I think even the 2nd gen Camaro enjoyed some of the blast wave from Smokey and the Bandit, 1979 was the best year ever for Camaros as well, with over 280,000 Camaros being sold. It had not been used for some time and was repainted for the film. The comedy has been remastered to DVD standards. I was 10 when this movie came out and I loved it then and I still do. The theatrical release has a few lines deleted, including an edit in which Sheriff Justice tells a state trooper to "fuck off" after the sheriff called his vehicle "a piece of crap". I dont know if I ever saw one in real life at the time, although I was pretty young then. Even today when I stumble across this cinematic masterpiece being rerun on cable tv, Ill watch the entire thing. 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. Want proof? 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. With this, the Sheriff begins his pursuit of the Mann Act-violating Banditall the way to Georgia. In the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit, a high-speed chase ensues between the police and the Bandit (Burt Reynolds). Tragically, every Trans Am used in filming was destroyed. ", "The Bandit Run Brought to you by Restore A Muscle Car", "Stewart plays off 'Smokey and the Bandit in Mobil 1 ad", "Smokey and the Bandit: 40th Anniversary Edition", "Smokey and the Bandit II, Box Office Information", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smokey_and_the_Bandit&oldid=1142751918, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, All articles that may contain original research, Articles that may contain original research from April 2022, Articles needing additional references from September 2018, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "Incidental CB Dialogue" (Voice ["Bandit"] , "Incidental CB Dialogue" (Voice ["Bandit"] Burt Reynolds, Voice ["Smokey"] , "Incidental CB Dialogue" (Voice ["Bandit"] Burt Reynolds, Voice ["Smokey"] Jackie Gleason), George Reynolds as Sheriff George Branford, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 04:45. I drive a conversion van. 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) . 1979 was equally successful for the brand, joining 1978 to create Pontiac's best sales years ever. There was a problem. Actually, there were 2 future Dukes stars in the movie: Ben Jones (Cooter) was in an early scene helping Big Enos find Bandit. It seems Plymouth was in a distant second for product placement. The 1978 Trans Am is an exact duplicate of the "Smokey and the Bandit" movie car, finished in black and gold with a screaming chicken on the hood. Bill Justis is the first name on the credits for the soundtrack, as he composed and arranged original music throughout the film. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Round and dumpy, just like the Colonnade LeMans! Here's everything you should know about one of the most iconic movie cars ever. Chevy almost did the same with its counterpart, the Camaro. Called Smoke is the Bandit and playing on Stewart's nickname, the commercials featured him as the Bandit opposite commentators Darrell Waltrip as the Snowman and Jeff Hammond as Buford T. Justice. The cop cars with the hood scoops were ex-DeKalb County (Georgia) cruisers. Chevy brought back the Z28, and cant say S&B was reason. The cars were wrecked on purpose to create the illusion of a high-speed chase. I recall a big smokey burnout right after they left Snowmans house that looked 455-worthy and also after Bandit picked up Fields he left two strips after nailing second (right before the tire thieves crossed the road), which makes me think there was also a 4 speed car used. I remember borrowing my brothers red 1976 T/A to take a girl to the theater to see Smokey and the Bandit. There definitely was a halo cast around the 2nd gen F-body from its appearance in the movie, which I believe even did extend to the Camaro, which was probably the cheapest way to at least get some of the Bandit vibe, where there other factors too, probably, the 70s, disco, cocaine, mustaches and probably a bunch others.many thought that these car would be the last hurrah for anything performance oriented. Sales almost doubled in two years, which is a very big deal given that the Trans Ams 1978 facelift was rather minor save for the front fascia. A blackguard? I was in the Air Force during this era, stationed in California. I started cruising through EBay and the next thing I knew I won the auction for a clean 400/4 speed/T-Top 78 Trans Am. Both sequels used another Trans Am, not a Cadillac Eldorado, as seen below. Im east bound, just watch ol Bandit run.. Starring Bob Hope, that comedic star of the screen, and the lovely Jane Russell boy what a pair! I never forgot that one. Got Greyhound cutout decals on the rear side windows. One of those things that will make my kids think Im crazy some day. How many police cars were wrecked in Smokey and the Bandit? 1975 PLYMOUTH FURY HIGHWAY PATROL "SMOKEY & THE BANDIT" 1/18 BY . He contacted Pontiac and an agreement was made that four 1977 Trans Ams and two Pontiac LeMans four-door sedans would be provided for the movie. For this purpose, they overdubbed dialogue deemed offensive, which was common practice. Please refresh the page and try again. 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 . That parking lot was full of Trans Ams! It wasnt distributed in Washington in those days either. The cars were originally ordered by a car rental agency in Phoenix, who refused to accept the . Needham saw an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and knew right away that would be the Bandit's car, or, as Needham referred to it, a character in the movie. S/E T/A with the round headlights. It made no sense to me as it was fifty miles north and fifty miles south. The man does get around. Sally Field and Burt Reynolds began a relationship after meeting on set. [14] The Trans Ams were actually 1976-model cars with 1977 front ends (from 1970 to 1976, both the Firebird/Trans Am and Chevrolet Camaro have two round headlights and in 1977, the Firebird/Trans Am was changed to four rectangular headlights, and the Camaro remained unchanged). The Trans Am was already pretty popular in the mid-1970s, with sales hitting 68,745 units in 1977. 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. Required fields are marked *. Good silly fun. As I am finishing this article while Big Truck Week is winding down, here is a Kenworth with a 1973 Dodge Polara patrol car. I have worked a long time to eradicate the one I had but it still crops up periodically from exposure, like you experienced. Your email address will not be published. Reed also penned and performed the song for the opening credits, entitled "The Legend", which tells of some of the Bandit's escapades before the events of the film, and the ballad "The Bandit", which is in several versions in the movie and on the soundtrack. The rub? With four miles left, Bandit, discouraged by the unexpected mounting attention, is ready to give up, but Snowman, who initially thought they would fail, takes the lead and smashes through the roadblock at the fairgrounds' main entrance. Only one survived, and it's priceless. 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. Supposedly there was a stick car for the burnouts and an automatic car for other shots. He gave Needham a preview of the song and, getting no reaction, offered to rewrite it. I am pretty sure it was filmed in Florida, when I-75 was under construction so they could use the highways while empty. Most reports of his death still didnt have that right! In 1976-78, while a high school student in Norwalk, CT, me and a few buddies would routinely drive up to Vista, NY, which was just over the state line. Was it a heathen? Although 1977 models also featured 6.6-liter engines, they were rated at only 200 horses. Coors was legal in Missouri and illegal in Illinois. How did any bra manufacturers survive the 70s? I dont know whose idea was to replace the wicked Two Lane Blacktop Chevy sourced engine sound effects with an authentic 200 horsepower muffled smogger 400, but that sumbitch is a scumbum!!! She is a runaway bride, sitting on the side of the road in her 1973 Chevrolet Impala coupe. As luck and script writing would have it, Frog has left her groom at the altar. Another one is, Theres no way youre from my loins.. Except for Gleason, the original actors mostly redubbed their lines for the television version. Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American road action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry. Smokey and the Bandit II is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham, and starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, . The worldwide gross is estimated at over $300 million. and the Dixie Dance Kings, and Burts car was a 57 [56?] 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 Pontiac Trans Am seems like a natural choice for Smokey and the Bandit, but the car was only a few inches close to not being used in the movie. (it did taste a lot better than Bud as I recall). Burt Reynolds as the Bandit can always count on the truckers on the other end of his C.B. The Bandit takes the bet on the risky and unprecedented task, and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow to drive the truck, while Bandit drives a black Pontiac Trans Am bought in advance from the Burdettes as a "blocker" to divert attention away from the truck and its illegal cargo. Some weren't that lucky and were discontinued altogether. [37], The first run in 2007 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the movie, The Bandit Run was the brainchild of Dave Hall, owner of Restore A Muscle Car. you can find it on amazon.com . If they werent burning candles to an image of a cowboy hatted Burt Reynolds at Pontiac headquarters. Sure Smokey helped, but was not the sole reason T/A and F body sales went up. Frederick Amon smuggled it from Colorado to North Carolina and sold it for four times the retail price.[19]. As a publicity stunt, the Trans Ams used in the movie had different decals on the hood scoop. He claimed that the Bandit is never made aware of Frog's leaving Junior at the altar, which is why the Bandit continually asks why a Texas sheriff is chasing him. It became Reed's signature song and is on multiple albums, including Country Legends and his live album Jerry Reed "Live!" How many cars destroyed Blues Brothers 2000? Ironically I never really cared all that much for Coors, I dont think it has much flavor, but it was well received when we got to Kentucky. Needham had great difficulty getting any studios or producers to take his project seriously, being better known in the film industry as a stuntman. 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. [4] Just two days before production was to begin, Universal sent a "hatchet man" to Atlanta to inform Needham that the budget was being trimmed by $1 million. As if GM owes them something. Thank you for signing up to CinemaBlend. 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. They find local legend Bo "Bandit" Darville at a roadeo at Lakewood Fairgrounds and offer him US$80,000 (equivalent to $357,738 in 2021) to haul 400 cases of Coors from Texarkana (the closest place it could be legally sold at that time) to Atlanta in 28 hours. 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. Producer Hal Needham intended Smokey and the Bandit to be one of the best product placement films of all time. Much of the surrounding scene comes from that immediate vicinity. The dubbed version isnt as bad as the Remastered Blu-ray. Ive always loved this movie. The DVD set meets NTSC standards. The scene where Sheriff Justice's car has the door knocked off by a passing . This same restaurant was used for a scene in the 1983 Stephen King Movie Christine, which was ultimately cut in the final film (it can be viewed as a deleted scene on the DVD release of the film). [4] Reynolds said in 2015 that he most enjoyed this film, and had the most fun making it, of his career.[26]. They destroyed all those cars in the films he said. I was just tweaking Jason. So, for years one, two, and three, he got a shiny new Pontiac. 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. This gives rise to various continuity errors with Justice's patrol car, which during some chase sequences is shown with a black rear fender, which then reverts to the car's bronze color again in later scenes. When Smokey and the Bandit first aired on American network television in the early 1980s, censors were faced with the challenge of toning down the raw language of the original film. Needham originally planned the film as a low-budget B movie with a production cost of $1 million,[4] with Reed as the Bandit. Lets take a look at some more cars found in the movie. This was the lull between Gas Crisis I and II, 1976-78, and Boomers were wanting stylish cars. That's because Pontiac almost canceled the Firebird in the early 1970s. During this time, the Firebird also surpassed sales figures of the Chevrolet Camaro. I prefer Buford T. Justices 1980 Pontiac Bonneville and his 1983 Pontiac Bonneville in Smokey and The Bandit III. I dont know if Ive ever seen the unedited version though, so I never realized the orignal phrase was sum bitch, I always assumed it was worse. Filmmakers destroyed 230 cars in the filming of 'Furious 7.' Smokey And The Bandit: A Car-chase Classic. According to an interview with Susie McIver Ewing on The RetroZest Podcast, she was picked to play the role of Hot Pants Hilliard after the dailies footage (shot in the Atlanta area) of the original actress playing the role was inadvertently destroyed on its way from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Smokey and the Bandit was one of the most iconic movies of the 1970s. Ive also looked at a Fox based LTD cop car and an early 1991 whale Caprice 9C1 detective model, burgundy on burgundy cloth. In October 2020, a Smokey and the Bandit TV series was revealed to be in development, with a pilot written by David Gordon Green and Brian Sides and also executive produced with his Rough House confederates Jody Hill, Danny McBride and Brandon James, as well as Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door.[44]. As I did Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Jerry Reed) drives the truck while his good buddy Bo "Bandit" Darville (Reynolds) serves as the "blocker," a fast car used to divert police attention away from payload. [original research?] New York,