how many cars destroyed in smokey and the bandit how many cars destroyed in smokey and the bandit

A strike at General Motors in 1972 limited the production of the Trans Am to less than 1,300 units that year, and Pontiac almost canceled the nameplate. Here is the LeMans; Gleason literally drives the wheels off: As an aside, heres a curious bit of trivia. Was it a heathen? A 1977 special-edition model once owned by the late actor Burt Reynolds recently wound up on the car auction website Bring a Trailer. [29] Alfred Hitchcock claimed that the film was one of his favorites. The cashier never batted an eye as she sold us the mass quantities of suds. Whaddya expect outta a guy what drives a conversion van? Reynolds is referenced by name in several early episodes of the series. 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". Tragically, every Trans Am used in filming was destroyed. [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. That's because the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit didn't sound like a Trans Am. 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. Probably the most famous TV edit of all time is I have had it with these monkey-fightin snakes on this Monday-to-Friday plane!. The trip to Texarkana is uneventful; soon after leaving for the return trip to Georgia, The Bandit encounters Frog, played by Sally Field. Let us dissect this flick to better examine it. Filmmakers destroyed 230 cars in the filming of 'Furious 7.' Smokey And The Bandit: A Car-chase Classic. [32], After the debut of the film, the Pontiac Trans Am became wildly popular, with sales almost doubling within two years of the film's release. If it wasnt for Smokey & the Bandit, the Dukes of Hazzard TV series would not exist. Gotta love that guy! The updated version of the film features sound inaccurate for what would be produced by the Trans Am or the numerous other Pontiac vehicles in the film. [35], The "diablo sandwich" ordered by Sheriff Justice in the Arkansas barbecue restaurant scene has entered popular culture as a minor reference to the film. Remember that Smokey and the Bandit was the 2nd biggest movie of the year, right after Star Wars. [40] Major portions of the audio background have been modified with different engine sounds or tire squeals from the original film. I think Stroker Ace is after Smokey and the Bandit, though there was Hooper, which was about a stuntman, it also had Sally Field, it was from 1978 or so. But 1978 returned sales of 93,351 examples, a jump of around 25,000 cars. It had amazing throttle response, with a hit that either scared people, or made them giggle. . [10], Principal photography of the film began on August 30, 1976. When I was a kid I thought they were the same person. 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. 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! Ive always wanted some sort of de-commission/ex unmarked cop car, something from the 70s preferably. The remaining Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am is currently owned by Florida car collector John Staluppi. I did help a friend rebuild a late 60s 400 to replace the anemic 301 in his 79, Trans Am. The man does get around. UNIVERSAL CUT THE BUDGET JUST AS PRODUCTION WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN. They return one minute after their time limit, but instead of taking the payoff, Carrie and Bandit accept a double-or-nothing offer from Little Enos: a challenge to run up to Boston and bring back clam chowder in 18 hours. Anyone who enjoys Colonnade sedans will love Smokey & the Bandit. The movies are rated PG with a run time of 282 minutes and released to video by Universal Studios. Not all the police cars had hood scoops. After passing Buford's badly damaged cruiser on the roadside, Bandit gets on the CB and initially directs him to the Burdettes, but then respectfully gives his real locationright behind Buford, who continues his chase leaving Junior behind, and with more parts falling off his cruiser as he limps off after Bandit. It had the Modello cam kit, ported 69(I think) heads with upsized valves, headers, aftermarket intake, 3.21 gears (Up from 2.41 stock!) Wouldnt the accent give you away? 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. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_301466-Ford-LTD-II-1977.html. Coors was legal in Missouri and illegal in Illinois. The theme music "East Bound and Down" was sung and co-written by Reed (credited under his birth name, Jerry Hubbard) and Dick Feller. Some of the original sound effects (such as Cledus's dog Fred barking) and music (such as the final chase to the Southern Classic) were removed and not replaced. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. This movie just showed how much an urban legend the supposed unobtainability had become. I've heard . In return, Reynolds portrayed Boss Hogg (originally portrayed by Sorrell Booke) in the film adaptation The Dukes of Hazzard (2005). January 24, 2019 100 comments. The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit is one of the most famous movie cars of all time. 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. Gleason has a treasure trove of hilarious lines and it was this movie that started my love affair of cars back in the early 1980s. While it is doubtful Pontiac sold very many LeMans police packages, if one views this show as realistic, it would seem nearly every county and highway patrol in five states purchased one of Pontiacs heavy duty offerings. 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. It outsold its Chevrolet Camaro counterpart for the first time. The Smokey and the Bandit Car - Carsforsale.com CC Cinema: The Cars of "Smokey & The Bandit - Curbside Classic Apparently the engine sounds were lifted from another movie, I think two lane blacktop? The three original films introduced two generations of the Pontiac Trans Am and the Dodge Stealth in the television movies. Theres really nothing like an old cop car. Despite growing up next to Cape, most of relatives are from the Mid-South. The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. The tow truck driver was a local garage owner, Berlin Wike. The film's editors, Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. These questions all need to be answered. Round and dumpy, just like the Colonnade LeMans! Burt Reynolds once claimed in an interview that there were actually 12 Trans Ams featured in Smokey and the Banditand he wrecked every one. The truck at the shell station is actually a 75 or 76 Toyota Hilux. About two seconds after this picture was taken, these motorcycles were doing their best imitation of a stack of pancakes. Sure Smokey helped, but was not the sole reason T/A and F body sales went up. The original Blues Brothers movie from 1980 is a classic, and fans were excited when a sequel was announced in 1998. . WildI watched this for the first time in years after watching the latest Archer.the whole thing is an homage to S&B. With Reynolds' salary at $1 million, Needham was left with only $3.3 million to make the film. I know, Ive owned a 75 for 23 years. I ended up buying a 1969 Cadillac ambulance a year later! Nice article Jason I was a fan of this movie when it came out I look back now and think, wow, did I really think this was entertainment?????? Though no authoritative source identifies the composition of the sandwich, there are several possibilities. 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. 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.. Further, as Pontiac has deliciously obvious product placement, anyone who delights in 70s era Pontiac iron will experience visual ecstasy. Chevy almost did the same with its counterpart, the Camaro. 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. Sally Field and Burt Reynolds began a relationship after meeting on set. Gleason was a genius, but this was not one of his better outings I prefer the Hustler and Gigot. [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. With that in mind, Ill go with what Ive heard from my Georgia friends, to wit Sheriff Justices diablo sandwich is the Macon version, which is made with fried eggs and red hots. The directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham, the film follows Bo "Bandit" Darville (Reynolds) and Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Reed), two bootleggers attempting to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. 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). A 1975 Pontiac Grand Prix with a Buick Electra behind it. How Many Cars Did Blues Brothers Wreck | Car Geek Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a good rating (3 stars out of a possible 4) and characterized it as "about as subtle as The Three Stooges, but a classic compared to the sequels and countless rip-offs which followed". Reynolds was the top box office draw from 1975 to 1982, then his movies really started to go downhill. Free shipping for many products! The scoops were added by the department because the engines ran so hot. Naturally, it fetched the highest price with a . The little packy there had Coors and even though it was horribly expensive, we thought it was the elixer of the Gods. The comedy has been remastered to DVD standards. Haul my wife and four shelter adoptee mutts in it. Please refresh the page and try again. There definitely was a halo cast around the 2nd gen F-body from its appearance in the movie, which I believe even did extend to the Camaro, which was probably the cheapest way to at least get some of the Bandit vibe, where there other factors too, probably, the 70s, disco, cocaine, mustaches and probably a bunch others.many thought that these car would be the last hurrah for anything performance oriented. So why did they go with sound effects instead of the Trans Am's actually exhaust noise? The LeMans police car did nothing for me because there was a colonnade LeMans sedan in the garage at home. 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%. 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. A paper on Cognitive psychology was published in the 1990 issue of Computers in Human Perception. Before Gleason was cast in the film, Richard Boone was originally considered for the role of Buford T. Hal Needham did pass away as someone earlier said. I only got one of them LOL. Some of the more recent DVD releases of it redid all of the engine sounds and it sounds much more mellow than the original(not happy about that). While watching the movie (yes, I did have to diligently research this article), one shot seemed to indicate this may be a dummy scoop. As a publicity stunt, the Trans Ams used in the movie had different decals on the hood scoop. Nothing annoys him more than car electronics, and he just hates it when performance cars lack a third pedal. That came out in 1981. The scene where Sheriff Justice's car has the door knocked off by a passing semi-truck was shot on Georgia State Route 75, 3 miles (4.8km) north of Helen. Alan Reed was the original voice of Fred Flintstone; Henry Corden only took over after Reeds death in 1977. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, But that doesnt make for an interesting movie premise. In the original script, Carrie was called Kate while Big Enos and Little Enos were called Kyle and Dickey. He is hired by Big Enos Burdette and his son Little Enos to transport a truck load of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas, back to Georgia in 28 hours. Except that shes not sagging. At the time, Reynolds was the top box office star in the world. S&B is one of my all-time favorite movies and Im not apologizing. Somewhere along the line, the company acquired a new president who told Reynolds: Im the new president, and I dont like your movies. 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. Gas was a buck a gallon at the time so fuel economy wasnt a major issue. I still couldnt resist lighting up the Pontiacs tires while executing my T-turns. However, the scene and the obscured expletive were played for comedy value and written as such, with the passing truck being the gag of the scene more than a way to avoid the censors. Your email address will not be published. This movie was filmed in Georgia as well. However, as our heroes were successful in delivering their truckload of Coors, the writers effectively poised themselves for a sequel. I was to be paid a salary plus own 7% of the profits. Everything You Should Know About The The Trans Am From Smokey And The Bandit, 10 Most Potentially Unreliable Electric Vehicles According To Consumer Reports, 10 Reasons Why It's Time You Should Buy A Bagger, Here's How Solid-State Batteries Will Change EVs Forever. Jackie Gleasons Buford T. Justice character is a supposedly an amalgamation of a few characters, including the real Buford T. Justicethere is obviously the Dodge safety sheriff from the 1970s ads, Burt Reynolds father was chief of police of Jupiter Florida, and a friend of his fathers, a Florida Highway Patrol officer was actually the REAL Buford T. Justice. Great fun! 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). No more needs to be said. A few other examples of sound effect replacement occur when the Bandit takes off after getting the reluctant Cledus involved in the bet, the Bandit comes to a screeching halt on a roadway moments before picking up Carrie, and when Buford's car top comes off. [18] A 1974 Time magazine article explains that Coors was so coveted for its lack of stabilizers and preservatives, and Coors Banquet Beer had a brief renaissance. His father was also the inspiration for the word "sumbitch" used in the film, a variation of the phrase "son-of-a-bitch" that, according to Reynolds, he uttered quite often. At one point in the movie, the Bandit wrecks a police car. What Sports Cars Are In Smokey And The Bandit - OsVehicle 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. 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. In fact, after Smokey and the Bandit became a box office hit, Pontiac saw a marked increase in their stock prices. Starring Bob Hope, that comedic star of the screen, and the lovely Jane Russell boy what a pair! I never forgot that one. I actually remember the construction of that segment of I-75, as it stopped around Tampa prior to that time. Stroker Ace is after S&B, 1983, and features the then new for 83 aero Fox Body Thunderbird. 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". 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. Of course, nobody else cared if it was in the trunk of the car when heading back home. Smokey & The Bandit is the greatest movie of the 20th Century! . [38], In 2014, petroleum company Mobil 1 produced television commercials, featuring then-NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, closely based on the film. 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. You want to questions bra sales, check out the youtube video of Hang on Sloopy by the Mccoys, the color version.wowza! Great article! The roller coaster in the movie was the Greyhound. I recall reading somewhere that the Trans Am that did the bridge jump had a tweaked Chevy 350 in it with a stick, and of course that it was WO after the jump. Plus , I loved those late 1960s through mid 1970s Plymouths even though Im a Bowtie Guy by default . Two cars were reportedly badly damaged in early stunts in the film, while a third car was completely destroyed during the famous bridge jump scene. Even today when I stumble across this cinematic masterpiece being rerun on cable tv, Ill watch the entire thing. Well, at least that's what you saw in the movie. Five-string banjo player Bobby Thompson is prominent toward the end of "East Bound and Down". New York, 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 . Jason, Using the words nuance, subtlety, complexity and intellect to describe this movie, is, as they say, trs amusant! In 1978, Pontiac delivered 93,351 Trans Ams and 93,944 regular Firebirds for a grand total of 187,295 cars. and the Dixie Dance Kings, and Burts car was a 57 [56?] 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. In 2006, a DVD re-release was issued of Smokey and the Bandit featuring a digitally remastered audio track with 5.1 Dolby-compatible surround sound. 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. The film features the custom clothing and costuming of Niver Western Wear of Fort Worth, Texas. Jackie Gleason ad libbed a lot of his lines too. Back then if Ida wanted an ex Police Car its be a CHP salvage Dodge or Plymouth ~ BIG roomy and _comfy_ , handled well and went like stink . 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. A black Trans Am is parked in my garage because of this movie. "Buford T. Justice" was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Reynolds' father, who was once Police Chief of Riviera Beach, Florida. It airs on cable tv all the time. Ive also looked at a Fox based LTD cop car and an early 1991 whale Caprice 9C1 detective model, burgundy on burgundy cloth. It was his idea to have Junior alongside him throughout the film. Everything You Should Know About The The Trans Am From Smokey And The Smokey and the Bandit | 4K Ultra HD | The Bandit Takes a 28 Hour Trip Here's everything you should know about one of the most iconic movie cars ever. I have at least 4 really good car buddies that will from time to time love popping this movie in to watch. I certainly hope the guy hired to drive that 74 Ford Torino wagon was paid well for his work. His expletive is obscured when a passing big rig sounds its horn. The original film had correct sounds that were usually recorded live as the action took place. Many people believed beforehand that the film was not right for . (first posted 2/28/2014) The fourth highest grossing film in the United States in 1977 was the Academy Award nominatedSmokey & The Bandit. Two units were 1974 models, as evidenced by standard silver Kenworth emblems on the truck grille, and one unit was a 1973 model, as evidenced by the gold-painted Kenworth emblem on the truck's grille, signifying Kenworth's 50 years in business. Burt Reynolds may be 79, but he shows no signs of slowing down. I remember that it had a bunch of trim badges on the center of the dashboard. The movie is responsible for something, by 1979 Pontiac was selling 100,000 plus Trans Ams, not the whole Firebird line, JUST Trans Ams, Pontiac sold more T/As in 1979 than any of the cheaper Firebirds combined, Smokey and the Bandit had to have a hand in that. [5], Universal Studios bankrolled Smokey and the Bandit for $5.3 million, figuring it was a good risk. He gave Needham a preview of the song and, getting no reaction, offered to rewrite it. It was the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 after Star Wars. I will confess that by the time this movie was out, I was a Mopar guy. Frog not included. 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. This is obvious, because there is no fuel tank on the underside of the trailer to power the refrigeration unit, and the unit is never heard running. This small modification was made to remind viewers of Trans Am models from 1969, which had in excess of 300 horsepower. Much of the surrounding scene comes from that immediate vicinity. So, for years one, two, and three, he got a shiny new Pontiac. Weve got a long way to go and a short time to get there I distinctly remember my mother buying Coors and being asked if she lived in Missouri or Illinois by the cashier. Car movies are notorious for being tough on the very vehicles that give them their allure. The second film was a modest box office success, earning $66.1 million against a $17 million budget. The value of their stock rose a startling 70 percent after the films release, and to show their appreciation to Reynolds, the president said they would give the actor a new car each and every year. 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. 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". How much did the Smokey and the Bandit car sell for? [4] Reynolds said in 2015 that he most enjoyed this film, and had the most fun making it, of his career.[26]. 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. Because sales were so high, Pontiac decided to delay the third-generation model. With the Smokey and the Bandit actor gone, and the impact the actor had on the Trans Am community, having one of the few connections to him destroyed is too much. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2 how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2 (No Ratings Yet) . It seems Plymouth was in a distant second for product placement. In a rare public appearance, Burt Reynolds revealed how many cars they wrecked making Smokey and Here are 20 facts about the Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit. For a little visual variety of sorts, and possibly an indicator of what car was about to be wrecked, the producers did branch out to use the 1975-era Plymouth Fury as another police car. . According to Wikipedia, the second movie was able to get away with destroying an INSANE number of brand-new Pontiac LeMans police cars because Pontiac had them sitting around in the southwest region, having been sent to a rental fleet in Phoenix without a/c. I have always loved this movie, watched it dozens and dozens of times on TV, video, DVD, laserdisc, almost any form of media. Several other groups, such as the U.S. rock band Tonic and U.K.-based country cover band We Be Ploughin' have also covered it. 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. Another one is, Theres no way youre from my loins.. Id be surprised. Were they dummies? [12] The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. When Smokey & The Bandit first aired on television in the early 1980s, the Gleason phrase "sum bitch"-a regional butchering of "son of a bitch"-had to be dubbed out. 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. The three movie cars were destroyed during various stunts, so the promo car is the only surviving Trans Am connected to this film. The Trans Am was a high-performance package for the Firebird, Pontiac's take on the Chevrolet Camaro. East bound and down, loaded up and truckin I know that Trans Am that jumped that bridge broke the axle when it landed. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. ", "The Bandit Run Brought to you by Restore A Muscle Car", "Stewart plays off 'Smokey and the Bandit in Mobil 1 ad", "Smokey and the Bandit: 40th Anniversary Edition", "Smokey and the Bandit II, Box Office Information", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smokey_and_the_Bandit&oldid=1142751918, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, All articles that may contain original research, Articles that may contain original research from April 2022, Articles needing additional references from September 2018, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "Incidental CB Dialogue" (Voice ["Bandit"] , "Incidental CB Dialogue" (Voice ["Bandit"] Burt Reynolds, Voice ["Smokey"] , "Incidental CB Dialogue" (Voice ["Bandit"] Burt Reynolds, Voice ["Smokey"] Jackie Gleason), George Reynolds as Sheriff George Branford, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 04:45. IMCDb.org: 1977 Pontiac LeMans in "Smokey and the Bandit, 1977" And Burt may be from GA originally, but he calls Florida home, which is another reason I heard the movie was filmed here. That is why there are not any left. . 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: . The cars were originally ordered by a car rental agency in Phoenix, who refused to accept the . HotCars covers all things automotive: the latest auto news and informative reviews on the car, pickup truck and motorcycle industries. The Trans Am was already pretty popular in the mid-1970s, with sales hitting 68,745 units in 1977.