I remember reading somewhere that one of the cars was equipped with a 455 for some of the higher speed scenes. The soundtrack album was released in 1977 on vinyl, cassette, and 8-track through MCA Records. I actually remember the construction of that segment of I-75, as it stopped around Tampa prior to that time. [10], Principal photography of the film began on August 30, 1976. The new Hot Pants scene had to quickly be refilmed as a part of a second unit in the San Fernando Valley and was shot at a drive-in restaurant near Hansen Dam named Baby Beef Burgers, which has since been demolished. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. 2-Smokey and the Bandit II-Pretty bad, still has some funny campy crap, the Dom DeLuise Italian Dr. bit is ok, Gleason is still pretty funny, the Turbo T/A is pretty weak, but still cool to see. There was still a market for bras in the 1970s. From what I have read the artist did the poster rendering from some blown up stills that he was shown from the movie, and none of them for some mysterious reason included the Trans Am, the truck, Reynolds, Gleason, Sally Field, crashing police cars, but no T/A. The change was somewhat strange as most automakers were using cubic-inch numerals to advertise engines. Your email address will not be published. The film's theme song, "East Bound and Down", was written virtually overnight by Reed. Rockford Files also featured Firebird, and was on since 1974, and Fs sold well despite gas crunch I and inflation. Every idiot with more money than brains wanted a Trans Am. Arguably the most iconic Pontiac Firebird in history. I dont know if I ever saw one in real life at the time, although I was pretty young then. I never understood why dragging a truckload of beer from Colorado to Georgia was such a big deal. 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. Gleason probably wanted too much money to provide the dubbing, which is a shame because it ruins the TV version. Not all the police cars had hood scoops. Needham served as the driver for the stunt (in place of Reynolds), while Lada St. Edmund was in the same car (in place of Field). 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. 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. . A 1977 special-edition model once owned by the late actor Burt Reynolds recently wound up on the car auction website Bring a Trailer. The scene featuring the racetrack was filmed at Lakewood Speedway at the old Lakewood Fairgrounds on Atlanta's south side. 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. American Brands: AMC, Jeep and All Others, Tractors, Lawn Mowers, Off-Road Equipment, CC Outtake: The CC House, and With a New Recent Exotic Addition, CC TV Outtake: This Used Car Commercial Didn't Make It On The Air, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cODPt3T0cHE. ", "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 still regret selling mine almost 30 years ago. By the end of June, it had played in major Southern markets, including Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, and Oklahoma City, grossing $11.9 million. Somewhere along the line, the company acquired a new president who told Reynolds: Im the new president, and I dont like your movies. The movie is responsible for something, by 1979 Pontiac was selling 100,000 plus Trans Ams, not the whole Firebird line, JUST Trans Ams, Pontiac sold more T/As in 1979 than any of the cheaper Firebirds combined, Smokey and the Bandit had to have a hand in that. While watching the movie (yes, I did have to diligently research this article), one shot seemed to indicate this may be a dummy scoop. Thats all well and good, and it worked smooth as silk for a good while. The cop cars with the hood scoops were ex-DeKalb County (Georgia) cruisers. Movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and Furious 7 may ruin a lot of cars, but they were far from the first. 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. 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. 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. Free shipping for many products! He obtained the attention of studios and aimed the film at a more mainstream release after his friend Reynolds read the script and agreed to portray the Bandit, with Reed now portraying the Bandit's friend the Snowman. I loved the fact that Jackie Gleasons brown Lemans had a blue vinyl interior and it even had the luxury cushion steering wheel! According to Wikipedia, the second movie was able to get away with destroying an INSANE number of brand-new Pontiac LeMans police cars because Pontiac had them sitting around in the southwest region, having been sent to a rental fleet in Phoenix without a/c. Of course, it wasnt hard to wake them up. How many police cars were wrecked in Smokey and the Bandit? Smokey & The Bandit is the greatest movie of the 20th Century! His personaround, dumpy, and clipping wordsreminds one of another fictional southern sheriff. A group of Trans Am owners and fans of the movie take part in an annual road trip from Texarkana to Jonesboro, recreating the route taken by the characters in the film. Gleasons Justice is the stereotypical Southern sheriff, as seen in this clip. That is why there are not any left. [6] It would become one of Reed's biggest hits and his signature song.[7]. 1979 was equally successful for the brand, joining 1978 to create Pontiac's best sales years ever. Some differences included the use of a supercharged 454-CID (7.4-liter) Chevrolet-sourced engine that put out 840 HP, and four round headlights, which appeared on the 196769 Firebirds/Trans Ams only; the actual 197781 models had rectangular headlights. Sure Smokey helped, but was not the sole reason T/A and F body sales went up. When Im driving the Bandit Trans Am while playing one of my many Forza Motorsport games I always put that song on. I beg to differ Mr -Nate. With the Smokey and the Bandit actor gone, and the impact the actor had on the Trans Am community, having one of the few connections to him destroyed is too much. January 24, 2019 100 comments. Required fields are marked *. 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. $30.00 + $11.45 shipping. Needham and assistant director David Hamburger spent 30 hours revising the shooting schedule.[4]. Conversely, I could go to Paducah and be asked where up north I was from. One guy did a while ago a fan-made trailer of Smokey & the Bandit 4. Nice job, I know its cheesy as heck but I love this movie and still tend to watch it when I see its on TV. Want proof? Most of the shots that show Reynolds and Field in the car talking were filmed with the T/A being towed along on a lowboy trailer. 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. But that doesnt make for an interesting movie premise. You want to questions bra sales, check out the youtube video of Hang on Sloopy by the Mccoys, the color version.wowza! 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". 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. http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/john-fedack-my-days-as-a-dekalb-county-police-officer/. 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. With this, the Sheriff begins his pursuit of the Mann Act-violating Banditall the way to Georgia. Somehow this store had a regular supply. 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 movies are rated PG with a run time of 282 minutes and released to video by Universal Studios. I think you may be confusing the movie Honky-Tonk Freeway with the filming done during I-75 construction near Sarasota. "Smokey and the Bandit Pursuit Pack" is formatted as a box set that in presented in full color in widescreen. While it's sad that the other two cars were destroyed . Many hardcore fans of Burt Reynolds' most iconic movie, 1977's "Smokey and The Bandit," know that none of those cool black Pontiac Trans Ams with gold trim survived the stunts in the film. Did I mention how much I enjoy reading all the back stories and niggly details I can only get here ? Probably the most interesting thing about this movie and Burt Reynolds is that he is not originally a Southern boy at all he was actually born in the Wolverine State Lansing, Michigan to be precise. Lets take a look at some more cars found in the movie. The third-generation Firebird was introduced in 1982, a full two years later than planned. At the time, using "fuck" would immediately require an R rating and this self-censorship allowed the film to avoid this rating and reach a much larger audience. His father was also the inspiration for the word "sumbitch" used in the film, a variation of the phrase "son-of-a-bitch" that, according to Reynolds, he uttered quite often. The truck at the shell station is actually a 75 or 76 Toyota Hilux. Because sales were so high, Pontiac decided to delay the third-generation model. I was 10 when this movie came out and I loved it then and I still do. And Burt may be from GA originally, but he calls Florida home, which is another reason I heard the movie was filmed here. UNIVERSAL CUT THE BUDGET JUST AS PRODUCTION WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN. [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. When I was a kid I thought they were the same person. Filmmakers destroyed 230 cars in the filming of 'Furious 7.' Smokey And The Bandit: A Car-chase Classic. Here's What We Know So Far, Jonathan Majors On Getting Jacked To Play Kang The Conqueror: Hes In The Avenger (Weight) Class, How 90 Day Fianc: The Other Way's Kris And Jeymi Might Have Already Spoiled Their Storyline, Why Creed IIIs Michael B. Jordan Avoided Saying Action Or Cut On The Set, Young Sheldon's Iain Armitage Reacting To Surprise Video From Survivor's Jeff Probst Is Like Sheldon Cooper Meeting Leonard Nimoy. [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. Here's everything you should know about one of the most iconic movie cars ever. My drivers ed driving range car was an ex-patrol colonnade Pontiac LeMans Enforcer. If it wasnt for Smokey & the Bandit, the Dukes of Hazzard TV series would not exist. Here in Canada they didnt censor it, so we always got the sumbitch version. However, as our heroes were successful in delivering their truckload of Coors, the writers effectively poised themselves for a sequel. One of our favorite movies. Will Walker: Independence Return For Season 2 Amid CW Shakeups? The sound came from a 1955 Chevrolet Custom, the same car that was used in Two-Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti, films launched in 1971 and 1973, respectively. Im gonna barbecue your ass in molasses., Re: The picture with 4 ladies and the wagon and van. Its amazing, you should watch it. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It took four evenings to see almost all of the movie in bits and pieces. Were they dummies? 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 . The comedy has been remastered to DVD standards. However, the scene and the obscured expletive were played for comedy value and written as such, with the passing truck being the gag of the scene more than a way to avoid the censors. A segment of the CMT program Reel Eats used a sloppy joe-style recipe consisting of seasoned ground beef, corn, and sour cream. There has never been anything quite like late 1970s fashion in clothing. Burt Reynolds himself drove the car on stage to the song "East Bound and Down" and signed it. Supposedly there was a stick car for the burnouts and an automatic car for other shots. Ive always loved this movie. . and the Dixie Dance Kings, and Burts car was a 57 [56?] Even today when I stumble across this cinematic masterpiece being rerun on cable tv, Ill watch the entire thing. A guy we knew drove his half-ton pickup from western WA to his reserve 2-week stint in his home state in California. Comments I have worked a long time to eradicate the one I had but it still crops up periodically from exposure, like you experienced. 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. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1980 ERTL SMOKEY & THE BANDIT PONTIAC FIREBIRD DIECAST CAR police car set at the best online prices at eBay! In the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit, a high-speed chase ensues between the police and the Bandit (Burt Reynolds). [40] Major portions of the audio background have been modified with different engine sounds or tire squeals from the original film. This movie just showed how much an urban legend the supposed unobtainability had become. Not that Id kick either front end style out of the garage for dripping oil, as long as they dont have the 403 in them anyway. Great article! Needham stated that by the end of production, there really wasnt much left of any of the three. The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit is one of the most famous movie cars of all time. 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. Jana, another oddity was that I could go to Carbondale and be asked where down south I was from. As a feature-length car chase, the car was as much of a star as Burt Reynolds, and the film gave birth to the cult of the Trans Am. After passing Buford's badly damaged cruiser on the roadside, Bandit gets on the CB and initially directs him to the Burdettes, but then respectfully gives his real locationright behind Buford, who continues his chase leaving Junior behind, and with more parts falling off his cruiser as he limps off after Bandit. Car movies are notorious for being tough on the very vehicles that give them their allure. [12] The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. 5. Alan Reed was the original voice of Fred Flintstone; Henry Corden only took over after Reeds death in 1977. The T/A is just as quick as my present Challenger is, but the Challenger doesnt have anything close to the throttle response it had, and I miss it. Although he's into just about any type of vehicle, Ciprian is not your typical car enthusiast. Some of the more recent DVD releases of it redid all of the engine sounds and it sounds much more mellow than the original(not happy about that). It became Reed's signature song and is on multiple albums, including Country Legends and his live album Jerry Reed "Live!" The rub? While the initial concern was it having a regional appeal, it would ultimately play as well in New York City and Chicago as it did Atlanta, Georgia, or Biloxi, Mississippi. 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. While Sheriff Justice doesnt deal well with the pressures of high speed pursuit, as seen above, his Pontiac LeMans (CC here) withstands the most abuse of any car in this entire movie. [11] The movie was primarily filmed in Georgia, in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro, and Lithonia. Reynolds is referenced by name in several early episodes of the series. 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. 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. I know that Trans Am that . This small modification was made to remind viewers of Trans Am models from 1969, which had in excess of 300 horsepower. Ask him to choose between a BMW M4 and an Audi RS5, and hell gladly trade both for a beat-up Cuda. 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. Over many viewings I noticed some scenes the car would skate around and take off like an animal while in others there were one-tire-fires and it would struggle to get going. I still couldnt resist lighting up the Pontiacs tires while executing my T-turns. 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. 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. The 1977 features rectangular quad headlamps instead of only two round lights, a unique slanted and V-shaped nose, and a center-mounted hood scoop. Burt Reynolds plays truck driver Bo Bandit Darville. A paper on Cognitive psychology was published in the 1990 issue of Computers in Human Perception. 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. 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. Revisit this scene featuring "East Bound and. [24] With an original budget of $5.3 million (cut to $4.3 million two days before initial production),[4] the film eventually grossed $126,737,428 in North America,[25] making it the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 (only Star Wars earned more, with $221.3 million). These two 1967 Ford Galaxies (CC here), soon to be redecorated by a Kenworth road tractor, do not. Plus , I loved those late 1960s through mid 1970s Plymouths even though Im a Bowtie Guy by default . I own all three films on a dvd called the Smokey and The Bandit Pursuit Pack. Mines never gone away, especially now that I spend every thee month in Memphis. Some fellow classmates were extras on the film set, and it was a big deal around here at the time. 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. 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. Yet when I think of a 70s T/A, thats the one I and Im sure millions of other folks think of. And the 400 Pontiac or 403 Olds versions could be made to run well. 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".