhere." "Everywhere." "Iaskedthedirector, JohnBoorman, whatpartshe 'dseenmeplay  that would make me right for this picture, and he said, "I didn't see you in a part." "ButI sawyouon 'TheTonightShow.'"" "[applause]" " Heyo!" " Hello." " So nice." "You look so sharp." " Thank you." " You're dressy." " I was just pressed." "The just pressed me." " The whole thing?" "Do you get into your clothes?" " Pressed my entire body." " Burt Reynolds was the catch on a talk show." "Everybodyliked tobearoundBurt." " It's nice to see you." "You--you haven't changed a bit." " Oh, yeah." "[laughter]" " Listen, "Deliverance" is a really-- it's from a novel, it's quite serious." "It's all-- got rape and murder in it, and all those things." "You know, and here you are, cavorting like a jackass." "[laughter]" "Not being a jackass, just cavorting like one." " Hmm." "Igambled." "Ireallygambled." "I mean, "Deliverance" was B.C." ""Before 'Cosmo.'"" "[funkymusic]" "♪♪" "The gamble was, would I ever be considered a serious actor after that?" "Would--when I died, on my tombstone, would they say, "His contribution to the world was he was the first male nude centerfold"?" "♪ Ooh,getit♪" "♪Getit fromthe frontnow♪" "♪Getit ♪" "♪Getit fromthe backnow♪" "♪Getit , getitfromthe side♪" "♪Getit , getitallaround♪" " What's it like to be pastor of a man who posed nude in "Cosmopolitan"?" "This is what we Baptists call "A problem."" "Idon'tknow--Ididn'ttell him totakehisclothesoff." "AndI-- Iwishhe hadn'tdoneit." "But,uh,at thesametime , hedidit ." "He'sfree,andI'm free." "I feel free to wear my clothes, and he feels free to take his off." "♪♪" " Posing catapulted Burt Reynolds to household name." "He became, then, the guy." "[laughter]" "♪♪" " That's literally true." "[applause]" "♪♪  [crowd shouting]" " How many people like him with the moustache... [cheering]" "And then without the moustache, like so?" "[cheering]" " This is a hell of a time to tell me." " Yeah, I think you should stick with the moustache, Burt." "Definitely stick with it." "The"Cosmopolitan"cameout 30daysbefore"Deliverance."" "It was very difficult for 98% of the film critics to disassociate this character who, you know, laid down on a bear rug like an idiot, you know, and did this strange thing, with an actor who took his craft seriously" "and took the film business seriously." "And a lot of people who" "I trust their instincts felt that it might have cost me a nomination that year." "Itwasabadchoice 'causeittrivializedhim ." "AndI knowhe wassorry,but- - andI wasunhappy toseeit myself." "He didn't need it." "Most serious actors don't do that." "Aclownwoulddoit." " In fact, a lot of people never forgave me for that." "I'm one of them, actually." "[countrymusic]" "♪♪" " What now do you look for?" "What does a role have to have for you to-- to really consider it?" " Well, I'm looking now for humor, because I happen to think that, of my contemporaries, I have to look around and say," ""Who--what's the competition?"" "Ican'tstandina doorway betterthanPaulNewman." "AndI can'thaveblonderhair  thanRobertRedford." "But I can do comedy better than either one of them." "I can eat 'em up." " You know--hold it!" "Just--the beer!" "Watch the beer!" "[crashing] [screaming]" " You all right?" " Very funny!" "Very funny!" " I thought it was funny." " To move people to laugh is extremely difficult, crossing a lot of different cultures." "And there's no question-- you ask anyone, anyone who's in the creative end of this business, and they will always tell you:" "you take a guy like Jackie Gleason... [dramaticmusic]" "♪♪" "Therewasn'tany script forme,believeme." "Ineverhadaline ofdialogue written." "Thedirectorwouldstickhis headinthewindowofthecar and say, "Now, we have to go up to the thing, and you'll see him there-- what do you want to say?"" "And I'd think for a second and I'd say," ""How about something?" He says, "Great." "Okay, let's go."" "Good [...]!" "[horn blaring] [crashing]" "I got the evidence!" "Put the evidence in the car." " But--but Daddy" " You" " But" " Put the evidence in the car!" "I'm gonna barbecue your ass in molasses!" " I am not going to attempt to give any messages to the people out there." " Yes." " I can do two things and I think I do 'em extremely well." "Action, I know I do well, and my comedy isn't too bad, all right?" " So, you do three things." " What's that?" " You just sit there and look good, that's the third." " Oh, you sweet thing, from now on, you can say anything you want to." " Let's play tag." "Tag, you're it!" "[laughing] [mercurialmusic]" " Tag?" "I was11 yearsold when Isawmy firstmovie." "Whatwasit?" "Itwascalled,uh," ""PopGoestheWeasel," andI mean, thisiswayback,okay ?" "Tome,Iwas amazed." "[dinging]" "Now, I relate today to what I thought then, all right?" "And I said, "Hell, that's what I wanted to see,"" "and I believe that's what people want to see today." "[playfulmusic] [deepbreaths]" "♪♪" " Oh!" " I will never win an Academy Award, but I'm going to be very rich, so-- and I think I put out, uh, entertaining films, and I think that's what it's all about." " What happened, Daddy?" "BothHaland Irealizedthat thiswasgold, and neither of us wanted to touch it." " I had never had a scene with Burt Reynolds." "I had to sit down and write one." "That was the scene in the lunch room." "Just keep your eye out for that Mr. Bandit!" "[countrymusicplaying]" "Let me have a diablo sandwich, a Dr. Pepper, and make it fast." "I'm in a [...] damn hurry." "Intheoriginalscreenplay, thereweremaybe sixorsevenscenes wherethetwoofthem  weretogether." "Weshotthatscene intherestaurant whereBurtknowswho Jackieis," "Jackiedoesn'tknow whoBurtis ." " You must be in a hell of a hurry, huh, Sheriff?" " Bet your ass on that, boy." " Oh, you got a little mess there." " Hmm?" " Let me-- let me help you out here." "Get that off of there." "That's" " Yeah." "Much obliged." "Whenwe finishedthatscene," "Burt came to Hal and me, said "I'm not gonna work with Jackie anymore."" " Somebody chasing you?" " Nobody chasing me, boy." "I been chasing a [...] damn maniac!" "♪♪" " And, of course, I had no idea what this was about, but we started rewriting." "♪♪" "DidBurtfeelthatJackiewas upstaginghim?" "Stealingfromhim?" "I--you know, I really don't know." "Doyoufeelthat you'rein competitiontoBurtReynolds?" " Oh, no, no, no." "He plays comedy." "I'm in the lead in this." " Let me pay for it." "Let me pay for it." " Oh, no." " No, no, you're an officer of the law." "I'd--I'd be honored." " Well, much obliged." "Where's the can?" "I got to take a squirt." " Oh, right back there." "I just went, so" "I thinkthatBurtcouldbe averygreatcomedian." "He'lllookat you andsaysomething, andthenhe givesyou  theattitude that he's saying, "Who, me?"" "And that's a great, uh, quality for someone who wants to do comedy." "I believe he could be a great comedian." "♪♪  [upbeatmusic]" "♪♪" "Everytimeyou makeafilm,  it'sa battle." "Hal,healwayshad aplan ." "He was always willing to take that chance to do something special and different." "Oh." "Well,I- " " Alan was doubling Burt." "Looks like Burt when he's riding in the car." "AndJanetBradylooked exactlylikeSally, andhascontinued todoubleher." "She could do the fights, she could do the falls, butherspecialtywas cars, noquestionaboutit." "[tiressquealing]" "SheandAlanGibbsmet." "Theydecideto getmarried." "[laughing]" "Andtheygetmarried duringthefilming of" SmokeyandtheBandit."" "AndHalgivesJanetaway  as--as the "Father" of the bride." "Isit truethattherewas nearlyanaccident shootingthescene wherethecar crashesonto thefootballfield?" "Oh,boy." "Theresure was." "[engine roaring]" " Ah!" "[sombermusic]" "♪♪" "Wegotshotsthatdidn 't gointhefilm becausetheyweresoscary." "♪♪" " When the car jumped, and I saw everybody start running out of the dugout," "I saw one guy just stand straight up and the car just hit the dugout." "♪♪" "Coupleof kidsgot hit ." "Fortunately,noone gothurtbadly, but,youknow,therewere  oneortwokids inthehospital." "♪♪" " When the car hit, two things happened: number one was," "I was not aware that we had watered this last night, or that they had watered it." "And even though we put on Pirelli tires to try to compensate for it, um, we just couldn't get stopped." "That's all there is to it." "And I just thank God that one of my stuntmen had enough sense in her to-- and the stunt girl both-- to turn that car and, uh, get it outside of these people." " I said, "We're gonna hurt somebody bad." "I--I want this stopped now."" "Youknow,youcan doanything intheworld ona movie,butyou can 'tstop." " The absolute decision is mine, because, I mean, I am the boss in that case, because it's my tuchus that's on the line, and nobody can tell me how I want to risk it." " Did you do the actual driving in "Smokey and the Bandit"?" " I did all the driving except the jump over the bridge." "Uh, I was under a tree then, hiding my face." "[laughter]" " When people go to a movie, they get--they get engrossed with the character, the lead character and everything." "Theydon'tthink abouta stuntman, andI don'tthinktheyshould." "But when an actor's confronted on national television or something, seems to me like he should have enough huevos to say, "No, I didn't do that."" "Mostactorscan 't dotheirownstuff." "Actorwenton JohnnyCarson-- "Oh,yeah." "I did all of my own stunts," and we--we didn't care." "We didn't want any recognition." "Itwasallaboutworking, andmakingmoney, andgoingto thenextshow  andthenextdeal." "Thestuntcommunitywaskind ofa cloakanddaggerthing." "I mean, there was no publicity." "There was nothing." "Thepublicdidn'tknow whata stuntguywas ." " Ironically, it was Hal thatletthecat  outofthebag ." "[clattering]" " Hi there, David." "How are you?" " Nice of you to drop in, Hal." " Thank you very much." " You okay?" " Oh, I'm fine." "Nobodyhadabiggershadow thanBurtReynolds." "Andmyfatherwas really morethanreadytostep out frombehindit ." "WhenHalfirstmetme, hesaid," ""This is the guy that's gonna make me a star?" "Let's get this thing rolling."" "My assignment was to make Hal a household name." "And wow, how do you do that?" " Next, you'll see Hal Needham." "Hal is wearing an awning-striped kaftan." " I'm not crazy about that." " Oh, I think it looks great on him, though." "It's got a hood so he can cover all up in it." "I thinkhe realizedthat acting wasn't his forte, but certainly, stunts were." "It'sgoodweatherforflying." "ButHalNeedham doesn'thaveaplane." "Whathedoeshaveisatruck." "Thedistancebetweenthe ramps comparableto a12-storybuilding laidonitsside." "Howareyougonnadothat, Hal?" "Well,I'mgonnastick arocketin thebackend,  andjumptheriver." " I spent all day, every day, looking for ways to get Hal in front of anybody you could, any time." "[rockmusic]" "♪♪" "Tome ,Irememberit 'causeI brokemy back." "Forthesecondtime." "I canrememberhim  breakinghisback andribsandgetting outofthehospital and getting on an airplane and going down to do another movie." "Hewasthe firsthuman totesttheairbag." "Youknow,when nobodyknewanything abouttheairbag, therewasHal." "WhenIfirststartedtogo outtopitchHal , itwasnotaneasy task ." "I realized where I had to go was tell people, "Well, Hal Needham is" "Burt Reynolds' stuntman."" "Now,wehavetheirattention." " He used to like to do his own stunts anyway." " Well, he started as a stuntman, you know." "Originally, he was a stuntman." "Unfortunately,whenwe startedsomeof theinterviews, they always still went back to Burt." " There's a lot of little things that--that he took-- you know, that I--I know he took from me." "Uh, and for instance, um, he took my wardrobe, okay?" "Hehad'emcopymywardrobe thatI wearnormally, allthetime, and,uh,andthat'swhat  heworein themovie." "Oneday,he cameout , heandIwas dressed exactly alike." "Weworkedalotonthat, becauseweknewthatwas coming every time." "And then, he was off talking about stunts." " Presenting..." "[drumroll]" "The Stuntman." " And he's not just your basic, everyday stuntman, either." "He was modeled after Hal Needham, the guy that I consider to be the best stuntman in the business." "Hehadmet the guy  thatownedatoy company." "Theysaid,"Youknow, EvelKnievel'sdoll madea tonof money."" "Itwassittingonhisdeskone daywhenIwentin." "I said, "Oh, my God, Hal, you've got a doll!" "A little stunt doll!" "Give me a break!"" "There'sa littleram, andyoucouldfly the-- thedoll,andit'llturn ." "Youcould,uh ,makethe hat  flyoffwithastring." " The had designed the prototype, but they didn't have the market for it yet." "Werecognizedthatwewere  gonnaneedabig event." "Hal and Bill Fredricks came up with the idea of the rocket car." "Three...two...one... ignition!" "[engine roaring]" "Wow,lookslikehe's offona goodonethistime,Ken." "Thunderoussendoff toHalNeedham!" "Climbingto400...to500 ... almost550milesper hour andstillclimbing." "That'sfasterthan programmed,Ken." "Hischutejustcame out- - hischutedeployed, butithasnot opened." "Ken,it hasnot opened." "Hemightbe in veryserious troubledownthere." "He'smissedthe red flag thathehas crashedattheend  ofthecourse." " I want to tell you something." "The last couple hundred yards is a son of a gun!" "Halsaid,"I'mnotgoing  toputmy life behinda 700mile-an-hourcar  anylonger."" "Itwassometimeafter therocketcarevent thatthetoyfinallyemerged." "Itneverreallymade aplacein themarket." "Heknewhe neverwas gonna bea moviestar." "SoHalwasunder tremendouspressure tomake"Smokeyand the Bandit" asuccess." "['70srockmusic]" "♪♪" "There'sascene inthepicturewhere it'sa smalldirtroad-- bridge." "The car leaps the bridge, flies through the air, and lands on the other side." "Thatwasreallydangerous." "There's no--that's a problem, you know?" "You know, you come up short, you got issues here." "[tires squealing]" " Sorry, I don't want to get married." " Terrific." "That makes two of us." " Sally and Burt became an item by that-- that day of shooting." " Rolling--oh, wait." "One minute." "Here we go." "Wewatchedthe dailies,and youcouldkindofseeit." "Itwasthere." "Whentwopeople arehittingit off andyoucantell they'relikingeachother." "Sometimes,theycall"Action," andthere's things that happen first." "♪ Callyouthe Bandit♪" "♪♪" "♪Theycallyou the Bandit♪" " I think the Bandit covers up his vulnerability and his sensitivity with a lot of braggadocio, and fancy shirts, becauseI think,basically, he'srathershy." "He'sonlygoodatonething , andthat'sshowingoff ." "Buthe'sgreatatthat ." "I don't wear these kind of shirts." "I do wear cowboy hats." "I think--I'm not real positive about this, because there's a big debate going about-- on about this in America." "I think I'm a real good actor." "[struggling]" "BurtReynoldshas been topboxoffice forsixyears,mostlyin rednecktough-guyfilms." "Now,hewantstotry seriousdrama." "If you wanted to get away from the good ol' boy image, will the audience let you?" " If I'm good." "If I'm really good." "♪ And there's no concealing ♪" "♪ The fact I'm feeling ♪" "♪ Bored, bored, bored ♪" " I find Burt Reynolds a most puzzling actor." "He has the power and physical attributes of the perfect screen tough guy, yet he insists onplayinglightcomedies, asifhe sawhimself as a kind of Cary Grant with muscles." "The point that seems to escape him, however, is that you can't be Cary Grant and have muscles." "You've got to settle for one or the other." "Hecanact ,but hedoesn't takeverygoodparts." "Hedoesn'ttakethe partswhich stretchhimandtesthim." "He could possibly be as great as Sean Connery if he had more ease about the way he looked." "Youcanalwaysfeel thathewantstolook good , andthisis fatal ina maleactor." " Maybe he's getting bad advice, Pauline." " Or maybe there's fear in him." " Burt, when you look in the mirror, what do you see?" "Who do you see?" "You'relookingata very  well-paidmoviestar." "Anda starvingactor." "Actor." "To be a personality is painful." "To be in the public eye is--is painful." "Because you can never, ever give them enough." "They always want a little bit more." "[laughter]" " Is it true that you are back together with Dinah Shore?" " Do you plan on making any movies on location in Chicago?" " Would you like to go for coffee after the show?" " You said that your favorite sport was football." "Is that what influenced you doing "The Longest Yard"?" " Is it true that you've been trying to adopt a child and you plan on marrying again?" " Burt, do you really enjoy all this?" "Burtgotsickdown there, andhewasstruggling tocometo theset ." "You'retalkingabout changingschedules." "Imean,Sallycouldn'twork  withoutBurt 'causeitwasinthecar." "Hediddisappear fora coupleof days,yes ." "ButI don'twanttogetinto the,uh, thereasonings." "Halunderstood Burtwasan actor." "Beinganactor,hewas high-strungandneurotic." "Now,allactorsare crazy, right?" "I mean, Marlon Brando walked out of acting 'cause he couldn't take it anymore." "Youmustunderstand, theirfaceis on  this100-footscreen." "Youknowwho thatis?" " If they're embarrassed with what they see, they want to kill themselves." "So, the pressure on an actor, on his ego, it's so overwhelming." "[sirens]" " We ain't gonna make it, son!" "We're gonna hang it up." " Whoa, negatory, negatory, what are you, crazy or something?" "We come this far, ain't we?" "Look, when we say we gonna do a job, we do a job!" " And Hal came up and said, "I give up." "Are you doing this?"" "There'sonethingabout goodol'Southernboys, allthewaythrough." "Theyhaveasenseofloyalty totheirfriends." "[dramaticmusic]" "♪♪" "I feltlike,ifanything, Iowedit to Hal." "♪♪" "You got to be dangerous as part of being sexy." "♪♪" "Too late now." ""Let's jump this bridge."" "♪♪" " We jumped over that bridge!" "We did that!" "Did you see what we did?" " Yes, I did." " I want to jump something else!" "I want to jump a house!" "I want to jump something!" "We'djustdonethecarjump." "Assistantdirectoryelled, "That'sit." "That's a wrap."" "It was the last-- end of the movie." "Needham,heandIlookedover thetopof theTransAm ateachother." "He just gave me a wry smile and looked at me, you know, and we just nodded at each other and that was it." " You're crazy!" "Kindof ourmoment." "Yourealizethatitexists, andit'sgonnabearoundalot longerthanyouare ." "Universalpresents..." "Thisis "SmokeyandtheBandit."" "Thegeneralsalesmanager atUniversal, havingseenthemovie, bytheway, um, I don't think had much faith in the picture." "Heaskedthatwenot sneakpreview." "Ithinkhe actuallysuspected thathewasgoing tolosebookings becausethepicturewas sobad." "[banjomusic]" "Hell..." "Youknow?" "Theysaid... [grandioseorchestralmusic]" "♪♪" "AndI said,"Takeitout! "" "♪♪" " You're doing comedy, it doesn't work." "[gagging]" "Dead." "Andonlyafooldoes it thinkingit'sasurething." "I thoughtit was averyfunnymovie." "And then--you know, we thought-- we had great expectations, they opened the movie in Radio City Music Hall, and then we-- and it died." "I said,"Waitaminute." ""You'reopeningit in-- inNewYork?" "That'sridiculous."" "Itwasadisastrous screening,I mean..." "Thecardswere,you know," ""Thisisboring." "Seenthisbefore."" "I thought, you know, what do I do to get these guys to get it." "[screaming]" "AndIsaid, "Putthedamnthingout downintheSouth."" "That'swhoit wasmadefor." " [shouting]" "♪ Well,hellothere, neighbor♪" "♪Now,howdoyoudo♪" "♪There'ssomethingI'd like tosayto you♪" "♪Youfrommyhomeland♪ [dog barking]" "♪Mysunnyhomeland, tellmefriend♪" "♪Nowcoulditbe♪" " How many of you have seen Hal's picture," ""Smokey and the Bandit"?" "[applause]" " I love it." "I love it." " I bet I've seen that movie 200 times." "And that's probably plus or minus five." "♪ Yeah,it 'stheviewfrom  Louisiana,Mississippi♪" "♪Alabama,WestVirginia, Tennessee,Carolina♪" "♪Justanylittleplacebelow  thatMason-Dixonline♪" "♪Thenyou'reinDixie♪" "♪Hooray,hoorayfor Dixie♪" "♪' Causethisoldboy , he'sfromDixietoo ♪" "♪Standback,son ♪" " That little number is the second-highest grossing motion picture in the history of the motion picture business." "I 'mgladit was,because itwasapicture thatwasn'tmade forthecritics." "Itwasmadefor the people." " How did you like the movie?" " Oh, I just loved it." " Oh, it was so exciting." " Who was your favorite in the film?" " Burt. [laughing]" "Naturally." "The dog was good too." " All of us that live in that part of the country go, "Yup, that's about how it works," or" ""he reminds me of my uncle,"" "or "he reminds me of my dad," or "he reminds me ofmyneighbordowntheroad. "" " You know, in the South, they think of" ""Smokey and the Bandit" as a documentary." "Ithadaculturalimpact thatI don'tthinkany ofus couldhaveimagined." "Imean,to thisveryday,  it'sa friendlierSouth thanmaybealot ofpeople hadseenbefore." "Andmaybe,in that, there'sanelegance." " The buzz was huge." "I mean, it was huge!" "♪♪" "Youknow,inthedays ofsilentmovies, thechasewasoftenahighlight ofthestory." "So, Hollywood figured, if audiences like a little, they'll love a lot, and pretty soon, there'snomealatall,  it'salldessert." " It's not a B movie." "It's A-plus-plus." "Burtbroughtus through thediscoera." "Hekeptus allalive andgaveus areason tosay,"Hey,westillgot aherooutthere."" " When I say "Burt Reynolds," right now." "Black cowboy hat?" "Mustache?" "Isthatwhatyou see ?" "It'swhatIsee ." "Ialsoseehim  ina TransAm ." "If he drove up in a Lexus, it would just destroy me." "The"WashingtonPost"critic, in that person's opinion, greatest road movie ever made." "Imean,thepicture elevatedHal, andHalwasnolonger astuntman." "♪♪" "So,my fatherdecided itwastime tomoveout ofBurtReynolds'house." "Yougetmarried,you settle down,andthen,uh,  you have to move out--you got to get your own place." "[softmusic]" " I've always wanted to have a theater, all my life, uh, ever since I started being an actor." " How are you tonight?" "If you'll follow Bruce, he'll take you to your seats." " Good evening." "How y'all doing tonight?" "[singing] [applause]" " And I think, secretly, most actors, back in the back of their minds, thinkaboutgoingback totheirhometown andbuildingatheater." "Wehavean apprenticeprogram, andthey'relearning thatitisn'tjust stardustandmoonbeams." "It'sa lotof hardwork andpain." "Get out of here!" "Punctuate it." "BurtReynolds isa hungryman." "Ithinkhe 'shungryto--toshow  everybodyintheworld that he's more than the illusion that he--that he presents." " Do you want o be taken more seriously?" "Or would you go on doing these stunting performances?" " Well, I--I think that probably, 20 years from now, these "Stunting performances,"" "as you called them, will be considered minor works of art." "Andthey'llsay,"Thosewere  damngoodfilms." ""For what they were." "They weren't trying" ""to be anything other than what they were." "But for what they were, they were terrific."" " But you're still shooting for a "Casablanca" in your career?" " Yeah, I'm shooting for a "Casablanca."" "And you know what I'll do when I get my "Casablanca"?" "I'll go right back and make a "Smokey and the Bandit."" "[applause]" "Burt,theco-writer anddirector of" SmokeyandtheBandit," yourpalHalNeedham." "[elegantmusic]" " First of all, let me say that I'm sure nobody expects me to play guitar or sing 'cause y'all know better than that." "I only have one God-given talent, and that was to fall on my head." "And I'm thankful for that, because it allowed me to meet Burt Reynolds some 20-some-odd years ago." "I alwaystoldhim ,"If you 'd havebeenawoman, we'dhavehad agreatmarriage."" "Hewasan amazingman ." "They don't come along like that but once in your lifetime." " You're a doll, I love you, and I owe everything to you, Burt." "Thank you." "[laid-backcountrymusic]" "♪♪" " I just want to make a wish." "[screaming]" "♪♪" "Certainpeople showupin yourlife, and the magic happens, and it doesn't always happen, but when the magic happens...[claps]." "♪♪" " You know something?" "You're looking at the luckiest man alive." " So we're talking, and I said, "Hal," ""can you believe your success?" ""From the sharecropper's kid in Arkansas, youdo 'SmokeyandtheBandit'?"" ""Yeah,"hesaid." ""It'sbeenagoodrun, man. "" "Folksdidn'tthink toomuchof me  or what I was gonna amount to." "But for sure-- for sure-- my mom... is looking down on tonight... with a big smile on her face." "[clears throat] [applause]" "I want to thank the entire Hollywood community for allowing me to be part of it." "Thank you very much." "I appreciate it." "♪♪" " When I heard that he passed," "I thought, "What in God's name" ""could kill him?" "What could kill him?"" " He's the only guy that I thought might live forever." "[tires squealing]" "Helikedspeed." "Helikedto bendthe rules alittlebit." "Helikedto livelife onhisownterms." "Hal Needham was, and will always be, the Bandit." "[engine roaring]"