Smokey and the Bandit Review
For the good old American life, for the money, for the glory, and for the fun ... mostly for the money
It is May 1977.
A young inexperienced director managed to secure the finance for his passion project due to the backing of a studio executive, a passion project that few had given more than a passing thought to. A project whose merchandising would see a huge uptake in sales, and whose fans would communicate in their own language. The risk paid off and the film became a massive box office success, second only to one other film, released a week later – Star Wars.
Smokey and the Bandit was the brainchild of stunt man turned director Hal Needham who wanted to tell the story of a famous trucker running booze between states, highlighting the growing craze of CB radio. It took a while to get off the ground, but with help from star Burt Reynolds and a slew of Trans-Ams (whose sales went through the roof on the back of this film) it helped popularise CB culture worldwide, with even books published on the language used. It also helped revitalise and re-introduce comedian Jackie Gleason to a whole new audience and gave Sally Field her first big movie role.
The narrative is very simple, and plays like one big car chase, interspersed with wisecracking dialogue and a soft romance between the two leads. It has a fairly quick pace, a lot of charm and is pretty easy to recommend. The fashion dates it terribly, mind, and some of the language is of its time, but the whole thing plays as inoffensive and frivolous. Its huge success inspired a few copycats, a couple of sequels, and a hit record, but will probably best be remembered for bringing the CB language into public consciousness: 10-4.
Smokey and the Bandit Video
Smokey and the Bandit was shot on 35mm film using Panavision Panaflex cameras, and has benefitted from a 2021 remaster producing a 4K DI from which this UHD is sourced.
The disc presents a native 3840 x 2160p resolution image with widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and uses 10-bit video depth, High Dynamic Range, a Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) and is encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec for HRD10.
We reviewed the Region free UK Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Smokey and the Bandit on a Panasonic 65DX902B Ultra HD 4K TV with a Panasonic DP-UB450 Dolby Vision HDR10+ 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
Natural look
Apart from a couple of scenes of woeful softness (2nd camera unit sourced photography) the detail is terrific, there is clear texture to skin and hair, discernible weave to clothing, sharp instrumentation panels in the various vehicles, foliage is stark against the skyline, diner menus are readable etc.
The WCG and HDR gives the colours a real natural look, the greenery of the foliage is lush, the blues of the skies, the reds of clothing and street signs, check out the boldness of brake lights! Black is deep with decent shadows giving a good depth to frame; highlights, such as sunlight glinting of chrome or water, give a natural effervescence.
Digitally there are no compression issues, the source is nice and clean, and the light grain level is consistent giving a terrific filmic presentation.
Smokey and the Bandit Audio
The English Dolby Atmos track is wide and well separated and makes good use of 3D space; the opening, with the truck rolling over you is a delight! Overhead channels are used sparingly for effects, the helicopter is obvious, but the bar brawl and convoy also employ them. Stereo effects are used plentifully, the various trucks and cars racing across the screen for example.
Rolling over
Dialogue is natural sounding and held towards the frontal array, while the score, particularly the songs, make full use of the sound stage with layering to the instruments. Bass is somewhat limited, used to fill out the low end, rather than force LF effects, as such it’s not particularly deep, even the roar of semi’s don’t elicit much of a response. Subtle effects, such as being inside a semi cabin or the road/wind whizzing by really open in the soundscape.
Review System: Denon AVR-X4300H, MK Sound LCR750 and SUR55T, XTZ S2 Atmosphere ceiling mounted, SVS PB-12 Ultra.
Smokey and the Bandit Extras
All are on the UHD, since there is no Blu-ray in the set; all have been available before.
Loaded Up and Truckin': The Making of Smokey and the Bandit – 20 minute feature.
Snowman, What's Your 20: The Smokey and the Bandit CB Tutorial – 8 minutes of CB slang.
Theatrical Trailer
100 Years of Universal: The '70s – Found on all Anniversary discs.
100 Years of Universal: The Lot – As above.
Conclusion
Smokey and the Bandit 4K Blu-ray Review
Smokey and the Bandit is a fun, charming car chase movie, probably best known for its highlighting of the CB language, but delve a little deeper to find it also helped revitalise and re-introduce comedian Jackie Gleason to a whole new audience, gave Sally Field her first big movie role, inspired a few copycats, as well two sequels, had a hit record and had it not been for a little film called Star Wars that was released a week later, was on track to have been the highest grossing film of 1977. Breaker breaker, 10-4, good buddy, on the side!
10-100
As a 4K UHD set, the disc form Universal is pretty good, I love that it’s only the UHD and doesn’t need the Blu-ray to ‘support it’; the native 4K image is clean, bright, well detailed, naturally coloured with strong blacks and even brighter highlights. The Dolby Atmos surround track is wide, expansive and makes good use of all the surround channels. The extras package is a tad weak, though, with bringing nothing new to the table.
Smokey and the Bandit is available on 4K Ultra HD now.
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