A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.
Hollywood aging stuntman Sonny Hooper wants to prove that he's still got what it takes to be a great professional in this risky and under-recognized line of work.
Director:
Hal Needham
Stars:
Burt Reynolds,
Jan-Michael Vincent,
Sally Field
A wide variety of eccentric competitors participate in a wild and illegal cross-country road race. However, the eccentric entrants will do anything to win the road race, including low-down, dirty tricks.
The Bandit goes on another cross-country run, transporting an elephant from Florida to Texas. And, once again, Sheriff Buford T. Justice is on his tail.
A three-way friendship between two free-spirited professional football players and the owner's daughter becomes compromised when two of them become romantically involved.
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.Written by
Matt Heffernan <msh6880@cs.rit.edu>
The climactic football game takes up 47 minutes of running time. See more »
Goofs
When Crewe is talking to the team for the first time, they are sitting on the bleachers and from a rear shot, several of them are wearing their helmets.
However, a second later a shot from the front shows nobody wearing helmets. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Melissa:
How long do we have to keep watching this crap?... Only a moron can sit and watch two football games, one after the other.
See more »
Alternate Versions
The 1995 VHS USA re-release does not feature the song "Saturday Night Special" by Lynyrd Skynyrd during the chase scene. Instead, there is no music during the chase. See more »
Burt Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a reprehensible character discovering, in a prison, dignity and esteem You see him, at the beginning of the movieas a rising starbeating up a woman, stealing her car, drunken driving, insulting cops in a bar, resisting arrest He's seen so funny when he insulted the miniature cop who's about to arrest him, while the cop's partner is laughing openly
Eddie Albert was very charming when he meets Paul Crewe at his arrival to Citrus State Prison Aldrich wanted to play Warden Hazen as the guy who had the veneer of normalcy, the veneer of being a good executive, the veneer of keeping it all together till it starts unraveling He really was just a despicable, oily, warden type In one game scene, we see him over and over again, getting up just with that same look of shock on his face
Ed Lauter (Captain Knauer) is wonderful He runs the football team He is a bad guy and he represents everything that is wrong with that prison system and everything else He changes as a result And to see that is just so delightful He's got the classic Ed Lauter's scene at the end James Hampton plays Caretaker, the character who brings the team all together and pushes Burt's character ahead to win the game
Ray Nitschke plays the toughest, meanest linebacker in football Richard Kiel, Bob Tessier, Charles Tyner, Michael Conrad, and Harry Caesar give the film a certain veracity, you almost thing you are in jail
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Burt Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a reprehensible character discovering, in a prison, dignity and esteem You see him, at the beginning of the movieas a rising starbeating up a woman, stealing her car, drunken driving, insulting cops in a bar, resisting arrest He's seen so funny when he insulted the miniature cop who's about to arrest him, while the cop's partner is laughing openly
Eddie Albert was very charming when he meets Paul Crewe at his arrival to Citrus State Prison Aldrich wanted to play Warden Hazen as the guy who had the veneer of normalcy, the veneer of being a good executive, the veneer of keeping it all together till it starts unraveling He really was just a despicable, oily, warden type In one game scene, we see him over and over again, getting up just with that same look of shock on his face
Ed Lauter (Captain Knauer) is wonderful He runs the football team He is a bad guy and he represents everything that is wrong with that prison system and everything else He changes as a result And to see that is just so delightful He's got the classic Ed Lauter's scene at the end James Hampton plays Caretaker, the character who brings the team all together and pushes Burt's character ahead to win the game
Ray Nitschke plays the toughest, meanest linebacker in football Richard Kiel, Bob Tessier, Charles Tyner, Michael Conrad, and Harry Caesar give the film a certain veracity, you almost thing you are in jail