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. Burt Reynolds as the Bandit can always count on the truckers on the other end of his C.B. Sure Smokey helped, but was not the sole reason T/A and F body sales went up. Hes fodder enough for his own article at some point. So lets explore this car (and truck) heavy flick, all while giving those who have not seen it a glimpse into a movie whose complexity and intellect remains unparalleled within the history of cinema. I just dont like car novices that assume the Pontiac T/A was soley a movie tie in car and the it started in 1977.. S&TB was filmed primarily off Route 400 in Georgia. . Conversely, I could go to Paducah and be asked where up north I was from. It was the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 after Star Wars. In the original script, Carrie was called Kate while Big Enos and Little Enos were called Kyle and Dickey. Actually, there were 2 future Dukes stars in the movie: Ben Jones (Cooter) was in an early scene helping Big Enos find Bandit. Television censorship and alternative versions, second highest-grossing domestic film of 1977, AFI's 100 Years100 Heroes and Villains, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Smokey and the Bandit at 35: A Case for the Genius of Hal Needham", "Greyhound Lakewood Park (Atlanta, Georgia, USA)", "Burt Reynolds' old Pontiac Trans Am replica sold for $317,500", "An Interview With Jim Wangers: Pontiac and the 1970's", "How the Bandit, Coors and a bunch of Makers changed the course of booze history", "Various Smokey And The Bandit (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)", "Smokey and the Bandit, Box Office Information", "Burt Reynolds at the 2015 Macon Film Festival", "Seven Quirky Lowbrow Favorite Films of Highbrow Directors", "Remembering Hal Needham and the Birth of Redneck Cinema", "Smokey and the Bandit Film from RadioTimes", "Burt Reynolds' Bandit Trans Am sells for $450,000", "See a "New" Vintage Bandit Trans Am Approved by Burt Reynolds Himself", "Diablo Sandwich Recipe from CMT's Reel Eats", "Diablo Sandwich / "Diablo & Doc" From Smokey & the Bandit, Identified! I still couldnt resist lighting up the Pontiacs tires while executing my T-turns. This movie was filmed in Georgia as well. As Frog leaves, we are introduced to Sheriff Buford T. Justice, played by Jackie Gleason. 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. When I was a kid I thought they were the same person. But the true standout of Smokey and the Bandit is the car driven by The Bandit, the iconic black and gold 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. 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. It seems Plymouth was in a distant second for product placement. They called out equipment like Radial Tuned Suspension, Calibrated Speedometer, and Power Disc Brakes. Maybe even the dual exhausts and the 400-4 merited badges. But 1978 returned sales of 93,351 examples, a jump of around 25,000 cars. While watching the movie (yes, I did have to diligently research this article), one shot seemed to indicate this may be a dummy scoop. Trigger had a big impact on my taste in cars with the Trans Ams of the late 70s being my favorite. A couple of years ago, I was sitting around on a lazy Saturday afternoon and it was on TV. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2. 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. The unrestored car reportedly showed up on eBay back in 2015, but no one wanted to buy it. It was destroyed in Smokey and the Bandit II and in a flashback scene in Part 3. News . 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. [6] It would become one of Reed's biggest hits and his signature song.[7]. It outsold its Chevrolet Camaro counterpart for the first time. Burt Reynolds recently revealed the ridiculous number of Pontiac Trans Ams they went through filming 1977s Smokey and the Bandit. In a rare public appearance, Burt Reynolds revealed how many cars they wrecked making Smokey and [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. He gave Needham a preview of the song and, getting no reaction, offered to rewrite it. Pontiac should have made a radio that played that song automatically simply by pushing a button, or maybe made it the horn sound. 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. Smokey and the Bandit was one of the most iconic movies of the 1970s. The film's theme song, "East Bound and Down", was written virtually overnight by Reed. The film's editors, Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. So these kind of represented a rebellion attitude to the government mandated diesel econo hatches everyone thought we were going to be forced to drive in the 80sinterestingly 1979 was also the best year for the Corvette too. Got Greyhound cutout decals on the rear side windows. The remaining Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am is currently owned by Florida car collector John Staluppi. The whereabouts of the remaining Smokey and the Bandit car, the one that was used to promote the movie, remained a mystery for years. 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". Today, Smokey and the Bandit remains one of the most popular car action films ever made, and the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am will forever be wed to the movie. The differences between the two are major. The roundup sequence in the desert shows many new Pontiac Le Mans sedans decorated as police cars being destroyed. Was it a heathen? As a former Club Wagon pilot, I happen to like his Econoline. I've heard . East bound and down, loaded up and truckin 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]. I will confess that by the time this movie was out, I was a Mopar guy. The Bandit's car was a second-generation Trans Am and the prize for completing the run was a new truck rather than $80,000. Banzai! I loved the fact that Jackie Gleasons brown Lemans had a blue vinyl interior and it even had the luxury cushion steering wheel! [21], Smokey and the Bandit was a sleeper hit. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_301466-Ford-LTD-II-1977.html. (it did taste a lot better than Bud as I recall). [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 roller coaster in the movie was the Greyhound. And theres this nugget from the director of the coming new Shazam movie; I first watched Smokey on quiet swing shifts from the drivers seat of a 1977 Pontiac Le Mans patrol car, parked by thr back fence of the drive-in theater at the far end of town. I have worked a long time to eradicate the one I had but it still crops up periodically from exposure, like you experienced. However, as our heroes were successful in delivering their truckload of Coors, the writers effectively poised themselves for a sequel. 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. That is why there are not any left. Thats all well and good, and it worked smooth as silk for a good while. January 24, 2019 100 comments. The paint code for each truck was coffee brown with gold trims and the 48-foot (15m) mural trailer used was manufactured by Hobbs Trailers in Texas with a non-operational Thermo King Refrigeration unit. Some weren't that lucky and were discontinued altogether. Justice. I was 10 when this movie came out and I loved it then and I still do. 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. Gleason probably wanted too much money to provide the dubbing, which is a shame because it ruins the TV version. Burt Reynolds may be 79, but he shows no signs of slowing down. radio to help him out. 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. Gleason was a genius, but this was not one of his better outings I prefer the Hustler and Gigot. 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. Likely this isnt any rare engine venting package, but I could be wrong. [11] The movie was primarily filmed in Georgia, in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro, and Lithonia. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. Gleason was given free rein to ad-lib dialogue and make suggestions. Required fields are marked *. Unfortunately he passed away a few months ago or that would have been a great question to ask. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). While the Snowman drives the truck carrying the beer, the Bandit drives a Pontiac Trans Am to distract law enforcement (called blocking) and keep the attention off the Snowman. With Reynolds' salary at $1 million, Needham was left with only $3.3 million to make the film. Reynolds was the top box office draw from 1975 to 1982, then his movies really started to go downhill. The commercials were produced after Stewart mentioned that the movie was one of his favorites.[39]. The dubbed version isnt as bad as the Remastered Blu-ray. 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. The theme music "East Bound and Down" was sung and co-written by Reed (credited under his birth name, Jerry Hubbard) and Dick Feller. Producer Hal Needham intended Smokey and the Bandit to be one of the best product placement films of all time. Of course, nobody else cared if it was in the trunk of the car when heading back home. And Coors itself limited its distribution to west of the Mississippi. 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! 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. The decals were changed to 1977-style units, as evidenced by the engine size callouts on the hood scoop being in liters rather than cubic inches, as had been the case in 1976. These Furys, as well as some of the LeMans units, have hood scoops. About two seconds after this picture was taken, these motorcycles were doing their best imitation of a stack of pancakes. For Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), Needham asked for and received 10 Trans Ams and 55 Bonnevilles with no trouble. 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 film was followed by two sequels: Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). 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. 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. Regular film-goers might not pay much attention to the car's engine sound, but gearheads will quickly notice that something is off. The cashier never batted an eye as she sold us the mass quantities of suds. It wasnt distributed in Washington in those days either. Luckily, both cars survived, and the Trans Am became famous only five years later. The owner restored it and sold it at the Scottsdale 2016 auction by Barrett-Jackson.
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