When Burt Reynolds was denied a new car every year for life: “I don’t like your movies”
One day in the mid-1980s, Burt Reynolds found himself on the wrong end of an extremely chastening phone call.
After the runaway success of his beloved 1977 action comedy Smokey and the Bandit, Reynolds legitimately became the biggest box office draw in Hollywood. For the next several years, he was untouchable as the industry’s biggest star, and in that period, he enjoyed many of the perks of being rich and famous.
For the gearhead star, one of the best perks was the free muscle car that arrived on his doorstep every single year, courtesy of General Motors. In the movie, Reynolds’ Bo ‘Bandit’ Darville drives a gleaming, souped-up 1977 Pontiac Trans Am vehicle, and the car became so instantly iconic that Reynolds claims its sales shot up a mind-boggling 700%. Soon, he fielded a phone call from the president of GM, who told him, “I want you to have a Trans Am every year, for life”. A grateful Reynolds wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially if it came in the form of a free vehicle, so he said, “Yes, please!”
Lo and behold, a brand-new Trans Am began arriving at Chez Reynolds annually. Initially, he decided to share the wealth, giving the first Trans Am to his sister and the second to his stepbrother. Amusingly, he doesn’t even remember who he gave the third one to, proving that, occasionally, a man can have too many free cars. By the time the fourth one came, though, he decided it was time he finally kept it for himself.
Over the next five years, more Trans Ams kept making their regularly scheduled appearances at Reynolds’ house, and he wound up with a collection the envy of every other car enthusiast in Hollywood. Then, one day, the party was over. “The new Trans Am didn’t show up,” Reynolds explained to Car and Driver magazine, “I was wondering what happened. So, just to make sure there wasn’t some kind of an accident with shipping or something, or maybe it got stolen, I made a call.”
Now, the actor admitted to feeling like a jerk while making this phone call, because he didn’t want to seem ungrateful to GM for all the Trans Ams they’d already furnished him with. However, he also loved getting his new model every year, and a deal’s a deal, right? So, he dutifully phoned up the president and asked him if his free vehicle had gotten lost somewhere along the way. What happened next cut the iconic star off at the knees in truly devastating fashion.
“Oh yes, Burt Reynolds, car for life,” mused the president, while Reynolds waited patiently. Then, he threw the actor the ultimate curveball. “Well, you see, that was the president’s life, and he’s dead now,” the new president said with barely restrained glee, “You won’t get one anymore, as long as I’m president.”
Reynolds realised this new president had found the perfect ‘get out of jail free’ card in the scenario by pretending the “car for a life” promise didn’t actually apply to Reynolds’ time on this earth. He also couldn’t force the company to keep giving him expensive vehicles for free just because his movie helped them sell a boatload many years earlier. That just didn’t make financial sense for the company.
Still, Reynolds wanted to hear the new president tell him why he had personally decided to stop his Trans Am gravy train. After hearing the answer, though, he might have wished he’d never asked. You see, the president told him his predecessor only did it because he was a fan of Reynolds’ films. “That was the old president,” he stated bluntly, “He liked your movies. I’m the new one. I don’t like your movies!” And with that, alas, it was all over but the crying.
