Smokey and the Bandit

 

Underwritten to the point of non-existence, only the star power, palpable chemistry, and very silly car stunts highlight the second-biggest box office winner of 1977. I haven't seen a lot of Burt Reynolds movies, but wow, does he have star power and charisma from the very first second he's onscreen. His repartee with then-girlfriend Sally Field makes the movie worth watching. Field is hilarious, and the interior of the Trans-Am T-top is a cozy setting for their patter, and somehow they didn't have to loop all their dialog, despite all the wind noise? 

The movie is 25% silly car stunts, 25% making CB radios sound cool, and 25% flirting between Reynolds and Sally Field, and the rest is making fun of racist, sexist, homophobic Southern people in the body of Jackie Gleason. Mocking racist cops isn't as fun as it used to be- or was it ever? - so Gleason's blather gets tired immediately.

The car stunts are fun, even though it hardly ever looks like the vehicles are even close to travelling the 70-110 mph speeds they're supposed to. There are occasional brief shots of the stunt driver risking his life, and frequent use of an "undercranked" camera, which fakes excess speed like an old-timey movie. Most of the rest of the time, the background just isn't passing by fast enough.