It seems Plymouth was in a distant second for product placement. In 2006, a DVD re-release was issued of Smokey and the Bandit featuring a digitally remastered audio track with 5.1 Dolby-compatible surround sound. February 27, 2023 . It was his idea to have Junior alongside him throughout the film. The trip to Texarkana is uneventful; soon after leaving for the return trip to Georgia, The Bandit encounters Frog, played by Sally Field. If you watched any of these clips, you heard a goodly number of phrases that still cannot be used on television in the United States. I grew up in Illinois, within eyeshot of the banks of the MIssissippi River, and ten miles from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. . Nuts about any form of classic motorsport and muscle cars, Ciprian's currently working on a time machine that would take him back to the 1960s for a long vacation alongside Dan Gurney and Jim Hall. Of the many cars saved from the fire was the only surviving Knight Rider KITT Super Pursuit Mode car created by Jay Orberg. Did I mention how much I enjoy reading all the back stories and niggly details I can only get here ? Everything You Should Know About The The Trans Am From Smokey And The Bandit, 10 Most Potentially Unreliable Electric Vehicles According To Consumer Reports, 10 Reasons Why It's Time You Should Buy A Bagger, Here's How Solid-State Batteries Will Change EVs Forever. Actually, there were 2 future Dukes stars in the movie: Ben Jones (Cooter) was in an early scene helping Big Enos find Bandit. MN12 Thunderbirds had the same appeal to me, for similar reasons. But that doesnt make for an interesting movie premise. I know that Trans Am that jumped that bridge broke the axle when it landed. Some people have ripped this film as being thin on plot; others have called it a documentary about life south of the Mason-Dixon Line. 1979 was equally successful for the brand, joining 1978 to create Pontiac's best sales years ever. I know, Ive owned a 75 for 23 years. Oh, and a hooker girlfriend that looked like Annie Potts. Below is probably another DeKalb County cop car. 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. I have always loved this movie, watched it dozens and dozens of times on TV, video, DVD, laserdisc, almost any form of media. Many nameplates lost their performance credentials, and some of them, like the Ford Mustang, were redesigned without a V-8 engine. It was destroyed in Smokey and the Bandit II and in a flashback scene in Part 3. For this purpose, they overdubbed dialogue deemed offensive, which was common practice. Launched on the big screen in 1977, Smokey and the Bandit revolves around two bootleggers as they attempt to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. . Dont let his grumpiness fool you though; hes more than excited to provide the latest news and reviews on the most interesting cars in the industry. When I was a kid I thought they were the same person. Watching TV and Movies you would think that sales dropped to nil. We just watched this with the kids the other week, along with Cannonball Run. Want proof? Burt Reynolds as the Bandit can always count on the truckers on the other end of his C.B. (Still). I am pretty sure it was filmed in Florida, when I-75 was under construction so they could use the highways while empty. 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. The MASSIVE year over year sales gains came from somewhere. How many police cars were wrecked in Smokey and the Bandit? 46,000 in 1976, 68,000 in 1977, 93,000 in 1978, 117,000 in 1979. On the DVD, there is a brief interview with both Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham, who directed this film. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. I know that Trans Am that . In 1978, Pontiac delivered 93,351 Trans Ams and 93,944 regular Firebirds for a grand total of 187,295 cars. When Im driving the Bandit Trans Am while playing one of my many Forza Motorsport games I always put that song on. The cars were originally ordered by a car rental agency in Phoenix, who refused to accept the . As if GM owes them something. I really enjoyed this discussion. One guy did a while ago a fan-made trailer of Smokey & the Bandit 4. Ive since read on the internet that it wasnt illegal so much as a practical thing with it being shipped in refrigerated trucks. 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. via iconic premier. The advertisements lampoon the film and feature a Pontiac Trans Am and a cover version of the song East Bound and Down. Let us dissect this flick to better examine it. Please to note I didnt say _I_ didnt like them as I was in my 20s then (early 1970s) so I hustled my self and my Russian girlfriend right on down to the cinema every time Burt Reynolds had a new flick , I personally loved his movies even the chick flicks like The Man Who Loved Women , I just had to hear earfuls from everyone else about how awful he / those movies were.. We even bought one of those Pontiac Police Specials on auction from. [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. A diablo sammich from my understanding is a like a Sloppy Joe but with taco seasoning added in for spice. Most of the dialogue was improvised on set. [8] Niver provided much of the western attire worn in the film, as well as the custom-made sheriff's uniforms (waist size 64") that Gleason wore throughout the film. Depends upon what he converted it from. If they werent burning candles to an image of a cowboy hatted Burt Reynolds at Pontiac headquarters. Yet when I think of a 70s T/A, thats the one I and Im sure millions of other folks think of. And Burt may be from GA originally, but he calls Florida home, which is another reason I heard the movie was filmed here. [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. Not all the police cars had hood scoops. 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. Jackie Gleasons Buford T. Justice character is a supposedly an amalgamation of a few characters, including the real Buford T. Justicethere is obviously the Dodge safety sheriff from the 1970s ads, Burt Reynolds father was chief of police of Jupiter Florida, and a friend of his fathers, a Florida Highway Patrol officer was actually the REAL Buford T. Justice. Wealthy Texan Big Enos Burdette and his son Little Enos have sponsored a racer in Atlanta's Southern Classic and want to celebrate in style when he wins, so they are seeking a trucker willing to bootleg Coors Beer to Atlanta for their refreshment. When it was over, I cried and cried and cried because I didnt want it to end. All pictures from the movie were acquired from www.imcdb.org, Fred Lives!!! Though no authoritative source identifies the composition of the sandwich, there are several possibilities. (it did taste a lot better than Bud as I recall). It wasnt distributed in Washington in those days either. For Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), Needham asked for and received 10 Trans Ams and 55 Bonnevilles with no trouble. That is an excellent question. The film was followed by two sequels: Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). There was a problem. There has never been anything quite like late 1970s fashion in clothing. The owner restored it and sold it at the Scottsdale 2016 auction by Barrett-Jackson. The cop cars with the hood scoops were ex-DeKalb County (Georgia) cruisers. Just after re-entering Georgia, Snowman is rescued by Bandit after being stopped by a Georgia State Patrol motorcycle trooper, and state and local police intensely pursue Bandit with roadblocks and a helicopter to track his movement. Two of the most high-octane films of 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road and Furious 7, each burned through hundreds (Furious 7 alone destroyed a reported 230 cars), but theyre far from the first to do so. During this time, the Firebird also surpassed sales figures of the Chevrolet Camaro. Smokey and the Bandit was the second highest-grossing domestic film of 1977 in the United States. Pontiac gave Needham a total of four cars, three to use in the movie, and one as a promotional vehicle to drive around and advertise Smokey and the Bandit following its release. A paper on Cognitive psychology was published in the 1990 issue of Computers in Human Perception. I distinctly remember my mother buying Coors and being asked if she lived in Missouri or Illinois by the cashier. 5. Musicians such as Beegie Adair and George Tidwell[20] played on the soundtrack. In the movie . [21], Smokey and the Bandit was a sleeper hit. Sheriff Justices son, Junior. The Trans Am was a high-performance package for the Firebird, Pontiac's take on the Chevrolet Camaro. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_301466-Ford-LTD-II-1977.html. 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. I was in West Plains the other day and there is yet another variation of it there. Here in Canada they didnt censor it, so we always got the sumbitch version. Many people believed beforehand that the film was not right for . The change was somewhat strange as most automakers were using cubic-inch numerals to advertise engines. Regular film-goers might not pay much attention to the car's engine sound, but gearheads will quickly notice that something is off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cODPt3T0cHE, We got a cage strong enough to hold you The LeMans police car did nothing for me because there was a colonnade LeMans sedan in the garage at home. Great fun! The secrets behind the cars and stunts in 'The Italian Job'. Well, they simply considered that the Trans Am didn't sound intimidating enough. Of course, it wasnt hard to wake them up. and the Dixie Dance Kings, and Burts car was a 57 [56?] Well, at least that's what you saw in the movie. I dunno about the Foley sounds, I have a T/A with a 400 and an open/no catalytic true dual exhaust, and it sounds really close to how the Bandit car sounds at idle during some scenes from the movie. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. An effort to recreate a jump from Smokey and the Bandit doesn't go perfectly when the car takes a rough course off the ramp. The Trans Am used in the movie was a 1976 model with the front end of a 1977 car. After the movie came out, Firebird sales increased even more, but the Trans Am was now the most popular one. Sales jumped even higher in 1979 when Pontiac moved 117,108 Trans Ams. Sure Smokey helped, but was not the sole reason T/A and F body sales went up. Always a favorite. What were the police cars in Smokey and the Bandit? I have at least 4 really good car buddies that will from time to time love popping this movie in to watch. Future President Gerald Ford, after a trip to Colorado, hid it in his luggage to take it back to Washington, D.C. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a steady supply airlifted by the Air Force to Washington. The production team wrecked three for the four cars it received from Pontiac. I'm afraid I was responsible for a good few of those. Got Greyhound cutout decals on the rear side windows. a custom mandrel bent dual exhaust, and the Mondello bottom end plate to stabilize the windowed mains. Tragically, every Trans Am used in filming was destroyed. The roller coaster in the movie was the Greyhound. Movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and Furious 7 may ruin a lot of cars, but they were far from the first. I ended up buying a 1969 Cadillac ambulance a year later! Smokey and the Bandit was one of the most iconic movies of the 1970s. Its W.W. Your email address will not be published. Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a good rating (3 stars out of a possible 4) and characterized it as "about as subtle as The Three Stooges, but a classic compared to the sequels and countless rip-offs which followed". They destroyed all those cars in the films he said. [35], The "diablo sandwich" ordered by Sheriff Justice in the Arkansas barbecue restaurant scene has entered popular culture as a minor reference to the film. His personaround, dumpy, and clipping wordsreminds one of another fictional southern sheriff. This movie was filmed in Georgia as well. However, the scene where they drive through the Shell gas station was filmed in Ojai, California, on the corner of Ojai Avenue and El Paseo Road. 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. It just seems wrong to see that car in any fashion without hearing that song. As such, it took a lot of sweet talking by former stuntman Needham for Pontiac to cough up three Trans Ams and three LeManses. Haul my wife and four shelter adoptee mutts in it. The dubbed version isnt as bad as the Remastered Blu-ray. 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". As I am finishing this article while Big Truck Week is winding down, here is a Kenworth with a 1973 Dodge Polara patrol car. The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit is one of the most famous movie cars of all time. While it's sad that the other two cars were destroyed . My drivers ed driving range car was an ex-patrol colonnade Pontiac LeMans Enforcer. I loved the fact that Jackie Gleasons brown Lemans had a blue vinyl interior and it even had the luxury cushion steering wheel! Smokey and the Bandit star Burt Reynolds passed away in 2018 . Remember that Smokey and the Bandit was the 2nd biggest movie of the year, right after Star Wars. 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. Im pretty sure that the car that barks second when he takes off with Frog had to be a stick. 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. He paid $550,000 for it, likely a record for any Pontiac Firebird. And all of us easterners suddenly discovered it was nothing more than another Budweiser/Miller/etc. East bound and down, loaded up and truckin I remember that it had a bunch of trim badges on the center of the dashboard. There was a true concern (for some minuscule reason) about it going east of the Mississippi River. How many smokey and the bandit movies are there? The cars were 1976 models, the engines fitted to them were 455ci powerplants, the last year these engines were offered for sale before withdrawal. It is now sold in all states as Coors ships it in refrigerated train cars and bottled locally and sold in different parts of the country including the eastern US states. The roundup sequence in the desert shows many new Pontiac Le Mans sedans decorated as police cars being destroyed. I think more of Smokey and the Bandit II and the awful part 3 were filmed largely in Florida, I dont know if I-75 construction was started by 1976-77, at least the section down to Miami part, when they filmed. New York, This movie just showed how much an urban legend the supposed unobtainability had become. Of course, nobody else cared if it was in the trunk of the car when heading back home. 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. Behind Sheriff Justices Pontiac, there is a nice looking 1965 or 1966 Ford Mustang fastback and a Toyota pickup. When I was a kid, there was an old record from the 50s around the house that was a collection of radio and tv bloopers. One was a radio ad for a movie that went something like: . Another one is, Theres no way youre from my loins..