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LOOK
AT YOUIN YOUR FORTY-SIX YEAR CAREER THEREVE BEEN
SOME UPS AND DOWNS, BUT
No,
buddy, theres no ups and downs: Theres the Milky Way and then
theres in the sewer running from the rats. (laughs) Like, somebody once
asked, What does the chart of your career look like? and I said
A heart attack victim.
YOU
SEEM TO HAVE OUTRUN THE RATS, BANDIT.
Actually,
Ive shot them, fried them, and eaten them.
APPARENTLY,
BECAUSE YOURE NOW STARRING IN TWO ALMOST SUREFIRE MEGA-HITSFIRST,
THE ADAM SANDLER REMAKE OF YOUR 1974 PRISON/FOOTBALL OPUS, THE LONGEST
YARD, AND THEN YOURE BOSS HOGG IN THE DUKES OF HAZZARD.
Its been an unbelievable year. But The Longest Yard was the
strangest feeling: When anyone would say Paul Crewe [Yard's
leading characters name] Id turn and almost answer. I mean, I
know I didnt create Papillon or somethin, but Paul Crewe was mineI
was so proud that jocks would say Theres only one football picture
and its The Longest Yard. The rest of them are
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all candy ass! But this new one will not disappointthe
hits are very hard.
SIMILARLY,
WILL THE JEANS IN THE DUKES MOVIE BE AS CROTCH-GRABBINGLY SNUG AS THEY
WERE ON THE TV SHOW? NOT TO MENTION, AS TIGHT AS YOUR JEANS WERE IN FILMS
LIKE SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT AND CANNONBALL RUN?
(laughs)
Back then if I could get a dime in a pocket I wouldnt wear em.
Id say Im sorry I can get change in here, these wont
doits in my contract. (laughs) Im quite embarrassed
by some of those jeans now. On the other hand it, uh
.it makes a statement.
(grins)
WHY
NOT? YOU WERE, AFTER ALL, BURT REYNOLDS!, THE #1 MONEY-MAKING
MOVIE STAR FOR FIVE STRAIGHT YEARS [1977-1981], THE NOTORIOUS COSMO CENTERFOLD
STUD, AND, OF COURSE, THE UNDISPUTED GOOD OL BOY OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.
Yeah,
Ossie Davis used to say to me, You know, youre the only actor
in the world that the African-Americans and the Ku Klux Klan loves.
(laughs)
WHEN
YOU WERE DOING FILMS LIKE CITIZEN RUTH, STRIPTEASE AND BOOGIE
NIGHTS DID YOU GET ANY ANGRY LETTERS FROM YOUR BIBLE BELT FAN BASE?
No,
because they couldnt be dragged to those films. Its actually more
from the sophisticates who love you in Ruth and Starting Over
who say How can you jump backwards? and do something they feel
is beneath you, like, say,,,
SYLVESTER
STALLONES DRIVEN?
Yeah.
(laughs)
HAVE
YOU EVER JUMPED BACKWARDS AND REVISITED DELIVERANCES
CHATTOOGA RIVER?
Yes, Ned [Beatty] and I wanted to see if we still had the courage to do it
and
.well, back then no one went down that river, but now its every
45 minutes in rubber rafts with a Deliverance t-shirt and a guide so
we said Lets take the friggin tour. So the guy on
the tour is doing his spiel and says Right over there is where Jon Voight
actually climbed that mountain himself. We call that Voight Mountain now.
So I thought, Oh, God, were gonna get to the place where that
scene with Ned getting raped happened, and I was terrified theyd
named it so I said (frantically trying to distract), Hey, when are we
gonna have lunch?! And the guy says, Were gonna have lunch
at Sodomy Creek. (laughs) And heres the hilarious thingon
some maps of Georgia you can actually find Sodomy Creek.
DO
YOU STILL HAVE YOUR SLEEVELESS DELIVERANCE WET SUIT?
Of
course, its in my museum [in Jupiter, Florida]. And, not to act like
Im studying humility with Robert Evans, but back then when we went to
an old Army/Navy store in Atlanta and I put the wetsuit on I did say Hey,
if we cut the sleeves off
and now they sell them that way. Not
that I get any credit for that whatsoever, but, hey, maybe another time. (laughs)
SO,
LISTEN, HAVING BEEN A MAJOR HUNK OF THE CINEMA DO YOU EVER GET JEALOUS OF
THE NEW BOYS COMING UP?
The
only time I get pissed off about that is if somebody is an arrogant putz and
doesnt know it. But if theyre arrogant putzes and they do know
it, I kind of like them. (grins) It reminds me of me.
©
2015 Brantley Bardin. All Rights Reserved.
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