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How big a star was Burt Reynolds?
(A sample: I could just eat you right up.All of you.
I think you should stick to your regular diet, honey.
You just know anything as sweet as I am has to be fattening.)
Photos of Reynolds fill out the book.
In some, hes draped in beautiful women.
But, at the height of his stardom, Reynoldss charm had a way of short-circuiting offense.
Who could stay mad at a guy who could grin like that?
1972 was a kind ofannus mirabilisfor Reynolds.
Hed been a frequent presence in movies and on TV (most prominently onGunsmoke) withoutquitebreaking through.
But not everyone got to work with Sergio Leone.
Stardom would have to wait a few years, as the movie didnt take off.
Its also the rare western, spaghetti or otherwise, with a Native American hero.
(The Ennio Morricone score is one of the best of his western work, too.)
(He even let the receding hairline hed hide in almost every other movie show.)
This falls firmly into that category.
He followed it up with a sequel,Gator, in 1976; one of several films he directed.
Its also a quintessential 70s film, featuring heroes who win just by standing up to an unfair system.
(Reynolds returned to play a different role in the 2005 remake starring Adam Sandler.)
The two became an item and co-starred in several more films together.
Reynolds would find these sorts of cars-and-gals-and-yuks movies seductive at his own peril.
He kept enjoying himself even when others didnt.
Clayburgh and Bergen earned Oscar nominations for their work.
The next year he madeSmokey and the Bandit II.
This should have been the beginning of a bold new phase in Reynoldss career.
