Editing Burt Reynolds (section)

===''White Lightning'' and Southern movies===
Another turning point in Reynolds's career came when he made the light-hearted car-chase film written by William W. Norton, ''[[White Lightning (1973 film)|White Lightning]]'' (1973). Reynolds later called it "the beginning of a whole series of films made in the South, about the South and for the South... you could make back the cost of the negative just in Memphis alone. Anything outside of that was just gravy."<ref name="gene"/> Car-chase movies would be Reynolds's most profitable genre. At the end of 1973, Reynolds was voted into the list of the ten most-popular movie actors in the US at number four. He would stay on that list until 1984.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

He made a sports comedy with [[Robert Aldrich]], ''[[The Longest Yard (1974 film)|The Longest Yard]]'' (1974), which was popular. Aldrich later said, "I think that on occasion, he's a much better actor than he's given credit for. Not always: sometimes he acts like a caricature of himself."<ref name="aldrich"/>

Reynolds starred in two big-budget fiascos: ''[[At Long Last Love (film)|At Long Last Love]]'' (1975), a musical for [[Peter Bogdanovich]], and ''[[Lucky Lady]]'' (1975), with [[Gene Hackman]] and [[Liza Minnelli]].

More popular was another light-hearted car-chase film, ''[[W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings]]'' (1975), and a police drama with Aldrich, ''[[Hustle (1975 film)|Hustle]]'' (1975).<ref name="gene"/> He also had a [[cameo appearance]] in [[Mel Brooks]]'s ''[[Silent Movie (film)|Silent Movie]]'' (1976).

Toward the end of his life, Reynolds revealed that he declined the role of [[Han Solo]] in ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]''.<ref name="Variety Reynolds">{{cite web|last1=Sippell|first1=Margeaux|title=Roles Burt Reynolds Turned Down, From Bond to Solo|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/burt-reynolds-turned-down-roles-bond-solo-1202930436/|website=Variety|date=September 6, 2018|access-date=August 13, 2023|archive-date=January 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120210557/https://variety.com/2018/film/news/burt-reynolds-turned-down-roles-bond-solo-1202930436/|url-status=live}}</ref> Reynolds told ''[[Business Insider]]'' in 2016, "I just didn't want to play that kind of role at the time. ...Now I regret it. I wish I would have done it."<ref name="Business Insider Star Wars">{{cite web|title=Before Harrison Ford, Reynolds was offered the role of Han Solo.|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/iconic-roles-burt-reynolds-turned-down-2018-9#before-harrison-ford-reynolds-was-offered-the-role-of-han-solo-1|website=businessinsider.com|publisher=Business Insider|access-date=August 13, 2023|archive-date=August 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813184628/https://www.businessinsider.com/iconic-roles-burt-reynolds-turned-down-2018-9#before-harrison-ford-reynolds-was-offered-the-role-of-han-solo-1|url-status=live}}</ref>