Originally published: Sept. 2, 1980
Movie sequels (or remakes of old movies) are swiftly joining death and taxes as an inevitable and not always pleasant) part of American life. The latest entry in the sequel sweepstakes is Smokey and the Bandit II (or The Sheriff Strikes Back), starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason, and Dom DeLuise.
SATB II picks up about year after Smokey and Bandit. Bandit (Reynolds) has been driven to drink by the break-up with Frog (Field), who has gone back to Texas to marry son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice. The old team is brought back together when Snowman (Jerry Reed) is offered $400,000 to transport a pregnant elephant from Miami to Dallas in four days.
The film is pretty familiar Burt Reynolds’ fare, i.e. lots of car chases, gorgeous girls, and good one-liners. Reynolds, Field, and Reed work together well as always, and DeLuise is an excellent addition to the troupe. Gleason isn’t quite as high-handed in his role of Sheriff Justice in this film but makes up for it somewhat by playing a triple role (Justice and his brothers, Reginald of the Mounties and Gaylord of the Texas Highway Patrol).
The film also has several in-joke references to earlier Reynolds films. Snowman finds the drunken Bandit at the “Gator Motel.” (Gator was the first movie Reed and Reynolds did together and Reynolds’ first directing job.)
However, SATB II tries to take itself a bit too seriously by telling its audience “Winning isn’t everything.” How original. Or, “Risking an elephant’s life isn’t worth $400,000.” The hell you say.
Field and Reed chide Reynolds for his callous attitude toward the elephant they are hauling. Reynolds treats her like an animal, while the elephant, like any red-blooded female, is in love with him. Naturally, Reynolds eventually sees the light and starts giving his two-ton sweetheart the T.L.C. she deserves. It’s the sort of stuff Mom and the 12-year-olds from Grenada will get choked up about.
The original Smokey and the Bandit was great due to a general lack of redeeming social value. Reynolds and Reed were interested in the Great American Dream — cash — and anyone who got in their way (like the highway patrols of four states) was in trouble. They said to hell with doing the moral thing, and stole $1,000 worth of Coors beer, ran over mailboxes, wrecked cop cars, and caused trouble in general.
The first film was a parody of the good ol’ boy car-chase genre that Reynolds had made famous. The character of Bandit is one Reynolds does best: the semi-crazy libertine out to have a good time without killing anybody. SATB II tries to mix in a little sap, and the mixture isn’t a good one.
SATB II can be considered the second sequel to Smokey and the Bandit (Reynolds essentially played the same character in Hooper). And according to all reports in the three weeks since it was released SATB II has been making cash hand over fist, so… Reynolds and Universal Studios are already negotiating on Smokey and the Bandit III.
Don’t everybody cheer at once.
Commentary Track: The last time I thought about Smokey and the Bandit II was likely the day this review was originally published. Forty-five years on, many consider the original Smokey and the Bandit — released 45 years ago — a classic. But some movies don’t hold up well, and I suspect SATB II is one of them. Gleason’s portrayal of the Gaylord character is particularly cringe-worthy today.