February 11

Happy Birthday to Leslie Nielsen and Burt Reynolds.

I watched Hooper and White Lightning. I really didn't care for the story line of each film. Hooper really didn't have much of a story. Burt plays Sonny Hooper a stuntman. The stunts are really good. You see how stunts are handled and all the care that the crew goes through. The climatic scene a whole town is destroyed. That was incredible to watch. Burt seems to be having a good time and makes fun of the Hollywood industry.

In White Lighting Burt plays a moonshiner runner who gets out of prison to help bring down a corrupt sheriff (Ned Beatty) who he thinks killed his brother. The opening scene shows just how cruel the sheriff can be, it is kind of hard to sit through. The movie was filmed in Arkansas. You see a lot of the countryside in the car chases. Those scenes are great. It really looks like Burt is driving the car. The shots inside the police car you can hear the suspension and squeaking of the car. There is a car chase through a corn field. The action of chase, the actors in the cars and the music playing. The climatic car chase is very long. Beatty and an other officer are chasing Burt. The cop car ends up off the road. An officer in another car stops chasing after Burt to see if the sheriff is ok. Beatty say's “I'm walking aren’t I?” as he walks to the other police car. He sits in the car and looks down the road as if deciding if he can catch up to Burt. All of a sudden Burt's car comes speeding along and hits the back of the police car. Burt then speeds off with Ned following. There is more chasing until Burt's car disappears and then Ned's car goes flying over a hill, over Burt's car and into a lake. That is beautiful.