Hal Needham - Movieline

DVD Releases || BY Simon Abrams || 06 07 2012 9:25 AM

Smokey and the Bandit at 35: A Case for the Genius of Hal Needham

As part of their 100th anniversary, Universal Studios has just released a commemorative Blu-Ray edition of Smokey and the Bandit. Today, the 35-year old Burt Reynolds vehicle is mostly remembered for Reynolds' good ol' boy schtick, Jackie Gleason's mugging and first-time director Hal Needham's stuntwork. Unfortunately, while Needham's contributions to Smokey are probably the most essential, he remains the least renowned of that bunch. But thanks to the behind the scenes featurette included on Universal's new release, laypeople and stuntwork junkies alike can get a good idea of why Smokey and the Bandit belongs to Hal Needham.
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The Movieline Nine || BY Brad Slager || 05 11 2012 3:30 PM

9 Prolific Actor/Director Combos Not Quite as Cool as Johnny Depp and Tim Burton

This weekend sees the release of Dark Shadows, marking the eighth time director Tim Burton has teamed with Johnny Depp, his second-favorite performer on screen. (He no doubt frequently has to tell Helena Bonham Carter as much.) So natural is their pairing that we have come to expect a certain level of quality and/or box-office performance from their combined efforts, and an announcement of a new Burton title has generally come to carry the promise of a Depp appearance. Although Hollywood has long brought us such fruitful and lucrative actor/director relationships — from both Cary Grant and James Stewart's collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock to Robert De Niro's legendary work with Martin Scorsese — consider nine other long-term pairings packing a little (or a lot) less luster.
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