# Why did Burt Reynolds' career founder after Boogie Nights? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011 "2011-06-10T18:44:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/1 "2011-06-10T18:44:20Z")
Granted his career was already in the pits when he did Boogie Nights, but that was supposed to be his big comeback. He got an Oscar nomination, attracted some interest from the Hollywood establishment. So what the hell happened? How did he wind up in a bunch of made-for-cable movies, Miller Lite commercials and one-off TV guest spots? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/2 "2011-06-10T18:54:05Z")
I think his career was probably (re-)killed by the same flick that killed Demi Moore’s career. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/3 "2011-06-10T18:56:55Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I think his career was probably (re-)killed by the same flick that killed Demi Moore’s career. If you’re referring to Striptease, that was before Boogie Nights. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/4 "2011-06-10T19:06:07Z")
So it was. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/5 "2011-06-10T19:17:36Z")
I think “Boogie Nights” was the outlier, and appeared as a false positive indicator of Reynolds’ career resurgence. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/6 "2011-06-10T19:25:29Z")
His agent was just a bit inept, is all - he should never have gone around assuring everyone that Reynolds was a hot property again, now that he’d done ‘that porn movie.’ ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/7 "2011-06-10T19:28:04Z")
I just looked at [his IMDB listing](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000608/), and it looks like he either has terrible luck, or no taste in projects. I see a LOT of movies, and only saw **[one](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/)** of his post-Boogie Nights films. If I recall correctly, he did Boogie Nights thinking it was going to be a piece of shit, intentionally trying to do a poor job - which paradoxically resulted in him doing the best work he had done in years - with a world-weary resignation perfect for the character. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/8 "2011-06-10T19:31:23Z")
I really don’t think Burt lies awake at night worrying about the quality of the work he’s done. I’ve always had the feeling that he’s happy as long as he’s getting tail, and I’m sure he’s still getting plenty of tail. He was in one very amusing _X-Files_, though. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/9 "2011-06-10T19:44:42Z")
[Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) did an interesting bit about this awhile back. He’s No. 2 on the list here: **The 6 Most Depressing IMDb Pages** > **[The 6 Most Depressing IMDb Pages](https://www.cracked.com/article_17201_the-6-most-depressing-imdb-pages.html)** > > The Internet Movie Database isn't just any database. In those lists of films is a collection of stories of countless performers, with the year-by-year ups and downs as they struggled to make it in show business. > And some of those stories are really,... ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/10 "2011-06-10T19:55:34Z")
You kinda answer your own question in the thread title, there. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/11 "2011-06-10T20:01:45Z")
The Cracked article linked to [an article in The Independent](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/paul-thomas-anderson-young-and-breathless-602787.html) where Paul Thomas Anderson talked about Bert’s addition to painkillers. Maybe he doesn’t get to work with great directors because he has a bad reputation. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/12 "2011-06-10T23:57:39Z")
1. Bad face “work” 2. He’s old 3. He’s been in about six good films and the ALL of the rest are BAD. 4. Never quite sure if he ever kicked some of his bad habits. 5. He used to be a witty/funny guy, now he just has an “attitude” But he really did rock back in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/13 "2011-06-11T02:13:11Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I just looked at [his IMDB listing](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000608/), and it looks like he either has terrible luck, or no taste in projects. I see a LOT of movies, and only saw **[one](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/)** of his post-Boogie Nights films. If I recall correctly, he did Boogie Nights thinking it was going to be a piece of shit, intentionally trying to do a poor job - which paradoxically resulted in him doing the best work he had done in years - with a world-weary resignation perfect for the character. That’s what I’ve heard. Reynolds doesn’t have a lot of taste. When Reynolds was at the peak of his career, he used that power to make a string of Hal Needham movies. What does that tell you? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/14 "2011-06-11T06:13:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Reynolds doesn’t have a lot of taste. When Reynolds was at the peak of his career, he used that power to make a string of Hal Needham movies. What does that tell you? Reynolds’ may not have much taste but during the 70s and early 80s he seemingly did hit upon the perfect formula for staying on top as a box office draw: he’d make sure to balance every redneck **Smokey and the Bandit** -type car-chase comedy with a mature romantic comedy like **Starting Over** or an occasional cop thriller like **Sharkey’s Machine**. The formula worked well for him until the release of **Stroker Ace** which couldn’t even attract his core audience of fans. After that, it was a long string of flops. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/15 "2011-06-11T17:21:43Z")
I don’t know if the timeline is right, but I wonder if the revelations (allegations?) that ol’ Burt liked to occasionally belt around the various women in his life (Loni Anderson, possibly Sally Field) after he got his nightly drunk on hurt his fledgling career renaissance. Not many people like a wife-beater, and an arrogant asshole like Burt Reynolds is an easy guy to pass up on working with. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/16 "2011-06-11T17:52:51Z")
Step 1: Get super mega successful. Top box office star for years. Step 2: Realize you can treat everybody else like dirt and get away with it. Step 3: Have your career fade. Step 4: Don’t unlearn Step 2. Congratulations, you are Burt Reynolds. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/17 "2011-06-11T17:57:10Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I don’t know if the timeline is right, but I wonder if the revelations (allegations?) that ol’ Burt liked to occasionally belt around the various women in his life (Loni Anderson, possibly Sally Field) after he got his nightly drunk on hurt his fledgling career renaissance. > > Not many people like a wife-beater, and an arrogant asshole like Burt Reynolds is an easy guy to pass up on working with. I don’t have a lot of confidence that the Hollywood movers and shakers give a damn about a guy smacking around his girlfriend privately. They do, however, care a lot about someone being unreliable/inconsistent/crazy due to alcohol or drug use. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/18 "2011-06-11T18:16:50Z")
He was never that good an actor to begin with, and the moment he lost his looks, he lost his appeal. We’ve seen it happen to plenty of female actors, so why shouldn’t it happen to a male bimbo like Burt? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/19 "2011-06-11T18:23:52Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > He was in one very amusing _X-Files_, though. [Excellent soundtrack](http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Cabriolets-Otros-Tipos-Vehiculos/dp/B00004WEK3). ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011/20 "2011-06-11T18:33:32Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > I don’t have a lot of confidence that the Hollywood movers and shakers give a damn about a guy smacking around his girlfriend privately. They do, however, care a lot about someone being unreliable/inconsistent/crazy due to alcohol or drug use. I suppose it’s possible they didn’t care about him beating up the girlfriends, but probably realized that someone with those sort of angers issues might eventually wind up picking a fight with someone his own size. A leading man isn’t much use in the hospital, or in jail. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-burt-reynolds-career-founder-after-boogie-nights/585011.md?page=2)