A CC for a 1973 Grand Ville convertible can be found here. At the time, Reynolds was the top box office star in the world. Id be surprised. 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. The film was a sleeper hit, and following a poor initial performance, it went on to gross $126.7 million in North America, versus a budget of only $4.3 million. Not a bad deal, but on the fourth year, no new car. 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. Hal Needham did pass away as someone earlier said. 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. Smokey & The Bandit was the first of three movies in that franchise. Burt Reynolds recently revealed the ridiculous number of Pontiac Trans Ams they went through filming 1977s Smokey and the Bandit. Let us dissect this flick to better examine it. Earlier DVD releases and the 40th Anniversary Blu-ray of the film have the original soundtrack intact. Regular film-goers might not pay much attention to the car's engine sound, but gearheads will quickly notice that something is off. During this time, the Firebird also surpassed sales figures of the Chevrolet Camaro. Burt Reynolds once claimed in an interview that there were actually 12 Trans Ams featured in Smokey and the Banditand he wrecked every one. Will Walker: Independence Return For Season 2 Amid CW Shakeups? The Kenworth even achieves a trifecta of sorts, as it gave the first dent to Sheriff Justices LeMans. With four miles left, Bandit, discouraged by the unexpected mounting attention, is ready to give up, but Snowman, who initially thought they would fail, takes the lead and smashes through the roadblock at the fairgrounds' main entrance. A movie for the people, "Smokey and the Bandit" is more - Hagerty 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. I remember reading somewhere that one of the cars was equipped with a 455 for some of the higher speed scenes. Another one is, Theres no way youre from my loins.. I developed a pretty good bootheel accent during my time in New Madrid. Funny that T/A isnt on the movie poster, considering it was the obvious star of the show. In 1991, it was arranged for orchestra by Crafton Beck and recorded by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra for their album Down on the Farm. 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. For Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), Needham asked for and received 10 Trans Ams and 55 Bonnevilles with no trouble. 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. Neither Buford nor any other lawmen know of Snowman's illegal manifest, while Bandit is likewise unaware that Buford is chasing him because of Carrie, whose jumpiness inspires Bandit to give her the CB handle "Frog". Revisit this scene featuring "East Bound and. [34] In 2015 a Florida-based automobile customization company built 77 Trans Ams modeled after the car that Reynolds drove in the film. Rob's Car Movie Review: Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - Street Muscle Soon as I get home, first thing Im gonna do is punch yo mamma in da mouth!. Everything You Should Know About The The Trans Am From Smokey And The For instance, the diesel engine start and run-up sequence in the opening sequence of the film were completely dubbed over with a new sound. 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. I loved the fact that Jackie Gleasons brown Lemans had a blue vinyl interior and it even had the luxury cushion steering wheel! 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. One of our favorite movies. During their run, they are pursued by Texas county sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason). Not all the police cars had hood scoops. It opened in other Northern states at the end of July. 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. These two 1967 Ford Galaxies (CC here), soon to be redecorated by a Kenworth road tractor, do not. As I am finishing this article while Big Truck Week is winding down, here is a Kenworth with a 1973 Dodge Polara patrol car. That came out in 1981. They quickly escape in one of Big Enos's 13 Cadillacs as police flood the racetrack. 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. It outsold its Chevrolet Camaro counterpart for the first time. Gator , Stroker Ace , lots of them . Smokey and the Bandit II - Wikipedia Banzai! S&TB was filmed primarily off Route 400 in Georgia. The film was followed by two sequels: Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983). 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. Sonny Shroyer (Enos) was the motorcycle cop who was given the 1-finger salute by Sally Field. Trio of Burt Reynolds movie cars fetch $330,000 at auction, including Filmmakers destroyed 230 cars in the filming of 'Furious 7.' Smokey And The Bandit: A Car-chase Classic. 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. Many people believed beforehand that the film was not right for . Im probably in the minority as usual, but I prefer the Black and Gold 50th Anne. The scenes set in Texarkana were filmed in Jonesboro and the surrounding area and many of the chase scenes were filmed in the surrounding areas on Highway 54 between Fayetteville and Jonesboro for a majority of the driving scenes, Mundy's Mill Road, Main Street in Jonesboro, Georgia State Route 400, I-85 (Pleasant Hill exit) and in McDonough. And then they made the biggest mistake of their lives and went to national distribution. UNIVERSAL CUT THE BUDGET JUST AS PRODUCTION WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN. It seems Plymouth was in a distant second for product placement. It was destroyed in Smokey and the Bandit II and in a flashback scene in Part 3. Needham had great difficulty getting any studios or producers to take his project seriously, being better known in the film industry as a stuntman. I am pretty sure it was filmed in Florida, when I-75 was under construction so they could use the highways while empty. For this purpose, they overdubbed dialogue deemed offensive, which was common practice. radio to help him out. 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. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2 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. 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. The gag with the overpass being blown up was actually a bridge built for the movie on the unfinished highway, and AFAIK, the truck driver who jumps the void ended up breaking his back in the stunt. It was the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 after Star Wars. Watching TV and Movies you would think that sales dropped to nil. [11] The movie was primarily filmed in Georgia, in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro, and Lithonia. 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). And it was worth it for the brand, as the nameplate sales decided following the redesign. It was destroyed in Smokey and the Bandit II and in a flashback scene in Part 3. Smokey and the Bandit: Behind-the-Scenes Details With - MotorTrend [6] It would become one of Reed's biggest hits and his signature song.[7]. Reynolds actively pushed for her casting after Universal initially resisted, claiming Field was not attractive enough. I was to be paid a salary plus own 7% of the profits. It airs on cable tv all the time. [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. I imagine that they borrowed some of the character from Sheriff JW Pepper from the 1973 and 1974 James Bond movies, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun. [22] It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where it performed badly. 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. Smokey And The Bandit Tribute Jump Goes About As Well As You'd Expect The movies are rated PG with a run time of 282 minutes and released to video by Universal Studios. Pontiac should have made a radio that played that song automatically simply by pushing a button, or maybe made it the horn sound. If they werent burning candles to an image of a cowboy hatted Burt Reynolds at Pontiac headquarters. $30.00 + $11.45 shipping. The scoops were added by the department because the engines ran so hot. Im pretty sure that the car that barks second when he takes off with Frog had to be a stick. 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. Please refresh the page and try again. How many cars did they wreck in Smokey and the Bandit? 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. The production team wrecked three for the four cars it received from Pontiac. Well, they simply considered that the Trans Am didn't sound intimidating enough. I certainly hope the guy hired to drive that 74 Ford Torino wagon was paid well for his work. A black Trans Am is parked in my garage because of this movie. The film's theme song, "East Bound and Down", was written virtually overnight by Reed. That said, an uncomplimentary accent does exist. The cars were 1976 models, the engines fitted to them were 455ci powerplants, the last year these engines were offered for sale before withdrawal. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2 - onlytows.com.au 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". Three actors from the main cast of The Dukes of Hazzard appear in small uncredited roles in Smokey and the Bandit: Ben Jones, John Schneider, and Sonny Shroyer (who played a police officer in both). 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. [30] Upon meeting Reynolds, Billy Bob Thornton told him that the South considers the film to be less cinema and more documentary. As if GM owes them something. I own all three films on a dvd called the Smokey and The Bandit Pursuit Pack. We also learn that every launched satellite will eventually fall back to Earth, such as this 1972 Plymouth Satellite (CC here). And he succeeded as far as the Pontiac Trans Am is concerned. Theres really nothing like an old cop car. 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. Its amazing, you should watch it. How many police cars were wrecked in Smokey and the Bandit? ARRGH! The remaining Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am is currently owned by Florida car collector John Staluppi. Gleason was given free rein to ad-lib dialogue and make suggestions. I actually remember the construction of that segment of I-75, as it stopped around Tampa prior to that time. In return, Reynolds portrayed Boss Hogg (originally portrayed by Sorrell Booke) in the film adaptation The Dukes of Hazzard (2005). Though no authoritative source identifies the composition of the sandwich, there are several possibilities. The sticker read "T/A 6.6," which was a reminder of the engine's 6.6-liter displacement. 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. [29] Alfred Hitchcock claimed that the film was one of his favorites. It became Reed's signature song and is on multiple albums, including Country Legends and his live album Jerry Reed "Live!" Out of four Trans Ams used for the filming of Smokey And The Bandit, three were completely totaled in the process. Even today when I stumble across this cinematic masterpiece being rerun on cable tv, Ill watch the entire thing. Much of the surrounding scene comes from that immediate vicinity. "Smokey and the Bandit" stars Burt Reynolds, Sally . I still couldnt resist lighting up the Pontiacs tires while executing my T-turns. IMCDb.org: 1977 Pontiac LeMans in "Smokey and the Bandit, 1977" I still think its more entertaining than Star Wars. The side vents give it away. When I was a kid I thought they were the same person. He gave Needham a preview of the song and, getting no reaction, offered to rewrite it. Due to his financial difficulties in 2014, Reynolds put his vast collection of artwork and memorabilia up for auction, including the Trans Am. [12] The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. But would the black and gold T/As be as desirable today without the movie? Reynolds replied: We went through 12. The DVD set meets NTSC standards. You want to questions bra sales, check out the youtube video of Hang on Sloopy by the Mccoys, the color version.wowza! Anyone with insight is encouraged to share their knowledge on this. The cars were wrecked on purpose to create the illusion of a high-speed chase. Just do a search for Crown Victorias on your local CL. The truck at the shell station is actually a 75 or 76 Toyota Hilux. All pictures from the movie were acquired from www.imcdb.org, Fred Lives!!! I beg to differ Mr -Nate. Director Hal Needham convinced Pontiac to feature the Pontiac Trans Am in the movie. Smokey and the Bandit Pursuit Pack 1 2 3 DVD Burt Reynolds Cult Car 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). We just watched this with the kids the other week, along with Cannonball Run. Many nameplates lost their performance credentials, and some of them, like the Ford Mustang, were redesigned without a V-8 engine. 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 little packy there had Coors and even though it was horribly expensive, we thought it was the elixer of the Gods. Its W.W. Were they dummies? Mrs Jason wont let me sell the sumbitch. As deals were made for the actors and producers, the studio wanted to renegotiate my deal. This small modification was made to remind viewers of Trans Am models from 1969, which had in excess of 300 horsepower.

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