Me and Hal
One of the many highlights of the Crested Butte film festival was meeting Hal Needham, the writer and director of my one-time favorite movie, 'Smokey and the Bandit.' The first time I ever saw 'Smokey and the Bandit' I must have been between eight and ten years old, (it was made back in 1977). I watched it again recently on TBS at 1:30 AM. Unfortunately, they butchered many of Jackie Gleason's (Sheriff Buford T. Justice) famous and hilarious one-liners with their heavy-handed editing, (why edit at 1:30 in the morning?), but the heart of the movie was intact, and what remains of the adolescent in me couldn't help but grin ear-to-ear when Burt Reynolds punched the accelerator on that black Trans Am.
My first question to Hal was: "How did you capture the sound of that car? It just sounds amazing."
In his thick Southern drawl he explained how he knew exactly how he wanted the car to sound, and the Trans Am just didn't sound big enough, so he had found another car with a '...big ole engine in it,' slapped on some special mufflers and substituted the sound for the Trans Am in post production.
Unfortunately I missed the screening of 'Hooper' on Wednesday night, (I arrived in town Thursday morning), but I did catch a Q&A hosted by Hal after the awards ceremony on Saturday night. He has lead a truly remarkable life and enjoyed a prolific career. He's written, directed and been a stuntman and stunt coordinator on hundreds of the biggest films of all time. He was the first person to test the automobile airbags we now all take for granted, and was the first person to break the sound barrier on land. He was a contestant in the real-life version of The Cannonball Run, an experience he eventually turned into a movie. He is also one of the founders of Stunts Unlimited, an invitational association of stunt professionals. Do yourself a favor and check out the trailer button on their website, it contains nearly every one of the great film stunts of the last decade.
After listening to Hal's amazing stories of being a career Hollywood renegade I thanked him for his films and said how much fun I'd had watching them as a boy. He smiled, thanked me and said: "I've always made films that were a lot of fun. If you're not having fun, what's the point?"
My first question to Hal was: "How did you capture the sound of that car? It just sounds amazing."
In his thick Southern drawl he explained how he knew exactly how he wanted the car to sound, and the Trans Am just didn't sound big enough, so he had found another car with a '...big ole engine in it,' slapped on some special mufflers and substituted the sound for the Trans Am in post production.
Unfortunately I missed the screening of 'Hooper' on Wednesday night, (I arrived in town Thursday morning), but I did catch a Q&A hosted by Hal after the awards ceremony on Saturday night. He has lead a truly remarkable life and enjoyed a prolific career. He's written, directed and been a stuntman and stunt coordinator on hundreds of the biggest films of all time. He was the first person to test the automobile airbags we now all take for granted, and was the first person to break the sound barrier on land. He was a contestant in the real-life version of The Cannonball Run, an experience he eventually turned into a movie. He is also one of the founders of Stunts Unlimited, an invitational association of stunt professionals. Do yourself a favor and check out the trailer button on their website, it contains nearly every one of the great film stunts of the last decade.
After listening to Hal's amazing stories of being a career Hollywood renegade I thanked him for his films and said how much fun I'd had watching them as a boy. He smiled, thanked me and said: "I've always made films that were a lot of fun. If you're not having fun, what's the point?"
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