[5], Universal Studios bankrolled Smokey and the Bandit for $5.3 million, figuring it was a good risk. Somebody locally is selling a Regis Plymouth Fury ex Florida Police with gasping 318 V8, he will for the right money toss in a 440 with it. Round and dumpy, just like the Colonnade LeMans! The directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham, the film follows Bo "Bandit" Darville (Reynolds) and Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Reed), two bootleggers attempting to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. It follows the adventures of a couple of truck drivers bootlegging Coors, which couldnt legally be sold East of the Mississippi River at the time. The film was a sleeper hit, and following a poor initial performance, it went on to gross $126.7 million in North America, versus a budget of only $4.3 million. Actor Henry Corden, who voiced Fred Flintstone after original performer Alan Reed died the same year the film was released, was used to replace a considerable amount of Sheriff Justice's dialogue. The comedy has been remastered to DVD standards. And Burt may be from GA originally, but he calls Florida home, which is another reason I heard the movie was filmed here. In response, Needham told Reed that he liked the song so much that if Reed changed even a word or a note, Needham would "choke him". You can see in some shots in the movie that the Bandit Trans Am has 1976 style gold honeycomb wheels instead of the gold snowflake wheels from the 1977, I think at least one of the cars used in filming was a 1976 converted with a 1977 front clip. Coors was legal in Missouri and illegal in Illinois. The cashier never batted an eye as she sold us the mass quantities of suds. It consists of any of the various Louisiana-style hot sauces on Texas toast-style bread alongside the fourth most famous product of Pittsburg, Texas (behind Pilgrim's Pride, Cavender's, and Carroll Shelby)Pittsburg Hot Links. The cop cars with the hood scoops were ex-DeKalb County (Georgia) cruisers. There are an abundance of cars in this movie. I've heard . Cape was far enough north that it was watered down and there was so much cross-pollination with the Illinois side you really didnt discern much difference. While I have read undocumented accounts of there being more than three Trans Ams, Needham stated three is all that were used. This reminds me of the classic introduction (actually written by Dick Cavett) said by Jack Paar on The Tonight Show: I was 3 years old when the original came out, and do not remember any of these details but, supposedly this was the first movie my parents ever took me to. When Smokey & The Banditfirst aired on television in the early 1980s, the Gleason phrase sum bitcha regional butchering of son of a bitchhad to be dubbed out. Conversely, I could go to Paducah and be asked where up north I was from. Whaddya expect outta a guy what drives a conversion van? This movie was filmed in Georgia as well. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Hes fodder enough for his own article at some point. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2. Required fields are marked *. It was the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 after Star Wars. Hal Needham did pass away as someone earlier said. Of course, nobody else cared if it was in the trunk of the car when heading back home. [11] The movie was primarily filmed in Georgia, in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro, and Lithonia. News . Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox would bring several cases after playing on the West Coast, by stashing them in the equipment trunks on the team's plane. After the movie did well, Pontiac gave Burt a free Trans Am to drive for a few years. Great article! Id been driving for years by the time I was 15, so I just wanted to complete the course with as little static as possible. His automotive adventure started reporting on various motorsport events as a sports writer before moving onto a full-time auto career with various sites, including This Week In Motors and Autoevolution. I remember reading somewhere that one of the cars was equipped with a 455 for some of the higher speed scenes. Free shipping for many products! The most noted change made for network broadcast was the replacing of Buford's often-spoken phrase "sumbitch" (a contraction of "son of a bitch"; usually in reference to the Bandit) with the phrase "scum bum". The man does get around. One of our favorite movies. And back then what I wanted most of all was a highly customized Vette with exposed headlights. After the movie came out, Firebird sales increased even more, but the Trans Am was now the most popular one. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2 how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2 (No Ratings Yet) . They return one minute after their time limit, but instead of taking the payoff, Carrie and Bandit accept a double-or-nothing offer from Little Enos: a challenge to run up to Boston and bring back clam chowder in 18 hours. We stopped in that same Safeway later on the way back home from southern Cal, and they had a huge display of cases of Coors out on the floor near the checkstands. When it is finally torn off along with the car's roof in the impact with the girder, the missing fender still reappears later on in the film. MN12 Thunderbirds had the same appeal to me, for similar reasons. The theme music "East Bound and Down" was sung and co-written by Reed (credited under his birth name, Jerry Hubbard) and Dick Feller. We just watched this with the kids the other week, along with Cannonball Run. The pair arrive in Texarkana one hour early and load up the truck, but just as they head back, Carrie, a runaway bride, intercepts Bandit and jumps in his car, unwittingly making him an indirect target of Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a career Texas lawman whose witless son Junior was to have married Carrie. February 27, 2023 . Smokey & The Bandit was the first of three movies in that franchise. Funny that T/A isnt on the movie poster, considering it was the obvious star of the show. It airs on cable tv all the time. I certainly hope the guy hired to drive that 74 Ford Torino wagon was paid well for his work. The unrestored car reportedly showed up on eBay back in 2015, but no one wanted to buy it. With that in mind, Ill go with what Ive heard from my Georgia friends, to wit Sheriff Justices diablo sandwich is the Macon version, which is made with fried eggs and red hots. [22] It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where it performed badly. S&B is one of my all-time favorite movies and Im not apologizing. http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/john-fedack-my-days-as-a-dekalb-county-police-officer/. My favorite would have been an ex-WSP 1970 Plymouth they were all Fury IIIs, white on blue with factory air and 440s under the hood; but none ever turned up when I was buying. (it did taste a lot better than Bud as I recall). On top of Burt Reynold's top-notch acting, Smokey and the Bandit is also famous for the Pontiac Trans Am that the actor drove throughout the film. Luckily, both cars survived, and the Trans Am became famous only five years later. Anyone who enjoys Colonnade sedans will love Smokey & the Bandit. Have the movie, cheesy as hell, but does have appearances by several NASCAR drivers of the day, including Dale Earnhardt (Senior, not Jr) Kyle Petty, Harry Gant, and one of my favorites of the era, Tim Richmond. The value of their stock rose a startling 70 percent after the films release, and to show their appreciation to Reynolds, the president said they would give the actor a new car each and every year. 1975 PLYMOUTH FURY HIGHWAY PATROL "SMOKEY & THE BANDIT" 1/18 BY . Because of the popularity of the film and the sales success of the Trans Am, the president of Pontiac Alex Mair promised to supply Reynolds with a Trans Am each year. There was a problem. I will confess, however, that it was a fun movie to watch and I have caught it on TV a time or two in recent years with my kids. At the time, it was illegal to transport Coors east of the Mississippi River and a series of other truckers had been apprehended for trying to accomplish this feat for the Burdettes. The scene where Sheriff Justice's car has the door knocked off by a passing semi-truck was shot on Georgia State Route 75, 3 miles (4.8km) north of Helen. . The 403 Olds T/A was a dog, stock, but with some easily obtained parts, could be turned into a very nice low 13 second tire melter. I think thats another line theyve edited out for the television version. The other range car was a Chevette for people that wanted to learn on a manual transmission. "Smokey and the Bandit Pursuit Pack" is formatted as a box set that in presented in full color in widescreen. Several other groups, such as the U.S. rock band Tonic and U.K.-based country cover band We Be Ploughin' have also covered it. Below is probably another DeKalb County cop car. Burt Reynolds recently revealed the ridiculous number of Pontiac Trans Ams they went through filming 1977s Smokey and the Bandit. Burt Reynolds is originally a Georgia boy. Burt Reynolds plays truck driver Bo Bandit Darville. Wanting to promote the aesthetically modified 1977 model, but lacking cars owing to delays in production start-up, GM modified four 1976 Trans Ams with '77 spec bodywork and decals for the film. All pictures from the movie were acquired from www.imcdb.org, Fred Lives!!! Its amazing, you should watch it. The LeMans police car did nothing for me because there was a colonnade LeMans sedan in the garage at home. Originally, the film was going to be a B-movie played only in the Southern United States. As Fred Flintstone was modeled off Ralph Kramden, the Jackie Gleason character from the 1950s television showThe Honeymooners, the tone and intonation of the dubbing was highly convincing. Every idiot with more money than brains wanted a Trans Am. [5] Reynolds revealed in his autobiography that Needham had written the first draft script on legal pads. I drive a conversion van. The cars were 1976 models, the engines fitted to them were 455ci powerplants, the last year these engines were offered for sale before withdrawal. Well, they simply considered that the Trans Am didn't sound intimidating enough. And then they made the biggest mistake of their lives and went to national distribution. A CC for a 1973 Grand Ville convertible can be found here. Cinemablend is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. How many smokey and the bandit movies are there? Here is the LeMans; Gleason literally drives the wheels off: As an aside, heres a curious bit of trivia. (first posted 2/28/2014) The fourth highest grossing film in the United States in 1977 was the Academy Award nominatedSmokey & The Bandit. You will receive a verification email shortly. It was his idea to have Junior alongside him throughout the film. The film's editors, Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Will Walker: Independence Return For Season 2 Amid CW Shakeups? Most reports of his death still didnt have that right! The third film which had no involvement from either Hal Needham or Sally Field and contained only a short cameo appearance by Burt Reynolds revolved entirely around Jackie Gleason's character, was panned by critics, and was a box office bomb, earning only $7 million against a $9 million budget.[41][42][43]. It wasnt distributed in Washington in those days either. He is hired by Big Enos Burdette and his son Little Enos to transport a truck load of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas, back to Georgia in 28 hours. A strike at General Motors in 1972 limited the production of the Trans Am to less than 1,300 units that year, and Pontiac almost canceled the nameplate. Its weird how it works. The gag with the overpass being blown up was actually a bridge built for the movie on the unfinished highway, and AFAIK, the truck driver who jumps the void ended up breaking his back in the stunt. These new models were built off the same Camaro platform, came with the Pontiac arrowhead, flaming bird, and Bandit logos, and the instrument panels, center consoles, and hood scoops emulating their 1977 counterparts, and were signed by Reynolds. However, in more recent years, the original version has been shown (on ITV, a commercial channel), usually with the stronger language edited out, often quite awkwardly. Let me get the popcorn for this one. Of course, we could argue that Needham could have used the engine note of a Pontiac GTO from the golden muscle car, but the 1955 Custom recordings were probably readily available, and he just didn't need the hassle. The redesign was originally planned for 1980, but 1978 and 1979 became record years for GM's division, so the new model was pushed back. The 1977 Firebird Trans Am once owned by Burt Reynolds was sold at auction Saturday for $495,000 at a sale held by Barrett-Jackson. The next movie, Smokey and the Bandit II, featured the same cast and an updated version of the Trans Am.The second version of the Smokey and the Bandit car was a 1980 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that had a similar paint job, the updated front end, and gold "Turbine" style wheels.The 1980 models featured a turbocharged 4.9L Pontiac V8, but that still wasn't enough power for the stunt personnel. [10], Principal photography of the film began on August 30, 1976. That's because Pontiac almost canceled the Firebird in the early 1970s. As I did Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. 1979 was equally successful for the brand, joining 1978 to create Pontiac's best sales years ever. I still couldnt resist lighting up the Pontiacs tires while executing my T-turns. One of those things that will make my kids think Im crazy some day. 5. The tow truck driver was a local garage owner, Berlin Wike. Here are 20 facts about the Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit. Justice. The films are indeed classic and very funny to this day. Sonny Shroyer (Enos) was the motorcycle cop who was given the 1-finger salute by Sally Field. Of course, it's difficult to asses whether these small decals did something to change buyer perception about the Trans Am, but it's an interesting part of the Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am's history. Some of the original sound effects (such as Cledus's dog Fred barking) and music (such as the final chase to the Southern Classic) were removed and not replaced. The truck at the shell station is actually a 75 or 76 Toyota Hilux. Henry Corden, the voice of cartoon character Fred Flintstone. The site's consensus states: "Not much in the head but plenty beneath the hood, Smokey and the Bandit is infectious fun with plenty of car wrecks to keep your eyes glued". The movies are rated PG with a run time of 282 minutes and released to video by Universal Studios. Supposedly there was a stick car for the burnouts and an automatic car for other shots. The Trans Am used in the movie was a 1976 model with the front end of a 1977 car. Before Gleason was cast in the film, Richard Boone was originally considered for the role of Buford T. The muscle car market reached a peak in the late 1960s, as the car was becoming larger, more powerful, and more aggressive by looks. Heres how it works. The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit is one of the most famous movie cars of all time. [15] All four of the cars were badly damaged during production,[16] one of which was all but destroyed during the jump over the dismantled Mulberry bridge. The commercials were produced after Stewart mentioned that the movie was one of his favorites.[39]. A segment of the CMT program Reel Eats used a sloppy joe-style recipe consisting of seasoned ground beef, corn, and sour cream. A Pontiac wagon from earlier in the decade. Though no authoritative source identifies the composition of the sandwich, there are several possibilities. "Buford T. Justice" was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Reynolds' father, who was once Police Chief of Riviera Beach, Florida. Just like the exaggeration sales went up 700%. Most of the dialogue was improvised on set. [18] A 1974 Time magazine article explains that Coors was so coveted for its lack of stabilizers and preservatives, and Coors Banquet Beer had a brief renaissance. Reynolds and Needham owned the Skoal Bandit team at the time, so getting these other drivers to appear probably would not taken much more than a six pack of beer and a hug from co-star Loni Anderson . I had a 78 Trigger lookalike for a while in the mid 90s, until a wrist pin went out, ended up selling it to one of my brothers buddys uncles. Bill Justis is the first name on the credits for the soundtrack, as he composed and arranged original music throughout the film. Weve got a long way to go and a short time to get there Back then if Ida wanted an ex Police Car its be a CHP salvage Dodge or Plymouth ~ BIG roomy and _comfy_ , handled well and went like stink . When Smokey & The Bandit first aired on television in the early 1980s, the Gleason phrase "sum bitch"-a regional butchering of "son of a bitch"-had to be dubbed out. The MASSIVE year over year sales gains came from somewhere. This phrase achieved a level of popularity with children and the 2007 Hot Wheels release of the 1970s Firebird Trans Am has "scum bum" emblazoned on its tail. ARRGH! I fondly remember lots and lots of terrible B grade movies @ the drive in in the early to mid 1970s all featuring cars racing , smashing and so on . Gator , Stroker Ace , lots of them . As Frog leaves, we are introduced to Sheriff Buford T. Justice, played by Jackie Gleason. [38], In 2014, petroleum company Mobil 1 produced television commercials, featuring then-NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, closely based on the film.