Duarte or maybe ir was Arcadia , it was white with a red & blue pinstripe , we dropped $400 (an ungodly sum back then) on a re paint and pin striping but could _not_ sell that wretched POC , it took us two years IIRC . "Smokey and the Bandit Pursuit Pack" is formatted as a box set that in presented in full color in widescreen. Reynolds replied: We went through 12. I think you may be confusing the movie Honky-Tonk Freeway with the filming done during I-75 construction near Sarasota. As a former Club Wagon pilot, I happen to like his Econoline. Anyone with insight is encouraged to share their knowledge on this. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1975 Plymouth Fury Police Pursuit Arkansas State Police "Smokey and The Bandit" at the best online prices at eBay! And it was worth it for the brand, as the nameplate sales decided following the redesign. What were the police cars in Smokey and the Bandit? Its lack of additives and preservatives meant that Coors could spoil in one week without refrigeration, explaining the film's 28-hour deadline. Some weren't that lucky and were discontinued altogether. He claimed that the Bandit is never made aware of Frog's leaving Junior at the altar, which is why the Bandit continually asks why a Texas sheriff is chasing him. 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. The muscle car market reached a peak in the late 1960s, as the car was becoming larger, more powerful, and more aggressive by looks. 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 movies are rated PG with a run time of 282 minutes and released to video by Universal Studios. Bandit attracts more police attention across Dixie as Snowman barrels on toward Atlanta with the contraband beer, but they are helped en route by many colorful characters via CB radio. S&TB was filmed primarily off Route 400 in Georgia. Wanting to promote the aesthetically modified 1977 model, but lacking cars owing to delays in production start-up, GM modified four 1976 Trans Ams with '77 spec bodywork and decals for the film. and the Dixie Dance Kings, and Burts car was a 57 [56?] I have to admit, thats a pretty fantastic story, and as a major movie star, Im sure Burt Reynolds was able to figure out another way to acquire a means of transportation. I have since moved on from them, mainly because in stock form, they were not particularly great cars (though good enough for the times). . How did any bra manufacturers survive the 70s? [31] Smokey and the Bandit was released in the United Kingdom on August 28 and was a success there, garnering positive reviews. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. The Ridiculous Number Of Cars Burt Reynolds Burned - CINEMABLEND I drive a conversion van. 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 remember reading somewhere that one of the cars was equipped with a 455 for some of the higher speed scenes. Coors wasnt pasteurized. Because sales were so high, Pontiac decided to delay the third-generation model. S&B is one of my all-time favorite movies and Im not apologizing. The LeMans police car did nothing for me because there was a colonnade LeMans sedan in the garage at home. So, for years one, two, and three, he got a shiny new Pontiac. 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. On the DVD, there is a brief interview with both Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham, who directed this film. 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. He enlists the help of fellow truck driver Cletus The Snowman Snow, played by country music singer Jerry Reed. The checker, not batting an eye, Do you want that chilled?. That parking lot was full of Trans Ams! 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. But 1978 returned sales of 93,351 examples, a jump of around 25,000 cars. They destroyed all those cars in the films he said. 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. The scene featuring the racetrack was filmed at Lakewood Speedway at the old Lakewood Fairgrounds on Atlanta's south side. 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. A 1977 special-edition model once owned by the late actor Burt Reynolds recently wound up on the car auction website Bring a Trailer. Luckily, both cars survived, and the Trans Am became famous only five years later. A Pontiac wagon from earlier in the decade. Likely this isnt any rare engine venting package, but I could be wrong. [12] The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. Sales almost doubled in two years, which is a very big deal given that the Trans Ams 1978 facelift was rather minor save for the front fascia. Needham and assistant director David Hamburger spent 30 hours revising the shooting schedule.[4]. A 1975 Pontiac Grand Ville, seen toward the end of the movie. 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. My favorite would have been an ex-WSP 1970 Plymouth they were all Fury IIIs, white on blue with factory air and 440s under the hood; but none ever turned up when I was buying. 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.. Hes fodder enough for his own article at some point. 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. He gave Needham a preview of the song and, getting no reaction, offered to rewrite it. As I did Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. Rockford Files also featured Firebird, and was on since 1974, and Fs sold well despite gas crunch I and inflation. 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. (Still). They destroyed all those cars in the films he said. 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. I still regret selling mine almost 30 years ago. Some fellow classmates were extras on the film set, and it was a big deal around here at the time. These two 1967 Ford Galaxies (CC here), soon to be redecorated by a Kenworth road tractor, do not. News . I was to be paid a salary plus own 7% of the profits. [17], In 1977, Coors was unavailable for sale east of Oklahoma. [33] Reynolds was given the 1977 vehicle used during promotion of the film as a gift, though the car itself never actually appeared in the film. I was in West Plains the other day and there is yet another variation of it there. 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. Actor Henry Corden, who voiced Fred Flintstone after original performer Alan Reed died the same year the film was released, was used to replace a considerable amount of Sheriff Justice's dialogue. During this time, the Firebird also surpassed sales figures of the Chevrolet Camaro. One guy did a while ago a fan-made trailer of Smokey & the Bandit 4. 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. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 78% rating based on 32 reviews. The 1978 Trans Am is an exact duplicate of the "Smokey and the Bandit" movie car, finished in black and gold with a screaming chicken on the hood. That's because Pontiac almost canceled the Firebird in the early 1970s. Somehow this store had a regular supply. I developed a pretty good bootheel accent during my time in New Madrid. Smokey and the Bandit was all realistic and non fictional, and it still was a big hit that brought a lot of money to Hal Needham and the actors, to pay Pontiac back. Mr. Reynolds made a bunch of low budget films before this , all had wild chase scenes with cop cars crashing & going into swamps . Watching TV and Movies you would think that sales dropped to nil. Gleason probably wanted too much money to provide the dubbing, which is a shame because it ruins the TV version. Reynolds and Field began dating during the filming.[13]. I will confess, however, that it was a fun movie to watch and I have caught it on TV a time or two in recent years with my kids. His automotive adventure started reporting on various motorsport events as a sports writer before moving onto a full-time auto career with various sites, including This Week In Motors and Autoevolution. The Trans Am was a high-performance package for the Firebird, Pontiac's take on the Chevrolet Camaro. According to director Hal Needham in the DVD documentary, Pontiac gave them three Trans-Ams and two LeMans (Sheriff Justice's patrol car) for the film. 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. And all of us easterners suddenly discovered it was nothing more than another Budweiser/Miller/etc. During their run, they are pursued by Texas county sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason). The uncut version is the best. Along the way they tussle with tough as nails Texas Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), pick up a runaway bride nicknamed Frog (Sally Field), and have all kinds of awesome times on the highway. 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. How many cars did they wreck in Smokey and the Bandit? Thank you for signing up to CinemaBlend. Somebody locally is selling a Regis Plymouth Fury ex Florida Police with gasping 318 V8, he will for the right money toss in a 440 with it. My family did all grocery shopping in Cape. The cars were originally ordered by a car rental agency in Phoenix, who refused to accept the . I also own a 1:18 scale version of the Bandit Trans Am. It was his idea to have Junior alongside him throughout the film. 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. Here in Canada they didnt censor it, so we always got the sumbitch version. [36] Another proposal, based more closely on images from the film and the shooting location of the scene (at an Old Hickory House restaurant in Georgia), is pulled pork and hot sauce on a hamburger bun. 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. I was in the Air Force during this era, stationed in California. While watching the movie (yes, I did have to diligently research this article), one shot seemed to indicate this may be a dummy scoop. The change was somewhat strange as most automakers were using cubic-inch numerals to advertise engines. Also up for auction was a go-kart replica of the car, which sold for nearly $14,000. 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. The man does get around. Not all the police cars had hood scoops. In 1978, Pontiac delivered 93,351 Trans Ams and 93,944 regular Firebirds for a grand total of 187,295 cars. [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. Heres how it works. I know that Trans Am that jumped that bridge broke the axle when it landed. Burt Reynolds plays truck driver Bo Bandit Darville. As Frog leaves, we are introduced to Sheriff Buford T. Justice, played by Jackie Gleason. While I have read undocumented accounts of there being more than three Trans Ams, Needham stated three is all that were used. Both sequels used another Trans Am, not a Cadillac Eldorado, as seen below. Smokey and the Bandit Pursuit Pack 1 2 3 DVD Burt Reynolds Cult Car I still think its more entertaining than Star Wars. One of those things that will make my kids think Im crazy some day. The 79-year-old 70s and 80s heartthrob made a rare public appearance over the weekend at Wizard World Chicago. A diablo sammich from my understanding is a like a Sloppy Joe but with taco seasoning added in for spice. It follows the adventures of a couple of truck drivers bootlegging Coors, which couldnt legally be sold East of the Mississippi River at the time. [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. 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. Nah, they survived by coming up with bras with very thin cups. 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. So why did they go with sound effects instead of the Trans Am's actually exhaust noise? Gleasons Justice is the stereotypical Southern sheriff, as seen in this clip. Sales jumped even higher in 1979 when Pontiac moved 117,108 Trans Ams. [4] Reynolds said in 2015 that he most enjoyed this film, and had the most fun making it, of his career.[26]. And theres beer in Texarkana.. How many cars destroyed Blues Brothers 2000? In the Reynolds portion of the interview, he stated the movie prompted Trans Am sales to jump around 700%. While they did jump, from 46,700 in 1976 to 69,000 for 1977 with another 93,300 for 1978, it wasnt exactly 700%. The dubbed version is awful. Good silly fun. Seven: (Three with Burt Reynolds and Crew, and Four without) Smokey and the Bandit - 1977 Smokey and the Bandit II - 1980 Smokey and the Bandit III . It outsold its Chevrolet Camaro counterpart for the first time. Frog not included. 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. The production team wrecked three for the four cars it received from Pontiac. 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. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_301466-Ford-LTD-II-1977.html. No more needs to be said. Yet when I think of a 70s T/A, thats the one I and Im sure millions of other folks think of. Great fun! From living there for my first two decades, I noticed the accent didnt get going good until around Sikeston (not Saxton as it would seem) and it progressed as you went deeper into the Bootheel. There are an abundance of cars in this movie. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). The 1977 model wasn't out yet when filming began, so General Motors provided 1976 cars with front clips from the soon-to-be-released 1977 update. 5. 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. 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. 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). 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. Whaddya expect outta a guy what drives a conversion van? Weve got a long way to go and a short time to get there 1980 ERTL SMOKEY & THE BANDIT PONTIAC FIREBIRD DIECAST CAR police car 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". However, in more recent years, the original version has been shown (on ITV, a commercial channel), usually with the stronger language edited out, often quite awkwardly. Of course, we could argue that Needham could have used the engine note of a Pontiac GTO from the golden muscle car, but the 1955 Custom recordings were probably readily available, and he just didn't need the hassle. We gonna do what they say cant be done Jackie Gleason ad libbed a lot of his lines too. Smokey and the Bandit II - Wikipedia Burt Reynolds as the Bandit can always count on the truckers on the other end of his C.B. Supposedly there was a stick car for the burnouts and an automatic car for other shots. Olds 88. 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. Id like to hear from Mr. Needham why so many of those police cars had what look like shaker hood scoops. A guy we knew drove his half-ton pickup from western WA to his reserve 2-week stint in his home state in California. The 1977 Firebird Trans Am once owned by Burt Reynolds was sold at auction Saturday for $495,000 at a sale held by Barrett-Jackson. 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. There has never been anything quite like late 1970s fashion in clothing. Henry Corden, the voice of cartoon character Fred Flintstone. In fact, after Smokey and the Bandit became a box office hit, Pontiac saw a marked increase in their stock prices. Smokey and the Bandit II is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham, and starring Burt Reynolds, Sally 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. The cars were wrecked on purpose to create the illusion of a high-speed chase. Needham stated that by the end of production, there really wasnt much left of any of the three. Further, as Pontiac has deliciously obvious product placement, anyone who delights in 70s era Pontiac iron will experience visual ecstasy. He paid $550,000 for it, likely a record for any Pontiac Firebird. I agree, despite people saying you sound cute, it seems like they think Ellie Mae Clapett or Jethro Bodean. 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. And Coors itself limited its distribution to west of the Mississippi. 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. 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!!! In the original script, Carrie was called Kate while Big Enos and Little Enos were called Kyle and Dickey. 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. It was destroyed in Smokey and the Bandit II and in a flashback scene in Part 3. About two seconds after this picture was taken, these motorcycles were doing their best imitation of a stack of pancakes. Thats all true. The next movie, Smokey and the Bandit II, featured the same cast and an updated version of the Trans Am.The second version of the Smokey and the Bandit car was a 1980 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that had a similar paint job, the updated front end, and gold "Turbine" style wheels.The 1980 models featured a turbocharged 4.9L Pontiac V8, but that still wasn't enough power for the stunt personnel. It made no sense to me as it was fifty miles north and fifty miles south. 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.