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1
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I guess you're asking yourselves
why I came down those stairs,
2
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walked across these boards,
ambled past these props,
3
00:00:57,516 --> 00:01:01,770
these theater trunks cluttered with
memories of a thousand opening nights.
4
00:01:03,313 --> 00:01:05,315
I guess you're asking yourself,
5
00:01:05,649 --> 00:01:09,152
"What does that have to do
with tonight's show?"
6
00:01:09,987 --> 00:01:12,781
Well, I'll tell you.
Nothing.
7
00:01:31,842 --> 00:01:36,096
My name's Hal Needham.
My face you will not recognize.
8
00:01:36,179 --> 00:01:38,140
But I bet you've seen a lot of my work.
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00:01:38,849 --> 00:01:40,684
For 20 years I've been
a Hollywood stuntman.
10
00:01:46,565 --> 00:01:47,774
Not too bad, huh?
11
00:01:47,858 --> 00:01:49,610
When a stuntman does that kind of driving,
12
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he better have his act together
13
00:01:51,486 --> 00:01:52,946
because there's no room for error.
14
00:02:06,376 --> 00:02:08,629
But recently, I graduated.
15
00:02:08,712 --> 00:02:09,963
I directed a movie.
16
00:02:10,547 --> 00:02:13,258
And that movie starred
a dear friend of mine,
17
00:02:13,342 --> 00:02:16,011
my old roommate, a good old boy
18
00:02:16,178 --> 00:02:18,972
that probably you people
are gonna recognize like that.
19
00:02:28,482 --> 00:02:30,359
Ladies and gentlemen, Burt Reynolds.
20
00:02:31,985 --> 00:02:37,115
Burt Reynolds, the most
exciting star on the screen today.
21
00:02:40,869 --> 00:02:43,372
Burt Reynolds is Gator McKlusky.
22
00:02:43,705 --> 00:02:46,625
Whether he's racing the law
or chasing the ladies.
23
00:02:53,340 --> 00:02:56,927
Burt Reynolds, the
quarterback who'll tackle anything.
24
00:03:00,097 --> 00:03:01,977
You saw Charlie Bronson in the lens.
25
00:03:05,268 --> 00:03:06,958
Now, you're Burt Reynolds' stuntman.
26
00:03:06,978 --> 00:03:08,710
Where does Burt like to
draw the line as far as
27
00:03:08,730 --> 00:03:10,482
doing his own stunts are concerned?
28
00:03:10,565 --> 00:03:13,360
Well, actually, I've never
seen Burt draw the line.
29
00:03:14,653 --> 00:03:17,989
He'll do just damn near
anything you want done.
30
00:03:18,073 --> 00:03:20,242
The insurance companies
draw the line sometimes.
31
00:03:20,325 --> 00:03:23,120
But really and truly
he doesn't draw the line.
32
00:03:23,245 --> 00:03:26,123
I've seen him do some things
which is flat scary.
33
00:03:26,206 --> 00:03:27,791
I mean, there's no other way to put it.
34
00:03:38,468 --> 00:03:40,148
What is the job of a stuntman?
35
00:03:41,304 --> 00:03:42,619
The objective of the stunt guy
36
00:03:42,639 --> 00:03:45,142
is to come in and look as
much as you can like the actor.
37
00:03:46,268 --> 00:03:48,770
They dress you like him,
even fix your hair, whatever.
38
00:03:48,854 --> 00:03:51,773
And whatever they want to do,
whether it'd be a horse fall or high fall
39
00:03:51,857 --> 00:03:54,067
or who knows, a fight,
40
00:03:54,151 --> 00:03:58,864
be able to do it as many times as
you can do it without getting hurt.
41
00:04:00,282 --> 00:04:01,471
In the old days they would go out
42
00:04:01,491 --> 00:04:05,287
and they would shoot four or five
days with all stuntmen. No actors.
43
00:04:06,079 --> 00:04:07,998
The wide shots were for stunt people.
44
00:04:17,549 --> 00:04:20,719
And then they'll bring the actors
out and they'd do the tight shots
45
00:04:20,802 --> 00:04:21,887
and the medium shots.
46
00:04:22,721 --> 00:04:25,098
If you're the biggest actor in the world,
47
00:04:25,182 --> 00:04:27,726
you want to have the best stuntman
48
00:04:27,809 --> 00:04:29,311
in the world next to you.
Why not?
49
00:04:32,230 --> 00:04:34,858
Those goddamn bastards! Told
me they weren't gonna shoot back!
50
00:04:47,078 --> 00:04:49,206
Burt trusted Hal and knew
51
00:04:49,289 --> 00:04:51,082
that Hal was gonna do the stunts
52
00:04:51,166 --> 00:04:52,834
that would really make him look good.
53
00:05:12,020 --> 00:05:16,024
Hal and Burt were guys who
appeared at a time in the '70's
54
00:05:16,107 --> 00:05:18,276
when anything can happen.
55
00:05:18,944 --> 00:05:22,113
Burt was an actor with all the
accoutrements that an actor has.
56
00:05:22,197 --> 00:05:23,907
And Hal Needham was a man of action.
57
00:05:23,990 --> 00:05:24,991
Ready?
58
00:05:26,243 --> 00:05:30,163
I've seen a lot of actors
have good relationships with stuntmen,
59
00:05:30,247 --> 00:05:31,998
but never like Hal and Burt did.
60
00:05:33,375 --> 00:05:35,126
That was the closest relationship
61
00:05:35,210 --> 00:05:36,920
I ever saw in the picture business.
62
00:05:37,712 --> 00:05:40,715
But you don't wanna get
too close to an actor. I don't believe...
63
00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,471
It's not gonna work out very good.
64
00:05:48,265 --> 00:05:52,561
Okay, Hal. How did you
meet Burt? Like, on Smokey and the Bear?
65
00:05:53,103 --> 00:05:55,188
Smokey and the Bandit.
And the Bandit.
66
00:05:55,272 --> 00:05:59,776
Was that something that he's found
as a property and then looked for you
67
00:05:59,860 --> 00:06:02,320
to complete the movie
or did you come first?
68
00:06:02,445 --> 00:06:04,656
No, I wrote Smokey
and the Bandit. Oh.
69
00:06:05,282 --> 00:06:07,742
I understand you
directed this movie. Yeah.
70
00:06:07,951 --> 00:06:10,120
This is kind of an
unusual case. Isn't it, Hal?
71
00:06:10,203 --> 00:06:11,977
I mean, I've heard of
actors turning director,
72
00:06:11,997 --> 00:06:13,665
I've heard of writers turning director,
73
00:06:13,748 --> 00:06:15,000
but never a stuntman.
74
00:06:18,336 --> 00:06:21,381
I was doing a film with
Burt down in Georgia called Gator.
75
00:06:22,507 --> 00:06:24,968
That's the thread that put Smokey together.
76
00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,014
We spent a lot of time in the swamp.
77
00:06:29,097 --> 00:06:32,225
And I remember everyone said,
"Weren't you scared in the swamp?"
78
00:06:32,726 --> 00:06:34,227
Only Needham was from down there,
79
00:06:34,311 --> 00:06:35,896
the rest of us were from other places.
80
00:06:35,979 --> 00:06:37,522
He was like at home.
81
00:06:39,065 --> 00:06:42,360
We had a lot of Coors beer we'd
brought down from Los Angeles.
82
00:06:42,986 --> 00:06:44,906
Because in those days,
at the end of the work day
83
00:06:44,988 --> 00:06:45,989
everyone got a beer.
84
00:06:46,615 --> 00:06:49,117
Needham and I were talking
about how the Coors kept
85
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,036
disappearing from our minibars.
86
00:06:51,995 --> 00:06:54,164
So we finally realized
that our housekeepers
87
00:06:54,247 --> 00:06:56,333
were helping themselves to our beer.
88
00:06:56,499 --> 00:06:59,628
So we asked them and they
said, "What? It's Coors beer, man."
89
00:06:59,711 --> 00:07:00,754
"What are you doing?"
90
00:07:00,837 --> 00:07:04,674
She said, "No, I get, like, $20 a
six-pack for this beer down here"
91
00:07:04,758 --> 00:07:05,884
"'cause you can't get it."
92
00:07:06,551 --> 00:07:08,678
Hal and I looked at each
other and we said, "Well,"
93
00:07:08,845 --> 00:07:11,181
"maybe we should make a movie"
94
00:07:11,264 --> 00:07:13,850
"about getting Coors beer
to the East Coast."
95
00:07:14,309 --> 00:07:16,937
At the time, I really had some doubts
96
00:07:17,020 --> 00:07:18,897
whether this was even true or not.
97
00:07:18,980 --> 00:07:22,275
In other words, I don't know
how you prohibit a beer company
98
00:07:22,359 --> 00:07:26,363
from shipping beer from one
geographical location to the other.
99
00:07:27,489 --> 00:07:28,720
So we're like, "Let's
just do a trucking movie"
100
00:07:28,740 --> 00:07:30,450
"with Coors and fast cars"
101
00:07:30,533 --> 00:07:32,243
"and let's see what
we can come up with."
102
00:07:32,327 --> 00:07:35,246
And at that time the trucking
industry was very romantic.
103
00:07:38,041 --> 00:07:40,543
Modern truckers
and last American cowboys...
104
00:07:44,130 --> 00:07:46,290
He told me he was writing a screenplay.
105
00:07:46,633 --> 00:07:49,386
Everybody said,
"Nice pipe dream, Hal."
106
00:07:49,886 --> 00:07:52,681
In between shots he'd be over in
his room and he's scribbling down...
107
00:07:52,764 --> 00:07:54,004
I said, "What are you doing?"
108
00:07:54,057 --> 00:07:55,475
He'd say,
"I'm writing a story."
109
00:07:55,558 --> 00:07:57,102
And he told me a little about it
110
00:07:57,185 --> 00:07:59,854
and I thought, "Okay, whatever," you know.
111
00:08:00,188 --> 00:08:04,776
They handed me this mash of legal pad notes
112
00:08:04,859 --> 00:08:06,619
and scenes and characters
and all this stuff.
113
00:08:06,903 --> 00:08:10,407
I think my mother typed up the
script for Smokey and the Bandit.
114
00:08:12,951 --> 00:08:15,036
We played with
different names for the movie,
115
00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:16,830
but I called it The Bandit at one point
116
00:08:16,913 --> 00:08:18,373
or Bandit.
117
00:08:18,456 --> 00:08:21,543
I wanted to do, hopefully, action comedy.
118
00:08:21,626 --> 00:08:24,337
I just wanted to throw
something on the screen
119
00:08:24,421 --> 00:08:26,756
that people can be entertained with.
120
00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,175
And I think that laughter is contagious,
121
00:08:29,259 --> 00:08:31,261
and I think people enjoy action.
122
00:08:31,344 --> 00:08:32,929
Not violence, action.
123
00:08:35,473 --> 00:08:37,684
We were gonna sell it
to a company called AIP
124
00:08:37,767 --> 00:08:40,228
which made small exploitative genre movies.
125
00:08:40,311 --> 00:08:42,814
That was its first incarnation.
126
00:08:42,939 --> 00:08:44,441
We wanted to do something on our own.
127
00:08:46,568 --> 00:08:47,569
Look out!
128
00:08:53,366 --> 00:08:55,932
Hal Needham had
made a living sort of falling on his head
129
00:08:55,952 --> 00:08:57,954
for 20 or 30 years.
130
00:08:58,288 --> 00:09:00,707
And he's a nice guy, not a Rhodes scholar.
131
00:09:05,211 --> 00:09:07,380
Hal said to me, "I'm getting too old"
132
00:09:07,464 --> 00:09:09,549
"to bury my head
in the dirt anymore."
133
00:09:09,632 --> 00:09:15,221
In the back of his mind, he always
wanted to be either a star or a director.
134
00:09:15,805 --> 00:09:19,726
Every stuntman, every second
unit guy, every cameraman,
135
00:09:19,809 --> 00:09:21,169
everybody...
You know the old joke.
136
00:09:21,227 --> 00:09:22,507
Everyone wants to be a director.
137
00:09:22,812 --> 00:09:24,814
He had the script that he had written
138
00:09:24,898 --> 00:09:26,858
and he took it to Universal Studios
139
00:09:26,941 --> 00:09:28,701
and he said, "I want to
direct this movie."
140
00:09:29,986 --> 00:09:32,572
People that ran the studios...
141
00:09:32,655 --> 00:09:35,408
They, "He's a stuntman,
he can't direct a movie."
142
00:09:35,492 --> 00:09:37,077
"What are they
talking about?"
143
00:09:40,163 --> 00:09:43,625
Unless you have that movie
star, that bankable movie star
144
00:09:43,708 --> 00:09:47,670
that says, "I want to be the Bandit,
" you're not gonna get it made.
145
00:09:50,632 --> 00:09:53,426
And they said,
"It's a nice script."
146
00:09:53,510 --> 00:09:55,970
"Do you think you can get
your roommate to star in this?"
147
00:09:57,180 --> 00:09:58,723
Hiya. How are ya?
148
00:10:00,183 --> 00:10:02,018
Big star. Big star.
149
00:10:07,065 --> 00:10:08,608
Burt and I were on the show together
150
00:10:08,691 --> 00:10:10,944
and I came in one night
and I say, "You know, Burt,"
151
00:10:11,027 --> 00:10:14,531
I said, "I gotta find me an igloo,
a teepee or something to live in"
152
00:10:14,614 --> 00:10:16,491
"'cause I just got
thrown out of the house."
153
00:10:16,574 --> 00:10:17,951
And he said,
"Hal, come on over."
154
00:10:18,034 --> 00:10:19,390
"Stay at my place
for a couple of days."
155
00:10:19,410 --> 00:10:20,620
"I don't care."
156
00:10:20,787 --> 00:10:23,248
My father moved in to Burt Reynolds' house.
157
00:10:23,331 --> 00:10:25,291
He was gonna stay there for a week or two,
158
00:10:25,375 --> 00:10:28,086
and then he was there for, like, 11 years.
159
00:10:29,337 --> 00:10:32,090
I mean, if you could
imagine putting together
160
00:10:32,173 --> 00:10:34,592
a bachelor pad
back in... It was...
161
00:10:36,136 --> 00:10:38,346
I think of all the homes that Burt has had,
162
00:10:38,429 --> 00:10:40,390
I think I like that one the best.
163
00:10:41,683 --> 00:10:44,310
The first thing I think that people
164
00:10:44,394 --> 00:10:46,104
would see when they go into the bedroom
165
00:10:46,980 --> 00:10:49,691
is the mirrors on the ceiling.
166
00:10:51,151 --> 00:10:55,155
They were both
single and had a lot of girlfriends
167
00:10:56,239 --> 00:10:57,448
and a lot of fun.
168
00:10:59,659 --> 00:11:01,035
Bathroom is big.
169
00:11:01,744 --> 00:11:04,205
And it too has mirrors.
170
00:11:04,330 --> 00:11:06,791
And tile, and I happened to...
171
00:11:06,875 --> 00:11:10,295
Tile is my second favorite thing in life.
172
00:11:10,378 --> 00:11:11,838
It just
gives me joy. Tile.
173
00:11:12,088 --> 00:11:14,465
If I could spend
the rest of my life in a room,
174
00:11:14,549 --> 00:11:16,092
it would be tiled and mirrored.
175
00:11:16,759 --> 00:11:20,138
The dining room is early Indian.
176
00:11:20,221 --> 00:11:22,807
I mean, Indian kind of design.
177
00:11:23,933 --> 00:11:26,060
I think it's kind of classy.
178
00:11:26,144 --> 00:11:29,355
Third favorite thing in my life is Indians.
179
00:11:30,190 --> 00:11:31,941
If I could find an Indian with a mirror,
180
00:11:32,025 --> 00:11:33,526
who did tile work,
181
00:11:33,610 --> 00:11:36,696
I would probably be happy
for the rest of my life.
182
00:11:41,951 --> 00:11:44,454
I took the script home and gave it to Burt.
183
00:11:44,621 --> 00:11:45,768
Burt looked at it and he said,
184
00:11:45,788 --> 00:11:47,937
"Hal, that's the worst dialogue
I've ever read in my life."
185
00:11:47,957 --> 00:11:50,793
But he said the overall
concept was pretty good.
186
00:11:50,877 --> 00:11:53,755
He said, "If you can take my name power"
187
00:11:53,838 --> 00:11:57,050
"and go get the money and if somebody
is fool enough to let you direct it,"
188
00:11:57,133 --> 00:11:59,135
"says you can direct it."
189
00:11:59,636 --> 00:12:01,784
And Burt said, "You
know there's only one man in America"
190
00:12:01,804 --> 00:12:03,723
"who can direct this movie,
it's Hal Needham."
191
00:12:06,434 --> 00:12:08,478
We want Burt.
We want Burt.
192
00:12:08,561 --> 00:12:10,801
Had Burt said
Adolf Hitler, I would've agreed.
193
00:12:11,606 --> 00:12:13,441
Burt was a big movie star.
194
00:12:14,442 --> 00:12:15,443
We want Burt.
195
00:12:15,526 --> 00:12:18,112
Are you here to see
Burt? Who else? Who else?
196
00:12:19,155 --> 00:12:23,660
What happened was, there
was so much goodness in Burt Reynolds
197
00:12:23,743 --> 00:12:25,411
that he made people happy.
198
00:12:25,703 --> 00:12:27,872
And that's a natural gift that he had.
199
00:12:28,665 --> 00:12:32,335
Burt Reynolds, tough, sexy, superstar.
200
00:12:33,044 --> 00:12:37,298
Is it a lot of pressure, Burt,
being this kind of a sex symbol?
201
00:12:38,967 --> 00:12:41,511
He struck such a chord
with the American public.
202
00:12:42,595 --> 00:12:44,347
We're so glad...
I work alone.
203
00:12:47,058 --> 00:12:51,229
The humor and the joy,
and the honesty, it was real.
204
00:12:51,354 --> 00:12:55,483
So he became the number
one star in the world.
205
00:13:09,539 --> 00:13:11,124
Just one on the cheek?
Huh?
206
00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,384
I just think I'm the best
Burt Reynolds there is.
207
00:13:38,776 --> 00:13:39,986
Hello.
208
00:13:40,069 --> 00:13:41,487
Hello, sweetheart.
209
00:13:48,911 --> 00:13:50,121
You like my bear?
210
00:13:51,122 --> 00:13:52,602
If he gave you a few acting tips.
211
00:13:56,169 --> 00:13:57,400
You should just come tonight
212
00:13:57,420 --> 00:13:59,152
instead of running off
to be with your girlfriend.
213
00:13:59,172 --> 00:14:01,321
Where were the kids when
you told them? Oh, I don't know.
214
00:14:01,341 --> 00:14:03,239
What do you mean you
don't know? Were they sitting there?
215
00:14:03,259 --> 00:14:04,260
No, of course not.
216
00:14:04,677 --> 00:14:06,679
You try carrying that around with you!
217
00:14:06,763 --> 00:14:07,972
Son of a bitch!
218
00:14:09,390 --> 00:14:11,059
I couldn't help it, damn it.
219
00:14:12,852 --> 00:14:13,853
Scene.
220
00:14:18,441 --> 00:14:22,445
It's wonderful to see
somebody tackle something this difficult
221
00:14:23,279 --> 00:14:24,655
and make it work.
222
00:14:25,948 --> 00:14:30,745
Fear of failure is something
that's ingrained in all of us.
223
00:14:30,828 --> 00:14:33,289
You gotta fight through it
224
00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:35,416
in order to be better.
225
00:14:37,585 --> 00:14:39,345
In a nutshell, could you tell me
226
00:14:39,379 --> 00:14:41,506
what the story of Smokey and the Bandit is?
227
00:14:43,841 --> 00:14:47,261
I couldn't tell you what the
story is of Smokey and the Bandit
228
00:14:47,345 --> 00:14:49,138
if you put a gun to my head.
229
00:15:11,744 --> 00:15:14,789
We had done two Burt
Reynolds movies at United Artists,
230
00:15:14,872 --> 00:15:17,417
a picture called Gator and a
picture called White Lightning.
231
00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:20,753
And it was the same movie
over and over again.
232
00:15:20,837 --> 00:15:24,882
He was the good old boy,
slightly on the other side of the line
233
00:15:24,966 --> 00:15:26,134
regarding law and order.
234
00:15:26,217 --> 00:15:29,095
Gator. Gator McKlusky.
235
00:15:30,054 --> 00:15:32,223
Shirley. Shirley.
How are you, darling?
236
00:15:32,306 --> 00:15:33,766
All right.
Well, hi there.
237
00:15:33,850 --> 00:15:37,270
I didn't wanna play good
old boys for the rest of my life.
238
00:15:37,353 --> 00:15:42,984
Same time I was offered a
film that had "Get the tuxedo out"
239
00:15:43,067 --> 00:15:44,652
written all over it.
240
00:15:44,735 --> 00:15:46,487
It was a career-changing part.
241
00:15:48,239 --> 00:15:50,908
I said no, and nobody
could believe I said no.
242
00:15:50,992 --> 00:15:52,452
My agent couldn't believe it...
243
00:15:55,037 --> 00:15:56,706
It wasn't a question of money.
244
00:15:57,874 --> 00:16:02,879
They were asking... They were
offering me more money than Hal was,
245
00:16:04,714 --> 00:16:08,176
but I'd promised Hal that I'd do this film.
246
00:16:08,259 --> 00:16:10,970
And I'm gonna give credit to my roommate.
247
00:16:11,053 --> 00:16:15,308
I mean, he put his career,
his everything on the line,
248
00:16:15,391 --> 00:16:17,393
so that I could have
a shot at directing this.
249
00:16:17,768 --> 00:16:20,563
Candidly, I could not determine
250
00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:23,357
whether Hal had the ability
to direct a movie or not.
251
00:16:24,192 --> 00:16:28,196
Universal reluctantly agreed
to make the picture.
252
00:16:30,114 --> 00:16:32,674
If you're gonna do a
bootlegging movie, you need a blocker.
253
00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:35,828
You got a truck driver and you
got a blocking car guy. You got two.
254
00:16:35,912 --> 00:16:38,206
I don't remember whether Burt or Hal
255
00:16:38,289 --> 00:16:40,416
or both of them suggested Jerry Reed.
256
00:16:40,958 --> 00:16:42,001
Hello.
257
00:16:49,300 --> 00:16:50,420
Jerry was a character.
258
00:16:50,968 --> 00:16:52,053
Hello, ladies.
259
00:16:52,178 --> 00:16:53,818
You know, and then you gotta have a girl.
260
00:16:54,055 --> 00:16:55,056
Hi.
261
00:16:55,389 --> 00:16:56,389
Who are you?
262
00:17:03,606 --> 00:17:06,567
I wanted Sally Field and they had
263
00:17:06,651 --> 00:17:08,444
a lot of people that were against that.
264
00:17:09,111 --> 00:17:10,655
They kept saying she's not sexy.
265
00:17:11,239 --> 00:17:16,160
And I said, "This nun
is dangerously sexy."
266
00:17:18,788 --> 00:17:20,706
And then we had to have
someone chasing him.
267
00:17:22,041 --> 00:17:26,879
My wish was with the Sheriff, let's put
somebody in this movie that doesn't belong.
268
00:17:28,965 --> 00:17:32,009
And I made it
just as incongruous as it could be.
269
00:17:32,093 --> 00:17:34,387
First of all, I got a pencil mustache.
270
00:17:34,470 --> 00:17:37,306
For a sheriff? A Southern
sheriff with a pencil mustache?
271
00:17:38,599 --> 00:17:41,477
When Hal left to do Smokey and the Bandit,
272
00:17:42,645 --> 00:17:45,231
Hilton Green at Universal
told Needham, he said,
273
00:17:45,314 --> 00:17:47,942
"I hope you got your roller-skates
on 'cause you can't do it."
274
00:17:49,735 --> 00:17:51,445
They had no faith in Hal as a director.
275
00:17:53,155 --> 00:17:57,743
All the politics created a
tremendous amount of pressure on Hal.
276
00:17:57,827 --> 00:17:59,829
He'd put his reputation on the line
277
00:17:59,912 --> 00:18:01,831
to get Smokey and the Bandit done.
278
00:18:03,624 --> 00:18:05,418
My father, he didn't play the game.
279
00:18:05,501 --> 00:18:08,629
He wasn't a Hollywood guy.
He was who he was.
280
00:18:09,672 --> 00:18:11,404
He said, "If I didn't do
Smokey and the Bandit,"
281
00:18:11,424 --> 00:18:14,927
"I'd probably be picking up cans
on the side of the road for a living."
282
00:18:15,011 --> 00:18:18,180
We have some childhood photos of you,
283
00:18:18,264 --> 00:18:20,850
and I thought maybe, Arnold,
see if you can recognize.
284
00:18:23,811 --> 00:18:25,021
I was a farm kid.
285
00:18:25,396 --> 00:18:29,859
All I remember about that part of
my life is using the mule's backside
286
00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:33,446
as the compass up and down
some cotton rows in Arkansas.
287
00:18:38,784 --> 00:18:41,996
Was there any
time at all for hobbies or anything that
288
00:18:42,079 --> 00:18:45,416
would give you pleasure
or be fun? Hobbies?
289
00:18:45,499 --> 00:18:46,959
Hobbies?
290
00:18:47,043 --> 00:18:50,504
I can tell you've
never seen a sharecropper.
291
00:18:51,088 --> 00:18:54,759
Listen, just getting food on the table,
292
00:18:54,842 --> 00:18:56,719
staying warm in the wintertime
293
00:18:57,887 --> 00:18:59,430
was a major accomplishment.
294
00:19:00,723 --> 00:19:04,393
My childhood, man, you gotta know
295
00:19:04,518 --> 00:19:07,605
being a sharecropper's son
is the bottom of the totem pole.
296
00:19:07,688 --> 00:19:09,732
There's nothing lower than that.
297
00:19:10,900 --> 00:19:13,277
I think he told me
they had dirt for floors.
298
00:19:13,569 --> 00:19:18,366
But he was just very smart for
somebody with a very limited education.
299
00:19:18,449 --> 00:19:20,785
He told me one of his friends once said,
300
00:19:20,868 --> 00:19:23,871
"I'd never seen anybody do
so much with so few tools."
301
00:19:26,707 --> 00:19:30,252
I was in the 82nd Airborne,
Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
302
00:19:31,379 --> 00:19:33,339
But after about two and a half years
303
00:19:33,422 --> 00:19:35,841
I could see that I got no credit
304
00:19:35,925 --> 00:19:38,761
for my creativity or being a great soldier.
305
00:19:38,844 --> 00:19:40,221
And I was a good soldier.
306
00:19:40,805 --> 00:19:42,973
I said,
"Gotta be a better way."
307
00:19:43,766 --> 00:19:46,268
"I'm going west
till my hat floats."
308
00:19:46,435 --> 00:19:49,480
And next morning I was in
my car heading for California.
309
00:19:49,563 --> 00:19:53,442
I never worked in a movie,
but I had all that experience.
310
00:19:53,693 --> 00:19:55,444
I decided I was gonna be a stuntman.
311
00:19:57,780 --> 00:20:00,533
When I got my first chance, I was ready.
312
00:20:01,784 --> 00:20:04,704
I did a thing where I'm in an airplane,
313
00:20:04,787 --> 00:20:06,267
the guy's riding along on a horseback
314
00:20:06,288 --> 00:20:09,291
and I dive out of the airplane,
or jump out the airplane,
315
00:20:09,375 --> 00:20:12,002
and knock him off the horse,
called a bulldog.
316
00:20:23,973 --> 00:20:26,267
They paid me a lot of money.
317
00:20:26,976 --> 00:20:30,604
People said I couldn't do it
'cause I was too small, too dumb.
318
00:20:31,981 --> 00:20:33,816
I always had to prove otherwise.
319
00:20:34,191 --> 00:20:35,401
Hal Needham.
320
00:20:42,199 --> 00:20:44,368
We had 30 days to make a great movie.
321
00:20:48,038 --> 00:20:50,166
The film commission
has been very aggressive
322
00:20:50,249 --> 00:20:51,792
in terms of luring not only us,
323
00:20:51,876 --> 00:20:52,982
but a lot of film companies here.
324
00:20:53,002 --> 00:20:54,086
It's very helpful.
325
00:20:54,170 --> 00:20:55,963
They've closed highways for us,
326
00:20:56,046 --> 00:20:58,841
they've torn up part of
an old bridge for us
327
00:20:58,924 --> 00:21:00,426
that we're gonna throw a car across.
328
00:21:00,509 --> 00:21:01,594
It's just terrific.
329
00:21:01,677 --> 00:21:03,596
Mark.
Hold all the noise,
330
00:21:03,679 --> 00:21:06,348
all the talk,
everything. Quiet.
331
00:21:07,892 --> 00:21:10,728
The entire picture
was shot 16, 17 miles away
332
00:21:10,811 --> 00:21:12,438
from the center of downtown Atlanta.
333
00:21:12,521 --> 00:21:15,274
In the motion picture
business, you put up a sign
334
00:21:15,357 --> 00:21:16,672
that says, "Entering Mississippi,"
335
00:21:16,692 --> 00:21:17,972
and you're entering Mississippi.
336
00:21:20,321 --> 00:21:23,908
But with respect and affection for Hal,
337
00:21:23,991 --> 00:21:26,952
this was as new to him,
really, as it was to me.
338
00:21:27,369 --> 00:21:29,371
When we went to work the first morning,
339
00:21:29,455 --> 00:21:32,625
I got up, sort of, stood around
waiting for things to happen.
340
00:21:32,708 --> 00:21:36,670
The production manager
asked me what we should do,
341
00:21:36,754 --> 00:21:39,298
and I didn't have a clue.
342
00:21:39,381 --> 00:21:40,674
I remember the first day.
343
00:21:40,758 --> 00:21:42,885
Hal had pulled up to the location.
344
00:21:43,552 --> 00:21:46,180
Sitting under a tree in a director's chair
345
00:21:46,263 --> 00:21:51,060
with his Fleetwood
stretch gold limo next to him
346
00:21:51,143 --> 00:21:53,479
was Jackie Gleason.
347
00:21:53,562 --> 00:21:55,282
Jackie was sitting in this director's chair
348
00:21:55,356 --> 00:21:57,942
wearing a black Gucci leisure suit
349
00:21:58,025 --> 00:21:59,318
with a red carnation.
350
00:21:59,401 --> 00:22:00,694
No one was there.
351
00:22:00,778 --> 00:22:02,178
He was the first person on the set.
352
00:22:04,198 --> 00:22:05,838
Was directing anything at all
353
00:22:05,908 --> 00:22:07,910
like you thought it was going to be?
354
00:22:07,993 --> 00:22:09,703
Well, I had no fear going in,
355
00:22:09,787 --> 00:22:13,582
I mean, we're not doing Gone
with the Wind or Fiddler on the Roof.
356
00:22:13,666 --> 00:22:15,251
It's action comedy.
357
00:22:15,751 --> 00:22:19,338
Just light it for the color
and let's shoot it.
358
00:22:19,421 --> 00:22:21,549
Speed, speed, speed.
359
00:22:21,674 --> 00:22:25,344
In a big movie, you
may do three pages a day.
360
00:22:26,136 --> 00:22:29,265
Hal would shoot 16
pages a day. MAN: Yeah.
361
00:22:29,723 --> 00:22:32,643
We did things that were insane,
362
00:22:32,726 --> 00:22:34,353
right on the edge of insanity.
363
00:22:36,772 --> 00:22:38,899
Hal Needham directing Burt,
364
00:22:38,983 --> 00:22:41,443
this was a brand new process for them.
365
00:22:42,319 --> 00:22:45,030
I think he just wanted Burt to be Burt.
366
00:22:45,823 --> 00:22:50,452
I had no qualms about going
in there and saying, "Action."
367
00:23:06,677 --> 00:23:07,678
Oh, my God.
368
00:23:13,976 --> 00:23:15,561
We'd walk on the set,
369
00:23:15,644 --> 00:23:17,813
and there's the Panavision
camera and all the lights,
370
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:19,982
and there's Burt Reynolds.
371
00:23:20,065 --> 00:23:22,985
Old legends
never die. They just lose weight.
372
00:23:23,485 --> 00:23:27,197
Seems like a legend and an
out-of-work bum look a lot alike, Daddy.
373
00:23:27,323 --> 00:23:29,992
And you go, "Oh, my God. How
did I... How did I wind up here?"
374
00:23:36,665 --> 00:23:41,003
Now, gettin' to Texarkana and
back in 28 hours, that's no problem.
375
00:23:42,004 --> 00:23:44,423
It ain't never been done before, hot shit.
376
00:23:44,506 --> 00:23:46,133
Watch your language, little lady.
377
00:23:46,216 --> 00:23:48,802
The problem is that Coors beer.
378
00:23:48,886 --> 00:23:52,848
You take that east of Texas
and that's... That's bootleggin'.
379
00:23:54,183 --> 00:23:55,873
There were a lot of things about the south
380
00:23:55,893 --> 00:23:57,478
that I was embarrassed about,
381
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:03,192
but there were also things about
the south that were wonderful.
382
00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:08,864
I had hoped to make something out of that
383
00:24:09,406 --> 00:24:11,659
in a way that nobody had seen.
384
00:24:15,496 --> 00:24:18,707
Nobody thinks of Florida as being south,
385
00:24:19,208 --> 00:24:21,043
but if we had enough time on this show,
386
00:24:21,126 --> 00:24:25,339
I could take you places where
you'd realize that this is the south.
387
00:24:29,218 --> 00:24:31,929
I wanted to make it so bad
when I was growing up here.
388
00:24:32,012 --> 00:24:33,889
I mean, I really wanted to make it bad.
389
00:24:37,476 --> 00:24:39,603
But great, great memories.
390
00:24:39,687 --> 00:24:41,563
Really great memories.
391
00:24:42,398 --> 00:24:44,400
My dad is a cowboy.
392
00:24:44,900 --> 00:24:50,114
He's tough and leathery and the most
honest man I've ever known in my life.
393
00:24:51,907 --> 00:24:55,953
We had our little off and
ons, but he was a normal kid.
394
00:24:56,036 --> 00:24:58,664
He got in just as much
trouble as anyone else.
395
00:24:59,790 --> 00:25:02,251
He put me in jail
one night for getting in a fight.
396
00:25:02,334 --> 00:25:04,837
I remember he came in and he says,
397
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,797
"You kids, uh,
your father's here."
398
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:08,048
"You can go home now."
399
00:25:08,132 --> 00:25:09,530
"Your father's here.
You can go home now."
400
00:25:09,550 --> 00:25:12,678
And he looked to me and says,
"Your father ain't here."
401
00:25:13,220 --> 00:25:14,805
So I stayed there all night.
402
00:25:16,932 --> 00:25:18,726
There's a saying in the south that,
403
00:25:18,809 --> 00:25:22,563
"No man is a man until
his father tells him he is."
404
00:25:24,690 --> 00:25:27,026
I think his dad expected a lot out of him.
405
00:25:28,027 --> 00:25:30,863
He was, kind of,
the golden boy in football,
406
00:25:30,946 --> 00:25:32,386
and it looked like he was gonna have
407
00:25:32,448 --> 00:25:35,451
a great pro-career and college career.
408
00:25:37,786 --> 00:25:41,290
He got tore
up in his senior year in high school.
409
00:25:41,373 --> 00:25:44,710
Tore the cartilage out
of both sides of both knees.
410
00:25:44,793 --> 00:25:46,712
Well, he was sort of lost.
411
00:25:46,795 --> 00:25:49,548
All he'd ever done was play football.
412
00:25:50,257 --> 00:25:55,137
I was getting ready to cast and
direct the play Outward Bound,
413
00:25:55,637 --> 00:25:58,098
and Burt sat in the front row
414
00:25:58,182 --> 00:26:00,350
in my English Literature class,
415
00:26:00,434 --> 00:26:04,188
and he looked like the guy that I wanted
416
00:26:04,271 --> 00:26:06,106
for the role of an alcoholic.
417
00:26:06,523 --> 00:26:09,818
And I said,
"You're out of your bird."
418
00:26:10,319 --> 00:26:12,301
And I said, "I've never
been in a play in my life."
419
00:26:12,321 --> 00:26:15,240
I somehow went to that room
420
00:26:15,491 --> 00:26:19,578
and walked in there, and he
looked at me and he said, "Read."
421
00:26:19,661 --> 00:26:21,538
I opened the book
and I went, "The..."
422
00:26:21,622 --> 00:26:23,062
And he said, "That's it.
You got the part."
423
00:26:23,082 --> 00:26:24,500
I saw something in Burt.
424
00:26:24,583 --> 00:26:25,959
I saw the spark.
425
00:26:43,143 --> 00:26:44,436
I hated Riverboat.
426
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:45,521
I hated doing it.
427
00:26:46,814 --> 00:26:50,109
I had this character I called
Dumb-Dumb the Whistleblower.
428
00:26:51,777 --> 00:26:53,028
Boiler deck!
429
00:26:53,195 --> 00:26:54,404
Carney, cut it to half speed.
430
00:26:54,863 --> 00:26:55,989
Aye, sir! Half speed!
431
00:26:57,449 --> 00:26:59,201
They would bring in the stuntmen.
432
00:27:01,203 --> 00:27:03,539
They were the men, we were the boys.
433
00:27:06,041 --> 00:27:08,544
The stars always migrated
to the stunt guys.
434
00:27:08,877 --> 00:27:12,005
They saw some realness.
435
00:27:12,089 --> 00:27:13,715
There was no acting.
436
00:27:13,799 --> 00:27:15,050
They were the jocks,
437
00:27:15,134 --> 00:27:17,177
and that's what I've been.
438
00:27:21,014 --> 00:27:22,850
Burt was very capable.
439
00:27:22,933 --> 00:27:24,101
He could do it all,
440
00:27:24,518 --> 00:27:27,062
but you can't do it all.
441
00:27:27,146 --> 00:27:29,982
You gotta have a...
You need a double.
442
00:27:31,567 --> 00:27:33,819
Over at Universal, they just hired me
443
00:27:33,902 --> 00:27:35,737
to come in and double somebody.
444
00:27:35,821 --> 00:27:37,421
They'd say,
"Yeah, here's your outfit."
445
00:27:37,489 --> 00:27:38,554
I said, "Who am I doubling?"
446
00:27:38,574 --> 00:27:40,889
They said, "Go down to the set
and find somebody dressed like you",
447
00:27:40,909 --> 00:27:42,411
"and that's who
you're doubling."
448
00:27:42,494 --> 00:27:44,079
I got down there and it was Burt.
449
00:27:46,915 --> 00:27:50,377
Hal came in to do a stunt and
he was gonna be doubling me,
450
00:27:50,460 --> 00:27:52,838
and I thought,
"Hell, I can do that."
451
00:28:05,642 --> 00:28:07,249
He said,
"You could be really handy."
452
00:28:07,269 --> 00:28:10,522
"Handy" is a super-compliment
for a stuntman.
453
00:28:10,731 --> 00:28:13,775
He always said, "Actors are
candy-asses. I don't wanna be an actor."
454
00:28:19,364 --> 00:28:21,325
I've always felt that Burt
455
00:28:22,201 --> 00:28:25,078
kind of wanted to be doing
what Hal was doing.
456
00:28:25,537 --> 00:28:28,373
He'd come out to my place
on Saturday and Sunday,
457
00:28:28,457 --> 00:28:31,293
and there'd be 18, 20 stuntmen
out there practicing.
458
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,296
Most people are in less than
top physical condition.
459
00:28:34,379 --> 00:28:37,424
The first and foremost for every
stuntman is a good warm up,
460
00:28:37,507 --> 00:28:38,675
as it should be for you.
461
00:28:40,969 --> 00:28:42,304
Cut! Cut, cut!
462
00:28:48,810 --> 00:28:51,563
They were the pirates,
running around having a good time.
463
00:28:55,484 --> 00:28:56,902
When I first saw that group,
464
00:28:56,985 --> 00:29:00,322
reminded me of Butch Cassidy
and the Hole-in-the-Wall gang.
465
00:29:00,405 --> 00:29:02,658
And we were kind of all
the Hole-in-the-Wall gang.
466
00:29:03,951 --> 00:29:05,751
That's a great line
in that movie, Butch says,
467
00:29:05,827 --> 00:29:08,307
"Listen, I've got vision,
everyone else is wearing bifocals."
468
00:29:08,497 --> 00:29:11,124
Hal Needham was
the Butch Cassidy character.
469
00:29:13,460 --> 00:29:15,504
Hal was...
He was an innovator, you know?
470
00:29:16,338 --> 00:29:18,590
I've never seen him back off from nothing.
471
00:29:18,674 --> 00:29:20,822
They say, "We want you to
get in this car, go down there",
472
00:29:20,842 --> 00:29:22,386
"turn it over at 90 miles an hour,"
473
00:29:22,469 --> 00:29:24,012
"blow it up, come out on fire,"
474
00:29:24,096 --> 00:29:25,472
"run across the street
and die."
475
00:29:25,555 --> 00:29:26,640
I say, "Okay."
476
00:29:28,558 --> 00:29:31,311
He, more or less,
got a group of guys together
477
00:29:31,395 --> 00:29:33,313
that could do anything.
478
00:29:33,397 --> 00:29:37,067
We just started our own
organization called Stunts Unlimited.
479
00:29:38,026 --> 00:29:39,903
Right when we started Stunts Unlimited,
480
00:29:39,987 --> 00:29:41,822
we had our office on the lot of Paramount.
481
00:29:41,989 --> 00:29:45,200
Paramount didn't even know
we had an office there.
482
00:29:46,910 --> 00:29:48,328
For four years,
483
00:29:48,412 --> 00:29:50,831
we were the biggest, best-known
organization in the world.
484
00:29:57,879 --> 00:30:01,300
Got up early in
the morning, went to the set,
485
00:30:01,383 --> 00:30:04,386
went through wardrobe,
makeup, hair, got a burrito,
486
00:30:04,469 --> 00:30:06,388
jumped on your horse, went to work.
487
00:30:06,471 --> 00:30:08,181
It was just the best.
488
00:30:08,265 --> 00:30:10,809
And then at night, when
you get back to the hotel,
489
00:30:10,892 --> 00:30:13,437
you stop at a bar,
you have a couple of belts,
490
00:30:14,271 --> 00:30:16,982
have a couple more, say,
"Let's go, man!"
491
00:30:17,316 --> 00:30:21,153
Off to the 17th Bar and Grill,
close it down.
492
00:30:21,862 --> 00:30:23,655
We would come in, the wranglers would be
493
00:30:23,739 --> 00:30:25,991
going to work to get
the horses ready for us.
494
00:30:26,074 --> 00:30:28,160
We'd grab a shower and go to work.
495
00:30:28,243 --> 00:30:30,370
It was... It was mad.
496
00:30:31,079 --> 00:30:35,751
And Hal really had a rule that you
didn't bring your wives on location
497
00:30:35,834 --> 00:30:39,546
because of that, it would
cause problems, you know.
498
00:30:40,589 --> 00:30:42,758
Well, we went through a lot of wives.
499
00:30:48,764 --> 00:30:50,265
What do you two do in the movie?
500
00:30:50,349 --> 00:30:52,642
Well, we drink a lot of
champagne in the movie.
501
00:30:52,726 --> 00:30:54,853
We're sitting at a table and just
502
00:30:54,936 --> 00:30:58,607
more or less talking with Pat
McCormick and Paul Williams.
503
00:30:58,690 --> 00:31:01,693
And then Burt Reynolds
walks up to the scene.
504
00:31:01,777 --> 00:31:03,133
Does Burt try to put the make on you?
505
00:31:03,153 --> 00:31:05,030
No, we wish, but no.
506
00:31:05,113 --> 00:31:06,698
No, we're more or less hoping
507
00:31:06,782 --> 00:31:08,950
that he'll let us put the make on him.
508
00:31:18,001 --> 00:31:19,628
Watch out!
Everybody move back.
509
00:31:19,711 --> 00:31:22,111
What you just saw was a scene
from a new Burt Reynolds movie,
510
00:31:22,172 --> 00:31:25,967
Smokey and the Bandit being filmed
here at Lakewood Fairgrounds, Atlanta.
511
00:31:27,260 --> 00:31:30,806
Pontiac division of General
Motors gave us four sedans
512
00:31:30,889 --> 00:31:32,891
that we used as police cars,
513
00:31:32,974 --> 00:31:35,394
and they gave us two
Trans Ams, and that was it.
514
00:31:39,981 --> 00:31:41,525
By the second week of the picture,
515
00:31:41,608 --> 00:31:44,069
both the Trans Ams had been destroyed,
516
00:31:44,152 --> 00:31:46,905
and we had to go back and beg
to get a couple more.
517
00:31:46,988 --> 00:31:49,491
It's beautiful, huh?
Honey, hush.
518
00:31:50,450 --> 00:31:52,327
Jerry Reed went,
"Honey, hush."
519
00:31:57,749 --> 00:32:01,795
The way that he said it, it was the
greatest looking gal you'd ever seen.
520
00:32:08,885 --> 00:32:10,554
You bet I love it.
521
00:32:11,847 --> 00:32:14,683
I mean, I really get a kick
out of driving a Firebird.
522
00:32:20,188 --> 00:32:23,233
There seems to be a thing
about that bloody Trans Am.
523
00:32:23,859 --> 00:32:26,945
As a symbol of your getaway steed,
524
00:32:28,989 --> 00:32:30,282
the male animal,
525
00:32:30,365 --> 00:32:35,412
it is the wannabe warrior who's
now working at a factory somewhere
526
00:32:35,495 --> 00:32:37,622
connecting with that character, that car.
527
00:32:39,124 --> 00:32:41,793
Maybe it's the element of escape.
528
00:32:41,877 --> 00:32:43,128
I mean, it's an escapist movie,
529
00:32:43,211 --> 00:32:45,380
but it's a movie about escape.
530
00:32:47,466 --> 00:32:49,593
That was a great answer.
531
00:32:50,385 --> 00:32:52,471
What about all the nutty stunts in cars?
532
00:32:52,554 --> 00:32:55,265
You ever have a really far-out car run?
533
00:32:55,807 --> 00:32:57,434
Oh, yeah.
534
00:32:58,894 --> 00:33:01,313
First of all, see, I love cars.
535
00:33:01,396 --> 00:33:03,064
I can make a car talk.
536
00:33:03,565 --> 00:33:07,152
Slant it sideways, spin it
completely around 360 degrees,
537
00:33:07,235 --> 00:33:08,528
do all those things with it.
538
00:33:08,612 --> 00:33:10,989
I know exactly where that car is at.
539
00:33:11,072 --> 00:33:12,824
Why do you drive like that, Hal?
540
00:33:12,908 --> 00:33:14,534
Why do I drive like that?
541
00:33:14,618 --> 00:33:16,077
Well, there's a couple reasons.
542
00:33:16,161 --> 00:33:20,415
Number one's money, and the
second one is we're making a movie.
543
00:33:22,584 --> 00:33:25,128
Fast cars, that was dangerous stuff.
544
00:33:25,754 --> 00:33:29,633
Whether we're jumping a boat, or
jumping a car, or jumping a horse,
545
00:33:29,716 --> 00:33:30,884
it was all the...
546
00:33:30,967 --> 00:33:34,137
It all stemmed from
the basics of stunt work
547
00:33:34,221 --> 00:33:36,181
where it all started with
the horse and the fight.
548
00:33:42,437 --> 00:33:45,524
I believe, personally,
that when you work with animals,
549
00:33:45,607 --> 00:33:48,193
you stand a better chance
of getting somebody hurt
550
00:33:48,276 --> 00:33:49,528
than you do with automobiles
551
00:33:49,611 --> 00:33:51,092
'cause the automobile doesn't care about
552
00:33:51,112 --> 00:33:52,447
the explosions or the bullet hits
553
00:33:52,531 --> 00:33:53,698
or the whatever it is,
554
00:33:53,782 --> 00:33:55,116
it will go wherever you steer it,
555
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,702
and it'll only go as fast
as you mash the accelerator.
556
00:34:02,415 --> 00:34:05,502
It's like, the westerns
just slowly faded out,
557
00:34:05,585 --> 00:34:07,462
and here come all the car pictures.
558
00:34:14,386 --> 00:34:16,555
Okay, fearless, let me ask you this.
559
00:34:16,638 --> 00:34:19,891
Has there ever been a stunt that
somebody wanted to do in a movie
560
00:34:19,975 --> 00:34:22,394
that you said flat-out, "No"?
561
00:34:23,645 --> 00:34:26,231
I've never turned down a stunt.
562
00:34:26,314 --> 00:34:29,150
I said, if you can put a man on the moon,
563
00:34:29,234 --> 00:34:31,486
you can damn sure figure
out a way to do a stunt.
564
00:34:32,612 --> 00:34:35,824
Couple of times,
Hal did get in over his head.
565
00:34:36,616 --> 00:34:38,743
There was a stunt where
I should've said something,
566
00:34:38,827 --> 00:34:40,412
but I thought,
"Wait a minute."
567
00:34:40,495 --> 00:34:43,707
"He's Hal Needham.
Keep your mouth shut."
568
00:34:44,416 --> 00:34:47,419
When you're doubling a leading man,
569
00:34:47,502 --> 00:34:50,005
you wanna make him look like a hero.
570
00:34:52,215 --> 00:34:53,822
White Lightning, there's a scene where
571
00:34:53,842 --> 00:34:56,428
Burt Reynolds' character
being doubled by Hal Needham
572
00:34:56,511 --> 00:34:58,346
is trying to escape police officers
573
00:34:58,430 --> 00:35:00,307
when he sees a big old sand barge
574
00:35:00,390 --> 00:35:02,767
pulling out into the middle of the river.
575
00:35:02,851 --> 00:35:05,228
So he turns the car sideways and then
576
00:35:05,312 --> 00:35:08,106
goes down the dock and jumps the car.
577
00:35:09,441 --> 00:35:11,943
Think it was probably 70,
80 feet across to the barge.
578
00:35:17,449 --> 00:35:20,201
Even though he was banged up
pretty good, he got out of the car
579
00:35:20,285 --> 00:35:21,870
and continued to play the part.
580
00:35:21,953 --> 00:35:24,873
And after we cut, he fell down.
581
00:35:25,624 --> 00:35:26,904
But he always finished the shot.
582
00:35:30,378 --> 00:35:31,630
Well, I'll be damned.
583
00:35:31,713 --> 00:35:33,048
Busted his spleen.
584
00:35:33,965 --> 00:35:35,133
Damn near died.
585
00:35:36,843 --> 00:35:39,012
You know, stuntmen,
586
00:35:39,095 --> 00:35:43,266
you can get hurt right there, and
they just haul you off and keep shooting,
587
00:35:43,350 --> 00:35:45,602
but the actor goes down, you're done.
588
00:35:47,228 --> 00:35:50,398
We were shooting The
Man Who Loved Cat Dancing,
589
00:35:50,482 --> 00:35:53,401
he had a hernia down in the
bottom of this canyon and it was
590
00:35:53,860 --> 00:35:54,986
200 feet up.
591
00:35:55,236 --> 00:35:57,614
I couldn't even get a chopper in there.
592
00:35:57,697 --> 00:36:01,159
So I turned to Burt and I said,
"Tell you what, son," I said,
593
00:36:01,242 --> 00:36:03,411
"If you can hold onto my back,"
594
00:36:03,495 --> 00:36:05,622
"leave some of that rope down here,"
595
00:36:05,705 --> 00:36:07,082
"I can carry you
out of here."
596
00:36:08,458 --> 00:36:11,461
So I carried him up
the hillside on my back.
597
00:36:11,544 --> 00:36:12,962
We got to the top.
598
00:36:13,463 --> 00:36:15,090
They had a chopper which I threw him in
599
00:36:15,173 --> 00:36:16,424
and they forgot to get me,
600
00:36:16,508 --> 00:36:18,593
and I was rolling on the
ground, all out of breath.
601
00:36:23,932 --> 00:36:27,519
That's just a shot of Burt and
I down at his ranch in Florida.
602
00:36:27,602 --> 00:36:31,523
It says, "To the best roomie
a guy could ask for",
603
00:36:31,606 --> 00:36:34,234
"and a hell of a man.
Love, Burt."
604
00:36:36,611 --> 00:36:40,573
We had this crazy
schedule, that I used to wake up
605
00:36:40,657 --> 00:36:43,201
in the morning and would be
stumbling down the hall,
606
00:36:43,284 --> 00:36:47,122
and there'd be a note on
the bathroom door that said,
607
00:36:47,205 --> 00:36:51,334
"The place is yours, but I
need it for the next three days."
608
00:36:52,043 --> 00:36:54,129
"Hope you don't mind.
Love, roomie."
609
00:36:54,796 --> 00:36:57,006
And that meant I got out.
And I did.
610
00:36:58,091 --> 00:36:59,864
I don't know that I fell in love instantly,
611
00:36:59,884 --> 00:37:01,469
but I sure did like the guy.
612
00:37:01,678 --> 00:37:06,599
My first date with Hal was at his
house with Burt and Dinah Shore.
613
00:37:08,643 --> 00:37:09,894
It was an interesting time.
614
00:37:11,813 --> 00:37:14,023
Burt and Dinah were lovers.
615
00:37:14,733 --> 00:37:17,068
She was a cougar at the time, I guess.
616
00:37:17,527 --> 00:37:22,824
I'd like to make it eminently clear
that there are many areas in which
617
00:37:22,907 --> 00:37:25,243
Hal does not double.
618
00:37:26,953 --> 00:37:28,079
Okay?
619
00:37:32,959 --> 00:37:34,159
I want to know something.
620
00:37:34,210 --> 00:37:38,047
He and I started almost
simultaneous. What happened?
621
00:37:38,173 --> 00:37:40,733
I mean, I'm better looking than he
is, I'm...
622
00:37:41,009 --> 00:37:42,385
What? What?
623
00:37:43,178 --> 00:37:44,304
I'll explain it to you.
624
00:37:44,387 --> 00:37:45,493
Okay. I wish somebody would.
625
00:37:45,513 --> 00:37:46,765
Yeah. It's very simple.
626
00:37:46,848 --> 00:37:48,266
You don't have any
problems... Okay.
627
00:37:48,349 --> 00:37:50,059
Because you're a real choreographer.
628
00:37:50,143 --> 00:37:52,353
I mean, those fights are staged...
629
00:37:52,437 --> 00:37:54,522
I'll tell you what.
I don't care who it is,
630
00:37:55,231 --> 00:37:57,650
I always say the biggest
thing about a man is his ego,
631
00:37:58,067 --> 00:38:00,195
and I'm no different than anybody else.
632
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:01,613
All right. Ready?
633
00:38:01,696 --> 00:38:03,573
Hal wanted to be a star.
634
00:38:04,073 --> 00:38:07,869
I think, secretly, he would've
liked to be Burt Reynolds.
635
00:38:07,952 --> 00:38:10,872
On the other hand, I think
Burt wanted to be Hal Needham,
636
00:38:10,955 --> 00:38:14,959
but knew that his bread was gonna
be buttered on the movie star's side.
637
00:38:31,559 --> 00:38:34,062
For a little PR we put an ad in the paper
638
00:38:34,145 --> 00:38:37,857
that Burt Reynolds is gonna
be the judge of a dog show
639
00:38:37,941 --> 00:38:40,902
to pick a dog to be in
the movie and everything.
640
00:38:40,985 --> 00:38:42,300
Go ahead and bring him on by.
641
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:46,074
The next day, there
was not a dog in the dog pound.
642
00:38:46,407 --> 00:38:49,994
It was in a park and it was
just a sea of dogs out there.
643
00:38:50,078 --> 00:38:53,748
Burt said, "That's your dog,"
and that's how he got in the movie.
644
00:38:54,290 --> 00:38:58,169
Now, Bo, I'm tellin' ya, Fred
here ain't gonna be no problem.
645
00:38:59,379 --> 00:39:02,340
Well, I can see he's
gonna be a major asset.
646
00:39:07,262 --> 00:39:09,430
Jerry Reed hit it off with everybody,
647
00:39:09,722 --> 00:39:13,268
and on the set, he had his band there.
648
00:39:13,476 --> 00:39:15,979
Hal and I were invited up to his suite
649
00:39:16,062 --> 00:39:19,858
and they played this little song
called Eastbound and Down,
650
00:39:19,941 --> 00:39:23,319
and asking Hal, "Do you like
it? What do you think of it?"
651
00:39:23,444 --> 00:39:25,321
"It was fabulous!"
652
00:39:25,405 --> 00:39:27,073
And it's the song of the movie.
653
00:39:39,919 --> 00:39:41,734
Break for that Bandit One.
Break for that Bandit One.
654
00:39:41,754 --> 00:39:43,214
Yeah, Snowman. Come on back.
655
00:39:50,138 --> 00:39:52,682
This is Sheriff
Buford T. Justice again.
656
00:39:52,765 --> 00:39:56,060
I lost that Trans Am.
Set up a roadblock.
657
00:39:56,144 --> 00:39:57,145
Good idea.
658
00:39:59,898 --> 00:40:02,567
Bandit, this here's the Grave Robber.
659
00:40:02,650 --> 00:40:04,402
Put the pedal to the metal, good buddy,
660
00:40:04,485 --> 00:40:07,155
and we'll hold this county mountie
as long as we can. Come on.
661
00:40:08,281 --> 00:40:12,660
Bandit, honey, this is the
Good Witch of the North speakin'.
662
00:40:12,744 --> 00:40:15,204
You'd better not come this way.
663
00:40:22,420 --> 00:40:23,755
This is the Bandit, darling.
664
00:40:24,005 --> 00:40:26,007
And how can I help?
Bring it back.
665
00:40:33,723 --> 00:40:38,478
I knew the music before I
knew the man, and the music got to me.
666
00:40:39,145 --> 00:40:40,563
I got that all worked out.
667
00:40:40,647 --> 00:40:43,358
This Bandit character loved Jerry Reed.
668
00:40:44,108 --> 00:40:49,614
We have a relationship that's very
similar in some ways between me and Hal.
669
00:40:50,156 --> 00:40:53,076
He was crazy, but crazy good.
670
00:41:07,423 --> 00:41:09,342
What is a good old boy?
671
00:41:09,425 --> 00:41:12,971
Someone that you really like
hanging out with and you can trust.
672
00:41:13,346 --> 00:41:16,057
Doesn't take life too seriously,
but always gets the job done.
673
00:41:16,140 --> 00:41:19,602
There's not a lot of angst in
the good old boy. Put it that way.
674
00:41:21,062 --> 00:41:23,982
I suppose a lot of people
say that people become actors
675
00:41:24,065 --> 00:41:25,650
because they're unhappy with themselves
676
00:41:25,733 --> 00:41:28,820
and they get to hide
in somebody else's skin,
677
00:41:28,903 --> 00:41:30,446
but that's not true.
678
00:41:30,530 --> 00:41:33,157
People become actors, I think,
679
00:41:33,241 --> 00:41:35,535
because we're people pleasers.
680
00:41:35,785 --> 00:41:40,373
And the only thrill for us, really,
681
00:41:40,498 --> 00:41:43,876
is your getting some
enjoyment from what we do.
682
00:41:44,419 --> 00:41:45,420
Oh, my God.
683
00:41:48,756 --> 00:41:51,259
I like to be considered somebody
684
00:41:51,342 --> 00:41:53,761
who paid their dues and is a good actor.
685
00:41:53,845 --> 00:41:55,680
I think that there's
a school of acting which,
686
00:41:55,763 --> 00:41:58,850
I'm a great believer in this
particular school of acting,
687
00:41:58,933 --> 00:42:01,310
which is called effortless.
688
00:42:01,978 --> 00:42:05,773
And I worked 20 years to
learn how to make it look easy.
689
00:42:06,899 --> 00:42:09,944
Quite honestly, it's very
easy to do, what I call,
690
00:42:10,028 --> 00:42:11,612
the constipated school of acting
691
00:42:12,822 --> 00:42:16,034
which is where you let
every vein show in the neck
692
00:42:16,117 --> 00:42:18,244
and you just go for it with every take,
693
00:42:18,327 --> 00:42:20,268
and everybody says,
"What a brilliant actor he is."
694
00:42:20,288 --> 00:42:23,374
Well, he gets an Oscar in
Preparation H and I get a smile.
695
00:42:27,003 --> 00:42:28,087
That's an actor?
696
00:42:30,465 --> 00:42:33,468
But he was brilliant in
A Streetcar Named Desire.
697
00:42:33,551 --> 00:42:34,802
A Streetcar Named Desire.
698
00:42:35,595 --> 00:42:37,597
What was he? A conductor?
699
00:42:38,389 --> 00:42:42,226
That was the time when everybody
wanted to be Marlon Brando.
700
00:42:42,310 --> 00:42:43,978
And who were you?
701
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:45,855
I didn't know who the hell I was.
702
00:42:46,397 --> 00:42:47,857
Question, Rocky?
703
00:42:47,940 --> 00:42:51,778
Yeah, I mean, what is my,
uh, tertiary motivation here?
704
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:56,199
I mean, like, I walk through
the door and, uh, I see her.
705
00:42:57,158 --> 00:42:58,159
Why?
706
00:42:58,993 --> 00:43:00,036
Why what, Rocky?
707
00:43:00,119 --> 00:43:01,120
What's the question?
708
00:43:01,662 --> 00:43:02,663
Exactly.
709
00:43:02,747 --> 00:43:03,873
What is the question?
710
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,000
I wanted to play the rebel.
711
00:43:07,168 --> 00:43:10,171
The kind of label they'd
given me at the studio.
712
00:43:10,254 --> 00:43:13,424
I said, "Jesus Christ.
He looks like Brando."
713
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:15,114
When I first went to Hollywood,
714
00:43:15,134 --> 00:43:16,928
everybody wanted me to meet Marlon,
715
00:43:17,011 --> 00:43:19,097
and I'd heard so many
Marlon Brando stories.
716
00:43:19,180 --> 00:43:22,058
There's a coffee house
on the strip called Cyrano's
717
00:43:22,141 --> 00:43:25,228
and at the time, it was the in place.
718
00:43:25,311 --> 00:43:29,232
All... Everybody went,
to see or be seen.
719
00:43:29,774 --> 00:43:31,275
We walked in,
720
00:43:31,359 --> 00:43:34,237
immediately, there was a
director named Hubert Cornfield,
721
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,241
who ran over to me and
grabbed me and said, "He's here!"
722
00:43:38,741 --> 00:43:40,118
And I, uh...
723
00:43:40,201 --> 00:43:42,161
I said, "He is?"
724
00:43:42,245 --> 00:43:43,746
And he said, "Come on!"
725
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:45,748
He was pulling me by the shirt.
726
00:43:45,832 --> 00:43:49,252
We came around and we
stopped in front of a table.
727
00:43:49,335 --> 00:43:52,088
And I suddenly realized it was Marlon.
728
00:43:53,297 --> 00:43:54,298
And Marlon...
729
00:43:54,382 --> 00:43:57,301
Everybody was looking at me except Marlon.
730
00:43:57,385 --> 00:44:00,555
Marlon was looking right about there.
731
00:44:01,222 --> 00:44:04,517
And Hubert Cornfield said,
732
00:44:05,393 --> 00:44:08,479
"Marlon,
isn't this fantastic?"
733
00:44:09,522 --> 00:44:13,818
And like a dummy, I was going like this
734
00:44:13,901 --> 00:44:16,612
'cause I thought I'd been
brought over to be introduced.
735
00:44:18,489 --> 00:44:20,074
But he never looked up.
736
00:44:20,158 --> 00:44:22,160
He just went, "Mmm."
737
00:44:27,623 --> 00:44:29,917
And I still had my hand out.
738
00:44:30,585 --> 00:44:33,337
And it was deathly silence in the place.
739
00:44:34,297 --> 00:44:35,840
And I suddenly...
740
00:44:35,923 --> 00:44:37,842
I had the urge to kill.
741
00:44:37,925 --> 00:44:39,719
I mean, to reach across and kill.
742
00:44:42,096 --> 00:44:44,807
I want to be mean. Who
the hell does he think he is?
743
00:44:44,891 --> 00:44:49,145
Burt had that thing that you
have to have to become a leading man
744
00:44:49,228 --> 00:44:50,479
and he could go after you.
745
00:44:51,272 --> 00:44:53,941
If he lost it, and I've seen
him lose it with some people.
746
00:44:54,025 --> 00:44:56,986
So he'd... You couldn't fuck
around with Burt too much.
747
00:44:57,778 --> 00:44:59,530
I wanna go on killin' white men.
748
00:45:02,909 --> 00:45:04,744
He says you will have to prove yourself.
749
00:45:06,204 --> 00:45:07,872
I'll prove myself.
750
00:45:08,289 --> 00:45:09,498
Just give me a chance.
751
00:45:09,582 --> 00:45:13,419
Burt wanted to be a star, and
I think he'd have done most anything.
752
00:45:16,380 --> 00:45:20,509
Sometimes, you learn more from a
bad film than you do from a good film.
753
00:45:20,593 --> 00:45:23,387
In that case, I should be
a very good actor.
754
00:45:42,907 --> 00:45:45,576
I got a lot of parts because
they didn't have to hire
755
00:45:45,660 --> 00:45:46,827
a stuntman, you know.
756
00:45:46,911 --> 00:45:49,791
They'd say, "Get that guy. He falls
down the stairs and he talks okay."
757
00:45:49,872 --> 00:45:52,208
So I fell down the stairs and talked.
758
00:45:53,334 --> 00:45:56,295
As the years went by,
I fell less and talked more.
759
00:45:57,588 --> 00:46:01,259
Thought you were
an authority on architecture.
760
00:46:02,343 --> 00:46:04,887
I didn't know your hobby was boating.
761
00:46:18,192 --> 00:46:20,695
I think I've probably chosen
worse than any actor
762
00:46:20,778 --> 00:46:21,862
in the history of films.
763
00:46:24,031 --> 00:46:25,926
Some films, I said,
"What's the location?"
764
00:46:25,950 --> 00:46:27,410
They said, "Tahiti."
765
00:46:27,493 --> 00:46:29,287
And I said,
"I'll take that picture."
766
00:46:34,917 --> 00:46:40,840
I did Deliverance which was my
deliverance out of bad films, I thought.
767
00:46:44,218 --> 00:46:48,306
Sometimes, you have to lose
yourself before you can find anything.
768
00:46:50,349 --> 00:46:51,851
Any snakes around here?
769
00:46:56,188 --> 00:46:58,754
I think Georgia is
kind of a good luck charm for you.
770
00:46:58,774 --> 00:47:01,694
Do you look on it as a real
good place to make films?
771
00:47:02,069 --> 00:47:06,532
I'd like to shoot four out of five
pictures here, which really wouldn't
772
00:47:06,615 --> 00:47:10,161
sit too well with a lot of people
who want to do desert movies.
773
00:47:10,286 --> 00:47:12,646
Deliverance was kind of like
coming home, you know. Mmm-hmm.
774
00:47:13,205 --> 00:47:15,249
Changed everything for me.
775
00:47:15,541 --> 00:47:19,128
I had never done a part that good,
776
00:47:19,211 --> 00:47:20,796
but I understand this guy.
777
00:47:25,134 --> 00:47:26,427
I could play him.
778
00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:28,929
We gotta get rid of that guy.
779
00:47:30,973 --> 00:47:32,975
Just how are you gonna do that, Lewis?
780
00:47:33,351 --> 00:47:34,769
Where?
781
00:47:35,811 --> 00:47:37,104
Anywhere.
782
00:47:43,110 --> 00:47:44,111
Everywhere.
783
00:47:44,612 --> 00:47:49,200
I asked the director, John
Boorman, what parts he'd seen me play
784
00:47:49,283 --> 00:47:51,118
that would make me right for this picture.
785
00:47:51,452 --> 00:47:54,121
And he said, I didn't see you in a part,
786
00:47:54,872 --> 00:47:57,625
but I saw you on The Tonight Show.
787
00:48:00,628 --> 00:48:01,670
Hello.
788
00:48:01,754 --> 00:48:03,944
Nice, you look so sharp, again
tonight. You're dressing so well...
789
00:48:03,964 --> 00:48:05,071
Thank you.
I was just pressed.
790
00:48:05,091 --> 00:48:06,447
They just pressed me.
The whole thing?
791
00:48:06,467 --> 00:48:08,324
Did you get into your clothes?
They pressed my entire body.
792
00:48:08,344 --> 00:48:10,805
Burt Reynolds was the catch on a talk show.
793
00:48:11,305 --> 00:48:13,766
Everybody liked to be around Burt.
794
00:48:13,849 --> 00:48:15,810
It's nice to see you haven't changed a bit.
795
00:48:15,893 --> 00:48:16,894
No, I haven't.
796
00:48:19,230 --> 00:48:21,565
Listen, Deliverance is a really...
797
00:48:21,649 --> 00:48:23,192
It's from a novel.
It's quite serious.
798
00:48:23,275 --> 00:48:26,612
It's got rape and murder
in it and all those things.
799
00:48:27,530 --> 00:48:30,866
Mmm-hmm. And here you
are, cavorting like a jackass.
800
00:48:34,537 --> 00:48:36,789
Not being a jackass,
just cavorting like one.
801
00:48:36,872 --> 00:48:38,040
Hmm.
802
00:48:38,124 --> 00:48:39,500
I gambled, I really gambled.
803
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:42,670
I mean, Deliverance was BC.
Before Cosmo.
804
00:48:51,137 --> 00:48:54,682
The gamble was would I ever be
considered a serious actor after that.
805
00:48:56,016 --> 00:48:58,769
When I died, on my tombstone
would they say,
806
00:48:58,853 --> 00:49:00,771
"His contribution to the world was,"
807
00:49:00,855 --> 00:49:03,691
"he was the first
male nude centerfold."
808
00:49:19,540 --> 00:49:21,625
What it's like to be pastor of a man
809
00:49:21,709 --> 00:49:23,544
who posed nude in Cosmopolitan?
810
00:49:23,878 --> 00:49:26,422
This is what we Baptists call a problem.
811
00:49:27,131 --> 00:49:30,509
I don't know, I didn't tell
him to take his clothes off.
812
00:49:30,593 --> 00:49:32,219
And I wish he hadn't done it.
813
00:49:32,887 --> 00:49:35,139
But at the same time, he did it.
814
00:49:35,222 --> 00:49:37,057
He's free and I'm free.
815
00:49:37,308 --> 00:49:39,435
I feel free to wear my clothes,
816
00:49:39,518 --> 00:49:41,395
and he feels free to take his off.
817
00:49:44,899 --> 00:49:47,985
Posing catapulted
Burt Reynolds to household name.
818
00:49:48,569 --> 00:49:50,946
He became, then, the guy.
819
00:49:55,826 --> 00:49:57,411
That's literally true.
820
00:50:04,793 --> 00:50:08,130
How many people like him,
with the mustache?
821
00:50:11,634 --> 00:50:14,428
And then, without the mustache?
822
00:50:17,389 --> 00:50:19,934
This is a hell of a time to tell me.
823
00:50:20,768 --> 00:50:23,270
I think you should stick
with the mustache, Burt.
824
00:50:23,479 --> 00:50:25,981
Definitely stick with the mustache.
825
00:50:26,315 --> 00:50:30,152
The Cosmopolitan came
out 30 days before Deliverance.
826
00:50:31,445 --> 00:50:37,034
It was very difficult
for 98% of the film critics
827
00:50:37,117 --> 00:50:38,869
to disassociate
828
00:50:38,953 --> 00:50:43,165
this character who, you know,
laid down on a bear rug, like an idiot,
829
00:50:43,249 --> 00:50:45,793
you know, and did this strange thing
830
00:50:45,876 --> 00:50:48,754
with an actor who took his craft seriously
831
00:50:48,837 --> 00:50:50,381
and took the film business seriously.
832
00:50:50,965 --> 00:50:53,592
And a lot of people who,
833
00:50:53,676 --> 00:50:55,010
I trust their instincts,
834
00:50:55,094 --> 00:50:57,513
felt that it might have cost
me a nomination that year.
835
00:51:00,474 --> 00:51:03,435
It was a bad choice
'cause it trivialized him.
836
00:51:04,019 --> 00:51:05,729
And I know he was sorry about it,
837
00:51:05,813 --> 00:51:07,773
and I was unhappy to see it myself.
838
00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:09,483
He didn't need it.
839
00:51:09,984 --> 00:51:12,278
Most serious actors don't do that.
840
00:51:13,028 --> 00:51:14,655
A clown would do it.
841
00:51:14,822 --> 00:51:18,033
In fact, a lot of people
never forgave me for that.
842
00:51:18,951 --> 00:51:20,411
I'm one of them actually.
843
00:51:32,840 --> 00:51:35,634
What now do you look for?
What does a role have to have
844
00:51:35,718 --> 00:51:38,053
for you to really consider it?
845
00:51:39,013 --> 00:51:41,098
Well, I'm looking now for humor.
846
00:51:41,181 --> 00:51:43,809
Because I happen to think that,
847
00:51:43,892 --> 00:51:47,605
of my contemporaries,
I have to look around and say,
848
00:51:47,688 --> 00:51:49,189
"What's the competition?"
849
00:51:49,648 --> 00:51:51,942
I can't stand in the doorway
better than Paul Newman.
850
00:51:52,026 --> 00:51:54,820
And I can't have blonder hair
than Robert Redford.
851
00:51:55,362 --> 00:51:56,614
But I can do comedy better than
852
00:51:56,697 --> 00:51:58,217
either one of them, I can eat them up.
853
00:51:59,617 --> 00:52:02,036
Hold it! The beer!
Watch the beer!
854
00:52:06,373 --> 00:52:09,001
You all right?
Very funny! Very funny!
855
00:52:09,084 --> 00:52:10,127
I thought it was funny.
856
00:52:10,377 --> 00:52:14,089
To move people to laugh,
it's extremely difficult,
857
00:52:14,590 --> 00:52:16,800
crossing a lot of different cultures.
858
00:52:17,217 --> 00:52:20,137
And there's no question, you ask anyone,
859
00:52:20,346 --> 00:52:23,140
anyone who is in the
creative end of this business
860
00:52:23,682 --> 00:52:26,518
and they will always tell you,
you take a guy like Jackie Gleason.
861
00:52:39,198 --> 00:52:42,409
There wasn't any script for me, believe me.
862
00:52:42,826 --> 00:52:45,245
I never had a line of dialogue written.
863
00:52:45,329 --> 00:52:48,207
The director would stick his head
in the window of the car and say,
864
00:52:48,874 --> 00:52:50,584
"Now we have to go up the thing and"
865
00:52:50,668 --> 00:52:52,670
"you'll see him there,
what do you want to say?"
866
00:52:52,753 --> 00:52:54,421
And I'd think for a second and I said,
867
00:52:54,505 --> 00:52:56,225
"How about something."
He says, "Great."
868
00:52:56,256 --> 00:52:57,675
"Okay, let's go."
869
00:52:57,758 --> 00:52:58,842
Good shit!
870
00:53:01,178 --> 00:53:03,889
I got the evidence!
Put the evidence in the car.
871
00:53:03,972 --> 00:53:05,307
But, Daddy...
872
00:53:05,391 --> 00:53:07,935
Put the evidence in the car!
873
00:53:08,268 --> 00:53:12,523
I'm gonna barbecue your ass in molasses!
874
00:53:14,608 --> 00:53:17,027
I am not going to attempt
875
00:53:17,111 --> 00:53:19,488
to give any messages
to the people out there.
876
00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,951
I can do two things, and I
think I do 'em extremely well.
877
00:53:24,493 --> 00:53:28,872
Action, I know I do well, and
my comedy isn't too bad, all right?
878
00:53:28,956 --> 00:53:29,978
No, it's three things.
879
00:53:29,998 --> 00:53:30,999
What's that?
880
00:53:31,083 --> 00:53:33,377
You just sit there and
look good, that's a third.
881
00:53:33,460 --> 00:53:36,318
You sweet thing, from
now on you can say anything you want to.
882
00:53:36,338 --> 00:53:38,882
Let's play tag. Tag!
You're it!
883
00:53:41,009 --> 00:53:42,010
Tag?
884
00:53:42,428 --> 00:53:43,992
I was 11 years old
when I saw my first movie.
885
00:53:44,012 --> 00:53:45,013
What was it?
886
00:53:45,097 --> 00:53:47,224
It was called Pop Goes the Weasel,
887
00:53:47,307 --> 00:53:49,143
and I mean this is way back, okay.
888
00:53:49,810 --> 00:53:51,687
To me, I was amazed.
889
00:53:54,982 --> 00:53:59,695
Now, I relate today to what I
thought then, all right. And I said,
890
00:53:59,903 --> 00:54:01,135
"Hell! That's what
I wanted to see,"
891
00:54:01,155 --> 00:54:03,315
"and I believe that's what
people want to see today."
892
00:54:11,248 --> 00:54:12,249
Oof.
893
00:54:12,833 --> 00:54:14,543
I will never win an Academy Award.
894
00:54:16,336 --> 00:54:18,130
But I'm gonna be very rich, so...
895
00:54:18,213 --> 00:54:19,853
And I think I put out entertaining films,
896
00:54:19,923 --> 00:54:21,483
and I think that's what it's all about.
897
00:54:22,551 --> 00:54:23,802
What happened, Daddy?
898
00:54:23,886 --> 00:54:28,098
Both Hal and I realized that this was gold,
899
00:54:28,182 --> 00:54:30,058
and neither of us wanted to touch it.
900
00:54:30,142 --> 00:54:32,436
I had never had a scene with Burt Reynolds,
901
00:54:32,519 --> 00:54:33,937
I had to sit down and write one.
902
00:54:34,021 --> 00:54:35,606
That was the scene in the lunch room.
903
00:54:36,273 --> 00:54:39,943
Just keep your eye
out for that Mr. Bandit bastard!
904
00:54:42,863 --> 00:54:45,783
Let me have a diablo sandwich,
a Dr. Pepper.
905
00:54:45,866 --> 00:54:48,202
Make it fast.
I'm in a goddamn hurry.
906
00:54:48,285 --> 00:54:49,953
In the original screenplay,
907
00:54:50,037 --> 00:54:52,289
there were maybe six or seven scenes
908
00:54:52,372 --> 00:54:54,583
where the two of them were together.
909
00:54:55,709 --> 00:54:57,795
We shot that scene in the restaurant
910
00:54:57,878 --> 00:54:59,546
where Burt knows who Jackie is,
911
00:54:59,630 --> 00:55:01,215
Jackie doesn't know who Burt is.
912
00:55:02,090 --> 00:55:03,697
You must be in a hell
of a hurry, huh, Sheriff?
913
00:55:03,717 --> 00:55:05,719
You bet your ass on that, boy.
914
00:55:06,470 --> 00:55:08,430
Oh, you got a little
mess there. Let me...
915
00:55:08,514 --> 00:55:10,974
Let me help you out here,
get that off of there. That's...
916
00:55:11,058 --> 00:55:12,768
Yeah, yeah.
Much obliged.
917
00:55:12,851 --> 00:55:16,480
When we finished that scene,
Burt came to Hal and me,
918
00:55:16,563 --> 00:55:19,316
he said, "I'm not gonna work
with Jackie anymore."
919
00:55:20,567 --> 00:55:21,693
Somebody chasin' you?
920
00:55:21,777 --> 00:55:23,320
Nobody chasin' me, boy.
921
00:55:23,946 --> 00:55:26,406
I been chasin' a goddamn maniac.
922
00:55:29,535 --> 00:55:32,079
And of course, I had no
idea what this was about,
923
00:55:32,162 --> 00:55:34,122
but we started re-writing.
924
00:55:37,918 --> 00:55:41,505
Did Burt feel that Jackie was
upstaging him, stealing from him?
925
00:55:42,047 --> 00:55:43,247
You know, I really don't know.
926
00:55:43,924 --> 00:55:47,594
Do you feel that
you are in competition to Burt Reynolds?
927
00:55:48,011 --> 00:55:51,431
Oh, no, no, no, he plays
comedy, I'm in the lead in this.
928
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:52,788
Oh, let me pay for it.
Let me pay.
929
00:55:52,808 --> 00:55:54,331
Oh, no. No, no. You're
an officer of the law.
930
00:55:54,351 --> 00:55:56,895
I'd... I'd be honored.
Much obliged.
931
00:55:56,979 --> 00:55:58,689
Where's the can?
I gotta take a squirt.
932
00:55:58,772 --> 00:56:01,149
Oh, right back there.
Just used it myself.
933
00:56:01,942 --> 00:56:05,362
I think that Burt
could be a very great comedian.
934
00:56:05,863 --> 00:56:08,866
He can look at you and say something
935
00:56:08,949 --> 00:56:12,327
and then he gives you the
attitude that he's saying, "Who me?"
936
00:56:12,828 --> 00:56:16,498
And that's a great quality for
someone who wants to do comedy,
937
00:56:16,582 --> 00:56:19,293
I believe he could be a great comedian.
938
00:56:36,351 --> 00:56:40,188
Every time you make a film,
it's a battle. Hal, he always had a plan.
939
00:56:40,647 --> 00:56:42,441
He was always willing to take that chance
940
00:56:42,524 --> 00:56:44,610
to do something special and different.
941
00:57:01,877 --> 00:57:03,545
Alan was doubling Burt.
942
00:57:04,546 --> 00:57:06,506
Looks like Burt when
he's riding in the car.
943
00:57:07,507 --> 00:57:09,343
And Janet Brady looked exactly like Sally
944
00:57:09,426 --> 00:57:11,261
and just continued to double her.
945
00:57:11,428 --> 00:57:13,931
She could do the fight,
she could do the falls,
946
00:57:14,014 --> 00:57:17,267
but her specialty was cars,
no question about it.
947
00:57:19,686 --> 00:57:21,605
She and Alan Gibbs met,
948
00:57:21,688 --> 00:57:24,149
they decide to get married.
949
00:57:25,192 --> 00:57:28,612
And they get married during the
filming of Smokey and the Bandit,
950
00:57:28,695 --> 00:57:31,031
and Hal gives Janet away,
951
00:57:31,448 --> 00:57:33,492
as the father of the bride.
952
00:57:34,785 --> 00:57:36,808
Is it true
that there was nearly an accident
953
00:57:36,828 --> 00:57:39,831
shooting the scene where the
car crashes on to the football field?
954
00:57:39,915 --> 00:57:42,042
Oh, boy, there sure was.
955
00:57:52,636 --> 00:57:55,639
We got shots that didn't go in the film
956
00:57:55,722 --> 00:57:57,849
'cause they were so scary.
957
00:58:02,479 --> 00:58:04,398
When the car jumped and I saw everybody
958
00:58:04,481 --> 00:58:06,316
start running out of the dug-out.
959
00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:08,276
I saw one guy just stand straight up
960
00:58:08,360 --> 00:58:10,445
and the car just hit the dug-out.
961
00:58:12,155 --> 00:58:13,949
A couple of kids got hit.
962
00:58:15,283 --> 00:58:17,452
Fortunately no one got hurt badly,
963
00:58:17,536 --> 00:58:20,497
but you know, there were
one or two kids in the hospital.
964
00:58:23,166 --> 00:58:26,086
When the car hit, two things
happened, number one was...
965
00:58:26,169 --> 00:58:28,046
I was not aware that we had watered
966
00:58:28,171 --> 00:58:30,007
this last night or they had watered it
967
00:58:30,090 --> 00:58:34,511
and even though we put on Pirelli
tires to try to compensate for it,
968
00:58:34,594 --> 00:58:37,222
we just couldn't get stopped,
that's all there is to it,
969
00:58:37,305 --> 00:58:39,725
and I just thank God that one of my
970
00:58:39,808 --> 00:58:42,185
stunt men had enough sense in there to...
971
00:58:42,811 --> 00:58:45,022
And the stunt girl, both to turn that car
972
00:58:45,105 --> 00:58:47,274
and get it outside of these people.
973
00:58:51,111 --> 00:58:55,449
I said, we're gonna hurt somebody
bad, I want this stopped now.
974
00:58:56,450 --> 00:59:00,537
You know, you can do anything in
the world in a movie, but you can't stop.
975
00:59:00,620 --> 00:59:03,540
The absolute decision is mine because...
976
00:59:03,623 --> 00:59:05,751
I mean, I am the boss in that case because
977
00:59:05,834 --> 00:59:08,045
it's my tokus that's on the line
978
00:59:08,128 --> 00:59:10,672
and nobody can tell me
how I want to risk it.
979
00:59:17,971 --> 00:59:20,265
Did you do the actual driving
in Smokey and the Bandit?
980
00:59:20,474 --> 00:59:23,477
I did all the driving, except
the jump over the bridge.
981
00:59:24,352 --> 00:59:26,897
I was under a tree then, hiding my face.
982
00:59:28,648 --> 00:59:31,401
When people go to a movie,
983
00:59:31,485 --> 00:59:33,779
they get engrossed with the character,
984
00:59:33,862 --> 00:59:35,322
the lead character and everything.
985
00:59:37,282 --> 00:59:40,577
They don't think about us stunt
men, and I don't think they should,
986
00:59:40,660 --> 00:59:42,996
but when an actor is confronted
987
00:59:43,830 --> 00:59:46,166
on national television or something,
988
00:59:46,333 --> 00:59:48,168
seems to me like he should have enough
989
00:59:48,251 --> 00:59:50,087
huevos to say
"No, I didn't do that."
990
00:59:51,213 --> 00:59:54,925
Most actors can't do their own stuff.
991
00:59:55,008 --> 00:59:56,551
An actor went on Johnny Carson,
992
00:59:56,635 --> 00:59:58,154
"Oh, yeah,
I did all my own stunts."
993
00:59:58,178 --> 01:00:01,389
And we didn't care, we
didn't want any recognition.
994
01:00:02,015 --> 01:00:04,935
It was all about working and making money
995
01:00:05,018 --> 01:00:07,395
and going to the next show
and the next deal.
996
01:00:07,687 --> 01:00:10,273
The stunt community was
kind of a cloak and dagger thing,
997
01:00:10,357 --> 01:00:13,068
I mean, there was no
publicity, there was nothing
998
01:00:13,151 --> 01:00:16,446
because the public didn't know
what a stunt guy was.
999
01:00:18,031 --> 01:00:21,368
Ironically, it was Hal who
let the cat out of the bag.
1000
01:00:25,580 --> 01:00:26,873
Hi there, David, how are you?
1001
01:00:26,957 --> 01:00:28,208
Nice of you to drop in.
1002
01:00:28,291 --> 01:00:29,292
Thank you very much.
1003
01:00:29,376 --> 01:00:30,710
You okay?
Oh, I'm fine.
1004
01:00:30,877 --> 01:00:33,213
Nobody had a bigger
shadow than Burt Reynolds,
1005
01:00:33,296 --> 01:00:37,300
and my father was really more
than ready to step out from behind it.
1006
01:00:38,635 --> 01:00:40,554
When Hal first met me, he said,
1007
01:00:40,637 --> 01:00:42,722
"This is the guy
who's gonna make me a star?"
1008
01:00:43,223 --> 01:00:44,808
Let's get this thing rolling.
1009
01:00:45,433 --> 01:00:48,520
My assignment was to
make Hal a household name.
1010
01:00:48,603 --> 01:00:50,397
And wow! How do you do that?
1011
01:00:51,606 --> 01:00:53,567
Next you'll see Hal Needham.
1012
01:00:53,900 --> 01:00:55,986
Hal is wearing an awning-striped caftan.
1013
01:00:56,069 --> 01:00:57,487
I'm not crazy about that.
1014
01:00:57,571 --> 01:00:59,386
Oh, I think it looks great on him though,
1015
01:00:59,406 --> 01:01:01,491
it's got a hood,
you can cover all up in it.
1016
01:01:01,575 --> 01:01:05,078
I think he
realized that acting wasn't his forte,
1017
01:01:05,829 --> 01:01:07,831
but certainly stunts were.
1018
01:01:08,206 --> 01:01:10,709
It's good weather for flying,
1019
01:01:11,126 --> 01:01:13,879
but Hal Needham doesn't have a plane.
1020
01:01:13,962 --> 01:01:15,964
What he does have is a truck.
1021
01:01:16,756 --> 01:01:18,550
The distance between the ramps
1022
01:01:18,633 --> 01:01:22,012
comparable to a 12-story
building laid on its side.
1023
01:01:22,429 --> 01:01:23,889
How are you gonna do that, Hal?
1024
01:01:23,972 --> 01:01:27,684
Well, I'm gonna stick a rocket
in the back end and jump the river.
1025
01:01:29,603 --> 01:01:31,688
I spent all day everyday looking for ways
1026
01:01:31,771 --> 01:01:34,941
to get Hal in front of
anybody you could, anytime.
1027
01:01:49,748 --> 01:01:52,375
To me, I remember it
'cause I broke my back...
1028
01:01:52,459 --> 01:01:54,252
For the second time.
1029
01:01:57,214 --> 01:02:00,967
I can remember him
breaking his back and ribs
1030
01:02:01,176 --> 01:02:03,200
and getting out of the hospital
and getting on an airplane
1031
01:02:03,220 --> 01:02:05,764
and going down to do another movie.
1032
01:02:09,935 --> 01:02:13,063
He was the first human to test the airbag.
1033
01:02:13,146 --> 01:02:14,564
You know when nobody knew anything
1034
01:02:14,648 --> 01:02:16,066
about the airbag, there was Hal.
1035
01:02:17,275 --> 01:02:19,299
When I first
started to go out to pitch Hal,
1036
01:02:19,319 --> 01:02:21,154
it was not an easy task.
1037
01:02:24,366 --> 01:02:27,244
I realized where I had
to go was to tell people,
1038
01:02:27,327 --> 01:02:30,163
"Well, Hal Needham
is Burt Reynolds' stuntman."
1039
01:02:30,747 --> 01:02:32,165
Now we have their attention.
1040
01:02:32,290 --> 01:02:33,980
He used to like
to do his own stunts anyway.
1041
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:35,585
Well, he started as a stuntman.
1042
01:02:35,669 --> 01:02:37,269
You know, originally, he was a stuntman.
1043
01:02:37,337 --> 01:02:40,006
Unfortunately, when we started
some of the interviews,
1044
01:02:40,382 --> 01:02:42,008
they all still went back to Burt.
1045
01:02:42,300 --> 01:02:44,928
There's a lot of little
things that he took...
1046
01:02:45,428 --> 01:02:47,847
You know, I know he took from me.
1047
01:02:48,348 --> 01:02:51,351
And for instance,
he took my wardrobe, okay.
1048
01:02:51,726 --> 01:02:56,564
He had them copy my wardrobe
that I wear normally all the time.
1049
01:02:56,982 --> 01:02:59,109
And that's what he wore in the movie.
1050
01:02:59,192 --> 01:03:01,778
One day he came out, he and
I were dressed exactly alike.
1051
01:03:02,487 --> 01:03:05,573
We worked a lot on that
because we knew that was coming every time,
1052
01:03:06,074 --> 01:03:08,118
and then he was off, talking about stunts.
1053
01:03:08,451 --> 01:03:11,663
Presenting The Stuntman.
1054
01:03:12,122 --> 01:03:14,749
And he's not just your basic
everyday stuntman either,
1055
01:03:15,083 --> 01:03:17,252
he was modeled after Hal Needham,
1056
01:03:17,335 --> 01:03:20,338
the guy that I consider to be
the best stuntman in the business.
1057
01:03:20,714 --> 01:03:23,258
Well, he had met
the guy that owned a toy company,
1058
01:03:23,341 --> 01:03:27,053
they said, "You know, Evel
Knievel's doll made a ton of money."
1059
01:03:28,722 --> 01:03:30,912
It was sitting on
his desk one day when I went in.
1060
01:03:30,932 --> 01:03:33,560
I said, "Oh, my God,
Hal, you've got a doll."
1061
01:03:33,685 --> 01:03:36,062
A little stunt doll, give me a break!
1062
01:03:36,563 --> 01:03:40,275
There's a little ram and you
could fly the doll and it'll turn,
1063
01:03:40,358 --> 01:03:43,236
you could make the hat
fly off with a string.
1064
01:03:44,654 --> 01:03:46,448
They had designed the prototype,
1065
01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:49,492
but they didn't have the market for it yet.
1066
01:03:50,618 --> 01:03:54,164
We recognized that
we're gonna need a big event.
1067
01:03:54,247 --> 01:03:58,001
Hal and Bill Frederick came
up with the idea of the rocket car.
1068
01:03:58,710 --> 01:04:02,172
Three, two, one, ignition.
1069
01:04:06,092 --> 01:04:08,575
Wow. Looks like
he's off in a good wind this time, kid.
1070
01:04:08,595 --> 01:04:10,722
Thunderous send-off to Hal Needham.
1071
01:04:11,348 --> 01:04:13,516
Climbing to four, to 500,
1072
01:04:13,600 --> 01:04:16,478
almost 550 miles per hour
and still climbing.
1073
01:04:16,561 --> 01:04:18,730
That's faster than programmed, kid.
1074
01:04:19,606 --> 01:04:21,421
His chute
just came out, his chute deployed,
1075
01:04:21,441 --> 01:04:22,484
but it has not opened.
1076
01:04:22,567 --> 01:04:23,715
Ken, it has not opened.
1077
01:04:23,735 --> 01:04:25,467
He might be in very serious
trouble down there.
1078
01:04:25,487 --> 01:04:26,760
He's missed the red flag,
1079
01:04:26,780 --> 01:04:29,616
and he has crashed
at the end of the course.
1080
01:04:30,784 --> 01:04:32,160
I'm gonna tell you something,
1081
01:04:32,243 --> 01:04:35,163
the last couple of hundred
yards is a son-of-a-gun.
1082
01:04:35,747 --> 01:04:38,208
Hal said, "I'm
not going to put my life behind"
1083
01:04:38,291 --> 01:04:40,752
"a 700 mile an hour
car any longer."
1084
01:04:42,170 --> 01:04:46,883
It was sometime after the rocket
car event that the toy finally emerged.
1085
01:04:47,258 --> 01:04:49,969
It never really made a place in the market.
1086
01:04:50,720 --> 01:04:53,014
He knew he was never gonna be a movie star.
1087
01:04:53,723 --> 01:04:55,892
So, Hal was under tremendous pressure
1088
01:04:55,975 --> 01:04:58,144
to make Smokey and the Bandit a success.
1089
01:05:06,861 --> 01:05:11,950
There's a scene in the picture
where it's a small dirt road, bridge.
1090
01:05:12,617 --> 01:05:16,287
The car leaps the bridge, flies through
the air and lands on the other side.
1091
01:05:18,123 --> 01:05:20,583
That was really dangerous, there's no...
1092
01:05:20,667 --> 01:05:23,420
That's a problem, you come
up short, you got issues here.
1093
01:05:29,676 --> 01:05:31,177
Sorry. I don't want
to get married.
1094
01:05:31,845 --> 01:05:33,680
Terrific.
That makes two of us.
1095
01:05:34,013 --> 01:05:37,684
Sally and Burt became an item
by that day of shooting.
1096
01:05:37,934 --> 01:05:40,353
Hold it, oh, wait,
one minute, here we have...
1097
01:05:40,645 --> 01:05:43,648
We watched the dailies and you
could kind of see it, it was there.
1098
01:05:43,731 --> 01:05:45,608
When two people are hitting it off
1099
01:05:45,692 --> 01:05:47,610
and you can tell they
are liking each other.
1100
01:05:47,694 --> 01:05:51,281
Sometimes, you call action and
there are things that happen first.
1101
01:06:01,958 --> 01:06:06,796
I think the Bandit covers up
his vulnerability and his
1102
01:06:06,880 --> 01:06:11,384
sensitivity with a lot of
braggadocio and fancy shirts
1103
01:06:12,218 --> 01:06:15,805
because I think basically he's rather shy.
1104
01:06:15,889 --> 01:06:17,348
He's only good at one thing.
1105
01:06:17,432 --> 01:06:18,433
Frog?
1106
01:06:18,516 --> 01:06:20,935
Not showing off, but he's great at that.
1107
01:06:21,561 --> 01:06:24,647
I don't wear these kind of
shirts, I do wear cowboy hats.
1108
01:06:25,773 --> 01:06:29,110
I think, I'm not real
positive about this because
1109
01:06:29,194 --> 01:06:32,447
there's a big debate going on
about this in America.
1110
01:06:32,530 --> 01:06:34,073
I think I'm a real good actor.
1111
01:06:36,075 --> 01:06:39,162
Burt Reynolds
has been top box office for six years,
1112
01:06:39,245 --> 01:06:41,414
mostly in redneck tough-guy films.
1113
01:06:41,748 --> 01:06:43,833
Now he wants to try serious drama.
1114
01:06:43,958 --> 01:06:47,253
If you wanted to get away
from the good ol' boy image,
1115
01:06:48,296 --> 01:06:49,923
will the audience let you?
1116
01:06:50,006 --> 01:06:52,634
If I'm good.
If I'm really good.
1117
01:06:53,843 --> 01:06:56,095
And there's no concealing
1118
01:06:56,179 --> 01:06:59,390
The fact I'm feeling bored
1119
01:06:59,474 --> 01:07:03,311
Bored! Bored!
1120
01:07:03,394 --> 01:07:05,230
I find Burt Reynolds
the most puzzling actor,
1121
01:07:05,313 --> 01:07:06,940
he has the power and physical attributes
1122
01:07:07,023 --> 01:07:08,816
of the perfect screen tough guy.
1123
01:07:08,900 --> 01:07:10,652
Yet he insists on playing light comedies,
1124
01:07:10,735 --> 01:07:13,112
as if he saw himself as a kind
of Cary Grant with muscles.
1125
01:07:13,571 --> 01:07:15,261
The point that seems to
escape him, however,
1126
01:07:15,281 --> 01:07:17,367
is that you can't be Cary
Grant and have muscles,
1127
01:07:17,450 --> 01:07:19,130
you've got to settle for one or the other.
1128
01:07:20,119 --> 01:07:22,997
He connects,
but he doesn't take very good parts.
1129
01:07:23,081 --> 01:07:26,084
He doesn't take the parts that
would stretch him and test him.
1130
01:07:26,459 --> 01:07:29,379
He could possibly be
as great as Sean Connery,
1131
01:07:29,462 --> 01:07:31,965
if he had more ease
about the way he looked.
1132
01:07:32,048 --> 01:07:35,051
You can always feel
that he wants to look good
1133
01:07:35,134 --> 01:07:37,387
and this is fatal in a male actor.
1134
01:07:37,470 --> 01:07:39,681
Maybe he's getting bad advice, Pauline.
1135
01:07:39,764 --> 01:07:42,100
Or maybe there's fear in him.
1136
01:07:46,771 --> 01:07:50,191
Burt, when you look in the
mirror, what do you see?
1137
01:07:50,733 --> 01:07:52,318
Who do you see?
1138
01:07:55,113 --> 01:07:58,533
You're looking at
a very well-paid movie star.
1139
01:07:59,701 --> 01:08:02,412
And a starving actor. Actor.
1140
01:08:04,247 --> 01:08:06,833
To be a personality is painful.
1141
01:08:08,626 --> 01:08:12,338
To be in the public eye is painful.
1142
01:08:12,422 --> 01:08:14,924
'Cause you can never ever give them enough,
1143
01:08:15,008 --> 01:08:17,468
they always want a little bit more.
1144
01:08:20,096 --> 01:08:22,849
Is it true that you are
back together with Dinah Shore?
1145
01:08:22,932 --> 01:08:26,185
Do you plan on making
any movies on location in Chicago?
1146
01:08:26,311 --> 01:08:28,042
Would you like
to go for coffee after the show?
1147
01:08:28,062 --> 01:08:30,273
You said your favorite sport was football,
1148
01:08:30,356 --> 01:08:32,650
is that what influenced you
doing The Longest Yard?
1149
01:08:32,734 --> 01:08:34,882
Is it true that you've
been trying to adopt a child?
1150
01:08:34,902 --> 01:08:36,259
And do you plan on marrying again?
1151
01:08:36,279 --> 01:08:37,999
Burt, do you really enjoy all this?
1152
01:08:40,575 --> 01:08:42,744
Burt got sick down there,
1153
01:08:42,827 --> 01:08:45,622
and he was struggling to come to the set.
1154
01:08:45,705 --> 01:08:47,457
You talk about change in schedules,
1155
01:08:47,540 --> 01:08:50,710
I mean, Sally couldn't work without
Burt because it was in the car.
1156
01:08:54,964 --> 01:08:57,383
He did disappear for a couple of days, yes.
1157
01:08:57,467 --> 01:09:00,553
But I don't want to
get into the reasonings.
1158
01:09:03,348 --> 01:09:04,787
Hal understood Burt was an actor.
1159
01:09:04,807 --> 01:09:06,687
Being an actor, he was
high strung and neurotic.
1160
01:09:06,768 --> 01:09:08,728
I mean, all actors are crazy, right?
1161
01:09:08,811 --> 01:09:10,938
I mean, Marlon Brando walked out of acting
1162
01:09:11,022 --> 01:09:13,107
because he couldn't take it anymore.
1163
01:09:13,816 --> 01:09:17,445
You must understand, their
face is on this 100-foot screen.
1164
01:09:17,528 --> 01:09:18,718
You know who that is?
1165
01:09:18,738 --> 01:09:22,575
If they are embarrassed with what
they see, they wanna kill themselves.
1166
01:09:22,659 --> 01:09:26,204
So, the pressure on an actor, on his ego
1167
01:09:26,287 --> 01:09:27,830
is so overwhelming.
1168
01:09:31,626 --> 01:09:34,587
We ain't gonna make it, son.
We're gonna hang it up.
1169
01:09:34,671 --> 01:09:37,340
Whoa, negatory, negatory!
What are you, crazy or somethin'?
1170
01:09:37,632 --> 01:09:39,592
We come this far, ain't we?
1171
01:09:39,676 --> 01:09:41,969
When we say we gonna do a job, we do a job!
1172
01:09:44,305 --> 01:09:48,142
And Hal came up and said,
"I give up, are you doing this?"
1173
01:09:50,103 --> 01:09:53,314
There's one thing about good
old Southern boys, all the way through.
1174
01:09:53,940 --> 01:09:56,442
They have a sense of
loyalty to their friend.
1175
01:10:03,157 --> 01:10:06,577
I felt like, if anything, I would rebel.
1176
01:10:12,291 --> 01:10:14,877
You got to be dangerous
1177
01:10:14,961 --> 01:10:16,879
as part of being sexy.
1178
01:10:21,467 --> 01:10:22,510
Too late now.
1179
01:10:25,179 --> 01:10:26,973
Let's jump this bridge.
1180
01:10:40,653 --> 01:10:42,780
We jumped over that bridge!
We did that!
1181
01:10:42,864 --> 01:10:44,741
Did you see what we did?
Yes, I did.
1182
01:10:44,824 --> 01:10:46,617
I wanna jump something else!
1183
01:10:46,701 --> 01:10:49,162
I wanna jump a house!
I wanna jump something!
1184
01:10:49,328 --> 01:10:50,913
We'd just done the car jump.
1185
01:10:50,997 --> 01:10:53,040
The director yelled,
"That's it, that's a wrap."
1186
01:10:54,167 --> 01:10:56,002
That was the last...
The end of the movie.
1187
01:10:56,502 --> 01:10:59,964
Needham, he and I looked over
the top of the Trans Am at each other.
1188
01:11:00,882 --> 01:11:03,156
He just gave me a wry smile
and looked at me and, you know,
1189
01:11:03,176 --> 01:11:04,741
we just nodded at each
other and that was it.
1190
01:11:04,761 --> 01:11:06,429
You're crazy!
1191
01:11:06,512 --> 01:11:08,264
Kind of our moment.
1192
01:11:08,347 --> 01:11:12,185
We realized that it exists and it's
gonna be around a lot longer than you are.
1193
01:11:17,356 --> 01:11:21,444
Everybody was convinced
it was a toy car that went up,
1194
01:11:21,527 --> 01:11:24,864
but we all know it was a real car.
1195
01:11:24,947 --> 01:11:26,157
With people in it.
1196
01:11:26,240 --> 01:11:28,367
With people in it.
1197
01:11:29,076 --> 01:11:31,078
- And that's Needham.
- Yeah.
1198
01:11:31,287 --> 01:11:34,582
It was never... He wouldn't
work with a toy anything.
1199
01:11:35,041 --> 01:11:38,544
That was the beautiful
art of it and that's the loss.
1200
01:11:38,669 --> 01:11:42,381
They'd figure out a way to do
it now without doing it for real.
1201
01:11:42,465 --> 01:11:43,883
We didn't have that technology...
1202
01:11:43,966 --> 01:11:46,594
No, there were people
hanging it out there pretty far.
1203
01:11:47,136 --> 01:11:49,889
It all went together and it was magical.
1204
01:11:50,348 --> 01:11:55,102
Universal... I think there's
a computer at Universal that
1205
01:11:55,186 --> 01:11:59,315
pretty much predicts what a
movie's supposed to make.
1206
01:12:02,860 --> 01:12:06,781
They put in all the facts, the
stars, the timing, how many theaters,
1207
01:12:06,864 --> 01:12:08,825
and I think that computer spit out
1208
01:12:08,908 --> 01:12:11,202
for Smokey and the Bandit, one million.
1209
01:12:11,285 --> 01:12:12,411
That was it.
1210
01:12:13,746 --> 01:12:15,832
The general sales manager at Universal,
1211
01:12:15,915 --> 01:12:18,084
having seen the movie by the way,
1212
01:12:18,167 --> 01:12:19,887
I don't think had much
faith in the picture.
1213
01:12:20,753 --> 01:12:23,256
He asked that we not sneak preview.
1214
01:12:23,339 --> 01:12:26,300
I think he actually suspected
that he was going to lose bookings
1215
01:12:26,384 --> 01:12:28,177
'cause the picture was so bad.
1216
01:13:00,501 --> 01:13:02,837
And I said, "Take it out!"
1217
01:13:06,299 --> 01:13:08,301
You do a comedy that doesn't work...
1218
01:13:09,510 --> 01:13:10,595
Dead!
1219
01:13:10,678 --> 01:13:13,514
And only a fool does it,
thinking it's a sure thing.
1220
01:13:14,348 --> 01:13:16,309
I thought it was a very funny movie.
1221
01:13:16,976 --> 01:13:18,958
And then, you know we thought
we had great expectations,
1222
01:13:18,978 --> 01:13:20,479
they opened the movie
1223
01:13:20,563 --> 01:13:23,316
in the Radio City Music Hall,
and then it died.
1224
01:13:25,776 --> 01:13:30,031
I said, "Wait a
minute, you opened it in New York"?
1225
01:13:30,114 --> 01:13:31,949
That's ridiculous.
1226
01:13:32,325 --> 01:13:34,952
It was a disastrous
screening. I mean...
1227
01:13:35,494 --> 01:13:40,291
The cards were, you know, "This
is boring, we've seen this before."
1228
01:13:40,499 --> 01:13:45,546
I thought, you know, what do I
do to get these guys to get it?
1229
01:13:48,341 --> 01:13:51,636
And I said, "Put
the damn thing out in the South."
1230
01:13:51,719 --> 01:13:53,262
That's who it was made for.
1231
01:14:29,465 --> 01:14:32,468
How many of you have seen Hal's
picture, Smokey and the Bandit?
1232
01:14:34,762 --> 01:14:36,642
- I love it! I love it!
- Everybody loves it.
1233
01:14:37,598 --> 01:14:40,309
I bet I've seen that movie 200 times.
1234
01:14:40,393 --> 01:14:42,478
That's probably plus or minus five.
1235
01:14:59,537 --> 01:15:03,332
That little number is the second
highest grossing motion picture
1236
01:15:03,416 --> 01:15:05,334
in the history of
the motion picture business.
1237
01:15:05,418 --> 01:15:06,732
I'm glad it was because it was a picture
1238
01:15:06,752 --> 01:15:08,067
that wasn't made for the critics,
1239
01:15:08,087 --> 01:15:10,172
it was made for the people.
1240
01:15:10,798 --> 01:15:12,174
How did you like the movie?
1241
01:15:12,258 --> 01:15:13,592
Oh, I just loved it.
1242
01:15:13,926 --> 01:15:15,428
It was so exciting.
1243
01:15:15,678 --> 01:15:17,513
Who was your favorite
in the film? Burt.
1244
01:15:18,931 --> 01:15:21,767
Naturally.
The dog was good, too.
1245
01:15:23,060 --> 01:15:26,230
All of us that live in
that part of the country go,
1246
01:15:26,313 --> 01:15:27,857
"Yup, that's about
how it works."
1247
01:15:27,940 --> 01:15:29,251
Or, "He reminds me
of my uncle."
1248
01:15:29,275 --> 01:15:30,776
Or, "He reminds me of my dad,"
1249
01:15:30,860 --> 01:15:32,508
or, "He reminds me of my
neighbor down the road."
1250
01:15:32,528 --> 01:15:33,863
Who's gonna hold your hat?
1251
01:15:33,946 --> 01:15:37,116
You know, in the South, they think of
Smokey and the Bandit as a documentary.
1252
01:15:38,659 --> 01:15:41,746
It had a cultural impact that I don't
think any of us could have imagined.
1253
01:15:41,829 --> 01:15:45,041
I mean, to this very day
it's a friendlier South
1254
01:15:45,124 --> 01:15:47,460
than maybe a lot of people had seen before.
1255
01:15:47,543 --> 01:15:50,296
And maybe in that there is an elegance.
1256
01:15:51,505 --> 01:15:55,342
The buzz was huge.
I mean, it was huge.
1257
01:15:58,929 --> 01:16:00,411
You know, in the days of silent movies,
1258
01:16:00,431 --> 01:16:02,271
the chase was often
the highlight of the story.
1259
01:16:02,308 --> 01:16:06,979
So Hollywood figured if audiences
like a little, they'll love a lot.
1260
01:16:07,146 --> 01:16:10,357
And pretty soon there's no
meal at all, it's all dessert.
1261
01:16:10,483 --> 01:16:13,194
It's not a B movie. It's A++.
1262
01:16:13,277 --> 01:16:15,821
Burt bought us through the disco era.
1263
01:16:15,905 --> 01:16:18,991
He kept us all alive
and gave us a reason to say,
1264
01:16:19,075 --> 01:16:21,494
"Hey, we still
got a hero out here."
1265
01:16:21,577 --> 01:16:23,829
When I say Burt Reynolds right now...
1266
01:16:24,663 --> 01:16:28,459
Black cowboy hat, mustache.
Is that what you see?
1267
01:16:28,542 --> 01:16:31,003
It's what I see.
I also see him in a Trans Am.
1268
01:16:31,545 --> 01:16:34,340
If he drove up in a Lexus,
it would just destroy me.
1269
01:16:35,508 --> 01:16:39,428
The Washington Post critic
in that person's opinion,
1270
01:16:39,512 --> 01:16:41,222
greatest road movie ever made.
1271
01:16:42,389 --> 01:16:45,935
This new talent that had emerged
on the American film scene,
1272
01:16:46,018 --> 01:16:48,020
Hal Needham, made Preston Sturges,
1273
01:16:48,187 --> 01:16:50,147
and John Ford and all of these people,
1274
01:16:50,231 --> 01:16:52,650
you know, look like second stringers.
1275
01:16:52,733 --> 01:16:55,820
The critic thought this was, you
know, the Second Coming of Christ.
1276
01:16:56,695 --> 01:16:58,864
I mean, the picture elevated Hal,
1277
01:16:58,948 --> 01:17:00,825
and Hal was no longer a stuntman.
1278
01:17:03,994 --> 01:17:06,122
So, my father decided it was time to
1279
01:17:06,205 --> 01:17:08,290
move out of Burt Reynolds' house.
1280
01:17:08,666 --> 01:17:12,211
You get married, you settle down and then,
1281
01:17:12,294 --> 01:17:15,089
you have to move out,
you gotta get your own place.
1282
01:17:22,721 --> 01:17:24,640
I've always wanted to have a theater,
1283
01:17:25,182 --> 01:17:27,434
all my life, ever since
I started being an actor.
1284
01:17:28,269 --> 01:17:29,812
How are you tonight?
1285
01:17:29,895 --> 01:17:32,022
If you'll follow Bruce,
he'll take you to your seats.
1286
01:17:32,106 --> 01:17:33,506
Good evening.
How are you all doing?
1287
01:17:38,863 --> 01:17:42,241
And I think secretly, most actors,
1288
01:17:42,658 --> 01:17:44,076
back in the back of their mind,
1289
01:17:44,160 --> 01:17:47,872
think about going back to their
hometown and building a theater.
1290
01:17:49,373 --> 01:17:51,792
We have an apprentice program,
and they're learning
1291
01:17:51,876 --> 01:17:54,962
that it isn't just stardust and moonbeams.
1292
01:17:55,296 --> 01:17:57,756
It's a lot of hard work, a lot of pain...
1293
01:17:58,132 --> 01:18:00,926
Get out of here! Punctuate it.
1294
01:18:01,510 --> 01:18:03,179
Burt Reynolds is a hungry man.
1295
01:18:03,262 --> 01:18:06,974
I think he is hungry to show
everybody and the world that he is more
1296
01:18:08,601 --> 01:18:10,936
than the illusion that he presents.
1297
01:18:12,313 --> 01:18:14,481
Do you want to be taken more seriously
1298
01:18:14,565 --> 01:18:17,776
or would you go on doing
these stunting performances?
1299
01:18:20,279 --> 01:18:23,282
Well, I think that probably
1300
01:18:23,949 --> 01:18:27,578
20 years from now these "stunting
performances" as you call them
1301
01:18:27,661 --> 01:18:29,914
will be considered minor works of art.
1302
01:18:31,624 --> 01:18:34,627
And they'll say,
"Those were damn good films."
1303
01:18:34,793 --> 01:18:36,712
For what they were, they weren't trying
1304
01:18:36,795 --> 01:18:38,672
to be anything other than what they were.
1305
01:18:39,256 --> 01:18:42,009
But for what they were, they were terrific.
1306
01:18:42,134 --> 01:18:45,304
But you're still shooting
for a Casablanca in your career?
1307
01:18:45,387 --> 01:18:47,556
Yeah, I'm shooting for a Casablanca,
1308
01:18:47,640 --> 01:18:49,892
and you know what I'll do
when I get my Casablanca?
1309
01:18:49,975 --> 01:18:52,686
I'll go right back and make
a Smokey and the Bandit.
1310
01:18:54,813 --> 01:18:58,234
Burt, the co-writer
and director of Smokey and the Bandit.
1311
01:18:58,317 --> 01:19:00,319
Your pal, Hal Needham.
1312
01:19:03,530 --> 01:19:05,699
First off, let me say that I'm sure
1313
01:19:05,783 --> 01:19:07,868
nobody expects me to play a guitar or sing
1314
01:19:07,952 --> 01:19:09,703
'cause y'all know better than that.
1315
01:19:09,787 --> 01:19:13,332
I only have one God-given talent
and that was to fall on my head,
1316
01:19:13,415 --> 01:19:16,043
and I'm thankful for that
because it allowed me
1317
01:19:16,126 --> 01:19:19,296
to meet Burt Reynolds
some 20 some-odd years ago.
1318
01:19:20,547 --> 01:19:22,507
I always told him
if he'd have been a woman,
1319
01:19:22,549 --> 01:19:24,468
we'd have had a great marriage.
1320
01:19:25,803 --> 01:19:27,638
He was an amazing man.
1321
01:19:29,265 --> 01:19:32,851
They don't come along like
that but once in your lifetime.
1322
01:19:35,646 --> 01:19:39,066
You're a doll, I love you, and I owe
everything to you, Burt. Thank you.
1323
01:19:45,030 --> 01:19:46,907
I just wanna make a wish.
1324
01:19:57,918 --> 01:20:00,713
Certain people show up in your life,
1325
01:20:01,380 --> 01:20:04,300
and the magic happens,
and it doesn't always happen.
1326
01:20:04,383 --> 01:20:06,051
But when the magic happens...
1327
01:20:09,888 --> 01:20:11,181
You know something?
1328
01:20:12,141 --> 01:20:15,352
You're looking at the luckiest man alive.
1329
01:20:17,062 --> 01:20:20,816
So we're talking and I say, "Hal,
can you believe your success"
1330
01:20:21,191 --> 01:20:25,404
"from the sharecropper's kid in
Arkansas. You do Smokey and the Bandit."
1331
01:20:25,487 --> 01:20:28,449
"Yeah, " he said.
"It's been a good run, man."
1332
01:20:28,532 --> 01:20:32,619
Folks didn't think too much
of me, what I was gonna amount to.
1333
01:20:34,997 --> 01:20:37,583
But for sure, for sure...
1334
01:20:40,002 --> 01:20:44,214
My mom is looking down on tonight
1335
01:20:45,507 --> 01:20:47,760
with a big smile on her face.
1336
01:20:55,601 --> 01:20:58,896
I wanna thank the entire
Hollywood community
1337
01:20:59,938 --> 01:21:02,733
for allowing me to be part of it.
1338
01:21:03,025 --> 01:21:04,818
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
1339
01:21:13,118 --> 01:21:14,578
When I heard that he'd passed,
1340
01:21:16,038 --> 01:21:20,793
I thought, "What in God's
name could kill him?"
1341
01:21:21,293 --> 01:21:22,628
"What could kill him?"
1342
01:21:22,711 --> 01:21:25,464
He was the only guy
that I thought might live forever.
1343
01:21:28,884 --> 01:21:30,344
He liked speed.
1344
01:21:30,594 --> 01:21:32,805
He liked to bend the rules a little bit.
1345
01:21:33,138 --> 01:21:35,599
He liked to live life on his own terms.
1346
01:21:36,392 --> 01:21:39,937
Hal Needham was
and will always be The Bandit.
106887
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