Burt Reynolds achieved feature-film stardom and a large measure of credibility with his powerful dramatic performance in the 1972 thriller film Deliverance. Reynolds’ charm and sex appeal were effectively showcased throughout the rest of the decade in films like Hooper, The Longest Yard, Smokey and the Bandit, and Starting Over, which pleased audiences and critics alike while establishing Reynolds as an immensely likable star who was equally adept at action and comedy.

However, in the early 1980s, the good-old-boy image that led Reynolds to be voted Hollywood’s top box-office draw for a record five consecutive years between 1978 and 1982 reached a point of diminishing returns. His unsuccessful pairing with Clint Eastwood in the 1984 action film City Heat marked a precipice in his career from which he never regained his former star power. In the late 1980s, Reynolds made an ignominious return to television, where his career began in the early 1960s.