Stand on It!

Coming from a long-time fan of Smokey and the Bandit, I just have to say that this movie really hit home for me. Not only that, but this really felt like a true combination of Smokey and the Bandit and Dukes of Hazzard. Of course they couldn't make it the tribute they wanted it to be with the budget they had, but John still somehow managed to make it loveable and memorable. The music of this movie is just incredible. The songs really felt like true country songs right down to the instruments and singing. Every song in this film truly felt special in its own respective way while being true to legendary country music. The acting is also really good for a movie with a tight budget. John Schneider may have played as the star of the movie, but the best acting in the movie definitely goes to Tyrus for playing Jackie Gleason's role as the sheriff. Tyrus not only managed to make the dialogue still funny, but he also incorporated new, original dialogue that was not in Smokey and the Bandit. Tyrus really played his part well, and it even looked like he had fun while doing it. But nothing in the movie could top the good stunts and crashes. The crashes were really spot-on to the movie it was tributing while being original in its own, creative way. They even somehow managed to make the backwards car jump into the pond more satisfying by jumping a police car, specifically a Crown Victoria, through a old, abandoned trailer at John Schneider Studios. But the big epic stunt of the movie took place at the Tickfaw River where they jumped the star car, a 2017 Dodge Challenger Hellcat, 100 feet over a demolished bridge right over the Tickfaw River to recreate the famous Mulberry Bridge jump in Smokey and the Bandit. Also, this movie was filmed during the 2020 Bo's Extravaganza event at John Schneider Studios in Holden, LA in July. John allowed anyone to be a part of the movie as an extra character. Not to mention that the upcoming sequel, Poker Run, was filmed at the 2021 Bo's Extravaganza event in April. Now, this movie is not perfect, but this was still a memorable film that I will surely watch over and over again. This really hits home for me, and if you're looking for a great family film to just kick back and enjoy, then this is definitely the one.

I grew up with the Bandit and Dukes of Hazzard, so I am the target market for a film like this - and there's some really good stuff here! But unfortunately I think the low budget created obstacles that just could not be overcome.

First, the good: The pace of this film is really good, it moves along and never drags. There are some editing issues which I'll get to, but the filmmakers were clearly very capable in a larger sense, which is so important, particularly for this genre.

Great performances across the board. Schneider (who stars, wrote and directed) is a fine actor. His dramatic performances show us he can hold his own, and in lighter fare like this, his charisma shines through. The supporting cast is in my opinion uniformly good, too. Robinson, as the bride, hits all the right notes. Tyrus, as the Sherrif, was delightful. What he lacks in acting experience he more than makes up for in presence, and as a result I loved every minute that he was on screen.

There were some nice stunts here. One car is jumped, another is rolled, and a bunch are dunked into rivers and swamps. They even include the famous Bandit stunt where the roof of the police car is torn off - that was pretty ambitious for such a small film!

I love the indie nature of this film, and I have a tonne of respect for Schneider for setting up John Schneider Studios to make small-scale films of a more personal nature. While I don't agree at all with his politics he shares on YouTube, I can see he is a decent man who is putting his money where his mouth is. I really do respect him as an artist. Everyone should check out his other films (they are criminally under-rated by users on IMDB for some reason, whereas I feel this film is rated too highly - but hey, this is just my opinion).

Now the not-so-good: Road trip / car chase movies are tough to do cheaply. We can see that a lot of the budget for this one went into the car stunts/wrecks, and these scenes are all done pretty well. However, the stuff in between has two problems: First, there is not enough coverage shot of the cars actually on the road, resulting in some very confusing and disorienting editing. I suspect this was due to the editor just not having enough footage to piece the scenes together in a better way.

All of the shots in the interior of the vehicles were done using a green screen, and it is very obvious. It would have been less distracting if there was better continuity when the camera switched from driver to passenger, and an entirely different topography is visible on the other side of the road! When I compare these scenes to, say, "Anderson Bench" (also written and directed by Schneider), which had some similar scenes but was shot on location, it looks awful in comparison. I know that much of this film is dialogue-heavy, and the vehicles are the main locations, so I am sure green-screen made economic sense.

These budget-related sacrifices unfortunately will mar this film as amateurish, and unfortunately for a film in this genre I don't think it could have been avoided. However, my biggest complaint could have been: The story here spends too much energy getting the set pieces of the original Bandit in place that it misses the mark on character development. He don't see the bond between Schneider's Duke and Robinson's Fred really happen like it did with Bandit and Carrie in the original. There is one brief scene that hints that maybe that was going to happen (off camera?), but while they have lots of dialogue together in the car, it doesn't drive their relationship forward very well. The actors share some charisma with one another, so I would have preferred some space for that. There are other scenes, including a bar fight, that don't lead anywhere, that could have been sacrificed instead.

It's a decent tribute to Bandit, with enough of a modern twist to make it just different enough that it's not a remake - and there are enough nods to the original, and to the Dukes of Hazzard, to make any fan smile. This is obvious by its high rating on IMDB in comparison to Schneider's other films - this movie has a lot of nostalgia behind it, and that's not a bad thing.

But as a film on its own merits it has some serious flaws. Still, I look forward to seeing what John Schneider Studios will make next, as the world needs more creative independent films. And you know what they say, if you don't fail sometimes, it means you're not trying enough new things.

Why would you watch a cheap rehash?

There's really not much else to say. I'm sure someone's heart was in it but like...just make your own movie. This is unimaginative.

John Schneider is a big kid at heart and it shows in this movie. How many of us would love to relive one of your favorite movies from your youth and star in it? He obviously didn't have the budget but he paid tribute to a classic the best he could. Sure the acting and editing were rough. But I didn't expect anything else. Thanks John and team for taking me back to my youth. I am actually in the process of obtaining and recreating a movie car from a different movie and now I want to make a tribute movie.

I'm sorry, but I did not like this movie at all and that is coming from a huge fan of Smokey and the Bandit fan and Trans Am enthusiast. It was pretty much a low-budget remake of Smokey and the Bandit, but different character names and different locations and setting. It didn't feel like a tribute at all, but more of a wannabe Bandit movie.

The Good: I will say the car stunts were decent, but should've been better filmed. Also there is a scene with Bandit and Buford impersonators which I felt was the closest this movie had to paying tribute and respect for the original.

The Bad: The Dodge Challenger was a bad choice as a blocker car as it should've been a Pontiac Trans Am to honor the original or a black and gold General Lee as a tribute to the TV show. You can't combine both cars and pass it off as a Bandit car. The Challenger used in the movie has a fake t-top roof that is filled with expanding foam, a bird on the hood, gold stripes and gold wheels. Basically a Dodge Challenger that likes to dress as a Pontiac Firebird which I feel is sacrilege. Its not even a real Hellcat like John states, but it is actually a V6 base model. The movie uses WAY TOO MUCH greenscreen which was off-putting and unrealistic. The movie was filmed very cheaply as if it was shot on a cell phone. The songs were not that good nor fun to listen to compared to the original which was fantastic. The acting was poor and much of the dialogue was lifted from the original, which is a shame since the original was mostly improvised. I'm surprised that Universal hasn't copyrighted this movie. If John was on the set, why not make a movie based on that event or a more original storyline that included a few references here and there to set it apart? Also if the budget was so low, why make the movie at all? There should have been a lot of heart, thought, and effort put into this to make it good and pay respect to Burt and Hal, but I feel that very little heart and effort was put into this and it should've been better handled.

Save your time and money and just go watch the original Smokey and the Bandit and the sequels. Way more fun to watch and that is the proper way to honor Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham. Hopefully Universal Studios will do a better job with their tv show in development.