In honor of the late great Burt Reynolds, the other day I rewatched the wonderful 1977 Hal Needham movie Smokey and the Bandit, which I had not seen for many years. I was quite young when I first saw it, and now I can better appreciate why it was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite films.
The movie is chock full of coded cultural messages, and is surprisingly relevant to our age. It’s basically a triangle between three wildly divergent archetypical characters who play, respectively, the South, the North, and Authority.
Reynolds’s character is a particular idealized fantasy come to life — the proud and free (and always relaxed) authority-defying hero of the American South. Another, played by Sally Fields, is his cultural opposite: A tightly wound refugee from the Broadway theater scene up North. Where he loves Conway Twitty and monster truck rallies, she loves Elton John and Stephen Sondheim musicals.
The third character, played with delightful comic spin by the incomparable Jackie Gleason, represents buffoonish Authority. Sheriff Buford T Justice (awesome name!!) is so puffed up with self-importance, he has no idea he is completely ridiculous — and very, very funny.
What fascinates me about this triangle is that the avatars of the Urban North and the Rural South (Fields and Reynolds) are actually on the same side. They quickly join forces in opposition to Authority, and the movie makes it very clear just who are the good guys in this struggle.
It seems to me that this particular cultural triangle, and what it said about American culture in 1977, has implications for our current political situation. More tomorrow.