BURT REYNOLDS
Burt Reynolds passing away today signifies the end of an era to me. I grew up in the world of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, when action films were as steroid heavy on slickness and special effects as some of the stars that appeared in them. The action genre before them was populated by a more everyday type of man: Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Roger Moore. Men that took on leagues of henchmen with hairy-chested dad-bods as opposed to the sculpted physiques of Greek gods.
Burt Reynolds was the epitome of that generation’s action hero. He was devious, horny and ballsy. He held a self-deprecation that wasn’t quite self-deprecating enough. His action roles ranged from steely to mirthful. To most everyone you ask, they’ll remember him as Bandit or Stroker Ace, characters that were vague, fictional versions of himself.
Then there were the tough-guy roles. Movies titles like Sharkey’s Machine, Stick, Heat, and Gator; movies that played endlessly on Super Channel in the early 80s. Those were all fine; give me a cream soda and a bag of pretzels and I’ll make a movie marathon of them.
But to me, Burt was always best when he was acting. Or when he had someone pushing him to go beyond his “good-old-boy” or “tough as nails” routine.
Films like Boogie Nights, a film that he despised doing but came out shining in. Or The End, which shows how sad it must be for a star’s personal project to fail when it’s so damned witty. Or my personal favorite, Deliverance, a film so perfect I watch it every year to remind me how good the art of film can be.
It’s difficult these days to imagine there was a time when Burt Reynolds was the top box-office draw in the world. But then again, it’s hard for me to fathom there was a time when double-denim, macrame, and avocado-colored wallpaper was on-point too. I wish Burt had trusted himself to do more roles like Navajo Joe, Lewis from Deliverance or Jack Horner from Boogie Nights. Still, there’s no harm either in seeing him continuously trick Jackie Gleason while he and Sally Field fly over a bridge with the help of an out-of-sight ramp. Cackling that infectious laugh of his.
Godspeed, Bandit.
