{"id":40629,"date":"2025-12-01T07:46:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=40629"},"modified":"2025-12-01T07:46:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:46:55","slug":"burt-reynolds-best-movies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=40629","title":{"rendered":"Burt Reynolds’ Best Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rob Hunter at \/Film came up with his list of Burt Reynolds Best Movies<\/a>.\u00a0 I decided to play along and came up with my list as well.\u00a0 Before (or after) you click over to read Hunter’s rationale for his choices, you can (if you’re so inclined) read my thoughts below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Burt Reynolds Best Movies<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Hunter<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Zablo<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

01. Deliverance<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

01. Smokey and the Bandit <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

02. Smokey and the Bandit<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

02. Sharky’s Machine <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

03. Hooper<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

03. Longest Yard, The <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

04. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

04. Hooper <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

05. The Longest Yard<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

05. The Last Movie Star<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

06. White Lightning<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

06. Driven<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

07. Fade In<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

07. Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, The <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

08. Hustle<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

08. Malone<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

09. Heat<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

09. Heat<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

10. Sharky’s Machine<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

10. Deliverance<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

11. Navajo Joe<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

11. End, The <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

12. The End<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n\n

12. W.W. And the Dixie Dance Kings<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There are three films on Hunter’s list that I haven’t seen: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Fade In<\/em> and Navajo Joe<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now the rationale for my choices…<\/p>\n

12.\u00a0 WW and the Dixie Dance Kings<\/em> – this is kind of a sentimental choice.\u00a0 My mom and dad were divorced and we had moved out of state.\u00a0 Dad was down visiting and took us to see the film.\u00a0 Dad wasn’t a movie guy, but he enjoyed Burt Reynolds.\u00a0 Great memories, even if the movie isn’t.<\/p>\n

11.\u00a0 The End<\/em> – I thought this was really funny when I saw it during its theatrical release.\u00a0 Re-visited it years later and was surprised it didn’t hold up as well.\u00a0 The movie takes off once Dom DeLuise shows up.\u00a0 Wish he made his appearance sooner.<\/p>\n

10. Deliverance<\/em> – Arguably it features Burt Reynolds best acting of his career.\u00a0 The movie has one of my favorite Reynolds’ scenes – when Ned Beatty is getting molested and the camera cuts to Reynolds ready to shoot an arrow.\u00a0 It would rate higher if the movie was one I liked to revisit.<\/p>\n

09.\u00a0 Heat<\/em> – A serviceable action picture with Reynolds as a bodyguard whose dream stays out of reach because of his behaviors.<\/p>\n

08.\u00a0 Malone<\/em> – Made the year before Heat, and about the same quality.\u00a0 Reynolds is ex-CIA who helps a family survive small town corruption.<\/p>\n

07.\u00a0 The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing<\/em> – Burt Reynolds is joined by Sarah Miles,\u00a0 Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, George Hamilton, Bo Hopkins and Jay Silverheels (!) in a western.\u00a0 I thought the Reynolds character was so cool!\u00a0 (Hey! I was in 8th grade.)<\/p>\n

06.\u00a0 Driven<\/em> – I’d always hoped to see Burt Reynolds and Sly Stallone co-starring in a movie.\u00a0 While it wasn’t the action-fest that could\/should have happened earlier in both stars’ careers, they did get to share the screen.<\/p>\n

05.\u00a0 The Last Movie Star<\/em> – Made at the very end of Reynolds’ career.\u00a0 I believe it to feature his best performance.\u00a0 I wish more people would see this film.<\/p>\n

04.\u00a0 Hooper<\/em> – Reynolds plays an aging stunt man.\u00a0 He’s joined by Sally Field, Jan-Michael Vincent, Brian Keith, Hal Needham, Adam West and even Terry Bradshaw.\u00a0 I saw it twice during it’s theatrical run.\u00a0 Good times.<\/p>\n

03.\u00a0 The Longest Yard<\/em> (1974) – Although Reynolds appeared in the Adam Sandler remake, the original is the one to see!\u00a0 I first saw this with our 10th grade football team. Our coach arranged for us to go see it as a team.\u00a0 What a perfect film for a tenth grader.\u00a0 We started calling ourselves “Mean Machine” and it must have worked.\u00a0 We were county champs that year.\u00a0 Great memories and the film holds up still.<\/p>\n

02.\u00a0 Sharky’s Machine<\/em> – I love this film.\u00a0 I hoped that we’d see some sequels with Reynolds continuing to direct and star.\u00a0 It wasn’t to be, but at least we have this gem. Oh, and what a great soundtrack!<\/p>\n

01.\u00a0 Smokey and the Bandit<\/em> – Jackie Gleason, Sally Field, and the black Trans Am!\u00a0 I love this film.\u00a0 You can see the joy that they had making it.\u00a0 My brother-in-law (RIP) could do a great Bufford T. Justice impersonation.\u00a0 Great memories.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rob Hunter at \/Film came up with his list of Burt Reynolds Best Movies.\u00a0 I decided to play along and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,51,63,54,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebs","category-crime","category-humor","category-movies","category-trivia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40630,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40629\/revisions\/40630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}