It's gotta be "Deliverance."
Yes? No? (I've only seen like 15 of his movies).
I vote for Deliverance as a dramatic piece of work. Really enjoyed that film and his Lewis character. RIP Burt.
I was reading his bio and saw one of the critics describing him as hirsute. Didn't know what it meant until today.
Actually, Burt had a keen sense of timing for comedy and humor, so Smokey and the Bandit would honor him well, too.
He did some serious roles and he was pretty good in them as you know. I wonder how he would've done as James Bond in Live and Let Die since he got offered the role.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J-Rw8VmiDfo/maxresdefault.jpg
Rest.
Smokey and the Bandit was near the top too and maybe Boogie Nights.
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"White Lightning" is in the top five.
shareSmokey and the Bandit is my favorite.
shareNo doubt, Deliverance
shareHe said that after Deliverance was released and became such a major classic(albeit with a very controversial "taboo breaking scene") -- he expected to make many more movies of that caliber.
Alas, he learned a decade later -- no, he was NOT going to get scripts for movies of that caliber.
He was proud of the big hit "Longest Yard" because, as he said, "the script didn't have Redford or Newman or Nicholson's fingerprints on it" -- it came to him FIRST as the ex college footballer he was. It was a very 70's movie -- a crowd pleaser with a brutal, cynical edge to it.
"Smokey and the Bandit" came in second to Star Wars in 1977 box office but it was always a pretty flimsy small-scale movie, over as quickly as it began...no food for thought in it. And THAT movie set Burt on the course to disaster.
So I'll say...yeah, Deliverance. Except: its not really family entertainment. Not even some adults like the content.
I'd say The Longest Yard is the definitive Burt Reynolds role -- he's the lead, not Jon Voight -- and the definitive Burt Reynolds hit movie.