Some fellow classmates were extras on the film set, and it was a big deal around here at the time. Id like to hear from Mr. Needham why so many of those police cars had what look like shaker hood scoops. The remaining Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am is currently owned by Florida car collector John Staluppi. I was to be paid a salary plus own 7% of the profits. Funny that T/A isnt on the movie poster, considering it was the obvious star of the show. The pair arrive in Texarkana one hour early and load up the truck, but just as they head back, Carrie, a runaway bride, intercepts Bandit and jumps in his car, unwittingly making him an indirect target of Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a career Texas lawman whose witless son Junior was to have married Carrie. I grew up in Illinois, within eyeshot of the banks of the MIssissippi River, and ten miles from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. That is why there are not any left. Just do a search for Crown Victorias on your local CL. The Trans Am was a high-performance package for the Firebird, Pontiac's take on the Chevrolet Camaro. and used hard. Great write up. 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. http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/john-fedack-my-days-as-a-dekalb-county-police-officer/. Needing a fast set of wheels to distract law enforcement, Reynolds character purchases this 1977 Pontiac Trans-Am. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, As I did Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. Five-string banjo player Bobby Thompson is prominent toward the end of "East Bound and Down". The sticker read "T/A 6.6," which was a reminder of the engine's 6.6-liter displacement. 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). Ive always loved this movie. Weve got a long way to go and a short time to get there Sales of the coupe exploded after the film hit the silver screen and set unprecedented records for both Pontiac and the Firebird nameplate. Even when the 2nd gen was already coasting on fumes, and defanged, and after the reasonably shitty Smokey and the Bandit sequel, Pontiac managed to pump out 107,000 Trans Ams in 1980 and 70,000 for the 2nd gen Trans Ams swan song in 1981. 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. Olds 88. And then they made the biggest mistake of their lives and went to national distribution. 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". And lets not forget the Trans Am rental car Steve McQueen drove in his very last movie, The Hunter from 1980. Gleason probably wanted too much money to provide the dubbing, which is a shame because it ruins the TV version. Did I mention how much I enjoy reading all the back stories and niggly details I can only get here ? A 1977 special-edition model once owned by the late actor Burt Reynolds recently wound up on the car auction website Bring a Trailer. Not a bad deal, but on the fourth year, no new car. 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. Get ready to tear up the highway with the Bandit (Burt Reynolds), a fun-loving, fast-talking trucker who takes on his craziest haul yet - delivering 400 case. I am indeed a fan. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). And back then what I wanted most of all was a highly customized Vette with exposed headlights. What were the police cars in Smokey and the Bandit? Henry Corden, the voice of cartoon character Fred Flintstone. Sally Field and Burt Reynolds began a relationship after meeting on set. Reynolds replied: We went through 12. Want proof? Hal Needham did pass away as someone earlier said. [30] Upon meeting Reynolds, Billy Bob Thornton told him that the South considers the film to be less cinema and more documentary. Nothing annoys him more than car electronics, and he just hates it when performance cars lack a third pedal. 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. [28] However, this is inaccurate; within seconds of Bandit picking her up, Frog tells him "there is a wedding in search of a bride" and goes on to explain her ill-advised romance with Junior, as the Bandit holds up the CB mic for the Snowman to hear. 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. Thank you for signing up to CinemaBlend. I still regret selling mine almost 30 years ago. It made no sense to me as it was fifty miles north and fifty miles south. Whaddya expect outta a guy what drives a conversion van? I was a junior high school age kid when this film came out. [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). 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. 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. The Burdettes' car is a 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible painted in a "Candy Red" color scheme and is seen briefly at the beginning of the movie and in the final scene as the Bandit, the Snowman, Fred the dog, and Frog use it to make their escape. 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. Gator , Stroker Ace , lots of them . His personaround, dumpy, and clipping wordsreminds one of another fictional southern sheriff. 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. A dastardly scoundrel? One guy did a while ago a fan-made trailer of Smokey & the Bandit 4. 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!!! A segment of the CMT program Reel Eats used a sloppy joe-style recipe consisting of seasoned ground beef, corn, and sour cream. As deals were made for the actors and producers, the studio wanted to renegotiate my deal. The MASSIVE year over year sales gains came from somewhere. [27] In his review in the Chicago Tribune, Gene Siskel gave the film two stars and complained that the film failed to tell the audience when the clock started on the beer run, thus reducing suspense. . I loved the fact that Jackie Gleasons brown Lemans had a blue vinyl interior and it even had the luxury cushion steering wheel! And Burt may be from GA originally, but he calls Florida home, which is another reason I heard the movie was filmed here. How many cars destroyed Blues Brothers 2000? 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. That said, an uncomplimentary accent does exist. 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. Coors wasnt pasteurized. Burt Reynolds himself drove the car on stage to the song "East Bound and Down" and signed it. During this time, the Firebird also surpassed sales figures of the Chevrolet Camaro. 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. The original film had correct sounds that were usually recorded live as the action took place. Reynolds was the top box office draw from 1975 to 1982, then his movies really started to go downhill. And he succeeded as far as the Pontiac Trans Am is concerned. That's because Pontiac almost canceled the Firebird in the early 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. Were they dummies? News . I still think its more entertaining than Star Wars. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_301466-Ford-LTD-II-1977.html. 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. 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. I only got one of them LOL. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2. For this purpose, they overdubbed dialogue deemed offensive, which was common practice. 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. Yet when I think of a 70s T/A, thats the one I and Im sure millions of other folks think of. Both sequels used another Trans Am, not a Cadillac Eldorado, as seen below. Mr. Reynolds elevated the dreck that he appeared in to a higher level, that is, enjoyable. Somewhere along the line, the company acquired a new president who told Reynolds: Im the new president, and I dont like your movies. The original uncut sumbitch version. Smokey and the Bandit star Burt Reynolds passed away in 2018 . Not everything was Pontiac, as evidenced by this 1973 Plymouth Satellite coupe (CC here). [12] The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. This movie just showed how much an urban legend the supposed unobtainability had become. When I was a kid I thought they were the same person. Heres how it works. Before Gleason was cast in the film, Richard Boone was originally considered for the role of Buford T. 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. 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. Now, having only three Trans Ams to wreck for a movie is minimalist, to say the least. 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. Here are 20 facts about the Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit. (it did taste a lot better than Bud as I recall). Reynolds and Field began dating during the filming.[13]. So why did they go with sound effects instead of the Trans Am's actually exhaust noise? For Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), Needham asked for and received 10 Trans Ams and 55 Bonnevilles with no trouble.