Posted on 02/11/2016 3:59:16 PM PST by V K Lee
Huh???????
His greatest performance was as Lewis in “Deliverance.” He was also very good in “The Longest Yard.” And “Hooper” was pretty good, too.
“Sharky’s Machine” was not great - but it did introduce us to the luscious Rachel Ward.
He will always be Bandit to me. :-)
Remember Gator McCluskey? :-)
That’s because you’re just a kid!
To be honest, that appearance had been long forgotten. From what was read Burt did play a high character, but the plot has been completely erased from my mind. If only some particular sites coming in from Europe had not been eliminated. They would have had available any and all episodes aired. Thanks for the memory.
But you got a nice pretty smile boy.
A fairly typical, widescreen 1960's Western (not that there is anything wrong with that) made memorable by Raquel Welch's stunning beauty and a young Burt Reynolds bursting with untapped superstardom.
Director John Boorman's backwoods, gothic thriller is every bit as effective today as it was 40-plus years ago. One of the screen's all-time great turning points is when the capable, confident, man-of-action Lewis (Reynolds) is incapacitated by a horrific injury. At that point, you're sure everyone is doomed.
There is no question "Deliverance" is Jon Voight's picture, but there is also no question a star was born.
Director Joseph Sargent delivers one of the great underrated movies of the 1970's. This is the debut of Reynolds as Bobby "Gator" McKlusky, an imprisoned moonshiner who goes undercover to catch the corrupt sheriff (Ned Beatty, again proving what an amazing character actor he is) who murdered his hippie brother.
The teaming of Reynolds and the great Bo Hopkins is about as good as it gets. Everything in this drive-in masterpiece works: the look, the feel, and most of all Gator thumbing his nose at any and all government authority, even though he's been forced to work for the Feds.
Reynolds called this film “The beginning of a whole series of films made in the South, about the South and for the South.â€
Gator would return in Reynolds' 1976 directing debut "Gator," which has its charms, but not many.
After "White Lightning,' Reynolds jumped directly into one of the all-time great screen comedies. Tracy Keenan Wynn's masterpiece of a screenplay mixes "MASH" and "The Dirty Dozen" into a gritty and absolutely hilarious story that ends with hardcore prisoners taking on hardcore prison guards in a football game.
As disgraced former-NFL quarterback Paul "Wrecking" Crewe, Reynolds proved he could carry a movie without breaking a sweat.
Never have I laughed so hard or had a better time in a movie theatre.
And it hasn't aged a day.
A dirty, hilarious, insightful sports comedy.
Reynolds is so good, he held his own with Robert Preston.
Writer/director Hal Needham reheated his sure-fire "Smokey and the Bandit" formula but switched out moonshiners for stuntmen.
Another monster hit for both, and deservedly so.
Reynolds shaves the mustache, moves to Boston, and convincingly portrays a somewhat nebbish teacher still reeling from a heartbreaking divorce.
Anyone who questions Reynolds range as an actor is in for an awakening and a treat.
Reynolds stars in and directs what is one of the best urban action films of the 80's. For the life of me, I cannot understand why this didn’t become a franchise for Reynolds. He would go back to this well a number of times in lesser films like "Heat," "Stick," and "Physical Evidence."
Nothing came close to "Sharky," though, when it could have been his "Dirty Harry" franchise.
What a loss.
By writing a great role for a 60 year-old former superstar still in his prime, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson pulled a Quentin Tarantino for Reynolds, who reportedly hated the sleaziness of the film. Nevertheless, Reynolds shines.
My favorite scene is an extended take of Jack Horner walking through his big house in the Valley just being, well, Burt Reynolds. We only see Reynolds from the back, and even from that angle the man throws off more charisma than anyone has a right to.
He made good entertainment. His movies did not make any “statements” about our society or religion. He had pretty, sexy girls, not lewd, and entertaining story lines with some humor mixed in.
Burt was never a Richard Burton.
Jackie Gleason had the best lines in that movie.
So then that wasn't you in post 2?
:)
Friend of mine was there and said Burt was in a wheel chair. My dad was still climbing ladders and stringing wire and cable when he was 80.
:-)
Nobody could have played that roll as well as Jackie.
...
And Jack Nicholson. Perhaps that is the method for success.
The End with Dom Deluise is great and Burt absolutely stole Striptease with his over the top portrayal of a corrupt and horny Congressman, hot on the trail of Demi Moore.
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