Burt Reynolds Week: Gator

Welcome back readers for Burt Reynolds Week continuation.  I thought we would tackle a sequel and you know how I have issues with sequels but this might very well be enjoyable.  So grab a drink, take off your shoes and sit a spell.   This is Gator.

Uh, Black Russian please.

“Why do they call you Spoiler?” “Cause I TELL THEM too.”

When we last left McKlusky, he had pulled the rug out from under Sheriff J.C. and got out of the hoosegow and went back to his white lightning days.   Running liquor is risky as always but the cash is too good to pass up.  The governor (Mike Douglas of the Mike Douglas Show, The Carol Burnett Show and The Last Valley) is tired of hearing about the lack of stopping crime in his fair county when his PR boys in junction with a New York cop off to serve up the man that has been wrecking the county with prostitution, protection and moonshine. 

Domesticated swamp bliss.

After a lengthy speed boat chase through the swamps of which was about 8 minutes long, the cops just nab Pappy McKulsky and Gator’s little girl for leverage.  Low and behold the Feds pinch Gator (Burt Reynolds of Gunsmoke, Navajo Joe, Hawk, Fade-In, Impasse, Fuzz, Hustle and Shamus) and give him a deal overlook the shine and NOT take his 9 year old daughter to foster care if he is willing to rat out an old schoolmate Bama McCall (Jerry Reed of Smokey and the Bandit, Hot Stuff, Good Ol’ Boys, Concrete Cowboys, The Survivors, What Comes Around and The Waterboy). 

The undercover NYC cop Irving Greenfield (Jack Weston of The Thomas Crown Affair, Wait Until Dark, All in a Night’s Work, My Sister Eileen, The Honeymoon Machine, The Hathaways and It’s Only Money) wants to work the sting with Gator but he points out to Greenfield he will stick out like a bagel in a bowl of grits.   

Ready for my close up, Mr. Reynolds.

There is a far amount of racism throughout the movie and none too subtle but it is mostly delivered as snotty dialogue and sarcasm which makes it slightly entertaining.   Gator of course is back to his usual roots such as; drinking, racing, chasing loose women and pissing off the officials and the criminals. 

Gator gets in good with Bama only to spy a pretty little reporter Aggie Maybank (Supermodel Lauren Hutton of The Gambler, Viva Knivevel!, A Wedding, American Gigolo, Zorro: The Gay Blade and Once Bitten) and typical habits are to follow.

I have a quick few odds and ends about the film.  Initially Richard Kiel was slated to play Bones the behemoth bodyguard but he had a schedule conflict and suggested his also gargantuan buddy William Engesser.   The romance between Aggie and Gator feels a bit hammy and not as believable.  Sure Burt is pretty but that can last all of a weekend with this character while Hutton’s character is a charming, sophisticated and intelligent woman that just seemed out of place by this man’s side but that is just a writer’s critique.   

The action is impressive, the jokes are mildly raunchy and the car chases almost rival the boat sequence.  This follows under Good Ole Boy film in that the plot is decent but a bit pale compared to White Lightning.   Still not a bad film.