RIP Burt Reynolds (1936-2018)

September 6, 2018 1:24 PM

The legendary Burt Reynolds has passed away.

There is just too much to make a comprehensive post. He started as a hunky B-lister, became a white-hot celebrity through the 70s, 80s, and into the 90s, an oft-commented down period after than, and a resurgence after his role in Boogie Nights. In later years he suffered from medical problems and financial woes, though he kept working. His last credit will be for his appearance in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood."

IMDB
Wikipedia

posted by rhizome (122 comments total)

.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:25 PM on September 6, 2018

.
posted by Bob Regular at 1:27 PM on September 6, 2018

/puts on a record of marching band music in memory

.
posted by acb at 1:27 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

.
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:30 PM on September 6, 2018

*posts a big, bushy mustache in remembrance*
posted by SansPoint at 1:31 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Thank you, Burt, for The Cannonball Run, an awful movie but not at all awful--in fact pretty damn awesome--to a ten-year-old me. And thank you for Smokey and the Bandit, Deliverance, Boogie Nights, The Longest Yard, and Switching Channels (maybe not a great one but I love it).
posted by zardoz at 1:33 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 1:33 PM on September 6, 2018

.
posted by Iridic at 1:33 PM on September 6, 2018

So many good times, so many plain old fun movies. See you around, Burt.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:34 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

⏞
posted by Dr. Twist at 1:35 PM on September 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

.

Burt Reynolds nude: 10 facts about the Cosmo centrefold
posted by riruro at 1:37 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:39 PM on September 6, 2018

. He was voted favorite actor by my senior class in 1982.

Go dig up a movie called Breaking In directed by Bill Forsyth and written by John Sayles. One of my favorite films and inexplicably forgotten given who created it.
posted by octothorpe at 1:40 PM on September 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

Was just advised by FB that the Cosmo centerfold violates FB's nudity standards. Pretty sure Burt would like that. Attaboy!
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:40 PM on September 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

.
posted by droplet at 1:42 PM on September 6, 2018

Burt Reynolds on the Golden Girls [YouTube]

.
posted by Fizz at 1:42 PM on September 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I can't imagine the 70s without him
posted by thelonius at 1:42 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Sad to discover that I can't stream any of the Cannonball Run movies.

.
posted by hanov3r at 1:44 PM on September 6, 2018

.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:45 PM on September 6, 2018

~~
posted by numaner at 1:50 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

.
posted by Splunge at 1:51 PM on September 6, 2018

James Dean in that Mercury '49
Junior Johnson runnin' through the woods of Carolina
Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans Am
All gonna meet down at the Cadillac Ranch

.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:52 PM on September 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

Bunch of thoughts. Don't know much about him as a person, but Burt Reynolds the cultural icon is a giant presence in my life, and in that of a lot of people my age (early 40s). About Smokey and the Bandit, consider: Hal Needham wanted to make a stunt movie that was exciting with no violence, and he succeeded. Largely because of Reynolds’ insane charisma.

How big a deal was Burt Reynolds?
1. so iconic that Norm McDonald's good-natured parody of him became instantly iconic in its own right.
2. so iconic that David fucking Bowie's son is talking about thinking Burt Reynolds was cool when he was a kid. Think about that one for a second.

Anyway we all know this death was faked and somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line a Mr. T. Ferguson is drinking whiskey as we speak.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 1:52 PM on September 6, 2018 [22 favorites]

Ah yes, lets us return to a time when dinosaurs still walked the earth; the 70s!
A time when male movie stars still had body hair and porn hadn't yet quite completed its conquest of the moustache.

Thank you for the great entertainments you were in and thank you for that peek into the mysterious ways of adulthood that so perplexed this child of the 70s.

.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 1:53 PM on September 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I was quite fond of his series Evening Shade too. It had kind of an amazing cast: Marilu Henner, Ossie Davis, Charles Durning, Hal Holbrook and Michael Jeter
posted by octothorpe at 1:54 PM on September 6, 2018 [19 favorites]

.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:55 PM on September 6, 2018

.
Burt and Dinah are my forever OTP.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:56 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

That laugh.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 1:57 PM on September 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

It's weird I google famous people like this with their name plus "abuse" when they die to check and see what kind of person they were or not. As far as I can tell, Burt if he did anything especially horrible, it was never brought to light.

I'm looking through his filmography right now but nothing is clicking for what I have vague memories of. Either a kid's show or sitcom where he was kind of an affable guy but also acknowledged to be hunk. Now I can't pin it down, so maybe I am just merging various appearances into one.

RIP
posted by GoblinHoney at 1:58 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

.

Norm MacDonald's impression of him on SNL never failed to crack me up.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:05 PM on September 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

I can't imagine the 70s without him

what immediately comes to mind is Deliverance, and the trajectory of the character he played (Lewis Medlock) -- the dangerously macho guy that takes things too far too soon and ends up being pretty much dead weight as the narrative plays out.

If only Mr. Reynolds had taken on more of such roles that he seemed uniquely wound for. He didn't and made multi-millions as a result of going the other way, playing it safe. Everybody's loss, I suspect.



.
posted by philip-random at 2:05 PM on September 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:07 PM on September 6, 2018

More recently, he was fun on Archer.

.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:08 PM on September 6, 2018 [20 favorites]

A part of my childhood.

.
posted by 4ster at 2:10 PM on September 6, 2018

As far as I can tell, Burt if he did anything especially horrible, it was never brought to light.

He did show up at a wake I was attending maybe twenty years ago and behave very badly. There was a sudden commotion by the bar and holy shit, it was Burt Reynolds, very drunk (and uninvited) and being extremely abusive. I think I went golfing after that.

It was a dream.
posted by philip-random at 2:12 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Obviously Deliverance... I never really liked Smokey and the Bandit but I always thought Mean Machine* was awesome. He appeared in a lot of stuff over the years... including a film by Bill 'Gregory's Girl / Local Hero' Forsyth of all things that I remember being pretty good. Pity he didn't take more actorly roles. Weirdly for years, well after his glory days, he was best known in the UK for a series of ads for a high street opticians (think this was post his bankruptcy).

.
RIP 'Wreaking' Crewe

* What The Longest Yard was known as in the UK, as we didn't know what the rules for american football were back then
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:13 PM on September 6, 2018

Fond memories of Cannibal Run, Smokey and the Bandit, Deliverance and Evening Shade, along with probably some other movies when I think of them. Was never sure what to make of him - I enjoyed him, but it always felt to me to some extent that Burt was always kind of winking at the audience; somehow making us feel like we were part of some grand joke. I don't know why I felt that, and it certainly doesn't detract from the sheer enjoyment I got out of I don't know how many viewings of things like Cannonball Run when I was a kid.

.
posted by nubs at 2:15 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'll always remember him coming down the stairs and kissing the mirror in Silent Movie.

He's really good (at 80?) in The Last Movie Star from 2017.

.
posted by Catblack at 2:16 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Burt Reynolds: 'If you met me in 1978, I'm really sorry'
- The New York Post excerpts the 2015 memoir, But Enough About Me
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:17 PM on September 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

If only Mr. Reynolds had taken on more of such roles that he seemed uniquely wound for. He didn't and made multi-millions as a result of going the other way, playing it safe.

And then, when he was given a shot at a late-career resurgence when Paul Thomas Anderson wrote an iconic role for him in Boogie Nights, he pissed it all away, publically shit-talking the film and then turning down a role in Magnolia.

R.I.P. Burt, you self-sabotaging bastard.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:18 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

•
My hairdresser in Tucson had the Cosmo nude on the ceiling to look at while getting my hair washed. Fine by me.
posted by MovableBookLady at 2:21 PM on September 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

.

for a brief moment today, wikipedia stated that he is survived by 1.5 million children. i don't doubt it.
posted by lapolla at 2:21 PM on September 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

It's weird I google famous people like this with their name plus "abuse" when they die to check and see what kind of person they were or not. As far as I can tell, Burt if he did anything especially horrible, it was never brought to light.

You may not have wanted to be a woman alone with him in a hotel room, or asked him a question that he didn't like.
REYNOLDS RIPS UP REPORTER'S NOTE PAD IN A FIT
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:22 PM on September 6, 2018

RIP Turd Ferguson
posted by ShakeyJake at 2:26 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

.

And then it turned out he was the mayor of Steelport.

You can't really be seriously lamenting the loss of Reynolds as a serious character actor, can you, when he was so good at playing loveable rogues? I'd rather have Cannonball Run.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:28 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I've been obsessed with Burn Notice for the past month or so (okay don't ask alright we all have our things), I've been watching them all one after another, and I'm now on season four. Last night I watched the episode where Burt plays a drunk, washed-up old spy the team has to track down and protect (and of course he starts punching assholes out and shooting Russians left and right, with a lot of eye-rolling and head-shaking, and ridiculous lines..."Are you telling me I can't kill Russians when they invade Florida?"). It's actually my least favorite episode of Burn Notice so far because it basically turned into a mini Burt Reynolds movie and changes the dynamic so much, but that's also why it's unique and awesome and a testament to the unique charisma Burt Reynolds possessed even when he was in his 70s, so anyways not sure where I'm going with this, other than, the universe conspiring to get me hooked on watching Burn Notice so I could see the episode he guest-stars in on the day before he dies seems like exactly the sort of goofy serendipity that would fit in a classic 70s Burt Reynolds movie. Or something.

.
posted by dubitable at 2:38 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

.
posted by Malingering Hector at 2:42 PM on September 6, 2018

When I was learning to drive, my father complained to my mother after one particularly harrowing session that they should never have let me watch all those "damn Burt Reynolds movies."

RIP Bandit. 10-4 Good buddy and clear roads ahead.
posted by teleri025 at 2:43 PM on September 6, 2018

For many of my generation Burt Reynolds was our first template for what it was to be a cool strong adult man. He was one of the only movie stars my dad and I could agree on really. For a lot of boys growing up in the late 70s the Bandit was on equal footing with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo as the idealization of the American hero archetype. Where Han and Luke owed more to classic heroic mythos, Burt made Bandit real in more lived-in ways. He was adventurous, impulsive and often reckless but also vulnerable if you could just get past the hat. His brio and resourcefulness weren’t unlimited and each came from a place that was more “maybe this will work” than “I have a plan”. This was just one small yet substantial piece of the Burt puzzle but this most iconic role is probably the most Burt role he ever played. Cocky yet self effacing, tough yet not invincible,a smartass for his own amusement and an ideal wrapped in imperfection hoping desperately to believe in his own legend.
I loved Burt in more movies than I can even name and could write 5000 words on his Jack Horner alone. Hell, it’s part of Burt’s inability to get out of his own way that his post-Boogie Nights career rebirth never really happened (as I’m sure he’d admit). Foremost Burt was an entertainer in the classic sense of the word, up for anything even at his own expense and failure.
Rest In Peace to a true American legend. East bound and down good buddy.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 2:44 PM on September 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

Burt was a hell of a charismatic, likeable guy onscreen, but both of his ex-wives said he beat them, he was rumored to have beaten Sally Field, and also accused of bullying/sexually harassing young guys on the film sets.

There's been a Hollywood rumor floating around for decades about an incident while he was filming The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing with Sarah Miles.
posted by Lunaloon at 2:44 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Burt Reynolds is 10-7? I'll have to drink some Coors in his honor. RIP Bandit.
posted by Rob Rockets at 2:44 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Also ya know what he is fantastic in but nobody ever talks about anymore?
Best Little Whorehouse
posted by Senor Cardgage at 2:45 PM on September 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

.
posted by blurker at 2:45 PM on September 6, 2018

He didn't and made multi-millions as a result of going the other way, playing it safe.

He said in his memoirs that he wasn't so much interested in stretching himself artistically, so much as he wanted to work on projects that seemed the most fun. That's not a bad way to go through life -- we should all be so lucky.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:53 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

As a high schooler went to see Deliverance with some buds probably not really knowing what the movie was about, that's just what you did for fun. I think I left nail marks in the seat armrests. That movie left a scorch mark in my brain that's still there.
posted by diode at 2:53 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I was sitting on my back porch drinking a Coors (not Light) tallboy after a solid day's work here in NE GA when I got the news. If that's not right, then grits ain't groceries.

Still, I preferred Gator.

Godspeed, Smokey.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 2:53 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I didn't really meet my father until I was 7, and didn't spend any appreciable amount of time with him until I was 11. I didn't know much about him other than the fact that he looked EXACTLY like Burt Reynolds. So whenever I saw a Burt Reynolds movie, I pretended I was watching my Dad. I loved everything (even Sharky's Machine, which was TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE for 9 year old me, but I begged my mom because it was Burt Reynold's and I think she said yes because I think she still had a thing for my father, even though they had been divorced for 9 years).

I finally got to develop a relationship with my father when I was 21, but he died 5 years later; not really enough time at all, especially given all the time we didn't have. I couldn't watch Burt Reynolds movies after Dad died. I may need to change that, just to shake this totally irrational sensation that Dad died all over again.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 2:54 PM on September 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over my giant, throbbing erection."

RIP, Burt. I think I will watch Cannonball Run this weekend.
posted by bondcliff at 3:05 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

even Sharky's Machine*, which was TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE for 9 year old me,

I submit that it is we, the latchkey kids of the late 70s raised on nascent cable and parents taking us to films we shouldn't have seen at our age who are truly The Greatest Generation.

*Saw it. In the theater. With my parents. Age 7
posted by Senor Cardgage at 3:07 PM on September 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

His laugh is always on display on talk shows. Here's one with Rickles and him on Carson.
posted by dobbs at 3:19 PM on September 6, 2018

You Google abuse and missed Loni Anderson talking about how he beat the shit of her during their marriage? Or how he the bigger star used that social leverage to drag her through the tabloids during their divorce? Odd. Okay.

He made memorable acting choices, but he wasn't a nice man.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 3:19 PM on September 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

For those of capable of growing a mustache, the time for tribute has come. I hereby declare this Burt Reynolds Memorial Mustache Month.

My wife is going to hate this!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:23 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Well shit, 80 Cats, had no idea.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:30 PM on September 6, 2018

My earliest memory of Burt Reynolds was his pre-mustache 1970 TV series Dan August (a Quinn Martin Production), which was one of the few action detective shows I could stand watching thanks to his character's 'relationships' with his co-stars, including pre-6-Mil Richard Anderson and pre-3s-Co Norman Fell. I do still get a giggle at all the running and jumping in the show's opening, which was more than he did in most entire episodes. It was the first time I heard of a TV show "on the bubble", as its mediocre ratings made ABC think hard before cancelling it after one season.

.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:32 PM on September 6, 2018

Burt Reynolds Chews Gum
posted by Gorgik at 3:38 PM on September 6, 2018

.
Remembering my grandmother also. She thought Burt Reynolds was a hunk.
posted by songs_about_rainbows at 3:50 PM on September 6, 2018

The Burt Reynolds Late Show (1973) with Burt, Dinah, Merle Haggard, and Jonathan Winters
posted by rhizome at 3:51 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

.
posted by hap_hazard at 4:05 PM on September 6, 2018

Smokey and the Bandit on the boob tube tonight, fo sho, fo sho tonight.
posted by notsnot at 4:05 PM on September 6, 2018

He had his moments but he was also in Cop And A Half, which is easily the worst movie I've ever seen.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 4:05 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

.
posted by Gelatin at 4:08 PM on September 6, 2018

_._
posted by filtergik at 4:16 PM on September 6, 2018

.
posted by get off of my cloud at 4:18 PM on September 6, 2018

easily the worst movie I've ever seen.

I was in a screenwriting class with the guy who wrote it. Nice guy. Can't remember his stuff being any good.
posted by philip-random at 4:19 PM on September 6, 2018

Truly, Burt Reynolds was an inspiration to us all, who died as he lived: jumping an ambulance packed with bootleg liquor over an alligator-infested river.
posted by MarchHare at 4:21 PM on September 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

Burt Reynolds & Clint Eastwood were fired from GUNSMOKE & RAWHIDE at the same time. Burt was told he couldn't act and Clint his neck was too skinny. In the parking lot, Burt said to Clint, "I dunno what you're gonna do, but I'm gonna take acting lessons." #RIPBurtReynolds (SL Patton Oswalt tweet)

It's kind of insane to me how much of his career happened after he was 40 -- Smokey, Cannonball, the five-year run at the top of the box office. And his big "comeback" in Boogie Nights was only three years after he was starring in his own sitcom (for which he'd won an Emmy and a Golden Globe).
posted by Etrigan at 4:26 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

My first-ever date was seeing Smokey and the Bandit. My buddy and I double dated with two girls and we sat a couple of rows behind them and threw candy at them. (My relationship with Burt Reynolds lasted much longer than the one with my date.)

He was incredibly, impossibly cool in the late '70s. I love Smokey and the Bandit, The Longest Yard, and Sharky's Machine. His other movies in the '80s were basically the same people making basically the same movie. I also liked his later appearances in Striptease and Boogie Nights (which is 21 years old).

I'm surprised at how few of his late '70s movies I've seen considering how much I love Smokey and the Bandit and The Longest Yard. I might have to check some out.

Adieu, Bandit.

p.s. Star Wars came out the week after Smokey and the Bandit.

p.p.s. I didn't drink until after high school. When my buddies and I started drinking, we drank Coors because of Smokey and the Bandit.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:37 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

.
posted by candyland at 4:39 PM on September 6, 2018

White Lightning, 1973, one of the first down south car chase movies.
posted by 445supermag at 4:45 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

*Literally* the greatest book ever published.
[Letters of Note twitter account posts thread containing excerpts from Reynolds's book of letters to and from fans]
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:53 PM on September 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

.
posted by jim in austin at 5:18 PM on September 6, 2018

.

Can't figure out how to put a mustache on a period.
posted by jrochest at 5:27 PM on September 6, 2018

.
posted by Silverstone at 5:30 PM on September 6, 2018

> Can't figure out how to put a mustache on a period.

.̫
posted by tonycpsu at 5:39 PM on September 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

.
posted by Melismata at 5:48 PM on September 6, 2018

Coolest dude to chew gum
:(
posted by xtian at 6:02 PM on September 6, 2018

CITIZEN RUTH - a massage and bribe
posted by philip-random at 6:27 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

.
posted by condour75 at 6:43 PM on September 6, 2018

He had his moments but he was also in Cop And A Half, which is easily the worst movie I've ever seen.

Not Henry Winkler's best work as a director.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:43 PM on September 6, 2018

He was one of the highlights of a completely wackadoo episode of The X-Files, getting himself trapped in a parking garage playing checkers with Scully at one point and ultimately ending up to maybe be God.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:02 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

.
posted by Sphinx at 7:23 PM on September 6, 2018

he last time I thot about Burt Reynolds was a few months ago, when I was working on a discountry record and was trying to figure out if Sneakin' Around With You holds up. (it does)

The second last time I thot about Burt Reynolds was on Capital Hill in Seattle, where i saw a wheat pasted poster of Burt, in a football jersey and little else, from the back. The Jersey had the word Daddy on the back.

The third last time I thot about Burt Reynolds was his face in a collage of 70s gay porn staches at Pony, also in Seattle.

The fourth last time I thot about Burt Reynolds was watching Archer, and then realizing Gator was more than a gag.

The fifth last time thinking about Phillip Seymour Hoffman and watching Boogie Nights again, and never realizing if he was in the joke.

The sixth last time was going thru the catalog of one of those ghoulish memoir auctions, and wondering how I could afford one of those Satin crew jackets.

Other thots I had about Burt Reynolds: The Dinner Theater, whether he was any good in the dukes of hazzard remake, the guest stars in Evening Shade, legendary talk show appearances, the cosmo center fold, the sexual politics of Loni Anderson and Him together...

Reynolds ease and charm, the slide of the movie star, the self aware sleaze, the fun of him, the joke that means even his most serious movies could not be taken seriously (and that his best performances in White Lightening, or Smoky and the Bandit or Gator or Hooper or Best Little Whorehorse, or Semi Tough, were brilliant because they couldn't be taken seriously. Josh Langhoff compared him to Carry Grant, and that's part of it, but a kind of working class reclaiming of excess, a white trash camp that was better than it's rep.
posted by PinkMoose at 7:29 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

.
posted by pt68 at 7:34 PM on September 6, 2018

My understanding is that he didn't much care for Boogie Nights.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:35 PM on September 6, 2018

( ˇ෴ˇ )
posted by zengargoyle at 7:41 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

RIP. Smokey and the Bandit. Reynolds and Gleason. Love that movie.

10-4 Good Buddy. Road ahead is clean and green.
posted by AugustWest at 8:07 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I enjoyed him, but it always felt to me to some extent that Burt was always kind of winking at the audience;

He smiles directly at the audience in Bandit
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:23 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

One internet authority has reported that, according to Alfred Hitchcock's daughter, 'Smokey' was her father's favorite movie (that someone else made).

If that's not the right answer, then suck it Trebek.
posted by Twang at 8:51 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I looooove Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

(I guess at this point it's foreshadowing that Sheriff Ed Earl could get into the legislature while married to Miss Mona...wouldn't be an issue now, I guess.)

True story: my parents weren't great on figuring out what was age appropriate for small children, so I watched this at a very early age. I thought all people in musicals were just plain weird anyway what with everyone somehow knowing how to dance and sing altogether at once, how the hell does that happen? And this movie was even weirder because people were doing this while running around in their underwear with feather dusters.

However, I had no idea anything was "wrong" for a 6-year-old (I think) until my mom tried to tell me I should just refer to it as "Best Little House in Texas" in conversation. "But Moooooooooooom! It SAYS WHOREHOUSE!" I argued back pedantically. She gave up after that.

I also watched "Road House" in third grade and man, were my parents and grandparents surprised that there were topless ladies in that one!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:08 PM on September 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Some light reading tonight in the spirit of Smokey and the Bandit.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:31 PM on September 6, 2018

Goodbye Burt. My favourite work of his:

All Dogs go to Heaven
posted by prufrock at 10:41 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Dinner for Five episodes with Burt Reynolds where everyone just sits back and listens:
Kevin James, Richard Lewis, Burt Reynolds, Tony Shalhoub - Part 1, Part 2
Burt Reynolds, Dom Deluise, Charles Durning, Charles Nelson Reilly
posted by PenDevil at 12:17 AM on September 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

As mentioned above Breaking In is an early-late-career character role that his late career should have been filled with. Haven't seen it in decades, but it showed off his charm in a completely different way than we came to expect.
posted by bendybendy at 4:27 AM on September 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

I absolutely credit Burt Reynolds with my love for men with moustaches and CBs from an inappropriately young age. And I still love black Trans Ams without a lick of regret. He was a fundamental part of my pubescence, in a strange yet memorable way.

And he was excellent in Deliverance (which I saw later) and Boogie Nights (much, much later).
posted by h00py at 7:05 AM on September 7, 2018

Rotten Tomatoes: All Burt Reynolds Movies Ranked
Esquire: Where To Stream Burt Reynolds' Best Movies
posted by kirkaracha at 7:36 AM on September 7, 2018

.
posted by runehog at 7:58 AM on September 7, 2018

First of all, RIP Burt. Longest Yard, Deliverance, Sharkey, and Boogie Nights were truly great films.

The allegations/stories about abusive behavior are indeed disturbing. But he certainly seemed to be rather gay friendly considering his long friendships with/and getting roles for Charles Nelson Reilly and Dom Deluise.
posted by Ber at 8:54 AM on September 7, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday – The Best of Burt Reynolds
posted by kirkaracha at 8:56 AM on September 7, 2018

But he certainly seemed to be rather gay friendly considering his long friendships with/and getting roles for Charles Nelson Reilly and Dom Deluise.

Burt Reynolds: What I've Learned

When I told my dad I was going into show business, he said, “If you ever bring any of those sissy boys around here, I’ll shoot ’em and make a rug out of ’em for your mother.” At the end of his life, whenever he saw Charles Nelson Reilly, who’s rather flamboyant, he’d kiss him on the cheek.

posted by kirkaracha at 8:58 AM on September 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

Fond memories of Cannibal Run

Man alive, do I wish someone in the '70s had made this movie.
posted by Gelatin at 9:15 AM on September 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

Burt Reynolds Isn’t Broke, but He’s Got a Few Regrets is a great December 2015 profile from Vanity Fair.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:47 AM on September 7, 2018

Burt Reynolds: What I've Learned
A 4.40 40 yard dash would have been amazingly fast back in 1950-1960 something when Burt was in high school. Current NFL Combine 40 yard dash times

He would be #2 among NFL drafted running backs, #3 for wide receivers, #2 for line backers and #1 for all other skill positions except cornerback/defensive back where the fastest people in the world who enjoy football work. They run 4.20-4.30s. Even if he actually meant 4.4something (up to 4.49) than that's still really good. As in he could have had a professional career running track.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:59 AM on September 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

A 4.40 40 yard dash would have been amazingly fast back in 1950-1960 something when Burt was in high school.

In addition to Burt remembering it from more than half a century before, he would most likely have been "timed" by a dude with a manual stopwatch who was standing at least 40 yards away from either the start or finish line, and definitely would have rounded down.
posted by Etrigan at 10:58 AM on September 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Burt remembering it from more than half a century before, he would most likely have been "timed" by a dude with a manual stopwatch who was standing at least 40 yards away from either the start or finish line, and definitely would have rounded down.

Yes, I'm sure the timing was suspect, but so was all track timing then, and I still recall my 40 yrd dash time, so I'm sure if he is not lying he recalls the time correctly. But like he said he ran in football cleats on grass so the timing vs the technology all evens out.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:18 AM on September 7, 2018

But he certainly seemed to be rather gay friendly

In 1985 he attended a AIDS fundraiser organized by Elizabeth Taylor, and when a reporter asked him why he was there, he snapped, "If this were a cancer benefit, no one would be asking me stupid questions about why I'm here."
posted by orange swan at 3:47 PM on September 7, 2018 [11 favorites]

The strategy of making “one for them and one for me” is one of Hollywood’s oldest traditions. In the studio era, directors and stars could accrue capital with the system by making commercial pictures, then cash in their chips on a more personal project. Back in 1980, which seems to be the phrase’s earliest appearance in print, Burt Reynolds told the Washington Post that he favored “one for them, one for me,” alternating between “a playful, more or less certain crowd pleaser” and “a more realistic, offbeat and potentially risky project.”

Per this 2016 IndieWire article. The otherwise-useless WaPo hoverlink at the site indicates an original interview date of June 4; "Rough Cut" opened on June 19, 1980, and "Smokey and the Bandit II" hit theaters that August. He'd film "Sharky's Machine" (as star, and as director; John Boorman was tied up with "Excalibur" duties and suggested Reynolds, who'd directed two films, take over) the following March for a December 18, 1981 release date.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:28 PM on September 7, 2018

From What I've Learned:

I’m pretty passionate about my work, even though I sometimes have this realization on the second day of shooting that I’m in a piece of shit. So I can do one of two things: I can just take the money, or I can try to be passionate. But the name of the boat is still the Titanic.

Reminiscent of the classic Michael Caine quote on Jaws: The Revenge:

I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.

posted by kirkaracha at 5:40 PM on September 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

I introduced my son to Smokey and the Bandit last night. As 90 minute car chases go, it's still just as awesome as when I saw it just as my hormones were kicking in. I think I imprinted on funny smart ass men because of Burt. Keep em rolling Bandit, we'll block the smokeys for you till you get to where you're going.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:46 PM on September 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

‘Smokey and the Bandit’ Returning to AMC Theatres as Burt Reynolds Tribute

The chain announced Friday that the movie will play at 240 AMC locations from Sept. 12 to Sept. 20 with a $5 ticket price (or lower depending on the theater). Showtimes and tickets should be on sale at participating locations by the end of the weekend.

posted by kirkaracha at 3:45 PM on September 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

Smokey and the Bandit was (and is) a favorite movie of mine. However, it has always been my opinion that while Reynolds was great in the movie by simply acting himself and cool, he was the fourth best star in the movie. 1st, was Gleason, the Great One. He stole the movie, the sumbitch. 2nd was the car. The Trans Am was Kitt before Kitt. I wish they still made T-tops. 3rd was the Coors. Back then it was contraband. The legend was the that Coors would not ship east of the Mississippi because their beer had to stay cold and they would not brew it anywhere else in the country but Golden Colorado because of the Rocky Mountain Spring water or something like that. 4th was Reynolds. 4b, btw, was Sally Fields. A teenage boys wet dream was to drive the Trans Am with a cold Coors and a cute girl friend a la Sally Fields by your side.
posted by AugustWest at 12:35 AM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Smokey and the Bandit was my favourite brother's favourite movie. He was a mechanic and a trucker and motor vehicles and driving were the true loves of his life. I remember watching with him when I was a kid and how he laughed over it. Much later he told me that he wanted to buy a copy of it, but no store he had ever looked in had ever had it in stock. I bought him a copy as a present one Christmas season, enlisting his wife's help to make sure he didn't buy it himself before Christmas. I had to get the store I bought it from to special order it. On Christmas Day when my brother opened his present, he smiled beatifically, and my oldest brother exclaimed, "That's the best movie ever made!!" My favourite brother died in 2011 and that movie will always remind me of him. Its existence made it possible for me to make my brother very happy one particular Christmas morning.

Fun fact: I read years ago that in Japan the Japanese title for the Japanese-language version of Smokey and the Bandit translates back into English as, "Cars Chasing Across the Country in a Disorderly Fashion". Catchy, huh?
posted by orange swan at 12:19 PM on September 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

.
posted by bjgeiger at 1:17 PM on September 14, 2018