Episode 149
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) With Cars and Comrades
In this episode, we analyze the iconic 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit" with the hosts of Cars and Comrades. We share our personal connections to the movie, discussing how it shaped our views on truck driving and outlaw culture, particularly through Brandon's experience. The conversation revolves around the Bandit's wild quest to transport Coors beer and critiques the comedic representation of law enforcement, exemplified by Sheriff Buford T. Justice. We delve into the film's themes of working-class solidarity and anti-authoritarianism, highlighting the camaraderie among truckers and the Bandit’s folk hero status. Our analysis also touches on the humor, improvised dialogue, and gender roles, particularly through Sally Field's character. As we reflect on the film's lasting legacy, we share personal ratings and recommendations, reiterating its significance for car enthusiasts and fans of classic comedy, all while reinforcing our mission to explore car culture from a leftist perspective.
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Transcript
Evan: Which one of you picked chose the like decision was for the movie did you like
Speaker:Evan: collectively come to the decision to do.
Speaker:brandon: I feel like this was my decision but i don't remember making it because i definitely was gonna say i.
Speaker:Connor: Think brandon kind of came up.
Speaker:zach: With this from my memory.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah it was i think it was on the um on our colorado trip i think we we had
Speaker:Connor: discussed uh recording with
Speaker:Connor: with you and then uh i don't know who this decision was but i think i think
Speaker:Connor: i might have suggested smoky and the bandit and then brandon would have enthusiastically
Speaker:Connor: been like i fucking love that movie so.
Speaker:brandon: Well this as as i i have told the story on our show this is a formative movie
Speaker:brandon: for me like this movie bizarrely changed my life and that i'm mentally unstable
Speaker:brandon: and made decisions because i watched this movie too many times in.
Speaker:zach: There in there buddy,
Speaker:zach: i
Speaker:brandon: Before streaming was a thing but you could get like uh you know the cable services
Speaker:brandon: that would like you could direct like not direct tv but you you could basically
Speaker:brandon: stream movies but it was through like yeah cable uh i watched this movie like
Speaker:brandon: five times one weekend i think i was hurt or something and just laid up and
Speaker:brandon: that was how i decided to become a truck driver,
Speaker:brandon: a decision that led me to actually going to trade school and getting my cdl
Speaker:brandon: and becoming a truck driver before realizing i'm also too mentally unstable
Speaker:brandon: to be a truck driver could.
Speaker:Evan: Be worst thing that you could have chosen.
Speaker:brandon: Oh yeah i no regrets i still have my cdo well.
Speaker:bryant: There you go could have become a cop or something yeah even.
Speaker:brandon: In my least politically developed that was never a fucking option same.
Speaker:Evan: Here brandon t justice.
Speaker:brandon: I'll fuck right off with that shit.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah i think i had only ever seen this movie like on tv like in sections you
Speaker:bryant: know a few minutes at a time and you know i had like a vague idea about you
Speaker:bryant: know what it was about but like this is my my first time seeing it all the way
Speaker:bryant: through and it was a lot of fun for sure i.
Speaker:brandon: Haven't watched it in so long i truly did forget how like without using a hard
Speaker:brandon: r buford t justice is so explicitly racist yeah.
Speaker:Evan: I um the only thing i'd ever seen i think was the like the bridge jumping bit
Speaker:Evan: like i guess just because it was a famous scene and this is the first time i
Speaker:Evan: watched it full through and then i watched it a second time and it was uh it's a lot of fun i,
Speaker:Evan: I don't think I was surprised that I liked it, but I was surprised how much I liked it.
Speaker:brandon: Oh, it's so fun. And I really understand why Burt Reynolds was so much the charmer.
Speaker:brandon: He was such a cultural icon back then.
Speaker:brandon: And now it's almost like a joke. But looking back and watching some of his old
Speaker:brandon: movies, I totally get it.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, the story that I heard, or the behind the scenes, apparently,
Speaker:Evan: he got the script and said it was the worst script he'd ever seen.
Speaker:Evan: and is like well but you know what i'll do it anyway because i like you know
Speaker:Evan: he was friends with the director and he's like well you know what fuck it i'll do it yeah i think.
Speaker:bryant: I think he said um he liked the story but the dialogue was garbage.
Speaker:Evan: Right and i think they but then apparently improvised a.
Speaker:bryant: Whole lot of the dialogue on set.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah it said that 80 of the dialogue from uh the sheriff was improvised and
Speaker:Evan: then at least half of the rest of the whole like sally field didn't even know
Speaker:Evan: how to do improv like kind of off the cuff and burt run is like oh she'll be
Speaker:Evan: fine and then i'm sure he's it was fine knowing.
Speaker:brandon: How much of this was improvised makes a lot of
Speaker:brandon: things make i don't know a lot about the background of this movie
Speaker:brandon: to be clear i just and also uh for anyone who uh i there's no reason i would
Speaker:brandon: have ever talked about this i fucking love jerry reed there was a period of
Speaker:brandon: time where i sought out any movie that he was in he is an amazing guitar player
Speaker:brandon: i know i have jerry reed records he has been one of my favorite country musicians for
Speaker:brandon: as long as I can remember. That dude fucking rules.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, and he wrote the song, the theme song, in one night.
Speaker:zach: Which is crazy to me.
Speaker:brandon: I'm surprised.
Speaker:zach: Like, that blows my mind. That is such an iconic song, and just, like, so good.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, they just gave him, basically, he read the script, and he went,
Speaker:Evan: you know, into his, wherever it was, and he wrote the song, and he goes to Hal
Speaker:Evan: Needham, the director, and said, you know, what do you think of it?
Speaker:Evan: And he's like, if you change one word, I'll fucking choke you out.
Speaker:brandon: Real quick, quick should we do any sort of introductions or anything we really just went right.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah i'll i'll we can use that as the cold open and i'll i can introduce you
Speaker:Evan: sometimes i just forget because we were just we're just chatting about it but
Speaker:Evan: yeah i cannot but thank you brandon for being the uh the voice of uh my voice of reason i.
Speaker:brandon: Honestly thought that we had agreed that we were doing fast and furious so when
Speaker:brandon: somebody was like hey are we still good to do smoky and the bandit with evan
Speaker:brandon: i'm like oh my fucking god really hell yes sit back in your seats get something
Speaker:brandon: to eat watch this movie don't let the kids see.
Speaker:Evan: This week on Left of the Projector I have the hosts the four hosts of Cars and
Speaker:Evan: Comrades and we're going to be talking about the 1977 film Smoking and the Bandit
Speaker:Evan: which stars of course Burt Reynolds Sally Field old Jerry Reed and Jackie Gleason.
Speaker:Evan: And thank you all for being here. Zach Connor, Brandon and Brian.
Speaker:zach: Thanks for having us.
Speaker:Connor: Hey, yeah, thanks for having us.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah, I'm stoked.
Speaker:Evan: Of course.
Speaker:brandon: We've been talking about doing a big collab between both shows for a while,
Speaker:brandon: so I'm happy this is finally happening.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, I'm glad that you chose this movie. And as you probably already heard,
Speaker:Evan: this was some of our first times watching this.
Speaker:Evan: And I was kind of, you know, just kind of blown away how good it was and how
Speaker:Evan: funny it is. And it's just a solid all-around movie.
Speaker:Evan: But maybe before we talk about it, you do want to tell us about The Cars and
Speaker:Evan: Comrades. so I guess it's a perfect melding about a movie about driving cars
Speaker:Evan: and we were all comrades so we have done.
Speaker:brandon: Also it's not like as blatant but this movie is very much Fuck the Police I
Speaker:brandon: thought it was blatant I thought it was the whole point.
Speaker:Connor: Of the movie This.
Speaker:brandon: Is the most ACAB movie ever No because at the end he does that begrudging respect
Speaker:brandon: like oh I can't lie to you sheriff you're too good of a man He was fucking with.
Speaker:zach: Him I totally knew that Well.
Speaker:brandon: No, because he told him who he really was. If he was just messing with him,
Speaker:brandon: he wouldn't have been like, oh, by the way, I'm standing behind you.
Speaker:brandon: Actually, no, now that I say that out loud, I 100% understand how that's fucking with him.
Speaker:zach: That's his final fuck you to the guy. He's like, hey, you're not going to get
Speaker:zach: me. Like, look, I'm right here. You're not going to get me.
Speaker:brandon: 60% of your car is left. Good luck catching me.
Speaker:Evan: This is like when hillbillies, or when the Southerners actually hated cops.
Speaker:zach: Right?
Speaker:Evan: This is a throwback from that era.
Speaker:bryant: In the ending credits, it says this film was made with the cooperation of the
Speaker:bryant: Georgia State Highway Patrol or something like that.
Speaker:bryant: And I don't think that would happen today. Like if they were making this movie,
Speaker:bryant: like, I don't know if, you know, cops had more of a sense of humor in 1977 or if they did not, or,
Speaker:bryant: or if, uh, they just didn't like share the entire script with them or something.
Speaker:bryant: I don't know if this would get me.
Speaker:Connor: I mean, they were flipping cop cars right away.
Speaker:brandon: But, uh, my background, I've, I've discussed this on air.
Speaker:brandon: Um, I'm from Georgia and in the seventies, the George, a Georgia sheriff's deputy did murder my uncle.
Speaker:bryant: Hmm.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah so the police not chill in the 70s yeah.
Speaker:zach: Yeah i think yeah right away i think they've always been bastards it's not like
Speaker:zach: a new development that cops are shit i mean i think we all know at this point
Speaker:zach: that they their origins are in slave catching so you know not chill people ever really yeah.
Speaker:brandon: I do think that there's been a systemic shift towards a lack of accountability
Speaker:brandon: to like to individuals and like cementing like all these bad practices and policies
Speaker:brandon: because Because my uncle was murdered.
Speaker:brandon: He was literally, from what I am told, put down on his knees on the side of
Speaker:brandon: the highway and executed.
Speaker:brandon: And the sheriff's deputy did go to prison for that because everyone was like, oh, that's murder.
Speaker:brandon: As to where now, there's a reasonable
Speaker:brandon: chance that he would have gotten administrative leave or something.
Speaker:Evan: Got a talk show.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, he would have become a right-wing icon. Like a Kyle Rittenhouse of cops.
Speaker:Evan: Tim Pool's guest host or something.
Speaker:Connor: Oh, God.
Speaker:Evan: But yeah so as i mentioned you do you all do have a podcast cars and comrades
Speaker:Evan: do you want to uh i guess the the name is quite obvious because uh you know
Speaker:Evan: maybe uh descriptive enough but do you want to tell uh people who may not know
Speaker:Evan: you i guess brandon you've been on the show before so people may have some inkling but.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah i'm not very articulate i repeat i am from georgia that's.
Speaker:bryant: Uh what do you call it internalized orientalism or something like that.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah no i'm being from georgia it's not why i'm inarticulate it's because i'm
Speaker:brandon: i'm so drunk which probably has something to do with being from georgia i don't
Speaker:brandon: know no okay um since i keep rambling on yeah we're we're a podcast where we
Speaker:brandon: are all leftists and talk about cars and car
Speaker:brandon: culture from a leftist perspective and generally try to as much as you can as
Speaker:brandon: a group of like white dudes uh we try to create some element of inclusion in
Speaker:brandon: car culture where you know there does tend to be a certain amount of right-wing shittiness yeah so
Speaker:brandon: We would like to make the hobby for everyone. Also, we've shifted hard into
Speaker:brandon: an anti-car position. That's an interesting term.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah, it's the more I like, you know, get involved with cars as a hobby,
Speaker:bryant: the more it loses its shine.
Speaker:bryant: And it's just I wish I could just take public transit to work,
Speaker:bryant: you know, and not have to have a car, honestly, or at least have cars as a hobby
Speaker:bryant: and not as a necessity, you know?
Speaker:zach: Yeah, exactly. We're very pro-cars as a hobby, not as the main form of transportation
Speaker:zach: for all people in the entire world.
Speaker:Evan: So, trains and comrades?
Speaker:bryant: Yeah, almost. I mean, we've done a few episodes about trains and public transit in general.
Speaker:brandon: I'm down to eight cars now. How can you expect to extend that to the population?
Speaker:Evan: Well, I guess speaking of cars, I'm curious what you would say about the,
Speaker:Evan: not necessarily it's like the truck in this movie but the the iconic
Speaker:Evan: car that's used in smoky and the bandit which i heard that they received four
Speaker:Evan: of them to use and then at the end of the there's only four pontiacs and only
Speaker:Evan: one of them could run at the end of it and then the what's the other what's
Speaker:Evan: the one the sheriff drives i'm blanking now on the car he has a tempest.
Speaker:brandon: I think that was also a pontiac.
Speaker:Connor: It was a pontiac i don't know which model maybe like a tempest or something.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah i tried.
Speaker:brandon: To look into it because i was curious about like okay so a sticking point for
Speaker:brandon: for this movie i haven't i've gotten much more uh knowledgeable on cars since
Speaker:brandon: the last time i actually re-watched this so i was like getting really hung up
Speaker:brandon: on the fact that like his his trans am looks cool and fast,
Speaker:brandon: police like the handful of police cars that i'm familiar with from the era they
Speaker:brandon: tended to be exempt from a lot of the like fuel economy restrictions 70s police
Speaker:brandon: cars could move and that uh trans am was a 400 cubic inch engine producing almost 200 literally.
Speaker:Connor: I was gonna make a note of my notes as well yeah yep same great minds think
Speaker:Connor: of like we were all like god damn this thing's like got the power of a fucking
Speaker:Connor: uh frs you know what i mean yeah i i went ahead and looked it.
Speaker:zach: Up because i could see on the uh the ram air
Speaker:zach: intake it says 6.6 liter on there so i went ahead and looked up what 6.6 liters
Speaker:zach: in cubic inches is and yeah that's just over 400 cubic inches and the the post
Speaker:zach: i read said that it made about 180 horsepower which is yeah less than half of its cubic inches they.
Speaker:brandon: Made a high output version that was i think.
Speaker:zach: Closer to.
Speaker:Evan: 200 yep so So I'm assuming this is good if you want a fast car from a person
Speaker:Evan: who knows nothing about cars.
Speaker:bryant: This is, I think, the beginning of what they called the malaise era,
Speaker:bryant: where you had all the emissions laws coming into effect that sort of choked.
Speaker:brandon: I would say this is a few years into that.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, it is.
Speaker:bryant: So you had all these emissions controls that really choked the power of all these engines.
Speaker:bryant: uh but they hadn't developed like um you know fuel injection or turbo charging
Speaker:bryant: or any of the stuff that gave you actually decent power like starting in the
Speaker:bryant: 80s so uh it was a it was a great.
Speaker:Connor: Time all of that all of that was a consequence of
Speaker:Connor: the emission standard so like it created this
Speaker:Connor: period where like the cars got real slow real fast and then eventually car makers
Speaker:Connor: started getting clever with turbos and fuel injection and so the technology
Speaker:Connor: was a necessity because of the emissions controls so that's why we have the
Speaker:Connor: cars we have today making crazy horsepower,
Speaker:Connor: and all that it comes from this but at that time yeah these cars were slow they
Speaker:Connor: were slow as shit the trans am in this movie looks very cool but i was like
Speaker:Connor: man i'm almost surprised he could spin the tires like that i was like that thing
Speaker:Connor: would yeah live rear axles and no.
Speaker:brandon: Weight really helped.
Speaker:bryant: That out a lot yeah they probably put a little bleach on the wheels there.
Speaker:brandon: I am very familiar with this because my cutlass has the 403 olds so only three
Speaker:brandon: cubic inches bigger roughly the same horsepower a bit more torque but yeah i
Speaker:brandon: can spend my tires all day long i.
Speaker:bryant: Mean i did yeah i.
Speaker:brandon: Can't go very fast but i can break the trans am did have.
Speaker:bryant: Uh 320 foot pounds of torque which is pretty good but not for us yeah it was.
Speaker:brandon: The other.
Speaker:Evan: One was a pontiac lamans yeah that was the the ones the other one oh.
Speaker:brandon: I i looked up what um i i
Speaker:brandon: couldn't find much about pontiac police cars because
Speaker:brandon: i i know that dodge were more common and you would see
Speaker:brandon: like some chevy so there were a lot like a lot of the the cop cars in this were
Speaker:brandon: pontiacs and i couldn't find any broad information about like pontiac police
Speaker:brandon: cars and what kind of like performance packages they had but by this era they
Speaker:brandon: were very concretely of the opinion that they needed a lot of power because
Speaker:brandon: what if they They had to catch the bad guys.
Speaker:brandon: We have to put everyone in traffic's life at risk because that guy was speeding.
Speaker:Evan: They literally used this movie as like their evidence.
Speaker:zach: Yeah. I wonder if that has to do with like some sort of sponsorship deal that they got with Pontiac.
Speaker:zach: Like, I mean, obviously the hero car is the Pontiac.
Speaker:Connor: It has to be.
Speaker:zach: And then all of the cop cars are Pontiacs in the movie. I'm assuming Pontiac
Speaker:zach: had something to do with the movie and funding the cars.
Speaker:brandon: I wondered about that too.
Speaker:Connor: Same with Coors. i was noticing.
Speaker:brandon: No no i know the backstory for that and you guys be glad that you're on here
Speaker:brandon: because like my dad was a fucking redneck old like truck driver and i actually
Speaker:brandon: understand the cultural reference that this is that's lost to the ages yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Oh let's hear it uh.
Speaker:brandon: It's not as dramatic as i just made it sound but um in the 70s cores was actually
Speaker:brandon: considered good beer not every city had 18 breweries where you could get like
Speaker:brandon: an ipa that tasted like dog piss um Um,
Speaker:brandon: there was, there was a handful of breweries and yeah,
Speaker:brandon: Coors was considered actually good beer,
Speaker:brandon: but you true to form could not get it outside of like Colorado and certain other States. So,
Speaker:brandon: It was a real thing that truck drivers would like bring cases of Coors like
Speaker:brandon: home with them when they were traveling.
Speaker:brandon: This is I will say, like, I don't know this like hard and fast.
Speaker:brandon: This is what my dad told me, because I remember one of the first times I watched it with him.
Speaker:brandon: I was like, why the why didn't they not just go to the store and find a bunch of cases of Coors beer?
Speaker:brandon: And he was like, oh, because like back back then you couldn't get it.
Speaker:brandon: It was really good. But like nobody had it. You had to like know somebody who could bring it to you.
Speaker:brandon: So this was not sponsorship from Coors. is this was like cores was a bit of
Speaker:brandon: a cultural phenomenon in this way like you couldn't get it but it's like in and out.
Speaker:bryant: Burger or something.
Speaker:brandon: Good.
Speaker:Evan: Comparison the idea that they actually came up with for the director need i'm
Speaker:Evan: apparently on the set for the movie gator which i guess was burt reynolds movie
Speaker:Evan: before this one someone had also.
Speaker:brandon: With jerry reed.
Speaker:Evan: Yes also fucking that's why jerry ends up in in this
Speaker:Evan: one so apparently someone had brought some cores to
Speaker:Evan: like the to the the director or
Speaker:Evan: something and they kept putting i think actually bert reynolds directed gator so
Speaker:Evan: they're putting it into his refrigerator to give to him because it wasn't
Speaker:Evan: available where they're filming it in georgia and the cleaning person
Speaker:Evan: kept stealing the beer from the refrigerator oh yeah and so they're like you
Speaker:Evan: gotta stop doing that and then it gave them like the idea of like oh what if
Speaker:Evan: we had a movie about someone who like needs to bring a bunch of cores because
Speaker:Evan: they just want to drink cores beer and it only was available in 11 states in
Speaker:Evan: 1975 or whatever 76 so couldn't get it very get any places yeah.
Speaker:bryant: It's uh or i don't know if it still is but it back then it was unpasteurized
Speaker:bryant: and had no preservatives so they would.
Speaker:Evan: Only ship.
Speaker:bryant: It in refrigerated cars i think um,
Speaker:bryant: Yeah, I'm not sure how it how it works today, if they've changed the recipe
Speaker:bryant: or what. I'm sure they'd tell you no.
Speaker:bryant: But yeah, I might have mentioned this when we were planning this,
Speaker:bryant: but I used to live in Golden, Colorado, near the brewery where they make all the cores.
Speaker:bryant: And it's an interesting tour. If you're ever in there, you can,
Speaker:bryant: I think it's like a self guided like audio tour now, but used to be like they'd
Speaker:bryant: have someone show you around.
Speaker:bryant: And you know, you get some free samples at the end. um but
Speaker:bryant: i don't buy cores anymore i wouldn't
Speaker:bryant: pay them money um after what i've
Speaker:bryant: learned about the people that own the company um well
Speaker:bryant: it's crazy yeah uh if you want to know more about that there's a really good
Speaker:bryant: episode of the dollop about it um yeah a bunch of bunch of fascists basically
Speaker:bryant: i think two of the chorus family were founding members of the john birch society
Speaker:bryant: and the heritage society or heritage foundation nice i mean super cool yeah they.
Speaker:Evan: Used to uh they used to in like the the 1960s and 50s they would actually give
Speaker:Evan: new employees a lie detector test to make sure they weren't communists gay or like did drugs.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah it's.
Speaker:Evan: It's insane like the whole story i haven't i haven't listened to that podcast
Speaker:Evan: episode but i've read a couple articles and it's insane.
Speaker:bryant: They also had had just like uh.
Speaker:brandon: That's that's funny to me as someone who in 2024 has
Speaker:brandon: had to pass a drug test for their job and is also not allowed
Speaker:brandon: to be in the union if i'm in a communist party wait really sort
Speaker:brandon: of that's funny there's there's a clause in our
Speaker:brandon: union contract that says we're not allowed to be a member of any
Speaker:brandon: like revolutionary or like uh it's it's it's a holdover from decades ago but
Speaker:brandon: like yeah it's a suppose somebody else from uh another leftist i know that is
Speaker:brandon: in another um you uh you uh united steel workers branch told me that yeah tech
Speaker:brandon: like technically i can't join psl So good luck.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah.
Speaker:zach: Before we get too far away from it, I just wanted to,
Speaker:zach: create a frame of reference for any non-car people
Speaker:zach: who might have no idea what it means to have 200 horsepower out of a 400 cubic
Speaker:zach: inch engine um the new the new dr the new dr corolla is a 1.6 liter three-cylinder
Speaker:zach: turbo and makes 300 horsepower so less than half of the cylinders and
Speaker:zach: a hundred more horsepower out of a a car or an engine that's like yeah a third
Speaker:zach: of the displacement or less really because 6.6 liters i mean.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah less than a third that's.
Speaker:zach: A quarter or less and.
Speaker:brandon: Oh yeah jesus i did my math there yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Um technology's gotten a lot
Speaker:Connor: better um and that era people there's a
Speaker:Connor: there's a certain nostalgia aspect where people remember their 70s cars as you
Speaker:Connor: talk to your your dad or grandpa oh i had this 70s this and that and you're
Speaker:Connor: like yo that thing was slower than a fucking 90s camry and it's not even close
Speaker:Connor: like it's like nah those cars were fucking slow man they remember.
Speaker:brandon: It was cool.
Speaker:Connor: But like they were not fast.
Speaker:brandon: The other weird like uh point of reference though is that pontiac the pontiac
Speaker:brandon: 400 was was pretty prolific that was
Speaker:brandon: Pontiac's performance motor shy of the 455 a 400 and like 1970 was probably
Speaker:brandon: making 350 horsepower that's how badly it was gutted it was a little bit more
Speaker:brandon: than half the horsepower five
Speaker:brandon: years later because they were actually like being controlled a bit and.
Speaker:bryant: And I'll say also my my 2017 electric car has more power and accelerates quicker
Speaker:bryant: than the Pontiac but uh I I wrote down in my notes it's, you know, say what you will about,
Speaker:bryant: Burt Reynolds and Salafield, but I think the Pontiac is the sexiest character in this movie.
Speaker:bryant: I mean, even if it is kind of slow, it is a really nice looking car.
Speaker:bryant: Like, I like the gold accents and the wheels, like the sort of
Speaker:bryant: I don't know what you call that, like diamond honeycomb.
Speaker:brandon: Honeycomb.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:brandon: Those are sick wheels. This is a really cool car. If I have one objection,
Speaker:brandon: and I had to dig in a little bit to find this, so I don't know if it's 100% accurate.
Speaker:brandon: Supposedly, they wanted the brand new Pontiac, like 1977 would have been the newest thing.
Speaker:brandon: But it wasn't even fully released for production yet.
Speaker:brandon: So, what they did was they took four 1976s and put the 77 grill and headlight assemblies in.
Speaker:Evan: That's true.
Speaker:brandon: True it's true 76 front end looks so much fucking better they downgraded the
Speaker:brandon: look look of the car in my opinion i i prefer round to square headlights but
Speaker:brandon: um i i'm not super intense about that but the fact that they did go through
Speaker:brandon: that effort to to supposedly i.
Speaker:Connor: Heard that too and i i find that very yeah i think this is oh.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah at.
Speaker:Connor: That time like that's definitely i.
Speaker:zach: Think this is another point in the column of pontiac sponsoring this film in
Speaker:zach: that you know they They wanted their newest vehicle to be on display in the movie.
Speaker:zach: And it didn't matter that, you know, it was a little bit prohibitive and like
Speaker:zach: you said, made it look worse.
Speaker:zach: They just wanted the newest shit to be on screen.
Speaker:Connor: Which, by the way, it did work. It was.
Speaker:zach: Oh, yeah, that is.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, the the the the Trans Am started to like outsell the Camaro,
Speaker:Connor: which is its counterpart car because they're very, very similar cars.
Speaker:brandon: It's they're both the same body style. they just have quite kind of different grills basically.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah so yeah uh i think that i read that the sales nearly doubled of the trans
Speaker:Connor: 700 so like oh damn jesus christ okay i i read nearly doubled in an article
Speaker:Connor: apparently that's uh an understatement yeah.
Speaker:Evan: And apparently the pontiac president was going to give burt reynolds like uh
Speaker:Evan: basically like a pontiac car like a for life and then he left the company and
Speaker:Evan: they wouldn't give it to him and so he had to.
Speaker:Connor: Buy it himself oh it's awesome i didn't know that but i i did hear that the
Speaker:Connor: offer was they were going to give him a new trans am every year that there was
Speaker:Connor: a trans am because of how we boost their sales to renege on that is hysterical
Speaker:Connor: that's fucking awesome okay like burt.
Speaker:brandon: Reynolds had a lot of cultural uh weight and like when this came out so like
Speaker:brandon: yeah they really stiffed him because like what what's what the cost of like
Speaker:brandon: 30 cars over the course of like 30 years or something He earned every fucking
Speaker:brandon: penny of that That's the amount of extra cars They sold in the first month Or
Speaker:brandon: the first week this movie came.
Speaker:Connor: Out And.
Speaker:zach: I know for a fact that Even to this day a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird With
Speaker:zach: the snowflake wheels And the bird on the hood Is like,
Speaker:zach: an unreachable amount of money to this day like a hundred thousand.
Speaker:brandon: Plus i feel like i see them but it's hard to tell when something's a clone or.
Speaker:Connor: Somebody through the graphic yeah people people put the graphics on there which
Speaker:Connor: is cool and fine and whatever i mean they all had the show yeah i don't.
Speaker:Evan: So this is just you're mentioning like how big of a
Speaker:Evan: star was burt reynolds got paid the budget for this movie was three point four
Speaker:Evan: four point three million and he got paid one million so it was a quarter of
Speaker:Evan: the budget was burt reynolds god damn and then sally field didn't get paid very
Speaker:Evan: much it was like very early in her career actually it was burt reynolds idea
Speaker:Evan: to have her in the movie and then of course he wanted to have jerry reed in the movie and he,
Speaker:Evan: then they also reached out to jackie gleason and he's like he read the script
Speaker:Evan: he's like sure i'll do this it's stupid but fine whatever everyone just was
Speaker:Evan: like i'll do it and then he just improvised everything but yeah it's uh it's
Speaker:Evan: kind of amazing it got made in some sense but here we are um.
Speaker:brandon: I mean from what i'm hearing it kind of sounds like if gator had not been what
Speaker:brandon: it was this movie would not have been made yeah.
Speaker:Evan: I've never seen that i.
Speaker:brandon: I oh dude oh fuck god i fucking love that movie so much um i just i want to
Speaker:brandon: comment like i i had never thought of it again i'm i'm what i'm i watched this
Speaker:brandon: movie almost for the first time this week because uh i got to watch it through
Speaker:brandon: the leftist lens and that was the first time i realized that jackie gleason's first act on
Speaker:brandon: screen in this movie is to start physically like violently attacking.
Speaker:zach: Yeah.
Speaker:brandon: And I, it's just like the four, those dudes stealing parts off the car and he
Speaker:brandon: just immediately starts wailing.
Speaker:Connor: Well, and I found it, you know, interesting. I actually did make a note of it.
Speaker:Connor: The first scene in which we see, um,
Speaker:Connor: sheriff buford t justice the first scene
Speaker:Connor: he appears in they play like this silly over
Speaker:Connor: the top bad guy music to like let you
Speaker:Connor: know this is the antagonist and he gets out
Speaker:Connor: of his car and he's acting like a cop on a power trip and it was just like right
Speaker:Connor: from the beginning they're like this is the bad guy and he's an idiot um and
Speaker:Connor: so then yeah and then the first thing he does is assault someone and then he
Speaker:Connor: like tells them all like okay well i gotta go i gotta go leave but you put your hands
Speaker:Connor: on this car and don't you fucking leave you can't go to the bathroom you can't
Speaker:Connor: do it just till another cop comes and then just leaves them like yeah i i.
Speaker:zach: Made a note of it in my notes but the way that cops are portrayed in this movie
Speaker:zach: is fucking awesome they are all so incompetent and just incapable of doing anything
Speaker:zach: right i love it i love every second of the police on screen in this movie it's
Speaker:zach: so fucking beautiful okay.
Speaker:brandon: So also in the in the context of movie you know the bandit is is a cultural
Speaker:brandon: phenomenon somehow yeah.
Speaker:zach: They don't really go over that they just kind of expect you to understand that
Speaker:zach: the bandit is this character that you're supposed to like know already i guess
Speaker:zach: i it felt like there was a prequel that i missed no.
Speaker:brandon: I i got the impression that like they're trying to establish that he is such
Speaker:brandon: like a folk hero that just every mom and pop on the side of the road knows who
Speaker:brandon: the bandit is in this world like in the world of.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah but.
Speaker:brandon: Like what i appreciate so much is that okay you
Speaker:brandon: accept that take the bandit is a folk hero in the context of this movie every
Speaker:brandon: human being alive in this movie is is is doing their best to mislead the police
Speaker:brandon: lie to them just block them at dude when when the two dudes take the funeral.
Speaker:Connor: Process that's.
Speaker:brandon: One of the just to keep the cops from catching the bandit because they're like
Speaker:brandon: no man fuck the police bandit you got this shit yeah yeah.
Speaker:Connor: I feel like so this might be a good time to do a
Speaker:Connor: quick like bare bones like of the plot and
Speaker:Connor: what's going on and why these people are doing this to some extent like um i
Speaker:Connor: don't know who should do that if uh i don't know how we usually do this uh evan
Speaker:Connor: but if we want to like kind of outline what the overall story is why they're
Speaker:Connor: on this drive yeah yeah uh And then like how it is essentially this is like a folk hero story.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Connor: Like what Brandon was saying.
Speaker:Evan: And it's funny as you're saying that, like, because he's a folk hero on like
Speaker:Evan: a CB radio. And I'm thinking like this would be, you know, now it'd be like on Reddit or something.
Speaker:bryant: Here it's like, you know.
Speaker:Evan: CB radio.
Speaker:Connor: Oh, that's so sad.
Speaker:Evan: But yeah. But yeah. So yeah, to your point, like, so basically,
Speaker:Evan: we just all of a sudden we learn that.
Speaker:Evan: Well, I guess they very briefly tell you that there's like this big thing about
Speaker:Evan: bootlegging Coors beer from Tarkana's Texaco,
Speaker:Evan: texarkana texarkana texas to atlanta or wherever
Speaker:Evan: you know because it's illegal and then they just introduce you
Speaker:Evan: to burt reynolds just chilling on a hammock just
Speaker:Evan: being like yeah what do you want and these two guys come over and you know the
Speaker:Evan: father and the son and it's just the classic suits they're wearing and apparently
Speaker:Evan: actually i'll just add is that the his laugh on the hammock was apparently like
Speaker:Evan: him actually having never seen their outfits before and it was like a true laugh,
Speaker:Evan: i just think that's perfect he's like that's the most honest laugh i've ever
Speaker:Evan: given in a movie but that's fucking.
Speaker:brandon: Hysterical i can hear that laugh.
Speaker:Evan: That was.
Speaker:brandon: A that was a very earnest laugh like.
Speaker:Evan: So they basically say they're going to give him eighty thousand dollars which
Speaker:Evan: is the equivalent of almost four hundred thousand dollars now to bring back
Speaker:Evan: 400 cases of cores in 48 hours which which is 900 miles. 28 hours?
Speaker:zach: 28 hours.
Speaker:brandon: 28, yeah.
Speaker:Evan: Oh, 28 hours. Yeah, you're right. 28 hours. And he has, it's 900 miles each way. So 1,800 miles.
Speaker:brandon: It works out to be something of like a maintained average speed of like 60 miles
Speaker:brandon: an hour. It's actually not. I did the math.
Speaker:zach: That's like my first note. I was like, how fast does he have to go? It's 64 miles an hour.
Speaker:zach: Like just over 64 miles an hour. It's really not that fast average.
Speaker:Evan: But they do a lot of up putzing around and like not driving for a lot of yeah apparently.
Speaker:brandon: And sally.
Speaker:zach: Field had enough time to get it on in one scene so they're really not.
Speaker:Connor: In that.
Speaker:zach: Much of a hurry it seems like yeah.
Speaker:Connor: They're just that good they're they're they're folk heroes they are just so
Speaker:Connor: far above and beyond that they can they can do it they can stop for meals they
Speaker:Connor: got time to sleep they can do it all 400.
Speaker:Evan: Horsepower power for uh.
Speaker:Connor: No
Speaker:brandon: No no 200 cubic inches.
Speaker:zach: Yeah yeah right okay.
Speaker:brandon: Well okay so since we're since we're starting off with that i think another
Speaker:brandon: worthwhile note is that uh you really like it is like a very working class versus
Speaker:brandon: the law movie the closest you get to anyone like wealthy or powerful in this
Speaker:brandon: movie is big and little enos,
Speaker:brandon: And holy fuck, are they the butt of the joke? They're the driving force in that
Speaker:brandon: they're the ones that come up to the bandit and say, we got this bet for you.
Speaker:brandon: But their whole thing is to fuck everyone over because they keep making this
Speaker:brandon: bet with people just to get them in trouble and fuck with them.
Speaker:brandon: And that's what they're doing here.
Speaker:brandon: And from that point on, they are the butt of the joke.
Speaker:brandon: This is such a working class fucking movie. this is about the worker like even
Speaker:brandon: across like racial lines for the 70s like everyone was working together because
Speaker:brandon: fuck the police and fuck these rich assholes.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah it was um i mean so like
Speaker:Connor: basically the whole point of the movie is finally this bet
Speaker:Connor: that they've been making to lots of truckers they've all gotten
Speaker:Connor: either arrested or or crashed out or whatever it
Speaker:Connor: was they finally offer this this deal to
Speaker:Connor: the bandit the big local legend right
Speaker:Connor: um and so that's pretty much what the movie is is
Speaker:Connor: they're doing this run in this time frame and that
Speaker:Connor: is the whole story that's going on here but one of
Speaker:Connor: the things that i noticed like the opening scene right after
Speaker:Connor: the credits which i also noted had like another unique
Speaker:Connor: song made just for the movie which i
Speaker:Connor: was like oh that's cool um and i had never noticed it
Speaker:Connor: before but so the first scene is actually another truck
Speaker:Connor: driver getting busted like that is our opening is like cops
Speaker:Connor: show up and confront this other truck driver and they're like
Speaker:Connor: all right let's see what's in the back sure enough it's
Speaker:Connor: the Coors beer and he's like well hey listen officer I was put up to this by
Speaker:Connor: these by these two rich guys offering me a bunch of money to do it and they
Speaker:Connor: and the cops go don't you when are you guys gonna learn those you know uh people
Speaker:Connor: offer the same deal to every trucker you know worth their salt or whatever and
Speaker:Connor: i found that really funny because i was like it.
Speaker:brandon: Really does paint the picture that the south is only about five or six hundred people.
Speaker:Connor: Which is all each other well yeah
Speaker:Connor: acting as if they all knew but the other thing that i found funny was
Speaker:Connor: like so wait you know who's doing this you know
Speaker:Connor: who's driving this and they are very much not in jail and i was like it really
Speaker:Connor: does set up that like the truckers are the ones facing the consequences but
Speaker:Connor: like these rich assholes are not and like it like it literally cuts from this
Speaker:Connor: scene of the of them telling him that they offer this to every truck driver,
Speaker:Connor: cuts to the next scene with showing the back of their cadillac convertible as
Speaker:Connor: they drive around with big you know they're just goofy motherfuckers and it's
Speaker:Connor: and it's just so clear that like they're setting up this idea that like yeah
Speaker:Connor: these rich assholes get to do this and there are no consequences for them everyone
Speaker:Connor: else faces consequences the.
Speaker:Evan: Cops get to confiscate all the beer so they don't want to arrest them right
Speaker:Evan: they want to keep keep the beer.
Speaker:Connor: Flowing but.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah like that's so yeah so as As you said, that's basically the rest of the
Speaker:Evan: movie is first, you know, you kind of Burt Reynolds has to, or the bandit has
Speaker:Evan: to get his partner, Jerry Reed, and they, you know, embark on their mission.
Speaker:Evan: And they're chased the entire time by Sheriff Buford T. Justice,
Speaker:Evan: played hilariously by Jackie Gleason.
Speaker:Evan: And then you have Sally Field who, within what, the first, I don't know,
Speaker:Evan: I don't know, they've already gotten the beer at this point,
Speaker:Evan: right? When they pick her up, they're on the way back.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, so actually the first, so within the first 20 minutes,
Speaker:Connor: the Enos guys offer the deal to the bandit. He convinces his friend and fellow
Speaker:Connor: truck driver, the snowman, to join him on this.
Speaker:Connor: And basically he says, look, I'm going to drive the blocker car.
Speaker:Connor: So I'm going to drive out ahead of you and get the attention of the police so
Speaker:Connor: that they don't stop you in the truck behind. Okay.
Speaker:Connor: And so then his friend agrees, which I got to do a side tangent.
Speaker:Connor: I also found it very weird and kind of goofy that like the band,
Speaker:Connor: it's like, all right, well, if I'm going to take this deal from y'all,
Speaker:Connor: I'm going to need money for a car.
Speaker:Connor: And they just hand him the money for her car. And they're counting it out.
Speaker:Connor: And he's like, I need a speedy car.
Speaker:Connor: And they give him more money and goes speedier than that. And they give him
Speaker:Connor: more money, which is just comedy gold.
Speaker:Connor: But also I was like, they're just handing you the money to do this.
Speaker:Connor: Like, yeah, great. I'd like to get a Lamborghini.
Speaker:brandon: In my head the whole time i'm just like dude fuck the eighty thousand dollars
Speaker:brandon: you have to work for that they're giving you like probably like five or ten
Speaker:brandon: grand up front dude take the money and run like.
Speaker:bryant: They're paying what like ten dollars per beer at this point or something like that in.
Speaker:Connor: I mean a crazy amount it's just this is rich guys with nothing better to do
Speaker:Connor: and they like i think they do a good job setting up that like they don't actually
Speaker:Connor: give a shit about the beer they just want to fuck with people and this is just.
Speaker:brandon: They're like why do you want the beer and they're like oh we're having a party it's.
Speaker:bryant: And it's kind of like uh that movie rat race uh in that regard it's just rich
Speaker:bryant: people fucking with everyday people as like a for fun.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah yeah.
Speaker:zach: Just as entertainment and to put the.
Speaker:brandon: I mean it's established that no one has accomplished this yet so it is a hundred
Speaker:brandon: percent they are just keep fucking people over yeah.
Speaker:Evan: They also allude that burt ranalds his friend cletus or the snowman he had you
Speaker:Evan: know he had gone to prison it didn't i I don't think they say why,
Speaker:Evan: because of antics that he had pulled maybe some other kind of similar job.
Speaker:Evan: And his wife's like, no, you don't do this. And he's like, well,
Speaker:Evan: $40,000, presumably if they're going to split it, is a life-changing amount of money.
Speaker:Evan: So they're just, again, fucking with these people for money that will change
Speaker:Evan: their lives, but means nothing to them.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, they carry this around in their pocket.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, he just got stacks of bills.
Speaker:Connor: I did find one other thing I just wanted to make note specifically when they
Speaker:Connor: first approached the bandit with this offer and he lets out that very you know,
Speaker:Connor: awesome laugh as soon as he sees them but i love
Speaker:Connor: what he did say after that because i actually i put it in my
Speaker:Connor: notes i was like this is such a good fucking line his first instinct
Speaker:Connor: is to laugh in their faces and then insult them by
Speaker:Connor: saying oh i love your suits it must be a bitch getting a size 68 extra fat and
Speaker:Connor: a 12 dwarf i was like god damn if that is not a working class hero i don't know
Speaker:Connor: what is just that alone if.
Speaker:Evan: Paul williams said that like made his career actually like being in this even
Speaker:Evan: though he was the butt of the joke he like he like he kind of just loves it and got lots of.
Speaker:Connor: Work because.
Speaker:Evan: Of it so fuck it yeah there there's just i mean
Speaker:Evan: just generally speaking as you said that there's tons and tons and tons of just
Speaker:Evan: really good jokes and it kind of blows my mind that many of them were just ad-libbed
Speaker:Evan: when they're in the moment like they're just it's really really funny and lots
Speaker:Evan: of like you know kind of like double entendres and you know hidden meaning where
Speaker:Evan: they you know say one word when they meet another it's just.
Speaker:Connor: Like everything over the cb radios was in you oh yeah everything there in double
Speaker:Connor: entendres the whole bit like i loved every interaction on the cb radios um but
Speaker:Connor: yeah actually i remember um because i i kind of did a number of side tangents
Speaker:Connor: there but i was getting to the point where i was trying to set up the idea
Speaker:Connor: that within the first 20 minutes of the movie they
Speaker:Connor: did all of this shit got this all together and they
Speaker:Connor: had already gotten to texas to pick up the beer within
Speaker:Connor: 20 minutes and then like a couple minutes later so
Speaker:Connor: like basically they had no problems going out none whatsoever there was one
Speaker:Connor: cop that the bandit got the attention of and lost very easily um and then also
Speaker:Connor: notably breaks the fourth wall as he's like he like looks at the camera and
Speaker:Connor: just like kind of gives a little smile and then like takes it takes off i.
Speaker:brandon: Really appreciated that because at no other point in the movie does anything like that happen.
Speaker:Connor: No the only fourth one the.
Speaker:Evan: Funny thing that burt reynolds said he's like oh like are you sure you want
Speaker:Evan: me to do that and he says to need him the director he's like oh you know that's
Speaker:Evan: breaking the fourth wall and apparently i'll need him with like completely deadpan goes what's that.
Speaker:Connor: That's so awesome was this first.
Speaker:bryant: His first uh time time directing a movie because he was a stuntman mostly right um.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah that makes sense i didn't.
Speaker:bryant: Realize i think it was.
Speaker:Evan: His yeah i think so.
Speaker:bryant: He actually did the stunt of uh jumping the car over the bridge i think yep yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Oh that's very cool that is cool that's a cool director right there oh no don't
Speaker:Connor: worry i got the i got the car jump yeah that's all me actually so.
Speaker:Evan: He was the.
Speaker:Connor: Second director.
Speaker:Evan: On gator i guess that's how he and
Speaker:Evan: burt reynolds became friends but that's not like not the main director but yeah
Speaker:Evan: so this is his first uh his first shot apparently he like didn't really know
Speaker:Evan: like i couldn't find much about the technical but apparently it was just kind
Speaker:Evan: of like makeshift kind of nonsense on the set which makes sense given the given
Speaker:Evan: it but yeah the all the lines are really good i had a bunch of them written down i can't find so.
Speaker:bryant: One of my favorite is uh you ought to quit smoking it's bad for your health
Speaker:bryant: but I enjoy it so much. Yeah.
Speaker:zach: And then she like visibly as she's smoking.
Speaker:brandon: Like the first, I just started. My favorite joke was probably when,
Speaker:brandon: when Sally Fields looks over at the speedo and says, are we really going 110,
Speaker:brandon: but doesn't seem to understand that that's kilometers.
Speaker:bryant: Was it? Yeah.
Speaker:brandon: Like I paused it and rewound because I was like, wait a second.
Speaker:brandon: What? And when you look at it, yeah, they're going 110 kilometers.
Speaker:bryant: Like 65 miles an hour.
Speaker:Connor: They're going slow.
Speaker:brandon: Well they only.
Speaker:Evan: Have to go 64 so that they're good yeah.
Speaker:brandon: Okay so the the if if anything that i will give them credit for the challenge
Speaker:brandon: of this is sure an average maintained speed of around 65 for 28 hours but how
Speaker:brandon: the fuck long does it take to go pick up his buddy snowman to go buy a car that's
Speaker:brandon: like an entire afternoon right there and like i don't know when they start the.
Speaker:Connor: Clock exactly but i i presume they buy the car before the clock starts i hope.
Speaker:brandon: Well i was i I was assuming that the clock started at the truck rodeo.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Like, I don't, I don't think that's possible. Like, I literally actually do
Speaker:Connor: not think that even if he got that shit altogether in two hours,
Speaker:Connor: they were running an hour ahead of schedule when they hit Texarkana.
Speaker:Connor: Or I think, I think after they loaded the beer, they were a half an hour ahead
Speaker:Connor: of schedule, but they were ahead of schedule when they hit Texarkana.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah. Cause the store hadn't opened yet. They, they broke in and stole the beer.
Speaker:Connor: They broke into the.
Speaker:brandon: Stole the beer.
Speaker:Connor: And left a note.
Speaker:zach: Just like.
Speaker:Connor: Send the bill to.
Speaker:zach: Another another big line in the movie is that they did not leave the note jerry
Speaker:zach: reed's character is writing the note can't figure out how to spell the guy's
Speaker:zach: name it just goes oh shit i gotta go and throws the notepad and just leaves i.
Speaker:Evan: Just like that he he like gets in the forklift and he just kind of dipping around
Speaker:Evan: and And just crushes a bunch of the.
Speaker:zach: Beer. Another one of my favorite lines. When Jerry Reed's character says.
Speaker:zach: You can't drive a forklift. And he says I can drive any forking thing around.
Speaker:bryant: Just like.
Speaker:Evan: So many of those great one liners.
Speaker:zach: In this movie.
Speaker:brandon: That is 100% a joke I would make.
Speaker:zach: That felt like a Brandon joke.
Speaker:zach: for sure well.
Speaker:Evan: This i assume this ruby because at the time there was no pg-13 it was just a
Speaker:Evan: pg movie you know just a you know do that or are and it's not i mean i guess
Speaker:Evan: you could say it's a kid's movie you could watch this for you know as a kid
Speaker:Evan: and probably not get most of the jokes right because they've kind of hidden
Speaker:Evan: them in there with yeah you know the the innuendo and all that i'm.
Speaker:Connor: I'm always appreciative of like kids movies in general because i think those are some of the
Speaker:Connor: best writers because they always disney movies do
Speaker:Connor: this a lot of them do this where it's like they hide the humor really well that
Speaker:Connor: kids will not get it you'll laugh at the same time but the parents and the kids
Speaker:Connor: laugh for different reasons um i always appreciate that kind of writing i think
Speaker:Connor: that's a real skill and this movie i think definitely has oh yeah as.
Speaker:zach: A complete side tangent i just watched uh shrek one
Speaker:zach: two and three the other day and it has
Speaker:zach: tons of that in it it's if you haven't
Speaker:zach: watched it in a while go back and watch the first trek movie it's it's full
Speaker:zach: of just adult humor that is masterfully written in to be subtle and and and
Speaker:zach: just above the head of the the target audience.
Speaker:Connor: It's so great i love that i i really i do love that shit.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah the first i haven't actually seen the third one i've watched the first
Speaker:Evan: one not that long ago maybe six months ago and i remember thinking damn this
Speaker:Evan: movie i mean i had seen it a long time and it is uh so many good jokes and so
Speaker:Evan: many things that are hidden in there that are yeah solid i.
Speaker:zach: Uh another complete side tangent but i got a lecture
Speaker:zach: from my very christian mother about shrek after seeing
Speaker:zach: it in the theater with her because there's one scene where
Speaker:zach: they roll a stone away from a tomb to uh allow princess fiona somewhere to sleep
Speaker:zach: and uh i was told that that was making a mockery of jesus tomb so yeah you have
Speaker:zach: that to look forward to i mean that's kind of funny if you go ahead and watch it now.
Speaker:Evan: Well i mean we i guess we i.
Speaker:brandon: Feel like that's giving strength i.
Speaker:Evan: Mean you talked about how the how like the cops in this movie are portrayed
Speaker:Evan: poorly i think we should talk about the i mean you also can say some of your
Speaker:Evan: favorite lines of like the Beaufort T justice.
Speaker:Evan: I mean, it's just his entire shtick is just,
Speaker:Evan: hysterical the entire time but i don't know about i don't have well i'll have
Speaker:Evan: to think about my favorite line but one of my favorite gags in the entire movie
Speaker:Evan: is his son once the car's roof gets pulled off and he has to hold his hat every
Speaker:Evan: time you're driving around it's just i i couldn't every time they showed that
Speaker:Evan: on screen i'm just like what the this is and he keeps doing it.
Speaker:bryant: When they're just walking around yeah he keeps.
Speaker:Evan: His hand on his.
Speaker:zach: Hat that was so funny.
Speaker:Evan: I think one of my favorite And how he says, some bitch.
Speaker:zach: Some bitch, yeah. That's great. No, my favorite Buford T.
Speaker:zach: Justice line is when he berates the cop who stops him for using foul language.
Speaker:zach: And then as he's driving away, you hear a truck horn blare and you just see
Speaker:zach: him mouth the words, and fuck off. And then he drives away.
Speaker:Connor: I think one of the other excellent points
Speaker:Connor: and sort of major plot point when they pick
Speaker:Connor: up uh sally field's character uh carrie
Speaker:Connor: she is a she's wearing a wedding dress and
Speaker:Connor: she's hitchhiking the bandit picks her up she's fleeing her wedding now she
Speaker:Connor: is to supposed to be marrying sheriff buford t justice's idiot son who is a
Speaker:Connor: fucking dimwit the whole movie um and like he's in the car with uh with the
Speaker:Connor: sheriff the whole time and And he is dumb as a box of rocks.
Speaker:Connor: But one of the things I love is as like they're driving in pursuit and,
Speaker:Connor: you know, Sheriff Justice over here is like ranting and raving in the car.
Speaker:Connor: And she's like, she disrespected my authority.
Speaker:Connor: And that's nothing but good old fashioned communism.
Speaker:zach: Oh, I love that.
Speaker:brandon: Too.
Speaker:Connor: And I actually one of our outros that we use for our show does have that line, actually.
Speaker:Connor: um but it's funny he's like ranting and
Speaker:Connor: raving about how how he feels personally slighted by what she did while his
Speaker:Connor: son who she left at the altar is in the car with him and he doesn't give a fuck
Speaker:Connor: about what he thinks like he's like yeah and he's like shut up so like his general vibe is too.
Speaker:brandon: Stupid to understand what has happened in his life he's.
Speaker:zach: A total hottie.
Speaker:Connor: He's a he's a classic himbo.
Speaker:zach: Hot and dumb as hell.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah so yeah it was just it was very funny that the cop is bitching and moaning
Speaker:Connor: about how this affects him instead of his son which was just absolutely priceless it.
Speaker:brandon: Really never even pays lip service to the fact that his son.
Speaker:Connor: Might have some feelings about this,
Speaker:Connor: is it beauty justice.
Speaker:Evan: Who has the line where he says like uh or maybe this does the son say one of
Speaker:Evan: them says like this is germane to the situation he says the germans have nothing yeah yeah.
Speaker:Connor: So um.
Speaker:zach: Black sheriff that they meet oh right right.
Speaker:Connor: Who who i want to add is the only competent
Speaker:Connor: police officer in this film and i found that i was like okay this feels like
Speaker:Connor: a very deliberate choice like 1977 not a great time in this country but like
Speaker:Connor: the one competent police officer that they portray in this film is the black
Speaker:Connor: sheriff and he like he like says like oh oh, this isn't germane to the situation.
Speaker:Connor: And this idiot has no idea what that even fucking means.
Speaker:Connor: It's, but like, he's, he thinks he's better than the black sheriff.
Speaker:brandon: Since we're having that conversation, you cannot skip the interaction between the black sheriff.
Speaker:zach: Yeah, that's exactly what I was about to say.
Speaker:brandon: He is horrified. Like you, this is where it was being probably a PG movie really
Speaker:brandon: shines because again, he can't use the hard R when he meets the black sheriff.
Speaker:brandon: So he's got to be like, oh, you know, you're not what I expected.
Speaker:brandon: And, you know, the subtext is really fucking obvious and that he's like,
Speaker:brandon: holy fuck, you're black.
Speaker:Connor: Well, as he's walking away, like so he actually meets him as because the black
Speaker:Connor: sheriff's like, yo, dude, you're like way out of your jurisdiction.
Speaker:Connor: Like, you should fucking leave. Like, please stop what you're doing.
Speaker:Connor: And Beaufort T. Justice, of course, doesn't.
Speaker:Connor: But the bandit leads them on a chase, and this is where they do the big bridge
Speaker:Connor: jump because they got cornered on this dirt road and they had nowhere to go.
Speaker:Connor: So they jumped the bridge. And when the police tried to do it, also notably,
Speaker:Connor: the car that the black sheriff was in was being driven by a white sheriff's
Speaker:Connor: deputy who was the mayor's son and notably not as competent.
Speaker:Connor: So like you have this like fairly competent black sheriff and he's like paired
Speaker:Connor: up with this, the mayor's son who's driving the car.
Speaker:brandon: Anybody in this movie made Buford Justice's son look smart. It was that dude.
Speaker:brandon: What if like there is no better word than yokel for that.
Speaker:zach: Just to drive Buford T. Justice's racism home after they have this interaction
Speaker:zach: with the black sheriff, he turns around and goes, what has the world come to?
Speaker:bryant: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Connor: Exactly. That's, that's the line. That's the important line there is it was
Speaker:Connor: like, and it's so clear what he's talking about, but like he first even sees
Speaker:Connor: him, which basically they crashed.
Speaker:Connor: They didn't make it over the bridge when they tried to jump it.
Speaker:Connor: They, so they crashed and the, um, black sheriff's getting out of the vehicle.
Speaker:Connor: And that's where Buford T justice is standing on the bridge.
Speaker:Connor: And, you know, it says something, he calls him boy first, which of course,
Speaker:Connor: very, very noticeable there.
Speaker:Connor: And he's like, where's, you know sheriff whatever and he's like I'm the sheriff
Speaker:Connor: and he almost like doesn't believe it at first and he says something like oh
Speaker:Connor: I thought you'd be taller or something and that's when he turns around and says
Speaker:Connor: what is the world coming to and you're like,
Speaker:Connor: god damn like you know buford t justice is literally his character is just a
Speaker:Connor: parody of a conservative asshole like that's his.
Speaker:brandon: Whole shtick it really does make you wonder what the director was doing because
Speaker:brandon: those were all such intentional decisions yeah to make the the one black sheriff
Speaker:brandon: the only competent person in law enforcement in this movie buford t justice is
Speaker:brandon: just like not only like they went as
Speaker:brandon: hard as they could to make him racist under a pg
Speaker:brandon: uh rating as they could and
Speaker:brandon: just so fucking dumb and yeah the
Speaker:brandon: one thing i was a little bit wasn't sure what how to
Speaker:brandon: feel about was yeah he shows up and calls that sheriff boy
Speaker:brandon: but he calls everyone in the movie boy he is just condescending to everyone
Speaker:brandon: he speaks to he is um and i'm wondering if they were doing that to make it seem
Speaker:brandon: less obvious that he was being racist towards the sheriff or if that's i don't
Speaker:brandon: i really don't know because i noticed that immediately but then personally he says that to everyone he.
Speaker:Connor: Does and that's it's because he's a condescending asshole but it's because like
Speaker:Connor: the next where he turns around and goes what is the world coming to it is so
Speaker:Connor: clear that he is just like unabashedly racist um so like it's reasonable to just kind
Speaker:Connor: of conclude that to some extent he was just being racist in that instance.
Speaker:Connor: But yes, he also does call everyone boy.
Speaker:bryant: Um, by the way, have you guys, have you guys seen, uh, the James Bond movie live and let die?
Speaker:brandon: Is that the one that has, uh, Jackie Gleason?
Speaker:bryant: Maybe he's in it, but there's a different, um, like Southern,
Speaker:bryant: uh, racist, uh, sheriff in that one, uh, sheriff JW pepper.
Speaker:bryant: Um, and there's also a car jumping across, uh, a river,
Speaker:bryant: um but it's uh i think it's set in louisiana and there's also people using cb
Speaker:bryant: radios to coordinate um catching james bond uh i wonder how like that was in
Speaker:bryant: 1973 i wonder how much that influenced this movie you know oh.
Speaker:brandon: You know in in my uh in my head i always i haven't seen that movie in so long
Speaker:brandon: i just assumed that that was the same character but i i actually thought that
Speaker:brandon: was jackie gleason that's yeah i don't remember the.
Speaker:bryant: Actor's name but it was a different guy he might have been an english guy just
Speaker:bryant: putting on an accent now i think about it.
Speaker:zach: I would just like.
Speaker:Evan: To say none of the things they said they never mentioned that i wonder if it's
Speaker:Evan: just it got like seeped into his influence or something yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah there's some.
Speaker:brandon: Similarities james was that guy yeah no um it definitely i actually always assumed
Speaker:brandon: that the two were connected because the behavior is so like similar and just
Speaker:brandon: such buffoons either way good on this director for
Speaker:brandon: painting the police as racist assholes and like lifting up a working class hero
Speaker:brandon: to to beat them that rules yeah.
Speaker:Connor: This movie like obviously it wasn't like it's not perfect and progressive in
Speaker:Connor: every fashion but like there are elements of it that actually are fairly progressive
Speaker:Connor: especially for the time period when you're like damn all right not wrong here.
Speaker:brandon: Even the little old lady fucking knows that the bandit rules and the police man yeah well.
Speaker:Evan: You mentioned before the the funeral procession i mean that i think is one of
Speaker:Evan: the the best of all of the like blocking the cops to go through and they know
Speaker:Evan: what they're doing they they know uh they'd rather see the cops anyone get away
Speaker:Evan: as long as the cops fail like fuck them.
Speaker:brandon: Also a mad respect to them having a cb radio in the house yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Another i also love that everybody like everybody would get on to the cb radio
Speaker:Connor: so So like there's this element of like a collective action where like people
Speaker:Connor: are listening in on the CB radios, but like when they participate,
Speaker:Connor: they all come in. Nobody's awkward. Everyone's like,
Speaker:Connor: they come up with a name for themselves and they're like all in it
Speaker:Connor: to help the bandit like they are a part of this history everyone's
Speaker:Connor: all working together like even the the funeral guys he picks
Speaker:Connor: up the cb radio and like you see he like almost thinks for a second he goes this is
Speaker:Connor: grave digger it was just like it's this
Speaker:Connor: whole thing that like everybody's in on it everybody's
Speaker:Connor: got a name everybody's playing along um and it
Speaker:Connor: was really cool that just like how ubiquitous uh
Speaker:Connor: everything was like everyone knew everyone knew
Speaker:Connor: who they were and everyone was there to help old ladies other truck drivers
Speaker:Connor: there's an uh a point which we'll probably talk about later where there's a
Speaker:Connor: sex worker who contacts them over the cb radio let's letting them know she's
Speaker:Connor: going to take care of some of the police in the way which becomes very relevant
Speaker:Connor: a little bit later yeah yeah.
Speaker:Evan: I love that's that's just so yeah you we can talk about that now but that scene
Speaker:Evan: is so funny because then they sheriff the buford justice comes by and is like
Speaker:Evan: thinks he's arresting the bandit and it turns out it's actually just a different
Speaker:Evan: cop like this like the the sheriff or the whatever of that town.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah so well so the bandits like on the radio is like oh yeah i'll come by you
Speaker:Connor: know i'll have to come by and thank you sometimes she's like why don't you come
Speaker:Connor: in person he's like yeah okay he doesn't show up but the fucking sheriff's like
Speaker:Connor: oh i got him i'm gonna go well then he goes and he pulls this guy out and he
Speaker:Connor: goes yeah and he's telling this other cop i got him this is the bandit. And he's like, Sir...
Speaker:Connor: that's my captain and it's it's just yet another fucking cop who's like fucking
Speaker:Connor: soliciting you know sex workers on the job and he's the police captain it's
Speaker:Connor: just one more instance of like yeah and i think uh you per t justice.
Speaker:zach: Says something along the lines of if you're gonna be in a joint like this at
Speaker:zach: least wear a badge on your underwear or something,
Speaker:zach: he knows you're a cop.
Speaker:Connor: And he doesn't arrest you well yeah and of course it's it's noticeable too that
Speaker:Connor: like the first thing that he fucking does as soon as he learns he's a cop he's
Speaker:Connor: like all right i'm like it's just like wait excuse me wait a second what we're done i mean.
Speaker:Evan: At least he doesn't arrest the women i guess that's the only uh.
Speaker:Connor: Well yeah at least there's that he was in a rush, though.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker:brandon: The more we talk about it, I cannot believe the way this movie uplifts workers,
Speaker:brandon: criminals, sex... This movie is antithetical to everything modern conservatives
Speaker:brandon: would ever believe in and would probably love this movie.
Speaker:Connor: No, they do. It's so funny because my dad loves this movie and I'm like,
Speaker:Connor: my dude, did you watch this movie?
Speaker:Connor: It's making fun of you. I never understand that because I'm like,
Speaker:Connor: dude, a lot of conservative people will watch movies and be like, This is great.
Speaker:Connor: And I'm like, it's antithetical to everything you believe.
Speaker:Connor: And you're a caricature in the film and they're making fun of you.
Speaker:Evan: Or they're thinking, yeah, or they're thinking it's like the opposite.
Speaker:Evan: Like it's making fun of liberals. Yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Who is that politician?
Speaker:bryant: No comprehension.
Speaker:zach: Like name a better duo.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah. Who is that guy that was a big fan of Rage Against the Machine? Scott something.
Speaker:brandon: Oh, the guy who told them to keep politics out of the. something like that oh man.
Speaker:Evan: Or when start with like there's uh i can't think of the conservative woman's
Speaker:Evan: name on uh forget her name she was talking about like starship troopers on twitter
Speaker:Evan: being like oh this movie is pro-fascism it's like no yeah no so many people didn't.
Speaker:Connor: Understand that movie.
Speaker:zach: Yeah or the the iconic tweet of uh star wars isn't about vietnam not unless the u.s.
Speaker:Evan: Is the empire higher oh yeah
Speaker:Evan: i mean it's almost uh amazing i don't know all these things make it it's almost
Speaker:Evan: surprising the studio like this is a universal studio movie and they didn't
Speaker:Evan: seem to have much issue with the movie going through unless they just figured
Speaker:Evan: it's burt reynolds he's like in a
Speaker:Evan: pretty you know he's a popular person he's starring in it so we'll just let
Speaker:Evan: it go i mean i don't know it seems almost shocking i mean i think.
Speaker:bryant: This is when studios were more um willing to risk a little bit on something
Speaker:bryant: you know a little bit more creative a little bit out of the norm,
Speaker:bryant: you know whereas nowadays nowadays they're just you know making marvel sequels or whatever um i.
Speaker:Connor: Mean yeah that was the era that like mel brooks was big right like i feel like
Speaker:Connor: so if that can get through like this is there's a lot of humor that is i would
Speaker:Connor: say similar to like a mel brooks kind of film yeah.
Speaker:bryant: I mean and it.
Speaker:Evan: Wasn't a huge budget.
Speaker:bryant: Or anything it was what like.
Speaker:Evan: No what you said three four million yeah four million yeah that actually reminds
Speaker:Evan: me of a fact i learned recently about because you mentioned Mel Brooks,
Speaker:Evan: is when they're making Blazing Saddles.
Speaker:Evan: Apparently the studio told Mel Brooks to make the movie less racist towards
Speaker:Evan: white people because they're being too mean.
Speaker:Connor: Jesus Christ.
Speaker:brandon: You know, they could never remake Blazing Saddles today.
Speaker:zach: Because Gene Wilder's dead?
Speaker:Evan: I don't know.
Speaker:brandon: I saw some tweet where somebody was like, they could never redo that today because
Speaker:brandon: they completely missed the point.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah.
Speaker:brandon: I was another one of those. Hey, Rage Against the Machine, keep politics out of your music.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah.
Speaker:Evan: Oh, yeah. Well, I guess another person we haven't talked about is Sally Field.
Speaker:Evan: You mentioned before how she
Speaker:Evan: comes into the picture. She's running away from her wedding from a man.
Speaker:Evan: I think she had said she had been with him for five days or something,
Speaker:Evan: and they decided to get married.
Speaker:Evan: And then she's also ticking off and getting dressed under her wedding dress
Speaker:Evan: inside the moving vehicle, which is also pretty badass.
Speaker:Evan: and and burt reynolds has the audacity to be like you have big calves yeah he's
Speaker:Evan: like what are you talking about i don't maybe that's just been like a joke because
Speaker:Evan: he wanted her in the movie because he said that she was beautiful when the studio's
Speaker:Evan: like oh she's not really sexy and he's like no she's sexy so apparently how
Speaker:Evan: she got you know cast well.
Speaker:bryant: And then they ended up dating i think after this.
Speaker:Evan: Married actually yeah i think i don't know how long they got married for let's see four years oh.
Speaker:Connor: Wow okay that's that's an eternity in celebrity marriages so.
Speaker:Evan: 1976 to 1980 i.
Speaker:brandon: Did i had forgotten about that but that tracks because they did have really
Speaker:brandon: good on like kind of weird but good on.
Speaker:zach: Yeah i was gonna say it was really odd that she was so into the bandit like
Speaker:zach: it didn't really seem there was like a lot of pretense for it she was just like i.
Speaker:Connor: Mean that's kind of her.
Speaker:zach: Character though like.
Speaker:Connor: Because she did mention it like she's like oh i had this like crazy you know relationship.
Speaker:Connor: I really thought he was the one. We were together for eight and a half days.
Speaker:Connor: So like it becomes clear like she has a habit of like falling hard and fast
Speaker:Connor: and I can't help but feel like thank God she didn't marry this dimwit fucking
Speaker:Connor: person she was gonna marry because you're like God damn dude.
Speaker:Connor: I don't know what you got in five days that convinced you that he's alright
Speaker:Connor: but like you didn't talk to him. So,
Speaker:Connor: That's all I can say there.
Speaker:Evan: Maybe she met Buford T. Justin and she's like, no, this guy can't be my father-in-law.
Speaker:Connor: Can you imagine?
Speaker:Evan: This fucking asshole. She doesn't seem to like cops.
Speaker:Evan: She's not very obvious about it, I guess, but she's clearly not against the
Speaker:Evan: fact that they're just literally just driving away from cops and evading them the entire movie.
Speaker:brandon: I mean, the subtext of this movie is literally nobody likes police.
Speaker:zach: At one point, she does flip off the cops when they're trying to get a blockade.
Speaker:Evan: That's true.
Speaker:zach: True like removed from the road they do a big slide in the middle of the highway
Speaker:zach: and stop and she just leans out the window and flips off the cops and they turn around and peel out.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah well so that was the one time when they finally when a cop pulled over
Speaker:Connor: the truck and was gonna write you know it's gonna take him to jail that's right
Speaker:Connor: that's when and so like all it took for them to get the cops away from the truck
Speaker:Connor: was just pulling up giving them the finger and then he's like oh it gets all
Speaker:Connor: mad and then chases after him and it's like wow excellent y'all are so yeah
Speaker:Connor: they They have the attention.
Speaker:bryant: Span of a goldfish or something.
Speaker:zach: And the ego is the other thing I liked about, I mean, a traffic stop from happening
Speaker:zach: was getting flipped off.
Speaker:zach: Like they obviously don't care that much.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah.
Speaker:zach: Like, you know, enacting the law, they're just hurt their feelings.
Speaker:zach: And, and they're like, well, that, that can't slide.
Speaker:zach: I can't be flipped off by some lady in a car. So I'm going to chase after them.
Speaker:Connor: One of the other things I liked about, uh her character is
Speaker:Connor: like early on she's like doing all
Speaker:Connor: this stuff she's she's very careless like taking off
Speaker:Connor: her wedding dress in the car which is a whole production at
Speaker:Connor: one point she's driving and decides like she's gonna switch seats while they're
Speaker:Connor: driving with the bandit like she's very unsafe in these
Speaker:Connor: ways but like one of the things she does is like she gets scared she's
Speaker:Connor: like oh my god you're driving so fast and recklessly she like
Speaker:Connor: gets out of her seat and like starts to
Speaker:Connor: like head towards the back of the car not wearing a
Speaker:Connor: seat belt and i'm like if you're scared of
Speaker:Connor: what's happening you should be wearing a seat belt and she's like out of her
Speaker:Connor: seat and like trying to go to the bed and you're like that's that's the worst
Speaker:Connor: thing you could be doing right now um so i found that to be actually kind of
Speaker:Connor: extra funny there is that she was like just freaking out and not doing anything safe remotely i.
Speaker:Evan: Don't that's when she has her joke to like the 10 100 and she was a 10 to...
Speaker:bryant: Real terms, actually.
Speaker:Evan: Are they? Yeah. Oh, perfect. I was going to say, maybe... I think that this...
Speaker:bryant: There was a big...
Speaker:bryant: thing in the 70s around cb radios and truckers like that was sort of a cultural
Speaker:bryant: phenomenon that this sort of i don't know tapped into i guess like there's that
Speaker:bryant: movie convoy also and i'm sure there's other ones um but like i wonder how realistic
Speaker:bryant: it was that just everyone had a cb radio in their car like in this movie.
Speaker:brandon: A friend of mine's dad installed a cb radio in their
Speaker:brandon: house with a 30 foot antenna yeah it was like i can't say how prolific it was
Speaker:brandon: but like it was not uncommon for uh every every fucking custom van in the 70s
Speaker:brandon: and 80s had a cb in it it was on it was fairly common in cars yeah like this
Speaker:brandon: is probably like dramatizing it but dude they were kind of everywhere can.
Speaker:Connor: You i feel like that was like the social media of the time yeah like in a way
Speaker:Connor: right like you could connect with random people within range and a lot of truckers
Speaker:Connor: used them so like yeah i'm sure that was kind of a big thing.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah you would let people know if you know cops hiding somewhere you get past
Speaker:brandon: them you don't get pulled over you hop on the cb and let people know what mile
Speaker:brandon: marker the police are hiding apparently one.
Speaker:Evan: Of the big jumps in cb radios was in the i
Speaker:Evan: think it was like 1973 or 74 when there
Speaker:Evan: was the oil crisis and people could tell others when they're like where they
Speaker:Evan: could find gasoline for their cars or trucks so i mean i don't know how what
Speaker:Evan: percentage of people were owning them at that point but i bet it was you know
Speaker:Evan: it was probably essential if you're a trucker and then i don't know about cars
Speaker:Evan: but probably entertaining when you're driving they They didn't have,
Speaker:Evan: you know, Howard Stern to keep you company in 1973 or.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, definitely. I could see that. I used to do over the road trucking like
Speaker:Connor: expedited freight kind of thing where I'd be doing super long runs kind of like
Speaker:Connor: this, where it's like, all right, I've got 24 hours and I've got to get across the country.
Speaker:Connor: And so I did driving like that. And it's boring.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, I could see that. So if you don't have like podcast, I survived on podcasts without podcasts.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, I'd probably need to be talking to people on the CB radio. video so i get it i.
Speaker:brandon: I spent a lot of time in tractor trailers in the late 80s and early 90s because
Speaker:brandon: my dad was a trucker and we used to take me on the road with him all the time
Speaker:brandon: and he was on the fucking cb constantly.
Speaker:Connor: You need people to talk to like i used to talk on the phone to like friends
Speaker:Connor: who were also doing trucking and stuff like i'd call them up and we'd like chat
Speaker:Connor: for two or three hours uh i would chat with my partner um we first started dating
Speaker:Connor: i was actually driving the truck and one of the ways we got to know each other
Speaker:Connor: really well really fast was because i was in the fucking truck,
Speaker:Connor: And so we would talk on the phone for like one to three hours per day,
Speaker:Connor: just like talking on the phone.
Speaker:Connor: So, um, yeah, it was, I got to know my partner real fast that way.
Speaker:Connor: Um, but so yeah, I could see the
Speaker:Connor: CB radios would be the main form of entertainment. I'm sure for truckers.
Speaker:Evan: What was like the range? Because it seems like if you're in Texas,
Speaker:Evan: could people in Georgia be listening to your commerce? No, right?
Speaker:Evan: That's to be about short.
Speaker:brandon: No, it's you, you've got a range of miles, if not less than that.
Speaker:brandon: and it depended heavily like uh souping up a
Speaker:brandon: cb radio was like a whole phenomenon there were cb radio
Speaker:brandon: shops that specialized in like you know boosting your
Speaker:brandon: signal and and like you know there are different channels so like if there's
Speaker:brandon: a you're in a congested area you might go to it that's what they were talking
Speaker:brandon: about early on in the movie like they're coming up with like oh you know we'll
Speaker:brandon: switch to if you say go to channel nine i'll go to channel three and all that
Speaker:brandon: stuff that's because yeah there was 20 some odd different channels that you'd
Speaker:brandon: switch between if if everything else was crowded.
Speaker:brandon: I used to go over the road trucking too.
Speaker:brandon: And I remember if I would go in New Jersey, there were these people that had
Speaker:brandon: hopped up radios that would just drown everyone out for 15 miles.
Speaker:brandon: They'd be the only people you could hear if they were on.
Speaker:Evan: Well, that actually makes it seem like the legend of the band is even greater.
Speaker:Evan: If people across miles and miles of distance know who he is,
Speaker:Evan: he's clearly a legend across... I guess that's your job also, Joe.
Speaker:Connor: I mean well i guess they also set up that like he was
Speaker:Connor: at this like where they approached him initially with the offer
Speaker:Connor: was at a truck rodeo where they do like you
Speaker:Connor: know truck races and shit and like
Speaker:Connor: goofy stuff is that a real thing he's he's um there
Speaker:Connor: are absolutely yeah no there no there is there's truck there's
Speaker:Connor: truck drag racing um i once went to a
Speaker:Connor: like you know how there's like car shows where like you see
Speaker:Connor: classic cars and shit i went to a truck show of that those
Speaker:Connor: are fucking sick i love those fucking trucks oh
Speaker:Connor: my god it was so fucking cool so i was in i think like joplin
Speaker:Connor: missouri i was i was at a truck stop you know
Speaker:Connor: just chilling and then like across the street there's
Speaker:Connor: like a fucking semi-truck show and i was like yo
Speaker:Connor: i'm gonna go look at they had these things like all decked
Speaker:Connor: out and gorgeous paint everything i was like
Speaker:Connor: so it's very cool in those areas it is a cultural thing and i'm sure at this
Speaker:Connor: time it was even more so so like you've got more custom trucks which that's
Speaker:Connor: the other thing we haven't mentioned the truck that they are driving on the
Speaker:Connor: trailer is like a big fucking cool ass painting and shit like it was cool as fuck oh god.
Speaker:brandon: What what did that uh the one guy even say about his truck he's like anybody
Speaker:brandon: who would paint their truck like that would do something.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah i don't remember.
Speaker:brandon: What he said.
Speaker:Connor: But yeah it was something his whole.
Speaker:brandon: Trailer is just like what like a stage coach being pulled by a bunch of horses or.
Speaker:Connor: Something like that yeah it's a picture.
Speaker:bryant: Of a bandit holding up a stagecoach yeah i've.
Speaker:brandon: Never picked up on that.
Speaker:Connor: Oh that's hell yeah so yeah like this is
Speaker:Connor: a very like you can see like the truck is
Speaker:Connor: iconic he's iconic as a driver he's obviously
Speaker:Connor: traveled around to these different truck rodeos so like he's gonna have a name
Speaker:Connor: and this is where he gets that kind of like folk hero status and so i guess
Speaker:Connor: it's like it's not that unexpected that so many people would know him and would
Speaker:Connor: listen to the traffic and know that he's doing this run and help them out also.
Speaker:brandon: If like everyone's aware that like
Speaker:brandon: this was during a period when like truck drivers were like the modern-day outlaw
Speaker:brandon: and that was like a cultural phenomenon of in its own right yeah yeah because
Speaker:brandon: there were there's a an insane amount of movies about truck drivers being like
Speaker:brandon: outlaw badass guys this isn't even Jerry Reid's only movie where he's a truck driver.
Speaker:Connor: You know I I sometimes wonder where,
Speaker:Connor: where that mentality went where it's like, there was a time where like,
Speaker:Connor: we looked up to criminals where we were like cheering for the criminals.
Speaker:Connor: And then now it's like, no, no one's cheering for any criminals.
Speaker:Connor: I'm like, we, we just like, we lost that.
Speaker:Connor: like i don't know working class solidarity of just like rooting for the little
Speaker:Connor: guy against the police to just like carve out a little living in this fucking
Speaker:Connor: shitty shitty economic system like honestly like yeah the law and order shit.
Speaker:zach: Has really tainted the public's view of what the police do propaganda is fucking real strong that's fair.
Speaker:Evan: Well and the thing is now people will root for
Speaker:Evan: who they think is the good guy i mean like think about it in any marvel
Speaker:Evan: movie you're basically rooting for like american imperialism yeah you know but
Speaker:Evan: it's actually the bad guy and people just unironically are just rooting for
Speaker:Evan: them in every single fucking movie they make so just they've twisted over to
Speaker:Evan: who the bad guy is now it's like china or i don't know some some other place
Speaker:Evan: and then they just yeah when.
Speaker:brandon: They they remade red dawn in north North Korea invades America.
Speaker:Connor: I remember that.
Speaker:Evan: I saw that.
Speaker:Connor: I was like, this is great.
Speaker:brandon: If only in the remake of red Dawn.
Speaker:bryant: North Korea, America, it wasn't it like they, the script was for it to be China.
Speaker:bryant: And then they're like, Oh wait, we don't want to piss off China with this.
Speaker:bryant: So they just like digitally changed all the flags or something.
Speaker:Connor: Oh God.
Speaker:Evan: With Chris Hemsworth, man, this looks terrible.
Speaker:Connor: I haven't seen that.
Speaker:Evan: Like I didn't, I didn't, she didn't realize they had remade it,
Speaker:Evan: but that's, that's terrible.
Speaker:zach: You've seen the original though.
Speaker:Evan: Um yeah i've seen the original.
Speaker:zach: Half of the marvel movies the villain is just some nondescript arab country
Speaker:zach: yeah like they're brown and we're terrified of them let's kill them they're.
Speaker:Connor: Evil for no reason don't ask.
Speaker:zach: Any questions they just hate our freedom and democracy there's no pretext to this.
Speaker:Evan: Oh man now i feel like i need to do i need to do an episode on red dawn that
Speaker:Evan: would be a original Red Dead, not this new one. Haven't seen that in forever.
Speaker:brandon: If you want to go into some Red Scare shit, that might be peak.
Speaker:brandon: In terms of cinema, that might be peak Red Scare.
Speaker:bryant: It's set in Colorado, but filmed in New Mexico, I think.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, that's a good one. What was the other thing?
Speaker:Connor: I feel like now is a good time just because any time,
Speaker:Connor: North Korea is mentioned as a villain in of whatever and in propaganda i always
Speaker:Connor: mention um blowback season three if you haven't listened to it phenomenal it
Speaker:Connor: is on the korean war and uh believe me learning about that shit is,
Speaker:Connor: fucking wild so yeah it's it's very good if you want to know more about the
Speaker:Connor: history of how the north uh wound up where it is and how the whole korean peninsula
Speaker:Connor: exists today that's a really good podcast to listen to.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah i i would highly i'd second that it's uh phenomenal i think the the new
Speaker:Evan: one is coming out pretty soon cambodia maybe oh.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah i don't know.
Speaker:Evan: I think season five yeah i.
Speaker:Connor: Know the last one was afghanistan which is also every every season of that that's
Speaker:Connor: probably one of the best podcasts out there in my opinion like that is top tier
Speaker:Connor: shit i think in terms of all-time great it's i was gonna make a.
Speaker:brandon: Joke about how it's third behind uh left of the projector well.
Speaker:Evan: That's just assumed i mean i mean they hardly talk about.
Speaker:bryant: Cars or movies at all on that.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah yeah that's actually.
Speaker:bryant: Really lacking well.
Speaker:Evan: They briefly talked about uh in the afghanistan one they briefly talk about
Speaker:Evan: the opening to um what's that's the rainbow yeah the rambo two or it's like
Speaker:Evan: the uh the faked opening credit right i feel.
Speaker:brandon: Like they also talk about bringing in all the toyota trucks at one point.
Speaker:Evan: Oh do they i don't know if i remember that i.
Speaker:brandon: Feel like i remember that being mentioned but i wouldn't swear it's true.
Speaker:Evan: I actually once tried i tried to reach out to noah colwyn to be on this podcast
Speaker:Evan: he didn't respond to me oh well because.
Speaker:brandon: He's not as great as us yeah.
Speaker:Evan: That's okay well.
Speaker:bryant: There's your problem never returned my email so or.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah ralph.
Speaker:bryant: Nader for that matter.
Speaker:Evan: Oh that would have been right.
Speaker:Connor: We were trying to get ralph nader on i.
Speaker:brandon: Don't want to be weird but i found a connect really so if we still want to get
Speaker:brandon: ralph nader Later on, I might know who to talk to.
Speaker:Connor: Absolutely. Okay, we're in.
Speaker:Evan: I can ask. Will he listen to your other episodes? You're just going to go in blind.
Speaker:brandon: I hope he never listens to any of our episodes, because then he will definitely not come on.
Speaker:bryant: I think we were pretty nice to him.
Speaker:Connor: We're still talking about his book. Yeah, we were great.
Speaker:brandon: I'm not saying we were mean to him. I'm just saying, in general,
Speaker:brandon: I won't speak for everyone, but I'm a crazy person.
Speaker:brandon: Anyone who listens to me rant through a whole episode is not going to want to join in.
Speaker:bryant: Uh yeah he is a little bit more of a serious character than all of us but yeah.
Speaker:Evan: With his uh what like those shoes i don't remember the the stat you said about
Speaker:Evan: his shoes which was crazy.
Speaker:bryant: Oh yeah like he he liked to he found a type of shoe that he liked and bought
Speaker:bryant: like 100 pairs of them or something like that just.
Speaker:Evan: Wears them each in.
Speaker:bryant: A row like his.
Speaker:Evan: His his closet's probably like four suits and you know 40 pairs of the same shoe something.
Speaker:bryant: Like that yeah i'd.
Speaker:brandon: Only just occurred to me that maybe ralph nader is autistic.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah he's uh he's uh some sort of neurodiverse person i would say probably see.
Speaker:brandon: That sort of thing never registers to me because,
Speaker:brandon: I don't know. Autistic people make sense to me.
Speaker:zach: I'm over here thinking I should do that with my shoes. I don't know why I don't
Speaker:zach: do that already. That's a great idea.
Speaker:brandon: Oh, I've worn the same style and brand of shoes and the same style and brand of pants for 15 years.
Speaker:Connor: Hey, when you find what works, fucking go with it.
Speaker:brandon: I buy a couple, a few pair at a time so I don't ever have to figure out what I'm wearing.
Speaker:Evan: Smart.
Speaker:brandon: And people never know if I'm just wearing dirty clothes.
Speaker:bryant: He only owns one thing.
Speaker:Evan: Is one of them the blue suit that they wear in this movie or no because if it's
Speaker:Evan: not then i don't know i've.
Speaker:Connor: Been looking.
Speaker:brandon: For one in my size you.
Speaker:Evan: Know they only come in like big and big and small i think apparently these uh
Speaker:Evan: um what's like those i guess well so i guess the for to like you know i don't
Speaker:Evan: spoil the end they're gonna obviously they get to the uh the end and the i guess
Speaker:Evan: the funniest thing is that they do uh they bring the
Speaker:Evan: beer and then they say like oh we'll do double or nothing yeah and they tell
Speaker:Evan: them to go to boss and they bring back clam chowder and what 18 hours which.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah it's really far.
Speaker:brandon: Away that one's insane that is not a thing you're gonna do.
Speaker:Connor: Well yeah and so like they come in and so i i
Speaker:Connor: found it interesting like they come in hot right the
Speaker:Connor: truck is fucking breaking down barriers getting
Speaker:Connor: into there they get there and then they're like all right
Speaker:Connor: give us the fucking money we have to run from the police
Speaker:Connor: this instant like we need a
Speaker:Connor: car we have to get the fuck away because like they're by the
Speaker:Connor: end it culminates in like they're being chased by sheriff buford
Speaker:Connor: t justice along with all kinds of local sheriffs state troopers uh they have
Speaker:Connor: a fucking police helicopter chasing them at one point so when they come in they're
Speaker:Connor: coming in hot they're like all right here's your fucking beer give us the money
Speaker:Connor: and they're like well how about you do double or nothing and and And they're like, yeah, sure, okay.
Speaker:Connor: Like, with no details, they're like, yeah, we're into it. We have to run immediately,
Speaker:Connor: and we've now made a decision.
Speaker:Connor: And then they work out the details are,
Speaker:Connor: Go to Boston. Bring us clam chowder in 18 hours.
Speaker:Connor: And again, this just goes to the point that these rich guys have nothing.
Speaker:Connor: They don't care. None of this matters.
Speaker:Connor: They're just like, all right, how about you do this harder one so that we don't
Speaker:Connor: have to fucking pay you? And the bandit agrees.
Speaker:brandon: That's probably like 800 miles each way.
Speaker:bryant: It's going to take them 18 hours just to get out of Boston, probably.
Speaker:zach: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, they don't have the big dig yet. It'll be fucked.
Speaker:brandon: Yo, I got sidetracked, and I need to share this with you. So,
Speaker:brandon: Smokey and the Bandit has two sequels, which get worse and worse.
Speaker:Connor: I didn't know that until last night, and then I was like, oof,
Speaker:Connor: I've never seen those. Probably not good.
Speaker:brandon: I need to read the synopsis from IMDb of Smokey and the Bandit 2.
Speaker:Connor: Okay, one, is it about them getting the clam chowder? I'm assuming it is.
Speaker:Connor: That's a crime. That should be illegal.
Speaker:brandon: Because I couldn't remember what the second one was about, so that's why I even
Speaker:brandon: Googled it. I'm going to read this word for fucking word.
Speaker:brandon: Folk hero The Bandit has fallen on bad times, but comes to life when he is hired
Speaker:brandon: to help transport a pregnant elephant to a Republican convention in Dallas.
Speaker:Connor: Why? Why does that exist? Did they get the clam chowder?
Speaker:Connor: I don't even know. Oh, that's...
Speaker:Connor: why is you're.
Speaker:brandon: Too focused on the continuity.
Speaker:Connor: Here yeah well a pregnant elephant that's that's not good don't put that in
Speaker:Connor: a truck and drive real fast like what are you doing what's that one's got dom.
Speaker:brandon: Deluise in it who dom deluise i.
Speaker:Connor: Don't know who that is i.
Speaker:brandon: I forget that i'm the oldest i.
Speaker:bryant: Know he's a character.
Speaker:Connor: So he.
Speaker:brandon: Was sort of an eccentric actor back in the day he's he's real over the top um.
Speaker:Evan: Wait are you old.
Speaker:Connor: I don't know if you're older what was the third one uh.
Speaker:brandon: I i just remember that the tagline is smoky is the bandit um i.
Speaker:Connor: Think that they.
Speaker:brandon: Get jackie gleason to uh actually be the the good guy in that one.
Speaker:Connor: I'm against it now that's that's horseshit also.
Speaker:brandon: Uh uh for some reason they make um um they they like swap everything around
Speaker:brandon: and um jerry reed is the bandit in that movie.
Speaker:Connor: I mean that's kind of cool well he's got like a mustache.
Speaker:brandon: And they're like they could i don't think they could get burt reynolds for this
Speaker:brandon: one so they tried to make him look like burt reynolds.
Speaker:Connor: Is in the second.
Speaker:Evan: One i think i'm talking about the third one third.
Speaker:Connor: One yeah by the third yeah he's probably like all right this is horse shit now
Speaker:Connor: i don't want to do it um i feel like we should be glad to.
Speaker:brandon: Know that big and little anus are in okay that.
Speaker:Connor: Is good to know it uh i also think it's important to mention um for anyone who hasn't seen the movie,
Speaker:Connor: smoky is referring to a police officer any police officer they're they're referring
Speaker:Connor: to on the cb be radios as smoky so the title smoky and the bandit is about the
Speaker:Connor: fucking police um which i don't think we've actually ever clarified because
Speaker:Connor: it could easily be another.
Speaker:Evan: Character named smoky so yeah yeah.
Speaker:Connor: And i.
Speaker:zach: Just i love that they call cops smokies in this it's so good and like perfectly
Speaker:zach: derogatory for a pg rating like i feel like if they had a uh a higher rating
Speaker:zach: or you know like an R rating,
Speaker:zach: they would have just called this movie Pigs and the Bandit.
Speaker:zach: I love that about it.
Speaker:brandon: I know Smokey was common slang back then. I don't really know the origins of
Speaker:brandon: it or how derogative it even necessarily was.
Speaker:zach: It feels derogatory to me because I see it as kind of like calling pigs in a
Speaker:zach: blanket little Smokeys or the little,
Speaker:zach: wieners like little Smokeys is kind of just one step removed from calling cops
Speaker:zach: cops, pigs, and I don't know. I just enjoy that.
Speaker:Connor: It's hard to imagine any nickname for cops not being derogatory.
Speaker:Connor: So I kind of feel you there. It's like, yeah, it was probably meant to be a pejorative.
Speaker:zach: Yeah, I mean, they weren't calling them officers of the law.
Speaker:zach: They were not calling them.
Speaker:Connor: There was no respect in the term.
Speaker:Evan: Clearly.
Speaker:bryant: I looked it up, and it's because they wore big cowboy hats like Smokey the Bear.
Speaker:brandon: Okay oh my god i i assumed that smoky the bear came later no that's.
Speaker:bryant: Like from the 20s or something.
Speaker:Connor: Okay oh.
Speaker:brandon: I didn't know that i didn't know that.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah it was uh it was uh or maybe even earlier it was teddy roosevelt uh had
Speaker:bryant: a bear cub named smoky because he rescued it from a forest fire yeah oh no shit.
Speaker:Evan: That actually reminds me of a of a thing that i forgot to mention we were talking
Speaker:Evan: about cores earlier apparently dwight eisenhower when he was president would
Speaker:Evan: also steal cores and bring it back to the white house because he couldn't get
Speaker:Evan: it except for in colorado i think.
Speaker:Connor: I feel like that's not stealing if you're the president like you're basically
Speaker:Connor: a king you could just be like give me the thing and they'll give it to you i
Speaker:Connor: don't think i don't know if there's well i mean i guess you could steal the
Speaker:Connor: wealth of other nations and whatnot as you plunder the world that's just democracy
Speaker:Connor: but like that's a little different alternate.
Speaker:brandon: Plot for this movie FDR contacts the bandit He.
Speaker:Connor: Wants a truckload Of Coors.
Speaker:brandon: Beer delivered to Washington D.C. in 28 hours.
Speaker:Evan: And he also works As a CIA agent on the side Yeah.
Speaker:brandon: Actually if it's A secret Remake of Smokey and the Bandit He's just running cocaine for the CIA.
Speaker:zach: This is literally the Archer Episode where they spoof Smokey and the Bandit
Speaker:zach: This is exactly what happens in that episode of Archer yeah.
Speaker:bryant: What's that movie with Tom Cruise where he's smuggling coke for the cartels
Speaker:bryant: or whatever? And there's like a CIA connection.
Speaker:bryant: It's like, oh, shoot. American Made, I think, is what it's called.
Speaker:Connor: I don't think I've ever seen a Tom Cruise movie. Like, I don't think it's possible.
Speaker:Connor: Is it? What movies is he in?
Speaker:brandon: He was in all of them for 20 years.
Speaker:Connor: Was he? All I remember is he danced on Oprah's couch or something or stood there.
Speaker:Connor: I don't know what. I don't know. I just know that that's a reference.
Speaker:Connor: friends he was in that fucking airplane movie that i never saw so every mission.
Speaker:Evan: Impossible yeah never.
Speaker:Connor: Saw those you're talking.
Speaker:brandon: About top gun i love that you just referred to top gun as that airplane.
Speaker:Connor: Movie that's not to be confused with the movie airplane which is tom cruise is.
Speaker:zach: Not an airplane just so we're clear.
Speaker:Connor: All right i continue to hold that i don't think i've ever seen a tom cruise
Speaker:Connor: film good for me you're not missing out i don't think.
Speaker:brandon: Um at an an hour and a half do we want to wrap this up because right now we're talking about tom um.
Speaker:Connor: I did want to okay i wanted to have a quick conversation about some of the the comical damage,
Speaker:Connor: that is incurred by uh buford t justice as they like as the car gets increasingly
Speaker:Connor: damaged throughout the movie oh.
Speaker:bryant: Daddy the top came.
Speaker:Connor: Um i love when he.
Speaker:Evan: Says throw the evidence in the back and he just like puts the door in the back of the car at this.
Speaker:Connor: Right because no no it's.
Speaker:brandon: It's even better than that. He gets in. He's like, put the evidence in the car
Speaker:brandon: and he climbs into the passenger seat with the car door in his lap.
Speaker:brandon: Like, put it in the back, Junior.
Speaker:Connor: Well, and the door was knocked off because a trucker who was listening in on
Speaker:Connor: the CD radio, like, was like, this is crazy look in his eyes.
Speaker:Connor: And he's like, he sees the cop car pulled over with the door open and he drives
Speaker:Connor: through and, like, takes the door off.
Speaker:Connor: And the Buford T judge is like, I saw that. You did that on purpose.
Speaker:Connor: Well, like, he's just gone. He drives away.
Speaker:Connor: So, by the end, I mean, like,
Speaker:Connor: the car had lost its top at some point when they drove under a truck that was
Speaker:Connor: like crossing the road, uh,
Speaker:Connor: carrying something, um, not in a traditional truck bed, but like,
Speaker:Connor: so it's crossing the road, the bandit, um, their car, they obviously, they miss it.
Speaker:Connor: They, they change directions and the sheriff's car goes under it.
Speaker:Connor: Shears the whole fucking roof off, which, uh, you know, pretty big damage.
Speaker:Connor: Um, they duck their heads, whatever. And, It takes the roof off.
Speaker:Connor: But yeah, there was just there was so much damage to this car that I just I
Speaker:Connor: love that they continue driving it. No door, no top.
Speaker:Connor: At one point, the horn is stuck on driving around and the horns just blaring.
Speaker:bryant: I've been in that situation. It's unfortunate.
Speaker:Evan: Apparently, at the end, they could actually barely even drive the car.
Speaker:Evan: They had destroyed it so much where they like when he's actually rolling out
Speaker:Evan: of the fair at the end. like it actually was struggling to actually drive like.
Speaker:bryant: In real life you mean and when they're making.
Speaker:Evan: Real life yeah oh yeah he has so many good lines there's one other one that
Speaker:Evan: i was trying to remember uh oh man i lost the one,
Speaker:Evan: I like that he asked for the Diablo sandwich, which is apparently a real thing,
Speaker:Evan: the Diablo chicken sandwich, and then a Dr. Pepper.
Speaker:Connor: Wait, at that particular restaurant or something? Because I was wondering,
Speaker:Connor: how the fuck does he know what to order?
Speaker:Connor: That was my question. I was like, he's way behind Texas. How does he know?
Speaker:brandon: I think that just means a spicy chicken sandwich.
Speaker:zach: Yeah.
Speaker:Evan: Apparently, I think that was in Arkansas where they were, I think.
Speaker:Evan: I don't know. Yeah, I think it's in Arkansas.
Speaker:zach: I think it's in Arkansas now.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, I think it's apparently famous now.
Speaker:brandon: Also, since we're discussing that, can we acknowledge that they refer to like
Speaker:brandon: truck stop restaurants as joking pukes?
Speaker:bryant: Yeah.
Speaker:zach: I would also like to point out that the bandit orders two cheeseburgers and
Speaker:zach: an iced tea and his total is a dollar and a half.
Speaker:zach: Which is just infuriating to hear in the year 2024.
Speaker:Connor: Well, and actually, I did take notes about this. that is a scene where the bandit
Speaker:Connor: and sheriff view for t justice encounter each other in person um,
Speaker:Connor: unbeknownst to the sheriff who's like coming in screaming ranting raving and
Speaker:Connor: actually i forgot this kind of a major point um that i wanted to make he's like
Speaker:Connor: screaming about how he's chasing this maniac and the bandit's just like calmly
Speaker:Connor: at the counter like oh man that's crazy wow tell me
Speaker:Connor: more about this guy you're chasing he's like oh he's uh he's guilty of kidnapping he he attempted.
Speaker:Connor: Murder of 20 officers so like as it
Speaker:Connor: goes on and it was like making the point that like this cop can
Speaker:Connor: just lie and make shit up and like inflate the
Speaker:Connor: charges to this absurd degree so like
Speaker:Connor: you hear him describing the most deranged criminal in all time and we know the
Speaker:Connor: bandit's the hero of this film none of the shit he's saying is fucking true
Speaker:Connor: this cop just lies through his fucking teeth and I found that like that was
Speaker:Connor: a deliberate choice when they made this film like that the cop is just,
Speaker:Connor: fucking making up this whole story and like
Speaker:Connor: twisting everything that has happened into this
Speaker:Connor: is the worst criminal ever and it's like no it's
Speaker:Connor: not so um and i also found it funny like as he's like yelling to the bandit
Speaker:Connor: about this maniac that he's chasing not knowing who he's talking to he's like
Speaker:Connor: speaking in a way that like he spits on the face accidentally of the bandit who like
Speaker:Connor: calmly like wipes it away from his eye.
Speaker:Connor: Like, and just like without missing a beat, like wipes away his spit and like
Speaker:Connor: keeps like asking him questions.
Speaker:Connor: But like, it was pretty amusing that like they come face to face like this.
Speaker:Connor: And then we know that the fucking sheriff is just sitting there lying and being an asshole.
Speaker:Connor: And it's, it's, it's a great portrayal of police.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah. Maybe the greatest portrayal ever in a movie.
Speaker:brandon: Definitely the most accurate.
Speaker:bryant: You know uh one thing i wanted to ask brandon is like how accurate are the georgia
Speaker:bryant: accents in this or do you think they're kind of hamming it up a little bit.
Speaker:brandon: Um okay so truck drivers
Speaker:brandon: in my experience which is pretty a lot because
Speaker:brandon: my dad and all of his friends were drivers tended to
Speaker:brandon: be kind of an over-the-top eccentric crowd so like honestly i'm
Speaker:brandon: not good at hearing southern accents sense because i'm really fucking
Speaker:brandon: used to it um but i mean i don't know i would say it's it's a slight exaggeration
Speaker:brandon: but more in terms of like the movie is about a a group of characters that are
Speaker:brandon: like supposed to be kind of over the top and interesting but none of the accents
Speaker:brandon: didn't really stand out to me it's too much yeah.
Speaker:bryant: I couldn't tell myself because i know.
Speaker:brandon: I mean everything if anything i okay again i fucking love jerry reed um if anything
Speaker:brandon: he dialed it it back to play that character he was in real life just a really
Speaker:brandon: like raucous fun happy over the top kind of guy cool.
Speaker:bryant: I'll have to look.
Speaker:brandon: And also like one of probably the most talented guitar players in the history
Speaker:brandon: of country music you know does anybody want a very brief story about how he became famous sure.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah of course.
Speaker:brandon: He sold a song to elvis to play,
Speaker:brandon: But because he was such a good guitar player, they had to bring him into the,
Speaker:brandon: they had to like track him back down.
Speaker:brandon: He was in Georgia at the time and they had to ship him out to wherever Elvis
Speaker:brandon: was because Elvis could not, like nobody in the recording studio could figure
Speaker:brandon: out how to play the song the way that Jerry Reed had written it.
Speaker:Connor: That's awesome.
Speaker:brandon: He got famous because he had to go in to actually teach them to play his music. And that.
Speaker:Evan: That's amazing.
Speaker:brandon: He had like written music for people before and was not unestablished,
Speaker:brandon: but that really got his, his him to the next level where he was able to like take off from there.
Speaker:bryant: Cool.
Speaker:Connor: That's sweet. Um, I think speaking of, uh, Jerry Reed, um, Oh,
Speaker:Connor: I forgot my thought. Whoops.
Speaker:Connor: Oh, well it's gone. You know, I had it.
Speaker:bryant: I'll say one thing I appreciate about this movie was just like all the seventies
Speaker:bryant: style in their fashion and hairstyles and everything.
Speaker:brandon: It's, it, yeah it's such a yeah it's kind of like looking.
Speaker:bryant: At pictures of my parents when they're in high school but it's just it's just amusing i think.
Speaker:brandon: There's more than a couple of second gen for advanced too which uh you know
Speaker:brandon: it hits me right in the heartstrings although i am confused as to why all the
Speaker:brandon: ones in the movie are running uh.
Speaker:Connor: Well it was the time period they were they were close to new back then.
Speaker:brandon: Yeah i stand by what okay i.
Speaker:Connor: Was like oh you.
Speaker:brandon: Know what that doesn't that doesn't.
Speaker:Connor: Mean a lot actually I do remember my point about Jerry Reed by the way I was
Speaker:Connor: going to point out that also,
Speaker:Connor: I found it especially cool that the iconic song for the movie is eastbound and
Speaker:Connor: down, which I don't know if we can add that song into like the outro or something.
Speaker:Connor: But at the beginning of the movie, it's actually westbound and down.
Speaker:Connor: OK, so the song is actually different at the beginning of the movie.
Speaker:Connor: So I extra cool on Jerry Reed to write basically two songs that are very similar,
Speaker:Connor: but are at different points of exposition for the movie I think.
Speaker:Evan: You would be okay with me putting the songs at the beginning and the end of this movie.
Speaker:Connor: Probably hopefully it doesn't cause a problem I've put like occasionally put.
Speaker:Evan: Things in like Lord of the Rings whatever and there's no like monetary gain
Speaker:Evan: from this podcast what are they going to sue me from like the zero.
Speaker:Connor: Dollars I put a two second clip.
Speaker:bryant: Of cake song in one of our episodes and then when i uploaded it to youtube they
Speaker:bryant: said we're not allowing this to be visible in russia so that was the only consequence of that okay i.
Speaker:Connor: Did see a bunch of a bunch of emails come through from youtube as soon as you
Speaker:Connor: uploaded our shit like we've removed this we've removed that i was like god
Speaker:Connor: damn like chill out we're not fucking doing anything or making any money here like come on i.
Speaker:brandon: Looked up the smoky and the bandit soundtrack and there is a separate recording
Speaker:brandon: for westbound and down and eastbound and down but there's also a track on the
Speaker:brandon: soundtrack called march of the rednecks.
Speaker:Connor: Hell yeah i wonder.
Speaker:zach: If that's the song that they play when all of the people leave the uh gas station
Speaker:zach: to block up the cops and they're all in like hot rods this is.
Speaker:brandon: An entire movie about people blocking the police.
Speaker:Connor: It's so great I you know they make fun of the police and they also like display
Speaker:Connor: like this working class solidarity that is just like so cool to see on screen,
Speaker:Connor: and it's and so many everyone who sees this movie.
Speaker:Connor: Gets it and they can they're on the right side everybody's like
Speaker:Connor: yeah solidarity with the working people i'm like can we do that
Speaker:Connor: in real life can we have like the just the real
Speaker:Connor: thing just be like that just be like these
Speaker:Connor: people they're all cool and amazing you should want
Speaker:Connor: to emulate them absolutely yeah um now
Speaker:Connor: there's there is one thing i did want to mention too um as
Speaker:Connor: we have all this praise for the for the movie um i didn't
Speaker:Connor: want to like entirely leave it up to like oh it's
Speaker:Connor: so great and everything there is some sexism in this movie um
Speaker:Connor: it was that time period but like it is watching it
Speaker:Connor: back i was like all right yeah it's there so
Speaker:Connor: like they have some kind of progressive feel
Speaker:Connor: towards like racial politics and and just generally
Speaker:Connor: a lot of progressive ideas one of those ideas is
Speaker:Connor: not uh feminism um unfortunately like
Speaker:Connor: some of it feels a little tongue-in-cheek kind
Speaker:Connor: of like everything else but some of it i was like nah this
Speaker:Connor: feels a little bit like just regular old sexism um so you know warning anyone
Speaker:Connor: who does listen or who does choose to like watch this movie it's there um i
Speaker:Connor: i don't think it's like overbearing to a point where it's like unwatchable but like it's there yeah.
Speaker:bryant: And there was a a little note of casual racism where uh the truck driver that
Speaker:bryant: takes the door off the sheriff's car is an asian guy and he yells bonsai as he does it so.
Speaker:Connor: Oh yeah.
Speaker:brandon: Appropriate or not i did laugh at that it was you just don't in the 70s you
Speaker:brandon: just didn't see a lot of asian people i guess so yeah appropriate no but.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah so like the film had the film had its its issues right it's from 1977 it's
Speaker:Connor: it's gonna be certainly imperfect and and problematic in a number of ways.
Speaker:Connor: Um, what is more surprising to me is the ways in which it was less problematic
Speaker:Connor: than you would expect. Um, it is,
Speaker:Connor: overall had pretty reasonable politics i
Speaker:Connor: feel like and you know saying cops are bad and
Speaker:Connor: making fun of them always good politics that's great so um
Speaker:Connor: but it was it it did seem
Speaker:Connor: like this story the folk hero status of the bandit really
Speaker:Connor: did unite people across gender rate uh
Speaker:Connor: racial uh you know identity religion whatever
Speaker:Connor: it seemed to unite everybody in the working class
Speaker:Connor: around this this mission of the bandit beating the police and you know getting
Speaker:Connor: the fucking getting one over on the rich guys who thought he couldn't do it
Speaker:Connor: um so like there are good things there are problems with it of course um but
Speaker:Connor: overall i feel like it is it is a little bit of.
Speaker:bryant: A male fantasy.
Speaker:Connor: Movie kind.
Speaker:bryant: Of like a james bond.
Speaker:Connor: Movie or something.
Speaker:bryant: Like that yeah absolutely.
Speaker:Evan: That's true yes this this this.
Speaker:Connor: It was my male targeting my.
Speaker:brandon: People is.
Speaker:bryant: It is it red redneck exploitation what did you call it that or trucker exploitation.
Speaker:brandon: I i i would argue yes which i
Speaker:brandon: don't think that's necessarily a bad thing but like yeah and then that weird
Speaker:brandon: incredibly specific subset of movies from the era yeah i would lump this into
Speaker:brandon: that because like i said like trucker movies were all the rage and this one
Speaker:brandon: in convoy were the big two which i also would have accepted doing convoy because
Speaker:brandon: chris christopherson was another fucking badass working class hero.
Speaker:Connor: You know actually you know what else struck me about this movie
Speaker:Connor: weirdly they they actually spend way less
Speaker:Connor: time talking about the car than i would have expected in
Speaker:Connor: a lot of ways the car kind of feels like an afterthought they they never
Speaker:Connor: actually i don't think they ever actually say what engine it has
Speaker:Connor: they don't ever actually like spend any time being like
Speaker:Connor: yo this car is fast they don't ever
Speaker:Connor: say they just like it's just driving he has um they
Speaker:Connor: don't talk about what engine it has they don't talk about look oh
Speaker:Connor: this thing's a stick shift or they don't talk about
Speaker:Connor: or automate they talk about none of it they don't
Speaker:Connor: talk about the tires it has they don't talk about the suspension they don't
Speaker:Connor: like and a lot of times when you see a car that is like so
Speaker:Connor: prominent in a film they're gonna mention like here's
Speaker:Connor: the details of this car and it's so funny that like this is such a like an iconic
Speaker:Connor: film it put the fucking trans am on the map 700% increase in sales for the Pontiac
Speaker:Connor: Trans Am and they talked about it like not at all. It was a fucking afterthought.
Speaker:Connor: It was just we're going to buy a random car that's quick to block the police
Speaker:Connor: and like this thing had T tops and everything which for those who don't know
Speaker:Connor: T tops is instead of a convertible.
Speaker:Connor: It's like you have these this roof is made of like a center pillar that's metal
Speaker:Connor: and connected to the rest of the car and then these two,
Speaker:Connor: like glass squares that you can remove and so it's almost like a convertible it's.
Speaker:brandon: It's the coolest possible way to guarantee that your car leaks in the rain.
Speaker:Connor: I was i'm glad someone made the joke yes it's a very cool way to have a leaky car um,
Speaker:Connor: so like it had all this cool shit it was and
Speaker:Connor: funny enough i actually had a 1981 trans am
Speaker:Connor: it was my first car never drove it uh
Speaker:Connor: not surprising the thing was rotting out and
Speaker:Connor: whatnot it's a whole thing i'm not gonna get into it but yeah these
Speaker:Connor: cars had some problems but um i
Speaker:Connor: did find it like kind of just weird that like they're driving this
Speaker:Connor: car in this like even the director like kind of
Speaker:Connor: alluded to the car as like its own character and yet
Speaker:Connor: we know so little about the character like it became culturally you knew about
Speaker:Connor: it it's like oh that's the bandit car like everybody knows the car but like
Speaker:Connor: again we don't even know what fucking engine it has we're guessing it's either
Speaker:Connor: the 400 or the 403 we don't actually i don't think we actually officially do.
Speaker:brandon: I think it would have been the 400 or the 455.
Speaker:Connor: No i don't even think it was the 455 because i don't even think that was offered in 1970.
Speaker:zach: We do know i.
Speaker:Connor: Think it was well this was.
Speaker:bryant: A 76 we're getting real arty here the.
Speaker:brandon: Car is a 76.
Speaker:Connor: Oh yeah.
Speaker:brandon: We are getting autistic about that we do.
Speaker:Connor: Know that it has the 400 because.
Speaker:zach: It says on the ram air intake on the hood 6.6 liter yes at one point you can the 6.6.
Speaker:Connor: Liter referred to both they referred to both the 400 and the 403 although i
Speaker:Connor: think technically the 403 might have said t slash a 6.6 i i'm i'm a little unclear
Speaker:Connor: about that but both were technically a 6.6 liter.
Speaker:Connor: And yes, we're being very autistic about this now. Yeah. That's sorry.
Speaker:Evan: That's okay. Um, what was I going to say? I forgot.
Speaker:Connor: I don't know. I just found that fucking weird though. Like that.
Speaker:Connor: They just really, the car is just like kind of an afterthought,
Speaker:Connor: even though this is the movie that is like the Trans Am movie.
Speaker:Connor: Like I just found that to be in a way.
Speaker:zach: The car kind of speaks for itself in the movie, whereas you don't have to have
Speaker:zach: this scene of like a bunch of exposition about, oh, this is a 1977 Trans Am
Speaker:zach: with a 403 cubic inch, you know, yada, yada, yada, giving you all the details of the car.
Speaker:zach: It's just kind of like, look, this car can outrun the cops.
Speaker:zach: It can do cool skids. It can jump a bridge.
Speaker:zach: Like, just look at what it does. And it speaks for itself.
Speaker:Connor: And it looks great doing it. And it looks good doing it.
Speaker:bryant: I also got the sense that this could all be accomplished in whatever car Burt Reynolds was driving.
Speaker:bryant: Like, he's just, you know, supernaturally good at driving that he can make anything fast.
Speaker:zach: Yeah like he could be.
Speaker:bryant: In a you know honda civic or something and be doing the same thing.
Speaker:zach: It's it's the initial it's the initial d yes it's.
Speaker:Connor: The initial d.
Speaker:zach: Car driving wherein you know the car isn't so important it could be anything
Speaker:zach: it could be a beater a commuter car and yeah this driver is just so otherworldly
Speaker:zach: that he makes it fast yeah Yeah.
Speaker:bryant: Despite all the garbage bias ply tires they were on in this.
Speaker:zach: Which probably lended to the skids.
Speaker:brandon: It was, in fact, a 400.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Okay, it was a 400.
Speaker:brandon: The 403 didn't come out until 77. So even though they were making this look
Speaker:brandon: like a 77, it was a 76. So the 403 would not have been an option.
Speaker:Connor: Okay. All right, there you go. So it was the 400. It's about 185 horsepower,
Speaker:Connor: 320-ish foot-pounds of torque.
Speaker:Connor: I mean, the torque is good, but it's okay. I mean...
Speaker:zach: Hey, it can do 110 kilometers an hour.
Speaker:bryant: Um so would you guys recommend this movie and like what would you what would you rate it.
Speaker:Connor: Yes i.
Speaker:Evan: Gave it four stars on letterboxd so yeah.
Speaker:zach: I was gonna say eight out of ten so i i feel yeah.
Speaker:Connor: I think that's about right i i do four and four to four and a half out of five
Speaker:Connor: um you know i it was i'm gonna go with four and a half.
Speaker:brandon: Since i literally in a weird way changed my life.
Speaker:Connor: I mean this is part of the reason i bought a trans am which i was i very much
Speaker:Connor: regretted and spent a lot of money it was a very expensive mistake i think a
Speaker:Connor: lot of people made that mistake i.
Speaker:brandon: Feel like if you look come at this movie from a working class perspective this
Speaker:brandon: was literally the best that you could have ever hoped to get yeah in the air absolutely,
Speaker:brandon: Like barring you, like, yeah, there absolutely was some issues with like sexism
Speaker:brandon: and like, like, like there was racism.
Speaker:brandon: It was just being poked fun of because it was coming from the police,
Speaker:brandon: but it was still poking fun at a very fucking real thing.
Speaker:brandon: Like that dude's a racist piece of shit cop, but the movie's against him.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah, it's their portrayal. A lot of the portrayal, like there is a lot of racism
Speaker:Connor: in the movie and it's being portrayed as this is bad and not only bad, it's stupid.
Speaker:Connor: Like we're making fun of it because it's so fucking dumb.
Speaker:Connor: And for a movie from 1977, I mean, that was kind of good.
Speaker:Connor: I mean, this movie actually, I guess I hadn't ever really watched it from that
Speaker:Connor: leftist perspective, but like really taking notes, it really did have like kind of decent politics.
Speaker:Connor: And it was very anti-police. And like, not only was it just anti-police,
Speaker:Connor: it actually showed very specific real problems with the police. They are racist.
Speaker:Connor: They can lie with impunity. they can just do whatever they want to fucking random
Speaker:Connor: people and not be held accountable at all. They can ignore their jurisdictions.
Speaker:Connor: They can, you know, find another cop doing a crime and then just be like,
Speaker:Connor: Oh, don't arrest that guy actually.
Speaker:Connor: So like they actually were very specific about the things that the police do that they don't like.
Speaker:Connor: And I mean, for that, I think the film does deserve some credit. I mean, green.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:zach: Yeah.
Speaker:Connor: So I'd recommend it.
Speaker:bryant: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:brandon: Oh yeah.
Speaker:Evan: But I guess before we go, Where can people find your podcast or we already told
Speaker:Evan: everyone where it is. I guess they can go on onto the internet.
Speaker:bryant: Presumably. If you just search cars and comrades on most, any platform will, will show up.
Speaker:bryant: Um, I'm pretty sure it's and spelled out with no ampersand.
Speaker:bryant: Um, and then we're on social media as the same. Um, um,
Speaker:bryant: Not Reddit anymore. I kind of gave up on that. But Facebook,
Speaker:bryant: Instagram, Twitter, HexBear.
Speaker:zach: And YouTube now.
Speaker:brandon: Cars and Comrades, wherever podcasts are sold.
Speaker:zach: Yeah, we are on YouTube now as well.
Speaker:Evan: Does it come with a free Trans Am sticker? You gotta have a...
Speaker:zach: No, but we should absolutely make a Trans Am sticker.
Speaker:bryant: I'm sure...
Speaker:brandon: Have you not seen the Trans Am?
Speaker:zach: Yeah, we need to make a sticker of that and sell it. But we're probably not going to do that.
Speaker:Connor: Already exists yeah um i believe
Speaker:Connor: you can get it from it's a weird name i'm not gonna know it off the top of my
Speaker:Connor: head i'm sorry but you can find it it's the trans am with the trans colors and
Speaker:Connor: everything that sticker does exist it is very cool and yeah it's it's dope i'm
Speaker:Connor: i'm a big fan yeah get the get trans but not.
Speaker:Evan: A trans actual transient that'll be yeah don't.
Speaker:zach: Get a transit.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah don't go don't get a second gen probably don't get a third gen don't get a fourth gen
Speaker:Connor: either because i have a fourth gen camaro that i'm trying to sell right now
Speaker:Connor: in fact if you don't mind i'm going to take this time to sell my
Speaker:Connor: car to your listeners if anybody
Speaker:Connor: is interested in a 30th anniversary white and orange camaro ss it's a 1997 uh
Speaker:Connor: it has no problems at all i promise it's very good i have not struggled with
Speaker:Connor: it for many many years um it has a ford nine inch rear rear end cause the engine,
Speaker:Connor: the rear end blew up when I first bought it. So don't,
Speaker:Connor: It's better. It's better now. But yeah, it's listed at gateway classic cars.
Speaker:Connor: What the fuck's it called? I don't know. It's on consignment somewhere.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah.
Speaker:zach: Yeah.
Speaker:Connor: Uh, gateway classic cars. Yeah.
Speaker:zach: So, and if you believe that it has no issues, please don't listen to any of
Speaker:zach: our episodes in which we just spell that. Yeah.
Speaker:Evan: And we'll just put the link down below and no one will ever.
Speaker:Connor: It doesn't currently have any issues. I fixed them. I'm hoping there's no more,
Speaker:Connor: but I also don't care if there's any.
Speaker:Connor: so that's the deal i'm making with you if you're interested you can hit up our
Speaker:Connor: email at cars and comrades.com.
Speaker:bryant: And uh and comrades at gmail oh.
Speaker:Connor: Cars and comrades.
Speaker:bryant: Gmail.com.
Speaker:Connor: And i will definitely try and sell you this car and.
Speaker:brandon: Also if you have a cheap 76 trans am hit me up i was actually looking.
Speaker:Evan: For the other day i'll.
Speaker:bryant: Also say that i have a 2005 sob 92x aero for sale it has 200 000 miles and no
Speaker:bryant: issues at all uh but actually hopefully i have someone coming to look at it
Speaker:bryant: next week uh that wants to buy it and uh yeah sorry evan we're all gonna try
Speaker:bryant: and sell our cars now we are.
Speaker:Connor: All trying to sell cars i.
Speaker:brandon: Would just like to note that i have eight vehicles and i don't want to sell any of them they're mine.
Speaker:Evan: Well that's fucking perfect uh but zach connor yeah i bet.
Speaker:zach: You're regretting having this on now.
Speaker:Evan: I won't you won't regret it if you won't regret it if you sell your car after
Speaker:Evan: this so i'll have you uh you have to come back to that but uh brandon bryant
Speaker:Evan: connor and zach it's been a pleasure having you on and should definitely do it again definitely.
Speaker:brandon: Absolutely yeah this was a hoot yeah thank you.
Speaker:Connor: Yeah maybe one of these days we'll do uh we'll actually do fast and furious.
Speaker:Evan: Yeah that would be fun i.
Speaker:brandon: Would also do convoy movie for so many good babies.
Speaker:Evan: Hmm man.
Speaker:Connor: Someone should make a podcast about how good movies are it.
Speaker:Evan: Could be a car movie podcast that's.
Speaker:brandon: A good idea.
Speaker:Connor: And like do it from like a leftist perspective i think that would be very cool.
Speaker:Evan: Oh this is giving me a good idea for the but uh i think i'm gonna do that you.
Speaker:brandon: Want in on this uh.
Speaker:Evan: But you've been listening to the left of the projector and you can follow it
Speaker:Evan: left of the projector.com.
Speaker:brandon: We'll uh keep an eye out for my future podcast what's left of the projector actor.
Speaker:Evan: Oh, we'll catch you next time.
Speaker:bryant: Movies and comrades.
