The plot is silly, and the audience gets that from the start as ridiculously dressed tycoon "Big Enos" hires "The Bandit" (Burt Reynolds) to bring back a truckload of Coors beer to Georgia, which was illegal to ship anywhere but regionally at that time. The Bandit enlists his trucker friend Cledus (Jerry Reed) to help him on the endeavor. The trip to Texarkana to get the beer is easy enough. But the trip back is quite harrowing and hilarious. It starts when a runaway bride (Sally Field as Carrie) stops Bandit in the middle of the road in need of a ride. What Bandit does not know is that Carrie walked out on her wedding to the department store mannequin like son (honestly, Cledus' Bassett hound Fred has more personality) of Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason). So Bandit thinks he is being pursued across country because of his speeding and reckless driving, maybe because of the beer, but never does it occur to him the sheriff is after his new passenger.
This is just a delightful road picture made authentic looking with tons of anonymous extras playing truckers, ladies of the evening, workers and customers at roadside diners, and teens just looking to do some mischief while listening in on their CB radios. There are also some great songs and Jerry Reed's musical talents are not wasted. About the CB radios - they were a fad in the mid 70s made that way by a 1975 hit entitled "Convoy", and they were the only way to communicate to other drivers on the road in the 1970s. There would not be an internet in common use for another 20 years and cell phones would not be ubiquitous for another 30.
So be prepared to be transported back to a simpler time when there were not tiny cameras tied to cell phones everywhere, air bags did not exist, gas mileage was not an issue, and the era of "zero tolerance" had not occurred yet. Oh, and the role of profane but persistent Buford T. Justice started a bit of a film acting renaissance for Jackie Gleason, who had always had a presence on TV but had been absent from the big screen awhile.
