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Saturday Evening Movie Thread 06/24/2023 [TheJamesMadison]

Smokey and the Bandit: American Statement on Authority

Watching the Burt Reynolds' starring vehicle Smokey and the Bandit again, I was struck by similarities between it and the Sam Peckinpah film Convoy. There are obvious, on the surface, comparisons to be made about going cross-country in an eighteen-wheeler, but there's something thematic that connects the two.

It's hard to imagine two more different films in terms of tone, though. Convoy is Sam Peckinpah, the man who made movies about the transformative power of violence, looking at contemporary America and seeing a country he no longer recognized, grinding down the little guy until there was nothing left. Smokey and the Bandit is...not that. It's the tale of a young man who picks up a pretty lady on the country's greatest beer run from Texarkana to Atlanta while a silly representation of corrupt law enforcement gives dogged but unsuccessful chase. One is serious, borderline unwatchable, and ungainly while the other is feather-light, fun, and carefree, and yet I still can't separate the two in my mind.

A Reaction to the 60s

Both of these films came out during the seventies. Smokey preceded Convoy by just over a year, and they were both part of this small subgenre of films dealing with truckers that came and went in the blink of an eye. Convoy's release usually marks the endpoint of it, not because it was a financial bomb (it was surprisingly well received at the time) but because it just ended up being so expensive because of Peckinpah's haphazard shooting methods that it helped turn the industry off of the effort. However, being released in the late seventies, after Watergate, the race riots of the sixties, and in the middle of the malaise of the Carter administration, I find it hard not to read some level of politics into the film, and that largely has to do with a more conservative view of corrupt authority.

Peckinpah described himself as a "1939 American" which implies a man dedicated to how America was structured and run before the vast expansion of powers that was World War II. Hal Needham, who directed Smokey, equated his own politics to John Wayne's saying, "We spoke the same language. Movies, politics, horses, and all kinds of adventures. Having worked with Duke on ten movies, I found him down-to-earth when one-on-one, interesting always and knowledgeable." These seem to be two film directors edging towards a more conventional view of America in the middle of vast social changes, and both Smokey and Convoy feel like men trying to find their ways in the world. After a decade of what seemed like societal collapse to some while the late seventies started its process into malaise, there's a tangible desire to break off from the busyness of the world and be on one's own. Whether that's a pair of local lawmen with axes to grind or a southwestern governor out looking for a way to turn an out of control situation to his own political advantage, it feels like the world against the individual.

What did belief in the Man do for men like Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald or Bo "The Bandit" Darville? It created a Man who would sooner go after a guy just trying to make a living over anyone else.

The Stories

It's interesting how similar the two stories are, mostly because I don't really think that Peckinpah was the kind of guy to just swipe story elements whole hog from another, recent film. So when both Smokey and the Bandit and Convoy essentially have the same overarching plot, I see that as coincidence rather than mimicry. So, both major plots revolve around our central men leading a chase against a local, corrupt lawman through large sections of the country, each picking up a pretty girl along the way (Sally Field's Carrie in Smokey and Ali MacGraw's Melissa in Convoy), and the celebrity that they develop over the days of that chase. They both become heroes to the little guy, getting help along the way from random citizens in different ways.

The differences are really in just how they are presented. As I've stated earlier, Convoy is dour and serious for long stretches, treating the whole thing like a drama that got edited down to nothing because producers took the film from Peckinpah in editing and tried to make something marketable out of it (I guess it worked, it sort of made money, more than Peckinpah's Junior Bonner did). However, Smokey and the Bandit isn't interested in being a metaphor for life in America for a lost soul, at least not primarily. It's primarily interested in just being a fun ride, which it pretty obviously succeeds at and audiences agreed, making it the second biggest box office winner of 1977 behind a little, independent film called Star Wars.

And both did seem to connect with audiences. I honestly don't understand the financial success of Convoy because, again, I find the film almost unwatchable, but I cannot deny that it did well in 1978. There seemed to be this need, this desire, for a new kind of western where the lone ranger drives his Trans Am or Big Rig across the country, defying the petty lawmen who pestered the little guy for petty reasons, and succeeding in some way. I saw some way because Rubber Duck goes out in a ball of flame at the end of Convoy, a Peckinpah victory if there ever was one. The Bandit's win, however, is much more obvious and uplifting, as he teases Sheriff Bufford T. Justice one last time before gunning it to Massachusetts to get a bowl of clam chowder.

A Shoutout

So, for those who aren't in on the joke, this is actually the second time I've responded to commenter Duke Lowell's thankless call for a particular topic that he's repeated, without feedback, for several months. The first time was about Lone Wolf McQuade where I responded to the call by writing a somewhat sarcastic praise of the film (which I did enjoy by the way, I just took it overboard). I was thinking of doing the same thing here, but I found myself caught up in this miasma of thoughts without a real point other than to identify this interesting parallel between a box office pleasantry from 1977 with the leaden, tired work of a talented filmmaker from 1978. I try not to be too predictable, you know?

And I really did find the thoughts interesting as I watched Smokey and the Bandit for the second time in my life, enjoying it just as much the second time as the first. I'm obviously younger than most here, and this just wasn't one of those films that my dad had in his collection. I was introduced to it late in life. It was just never part of my formational education in popular movies. So, this is probably the first time I've given it a lot of thought, and seeing it with Peckinpah's filmography so recently in my rearview mirror, I couldn't help but reach the comparison.

Peckinpah's meaning was more on the surface, but Needham's was a bit more hidden behind escapist entertainment. I see them both feeding the same kind of anti-establishment vein of thought that existed on the right side of the political spectrum of the time, though. They're about good-ole-boys who just want to work on their own, and the Man not letting them. We do seem to seesaw back and forth as a movement between cheering for the strong arm of the law and feeling persecuted by it, and I get the feeling that both would speak to like-minded individuals at certain points in American history.

Pick up Smokey though. You'll actually have fun watching it.

A Quick Request

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Movies of Today

Opening in Theaters:

Asteroid City

No Hard Feelings

Movies I Saw This Fortnight:

My Fair Lady (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "An exploration of class using likeable, fun characters all set to wonderful music and lovingly performed by everyone involved. In terms of musical that won Best Picture, this might be the best." [Personal Collection]

A Man for all Seasons (Rating 4/4) Full Review "It's a great film and one of the best to win Best Picture." [Personal Collection]

Oliver! (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "Honestly, it could have tackled the narrative better, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice the musical aspects of the film for it because the musical aspects are brilliant." [Personal Collection]

The Shakedown (Rating 3/4) Full Review "Different sets of writers, but the same eye towards character in well-worn fictional genres, all done in a way to make the well-worn movements of plot impact rather than just play out? If Wyler didn't have a hand in that crafting, then he was just getting lucky, and I don't think he was just getting lucky." [Personal Collection]

The Love Trap (Rating 3/4) Full Review "Ah, a first sound film. I love these things." [Library]

Hell's Heroes (Rating 3/4) Full Review "This Wyler fella, he's got some talent, is what I'm sayin'." [Library]

Counsellor-at-Law (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "Adapting a respected stage play with skill and tact, he made his best film to date. Outside of Shakespeare on the stage and the manic joys of Howard Hawks' Twentieth Century, it's probably John Barrymore's most engrossing performance as well." [Library]

The Good Fairy (Rating 4/4) Full Review "Isn't it grand? It's delightful, funny, and even touching. It's wonderfully made, wonderfully acted, and just a wonderful entertainment all around. I loved it completely, and it's probably my favorite William Wyler so far." [Personal Collection]

Contact

Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.
I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.

My next post will be on 7/15, and it will talk about the death of Netflix DVD.