The Great Smokey Roadblock Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

The Great Smokey Roadblock Blu-ray Movie Review

Off the road again.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 12, 2026

Don't let the the cast fool you: John Leone's 1977 road comedy The Great Smokey Roadblock is a fairly mid-tier effort. It offers a late career role for the great Henry Fonda, an early one for future "Freddy" Robert Englund, and face time for the lovely Eileen Brennan The Last Picture Show and Susan Sarandon, as well as vintage 1970s time capsule footage, but rarely builds much interest before veering off the road in its third act. Nonetheless, it already earned a 2018 Blu-ray from the boutique label Code Red, but original rights holder MGM now offers their own edition as an MOD (pressed) Blu-ray. Neither one is a particularly great effort, but in some ways this newer disc is a small step backwards.

For a synopsis and critique of The Great Smokey Roadblock (which is billed as under its original name, The Last of the Cowboys, during the opening titles), please read Brian Orndorf's review of Code Red's 2018 Blu-ray linked above. As implied by my earlier comments, I agree with his take on the film and find it to be an occasionally amusing but mostly patchy comedy that falls into several genre pitfalls (alongside other road comedies from this era), especially since it's built from disparate story elements that never really come together in a satisfying way.

One interesting footnote to the film's original production not mentioned in our previous review was that The Last of the Cowboys' original distributor, Dimension Films, apparently edited and re-titled the film as The Great Smokey Roadblock against Henry Fonda's wishes after its premiere at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. So while this is apparently the original version (which likely may account for some of the visual shortcomings below), at least one different cut is out there... and assuming it still exists somewhere, I'd be interested to compare the two.

The Great Smokey Roadblock Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Code Red's 2018 Blu-ray (linked above) boasted a "brand-new HD master" on its packaging but the end result proved seriously underwhelming and, though there are a couple small but tangible differences here, it's not enough to warrant raising the 2/5 rating Brian Orndorf gave that disc by more than a half-point. MGM's 1.85:1 presentation -- which is cropped slightly, unlike the 1.78:1 Code Red Blu-ray -- is prefaced by a disclaimer (warning?) that it comes from "the best possible source material" without going into specifics, but looks similarly flat and scuzzy with no signs of extensive or even moderate cleanup applied as dirt, debris, and damage run rampant, not to mention telecine wobble and other distractions. Colors are generally drab though some of the primaries sometimes manage to stand out, fine detail is extremely limited, and contrast is all over the place with frequently blown-out whites and very patchy blacks riddled with noise and clumpy grain in darker moments. Somewhat serendipitously, one of my screenshots (#3, seen below) happens to line up almost exactly with one from the previous review, where you'll see those slight color and framing differences... but to put it mildly, neither presentation offers much to get excited about.

If forced to pick a winner, I'd give MGM's disc the slight edge for its correct framing, and of course I'll extend an olive branch due to the presumed built-in shortcomings tied to its unspecified sourced material. Even so, I'm fairly confident that there's still some room for improvement here, at least in the cleanup department.

The Great Smokey Roadblock Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio is similarly a bit underwhelming, as it doesn't demand much from the source material but is likewise in need of a little spit and polish as some of the dialogue can be tough to make out; luckily, at least now we get optional English (SDH) subtitles to help out in that regard, which may be this disc's only obvious improvement. Otherwise, all of the observations Brian made in his review of the Code Red Blu-ray basically apply here.

The Great Smokey Roadblock Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with awful cover art that makes it look like a public domain disc you'd find at Dollar Tree, which is a clear downgrade from Code Red's 2018 Blu-ray. The same can be said about its bonus features, which trade in an interview with Robert Englund and two trailers for a measly photo slideshow.

• Behind-the-Scenes Gallery (1:40) - A measly eight production stills and screenshots, framed at 1.33:1, that look about as "good" as the main feature.

The Great Smokey Roadblock Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Leone's mostly lackluster 1977 road comedy The Great Smokey Roadblock has somehow received two separate Blu-ray editions (both of them using its original name, The Last of the Cowboys, during the opening titles), and neither disc is very impressive. Both feature slightly different but fairly equally underwhelming 1080p video and mediocre 2.0 audio, with unique advantages awarded to either one: this offering from MGM is framed correctly at 1.85:1 and boasts optional English (SDH) subtitles, which help out with some of the dialogue, while Code Red's 2018 Blu-ray has better cover art and a few decent bonus features. Either way, you're bound to be disappointed to some degree.