BURT REYNOLDS RETURNING FOR 'SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2'

Title: SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2 Year: 1980 Rating: ***

One scene in this sequel to SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT has Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, playing Bo The Bandit and his reluctant road moll Frog, joking around with each other in the proverbial cockpit of the cross country vehicle...

And instead of hearing their inane banter... liken to the superior first movie that's pretty fun with an exception of their insane banter... easygoing country music plays over the scene...

Trans Am from SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Thankfully the most annoying aspect of the classic original is skipped over this time around, but, unfortunately there are less car chases between the Bandit’s new supped-up Trans Am, flanked by Jerry Reed’s truck hauling the goods while prior scene-stealing Smokey Jackie Gleason provides only mumbling one-liners at his dimwitted son, and is hardly an antagonist this time around...

Instead of hauling beer for money, the gang needs to move an Elephant from Texas to Florida for a political convention, and, thus, Dom DeLuise joins the road trip as an Italian doctor hired on as a vet...

Hal Needham's Cast of a Thousand Cars for SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

On paper this seems a trivial followup material but it’s got heart... The elephant aspect is corny, sure, but it... or rather, she... provides a character-arc for Bandit, who might have to think about something other than a big payday...

Meanwhile, there's a neat chase under a rollercoaster... all leading to an 11th hour battle between over a hundred cop cars vs that many trucks, looking as if David Lean directed a smash-em-up instead of stuntman-director Hal Needham... 

Opening for SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

With this intentionally overdone climax, perhaps the engine-revving auteur had to make up for the lack of stunts in the rest of the film: But some of the best scenes occur before the odyssey even starts, as an out of shape, hungover Bandit’s forced to get back into the driver’s seat...

Or else whenever the gang, with time running out, has their back against the wall and, in a nutshell, while it's not great as sequels go, SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2 flows decently enough while the soundtrack, including the Statler Brothers, Roy Rogers, a Burt/Sally duet and a new, even catchier take on Jerry Reed's main theme, is relaxing and fun.

Burt Reynolds in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Burt Reynolds in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2 with Jerry Reed

Burt Reynolds in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Burt Reynolds in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Bridging dialogue for SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Mike Henry and JACKIE GLEASON in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Burt Reynolds in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2 with Sally Field

Dom DeLuise in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Album cover for SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Sally Field and JERRY REED in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2

Burt Reynolds in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 2