The movie I DIED to see was Smokey and the Bandit. I was forbidden at 8 years old to see the movie. Later in life my father and I gu-faa over the brillence of Jackie Gleason,
There is NO subsitute for the “cussing version”. What a brillant film.
I my Southern folks…
[video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnRwQjTYfGI[/video]
The Best of Buford T. Justice…
Hell ya…
Jackie Gleason was one of the most brilliant comedians that ever lived… As a kid in the early 60’s I remember watching reruns of the “honeymooners” on TV, 50yrs later it’s still funny… Art Carney was another one, Between him and Gleason they could keep you in stiches…
Besides owning a ton of property in Dade county, Gleason owned a home in Plantation Golf Estates which was the next development over from where I grew up. Every year in December you could count on him playing a few rounds a couple times a week on the course.
Since it was on the way to the mall (which was only a short bike ride) we used to stop and watch him play for a little while. It was an interesting time, everyone knew who he was but nobody really bothered him. Every kid there had seen Smokey and the Bandit and thought his BMX bicycle was a Trans Am.
There would probably be 40 kids and half as many adults watching him play from the parking area. If you got there while he was still waiting for the first tee you could ask him for an autograph and he seemed to be a good sport about it, but for the most part mostly people just left him alone.
At the same time a local UHF channel was showing reruns of The Honeymooners every night so we knew him from that as well. I probably watched him play golf every year from 1977 to 1981, it was one of the local traditions leading up to Christmas.
Seemed like after he did “The Toy” he started getting mobbed a bit and couldn’t just play as a local resident on an open access course.
Awesome movie. One of the greatest characters in movie history. Too bad we can’t watch it anymore, that Trans-Am has the old GA state flag on the front and that’s racist. 
They should digitally edit the film and replace that front plate with a “black lives matter” plate and have a special edition DVD.
There were two big movies in 1977: Star Wars and Smokey and the Bandit.
IIRC they battled back and forth for the “highest grossing movie of all time” honor.
In 1977, I saw both but preferred Star Wars.
Now, I own Smokey and the Bandit and could care less if I ever see Star Wars again.
How my tastes have changed!
After the Georgia state flag was changed in 2001 the front plate was removed from images of the car on all the DVD packaging as well as the die cast cars. It wasn’t digitally removed from the movie itself…yet…
“Gimmie a diablo sammich and a doctor peppa and make it quick I’m in a God Damn hurry”
“YOU WANT SUMPIN?”
“HUSH PUPPIES DADDY!”
“WE AINT GOT TIME FOR DAT SHIT! Dumb sumbitch…”
“That’s very comfortin, but I’m in a high speed pursuit, don’t you hear good?”
“I hear perfectly, that fact that you are a Sheriff is not germane to the situation.”
“THE GOD DAMNED GERMANS AINT GOT NUTHIN TO DO WIT IT!”
“What’s that Daddy?”
“Shut up Junior, one shit at a time!”
“Right…”
Plus Close Encounter, Saturday Night Fever, A Bridge Too Far, The Deep, Pumping Iron (Arnold’s first flick), Slap Shot. It was a great year for movies, and you are right…Smokey and the Bandit nudging Star Wars for the win.
Gleason was magnificent.
My fave quote was in the second S&TB, though: “Look, daddy…an alligator!” “That reminds me…I gotta call your mama…”
They’d have to change the Trans Am into a deuce and a quarter to maintain historical accuracy…
A colleague of mine and I will quote Junior and Little Enos through an entire shift . . . :lol:
Comic gold that movie.