Reynolds Rap
Burt Reynolds turns 75 today (assuming he's not lying about his age). He did a ton of TV in the 60s, mostly Westerns, and by the end of the decade had graduated to films. He may have been the biggest movie star of the 70s and early 80s, doing both action and comedy. He flirted with respectability, especially after Deliverance (1972), though it probably didn't help he posed semi-nude for Cosmopolitan around the same time. He was best known for his good ol' boy roles, his biggest hit being Smoky And The Bandit (1977). He also became one of the top guests on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, and was expert at making fun of himself.
I always liked him more than his friend and competitor, Clint Eastwood. Clint is highly regarded today, but back then, the critics didn't necessarily take him more seriously than Burt. Then some time in the mid-80s, Burt's fans deserted him. I don't know if they grew up, or Burt got too old, or whatever, but suddenly he wasn't the Man any more. (He and Clint made a movie in 1984--City Heat. It's awful, and maybe that was the dividing line. He didn't really have any big hits after that. Clint, on the other hand, not only kept making hits, but became more and more respectable.)
In 1997, Burt had a bit of a comeback, playing a porn filmmaker in a relatively small Boogie Nights. The film was highly praised (deservedly) and, even though Burt didn't particularly like his role, it got him his only Oscar nomination. It looked like he could have a decent career playing older, supporting parts, but he never really followed Boogie Nights with anything special. For the most part he's appeared in a bunch of films you never heard of.
He may not have been in too many classics, but he made his share of decent entertainments. Maybe it's time for a reappraisal. How about an honorary Oscar?
posted by LAGuy @ 12:05 AM
6 Comments:
Whew. That Bandit compilation was painful.
And the special Oscar goes to the star of "WW and the Dixie Dance Kings".....
Which for a couple weeks in 6th grade or so I think was my favorite movie
In general while they were both action heroes, Clint tended more toward the quiet menacing man of few words (the spaghetti westerns, Dirty Harry's) with only the occasional goofball role (the trucker with the monkey- Every Which Way But something series) while Burt seemed to delight in the amiable goofball roles (well the good looking smooth goofball who got the girls) with only the occasional serious role like Deliverance.
The Academy tends to reward seriousness as it adds to its portentousness.
I always thought Burt operated in the shadow of Dom Deluise (just kidding, but maybe literally).
R U Kidding????
That clown couldn't act. He made it because Dinah Shore had a thang for him...
Some of his later films aren't bad, and he got some good reviews here and there, but he couldn't put together a convincing comeback.
Post a Comment
<< Home