Smokey Bites the Dust

1981 "JIMMY MCNICHOL - he's wild, he's nervy, he's a one man demolition derby!"
3.5| 1h27m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 October 1981 Released
Producted By: New World Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Follows the rivalry between a small-town Southern sheriff and a small-town delinquent who steals cars and then destroys them with the sheriff’s daughter by his side.

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Director

Charles B. Griffith

Production Companies

New World Pictures

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Smokey Bites the Dust Audience Reviews

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
PeterMitchell-506-564364 I first saw this in '85. Instead of having Burt Reynold's in the driver's seat, we have Jimmy McNicol, driving the local town cop (Barnes) insane, giving him daily chases and taunting him on his installed c.b. This time he's gone too far, where he runs off with Daddy's (Barnes's) little girl, and he's none too happy about. And it's prom night too. All this is a car chase movie, where forget plot or logic. We even see two ten plus kids smoke, the boy looking very much like that silent chubby kid, Peter in The Cosby Show. But unlike Cosby this isn't funny, just a sheer excuse to spend 86 minutes. We have impressive pile ups, crazy chases, a snake slithering across the road, near it's start, if to maintain further interest. Some known actors star in this, an early price to pay, for future stardom. We too have an imprisoned guy making moonshine, and a younger William Forsythe, a jock, who's girl is riding with Smokey (McNichol) though of course this is not the real character's name. What left me in puzzlement was it's enigmatic R rating. May'be it was the reference to watching two kids smoke. I don't know what else it could be, as this film doesn't deserve to go beyond a PG. May'be the censors were on a mental vacation, like the makers of this movie, and when the writer's surname is named after a piece of fruit, you know you got problems.
bkoganbing Smokey Bits The Dust got inflicted on the movie going public in 1981. And after two viewings of it I can't even tell you what the plot is of this mess.Jimmy McNichol plays the local bad boy in this neck of the Ozark woods who just likes to race cars and wreck as many as he can because it's good clean fun. He's got the hots for the sheriff's daughter, Janet Julian, and on Homecoming Day he kidnaps her.After this the whole film is one mindless 80 minute or so car chase in which law from other jurisdictions including some Arabs get involved. To be honest I actually tried figuring out what the plot was and couldn't.Roger Corman produced this mess and shame on him.
djnightowl-1 A few comments- First of all, I was student body president at Antelope Valley College when this movie filmed there-they got to film because they kicked $750 into the student government accounts and loaned us original prints of three films for an on-campus showing (they came back to re- shoot two scenes on a weekend, and snuck onto the football field by conning a security guard, btw)...I'm also a background extra in three different scenes in the first 10 minutes, and several of my friends are also in this movie. This movie was made by taking out-takes of chase scenes from other Corman movies, filming segues which basically consisted of Jimmy McNichol or one of the police officers jumping out of one car and into another so the car would match the outtake, and editing them together, then tacking on 5 to 10 minutes of exposition and denouement to the front and back of the chase scenes.The crazy jock football player was an actual Antelope Valley College football player named Francis Maikai, and the scene where he smashes the trash can over his head was not in the script, but just something he did as a joke, and the director liked it so much that he put it in the film.this movie cost virtually nothing to make...they didn't even feed the crew and/or cast, as I recall...
stevenfallonnyc OK, sure the movie pretty much sucks, but it's definitely worth it to see some cool car chases if you are a car chase fan. After realizing how many precious classic Dodge Chargers were destroyed during the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV run, it's also kinda sad to see a hot '57 Chevy banged up in chases (watch the disappearing dents, they used more than one of course) but the highlight definitely is that great crash by the '57 through the roof (where of course, McNichol simply keeps driving after the car lands). This chase, with the '57 Chevy, just may be one of the greatest car chases ever put on film actually, it's just too bad it's in a comedy and not a 'serious' film. The comedy is definitely bad, with maybe the funniest scene probably being the truck driver who backs in McNichols' way in an alley, who says "nooo!" with a hilarious look on his face. So hey, pick this one up off ebay for the chases, and watch with the volume turned off when you can to avoid the painful dialogue.