S&B is one of my all-time favorite movies and Im not apologizing. I guess the Trans Am proved to have more staying power than the hot 71 Ford in the earlier movie. The popularity of the 'Smokey and the Bandit' movies, Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), created a mini-cycle of similarly titled ''Smokey'' pictures such as Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983), Smokey Bites the Dust (1981), Smokey and the Judge (1980), Smokey and the Hotwire Gang (1979), Smokey and the Good Time Outlaws (1978) and 'The Great Smokey Roadblock' [See: The Great Smokey Roadblock (1977)]. Why isnt Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit 3? He's a proud member of the TopSpeed team since early 2014. Depends upon what he converted it from. Jackie Gleason played Ralph Kramden in the Honeymooners, Ralph worked as a bus driver. Only 1,107 Y84 Special Edition Bandit Trans Ams were produced in 1979, according to sportscarmarket.com. 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. All I know is, at the time, if you lived in the east, Coors was some really special beer not unlike microbrews are now. That was the end of that. The sticker read "T/A 6.6," which was a reminder of the engine's 6.6-liter displacement. Jackie Gleason (Sheriff Buford) was the first to pass away in 1987, followed by Pat McCormick (Big Enos) in 2005, then Jerry Reed (Snowman) in 2008, Dom DeLuise (Doc) in 2009, Burt Reynolds in 2018, and lastly Mike Henry (Junior) in 2021. Blimey. Both the 1976 and '77 models had a similar body except for a few bumper and grille modifications. Here is the LeMans; Gleason literally drives the wheels off: As an aside, heres a curious bit of trivia. The Real King Richard Breaks Silence On Will Smiths Oscars Slap Nearly A Year Later, Stranger Things Finn Wolfhard Responds To Millie Bobby Browns Claim That Hes A Lousy Kisser, After Slamming Trolls, Baywatchs Donna DErrico Goes Full Fifty Shades Of Grey In New Bondage Post, Robert Downey Jr. This movie is one of a handful of pictures that Burt Reynolds made with his 1970s girlfriend Sally Field. And then they made the biggest mistake of their lives and went to national distribution. Later, as Bandit and Cledus enter Texas, Buford lures the Bandit into a trap: a mass of 40 Texas Patrol and Mountie cruisers pursuing him across a desert basin. 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. . Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Not everything was Pontiac, as evidenced by this 1973 Plymouth Satellite coupe (CC here). 5 The Aston Martin Chase In Goldfinger. Only one survived, and it's priceless. It airs on cable tv all the time. Entering Louisiana, Doc says that Charlotte is almost in labor and needs to be off her feet. Unlike many iconic muscle cars that we've all come to know and love, the Trans Am was not that fast. 1-Smokey and the Bandit-The classic, the original, and the best one by FAR. After the movie did well, Pontiac gave Burt a free Trans Am to drive for a few years. He has no less than four movies listed as coming out, and they run the gamut from romantic drama to family comedy to horror mystery to action thriller. Amazing how a combination of desire and unobtainability can make an ordinary product special. One of our favorite movies. Anyway, on the trip east, we stopped at a grocery in Topeka, Kansas and bought 16-18 cases of Coors, all that we had room for in the car. How much will a Bitcoin be worth in 2030? Id like to hear from Mr. Needham why so many of those police cars had what look like shaker hood scoops. What is the oxidation number of Sn in tin IV sulfate? This past weekend, the city of Jonesboro, Georgia held a two-day festival to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Burt Reynolds classic, . Gleasons Justice is the stereotypical Southern sheriff, as seen in this clip. MN12 Thunderbirds had the same appeal to me, for similar reasons. 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. 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. Thanks to low octane gas at the time and an ineffective fuel system the car performed woefully in comparison to first movie's 1978 6.6 litre (400ci) car and required modification to get to enough performance from it. Copyright 2011 - 2021 Curbside Classics. On 'Watch What Happens Live!' Yet when I think of a 70s T/A, thats the one I and Im sure millions of other folks think of. What Does It Mean if You Were Born With a Veil Over Your Face? complete answer on americanmusclecarmuseum.com. Unfortunately, three of the four, The Pontiac Trans Am owned by Burt Reynolds and based on the one in his movie. So why did they go with sound effects instead of the Trans Am's actually exhaust noise? 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. During a Q&A session on Saturday, filmed by ComicBook.com, a fan asked how many Trans Ams they burned through during production. As such, it took a lot of sweet talking by former stuntman Needham for Pontiac to cough up three Trans Ams and three LeManses. If they werent burning candles to an image of a cowboy hatted Burt Reynolds at Pontiac headquarters. It seems Plymouth was in a distant second for product placement. It was also shown in the background during the first Smokey and the Bandit (1977) movie. The 'Smokey and The Bandit' Trans Am got so many orders that the third-generation model was delayed. Actually, there were 2 future Dukes stars in the movie: Ben Jones (Cooter) was in an early scene helping Big Enos find Bandit. I looked at a Bluesmobile worthy 1977 Plymouth Grand Fury, the big ones, it was an ex Florida Highway Patrol car, but it had a pretty good amount of rust and it was pretty beat. Please refresh the page and try again. complete answer on overdriveonline.com, View They destroyed all those cars in the films he said. What Is the Best Advice for Writing the Body of a Routine Request Message? RCMP constable Reginald Van Justice and the woman with whom he sings are supposed to lampoon Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. The 1977 Firebird Trans Am, once owned by Burt Reynolds, sold for $495,000 at Saturdays auction by Barrett-Jackson. Check out the entire video below. Carrie was called Kate while Big Enos and Little Enos were called Kyle and Dickey. The movies are: Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and The End (1978). Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American road action comedy film . 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. 3-Smokey and the Bandit 3-A crime against humanity, not even LSD can make it watchable since you spend the whole night fighting imaginary flying cobras with Jackie Gleasons head on them. Torque numbers were a lot higher at around 320 ft/lbs. 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 . This small modification was made to remind viewers of Trans Am models from 1969, which had in excess of 300 horsepower. Ive always loved this movie. [5] It was the eighth-most-popular 1980 film at the United States and Canada box office earning $66,132,626. The movie made everyone believe that the Trans Am was a 1977 model. Dom DeLuise and Burt Reynolds teamed together numerous times in movies but this was their only 'Smokey and the Bandit' movie that they made together. The sequel to this movie was titled Gator (1976) (1976). Blues Brothers held the record for the most cars smashed until its own sequel deliberately destroyed just one more. Eventually I found this Lancia Flaminia 3C, which happened to be silver with a black roof, and at this stage of the game there was no choice. The movie refers to the word ''smokeys'' (or ''smokies'') which is an American slang word for ''police officers''. How do you level a dishwasher from the front to the back? How Do Frodo and Sam Leave Mount Doom After the One Ring Is Destroyed? For the 1980 film's main chase, 60 police cars were bought for $400 a piece, and outfitted. Then they looked at the tax disc and thats fake as well, so they just carted him off. I ended up buying a 1969 Cadillac ambulance a year later! It was complete madness. Im still trying to get clarification on what a diablo sandwich is though. Final 'Smokey and the Bandit' movie for Burt Reynolds in a lead starring role. The rub? The dog, Fred, was personally picked by lead actor Burt Reynolds because it refused to obey commands. As a former Club Wagon pilot, I happen to like his Econoline. The Bandit's car was a second-generation Trans Am and the prize for completing the run was a . Coors was legal in Missouri and illegal in Illinois. Always a favorite. That said, an uncomplimentary accent does exist. 2 The Mini Cooper Chase In The Italian Job. We had to carry on shooting and it wasnt worth it. However, two of the principal stars of the film, Burt Reynolds and Sally Field declined to participate due to a contract dispute. Car movies are notorious for being tough on the very vehicles that give them their allure. I developed a pretty good bootheel accent during my time in New Madrid. Its weird how it works. The production office was in a big square, but he went screaming by, couldnt stop and smashed into a big Fiat 130 saloon. I distinctly remember my mother buying Coors and being asked if she lived in Missouri or Illinois by the cashier. It was a great car for the movie. East bound and down, loaded up and truckin Who was driving the car in Smokey and the Bandit? Just do a search for Crown Victorias on your local CL. Final 'Smokey and the Bandit' movie for Sally Field. He had quite a few orders for Coors beer, and when he stopped in Weed, CA, on the way home, he went into the Safeway and asked for twenty-four cases of Coors. As a kid that T/A, the General Lee, and KITT were largely responsible for defining my taste in cars and that carries through to today. Burt Reynolds plays Bandit, who drives this powerhouse while dodging the cops, while Snowman, played by Jerry Reed, is not only an actor but also a country music star, a Kenworth W- 900 A a really powerful semitrailer. The . 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. Who owns the Firebird from Smokey and the Bandit? It wasnt distributed in Washington in those days either. The world record for the longest stunt car jump by a car powered with its own engine, at 163 feet, was performed for the film. Vintage R&T Road Test: 1956 Corvette, Powerglide And Stick Shift Fast And Faster. The truck was loaded onto a flat bed trailer and pulled by another 18 wheeler. A Phoenix car agency declined to deliver the vehicles when it was made aware that they did not include air conditioning. 4 Max Takes On The Raiders In Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. What Happens When 50 Ml of Water and 50 Ml of Alcohol Are Mixed? He was the king of all the stunt men and frankly was in a different league to us. WildI watched this for the first time in years after watching the latest Archer.the whole thing is an homage to S&B. She then trades in Junior's car for a new Trans Am. 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. 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. One of those things that will make my kids think Im crazy some day. That song often pops into my head at the start of long drives. 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. Moments later, an ambulance pulls in with an Italian gynecologist in the back; "Doc" is initially reluctant to help, but when his driver speeds off unknowingly leaving him stranded, he asks to hitch a ride with them, agreeing to watch Charlotte. The singular form of the word is ''smokey''. Davis suffered compressed vertebrae as a result of a hard landing. by 1980 Pontiac had dropped all of its big engine options for the Firebird. Web. But that doesnt make for an interesting movie premise. The roundup sequence in the desert shows many new Pontiac Le Mans sedans decorated as police cars being destroyed. The movies are: Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and The End (1978). Great write up. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. The jump honored the late Burt Reynolds and the iconic scene from the 1970s film. Who owns the Smokey and the Bandit truck? I mean, immediately, there wasn't a great reaction. A dastardly scoundrel? If you stopped at a traffic light the guy behind would push you forward. Well, the Corvettes success is clearly due to Corvette Summer, @Jim I remember that movie! Every idiot with more money than brains wanted a Trans Am. The 'Smokey and the Bandit' Trans Am was a 1976 model, and three were destroyed. I bought that car for under 1,000, but 45 years later I drove it at the Villa dEste concours and it was valued at 700,000. The whereabouts of the remaining Smokey and the Bandit car, the one that was used to promote the movie, remained a mystery for years. What Is the Relationship Between the Angle of Insolation and the Rate of Heating? 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: . By clicking subscribe, you agree to receive news, promotions and offers by email from Top Gear and BBC Studios. How many Trans Ams were wrecked during the filming of Smokey and the Bandit? There was a problem. The film was followed by another sequel three years later, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983), in which Reynolds only made a brief cameo appearance, and Sally Field did not appear. I was in West Plains the other day and there is yet another variation of it there. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). The group arrive at the pier in Miami only to find out the manifest is quarantined for three weeks. However, the Trans Am was about more than just . In 1978, Pontiac delivered 93,351 Trans Ams and 93,944 regular Firebirds for a grand total of 187,295 cars. Banzai! There was still a market for bras in the 1970s. And back then what I wanted most of all was a highly customized Vette with exposed headlights. Though she still has feelings for Bandit, when Carrie arrives, she initially intones she is only in it for the money, and she and Cledus work on getting Bandit off the booze and back into shape. They retained the white steering wheels until 72 or so , just the thing to preveny burned fingers in the Desert sun . However, Reynolds only makes a small cameo in the second sequel. That's because the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit didn't sound like a Trans Am. Are there any other stories from filming that have stuck in your brain all this time? If it wasnt for Smokey & the Bandit, the Dukes of Hazzard TV series would not exist. They were the most fun little car to drive. Remember that Smokey and the Bandit was the 2nd biggest movie of the year, right after Star Wars. Top Gear gives you lessons on winter car care, Top Gears guide to buying a used BMW 3 Series, 10 used cars for 5k or less we found this week, The new Gran Turismo movie will hit cinemas on 11 August 2023, Carlos Sainz Sr flips his Audi Dakar car, gets airlifted to hospital, tells pilot to turn around, returns to race, The UKs cheapest, decent cars to insureincluding a few fast ones. Needing a fast set of wheels to distract law enforcement, Reynolds character purchases this 1977 Pontiac Trans-Am. 10. It had an AM transmitter and you would tune in the sound on your AM car radio, or on my case, on a transistor radio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cODPt3T0cHE, We got a cage strong enough to hold you 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. [2] This box office income inspired a third film. It kills us to watch it even now. Good silly fun. Weve got a long way to go and a short time to get there A blackguard? Davis unfortunately was injured during the stunt, receiving a compressed vertebra from a hard landing. Despite growing up next to Cape, most of relatives are from the Mid-South. I have worked a long time to eradicate the one I had but it still crops up periodically from exposure, like you experienced. The $%&#* Germans got nuthin to do with it!, Such a great movie I grew up in the 80s, so it was comforting to watch this, Blues Brothers, or Animal House once a week on TBS/TNT. The differences between the two are major. That is why there are not any left. It was due to be torn down and rebuilt after being deemed in unsafe condition so its destruction was written into this movie. I still regret selling mine almost 30 years ago. I thought at the time that it was a newer version of White Lightning (also with Burt Reynolds) and that Smokey would be forgotten just as soon. We were given a living allowance. If you watched the second clip above, this truck should look familiar. People keep telling me this tuner did it and that tuner did it. Reynolds was the top box office draw from 1975 to 1982, then his movies really started to go downhill. Their last two elephants, Cora and Shannon went to live out their years at Topeka Zoo in Kansas. When Bandit removes a splinter from Charlotte's foot, she takes a liking to him. Carrie is overjoyed when she sees Charlotte's baby, and Bandit asks Charlotte's permission for him and Carrie to get hitched, to which Charlotte trumpets her approval; Doc, now riding in the cab with Cledus and Fred, also voices his approval, and they all drive away with Charlotte and her baby in tow in circus carts, with Buford still in pursuit, now driving a Greyhound bus. The film received almost completely negative reviews from critics who felt that it suffered badly in comparison to the original. To make this 2154-mile drive, round-trip, the, Il bandito e la madama (Italy) Mistrz kierownicy ucieka (Poland) 1971 AMC Ambassador Avco 1972 Buick Electra 225 1968 Buick Riviera 1973 Cadillac Coupe DeVille 1972 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 1971 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado 1975 Cadillac Funeral Coach Chevrolet Advance - Design 1977 Chevrolet Bison 1971 Chevrolet Blazer. Football players Joe Klecko and Terry Bradshaw also appear in both films. Originally I was taken on as a stunt coordinator in addition to supplying all the cars, but while I was running around finding them, they found Rmy Julienne. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, I am indeed a fan. Cledus begs Bandit to stop at a safari reserve, where Charlotte finally gives birth to her baby. 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 . 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. Cledus chooses they all need a break and they go to a nearby nightclub where Don Williams is headlining. A Pontiac wagon from earlier in the decade. They return later that night to steal it, only to find the "package" is a live elephant (the G.O.P. If you somehow managed to miss Smokey and the Bandit in the years between the films 1977 release and now, you should rectify that situation immediately (to be fair, it was released two days after Star Wars, so its understandable if it slipped through the cracks). Smokey and the Bandit II is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham, and starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, . He enlists the help of fellow truck driver Cletus The Snowman Snow, played by country music singer Jerry Reed. There are an abundance of cars in this movie. It just seems wrong to see that car in any fashion without hearing that song. Two of the most high-octane films of 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road and Furious 7, each burned through hundreds ( Furious 7 alone. Call Of Duty Let me get the popcorn for this one. Under the hood of the incredible Trans Ams used for the film sat a 400 ci V8 engine, which pushed out somewhere in the realm of 200 horsepower. These were the cans with the two circular push buttons on top instead of pull tabs. How do I change the anode rod in my Whirlpool water heater? A black Trans Am is parked in my garage because of this movie. That is an excellent question. Stunt driver Raymond Kohn has recreated one of the most famous car stunts from the movie Smokey and the Bandit. Reynolds starred in the movie White Lightning (1973) (1973) where he played a moonshiner named "Gator McClusky". It cornered amazingly well for such a large car, but the posi rear end emitted ominous sounds so I passed on it (I was in college and didnt have any place to do major repairs). I also own a 1:18 scale version of the Bandit Trans Am. This movie just showed how much an urban legend the supposed unobtainability had become. Behind Sheriff Justices Pontiac, there is a nice looking 1965 or 1966 Ford Mustang fastback and a Toyota pickup. I have since moved on from them, mainly because in stock form, they were not particularly great cars (though good enough for the times). In the original screenplay, Bandit's last name is LaRoue (first name never mentioned), Carrie's name was Kate, Cledus' handle was simply just Bandit II, Big Enos and Little Enos' names were Kyle and Dickey, Junior was not a character, Buford's name was different, Bandit's car was not a Trans Am, and the reward for making the run was a new truck . The 1974 Kenworth looks exactly how it should be for a big truck. Watching TV and Movies you would think that sales dropped to nil. You might think that seeing their cars routinely destroyed on movie screens across the country would give the manufacturer pause, but that is not the case at all. We drove everywhere in a train of these 10 cars. And I certainly didn't do the main jump Rmy did that with his team. Chevy almost did the same with its counterpart, the Camaro. But the producer of that was Michael Deeley, who then happened to produce The Italian Job. The Pontiac Trans-Am in the first movie had a 6.6 liter V-8 and the Trans-Am in this movie had a 4.9 litre Turbocharged V8. There was a whole gang of young lads on that movie. [6] Roger Ebert gave it a one out of four stars and stated that there was "[in 1980] no need for this movie. It was the last day of shooting, but I think we shot that 50 or 60 times. The truck in Smokey and the Bandit (1977) that Cledus 'Snowman' Snow drove was a black and gold 1974 Kenworth W900 Model. Id be surprised. Charlotte, the Asian elephant in Smokey and the Bandit II, was portrayed by an elephant named Cora. Cinemablend is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. According to director Hal Needham in the DVD documentary, Pontiac gave them three Trans-Ams and two LeMans (Sheriff Justices squad cars) for the film.
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