But they aren’t all villains in the film world – every once in a while, lorry drivers get to be heroes as well…

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

At last, in "Smokey and the Bandit", we have a lorry driver in a heroic leading role – Bo "Bandit" Darville, who is given the challenge of getting a trailer full of Coors Beer from Texas to Georgia in 28 hours, for a promised reward of $80,000. Perhaps typically, when a lorry driver actually gets to be the hero of a film he hardly spends any time in an HGV, leaving the hard haulage to his sidekick "Snowman" whilst he distracts the police in a flashy Pontiac Trans Am.

He has flawless driving skills, a no-nonsense attitude to problem solving, a healthy disrespect of petty authority and he always gets the girl – in the figure of the Bandit, there is finally an onscreen portrayal of a lorry driver that is almost true to life!

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