Just do a search for Crown Victorias on your local CL. The movies are rated PG with a run time of 282 minutes and released to video by Universal Studios. Gotta love that guy! February 27, 2023 . The original Blues Brothers movie from 1980 is a classic, and fans were excited when a sequel was announced in 1998. . Anyone with insight is encouraged to share their knowledge on this. Tragically, every Trans Am used in filming was destroyed. 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. Revisit this scene featuring "East Bound and. 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. 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. 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. The little packy there had Coors and even though it was horribly expensive, we thought it was the elixer of the Gods. Reynolds was the top box office draw from 1975 to 1982, then his movies really started to go downhill. The trip to Texarkana is uneventful; soon after leaving for the return trip to Georgia, The Bandit encounters Frog, played by Sally Field. 1975 PLYMOUTH FURY HIGHWAY PATROL "SMOKEY & THE BANDIT" 1/18 BY . Gas was a buck a gallon at the time so fuel economy wasnt a major issue. How many smokey and the bandit movies are there? Id be surprised. UNIVERSAL CUT THE BUDGET JUST AS PRODUCTION WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN. Needham had great difficulty getting any studios or producers to take his project seriously, being better known in the film industry as a stuntman. In my area, nearly every one listed is an ex cop car. Thats all true. It seems Plymouth was in a distant second for product placement. 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. As a publicity stunt, the Trans Ams used in the movie had different decals on the hood scoop. And he succeeded as far as the Pontiac Trans Am is concerned. 1-Smokey and the Bandit-The classic, the original, and the best one by FAR. The three original films introduced two generations of the Pontiac Trans Am and the Dodge Stealth in the television movies. I know, Ive owned a 75 for 23 years. What were the police cars in Smokey and the Bandit? A 1975 Pontiac Grand Prix with a Buick Electra behind it. Gleason was a genius, but this was not one of his better outings I prefer the Hustler and Gigot. Plus , I loved those late 1960s through mid 1970s Plymouths even though Im a Bowtie Guy by default . 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. 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. [5] Sally Field only accepted the part after her agent advised her that she needed a big movie role on her rsum. 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. I think thats another line theyve edited out for the television version. The advertisements lampoon the film and feature a Pontiac Trans Am and a cover version of the song East Bound and Down. Regular film-goers might not pay much attention to the car's engine sound, but gearheads will quickly notice that something is off. The soundtrack album was released in 1977 on vinyl, cassette, and 8-track through MCA Records. Further, as Pontiac has deliciously obvious product placement, anyone who delights in 70s era Pontiac iron will experience visual ecstasy. Musicians such as Beegie Adair and George Tidwell[20] played on the soundtrack. Because sales were so high, Pontiac decided to delay the third-generation model. Here is the LeMans; Gleason literally drives the wheels off: As an aside, heres a curious bit of trivia. We gonna do what they say cant be done I will confess that by the time this movie was out, I was a Mopar guy. 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. AWESOME! Mr. Reynolds elevated the dreck that he appeared in to a higher level, that is, enjoyable. "Smokey and the Bandit" stars Burt Reynolds, Sally . 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. 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. The 403 Olds T/A was a dog, stock, but with some easily obtained parts, could be turned into a very nice low 13 second tire melter. Probably the most interesting thing about this movie and Burt Reynolds is that he is not originally a Southern boy at all he was actually born in the Wolverine State Lansing, Michigan to be precise. Ask him to choose between a BMW M4 and an Audi RS5, and hell gladly trade both for a beat-up Cuda. Great fun! I still think its more entertaining than Star Wars. A segment of the CMT program Reel Eats used a sloppy joe-style recipe consisting of seasoned ground beef, corn, and sour cream. [5] Reynolds revealed in his autobiography that Needham had written the first draft script on legal pads. The worldwide gross is estimated at over $300 million. 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. The production team wrecked three for the four cars it received from Pontiac. I have at least 4 really good car buddies that will from time to time love popping this movie in to watch. I did help a friend rebuild a late 60s 400 to replace the anemic 301 in his 79, Trans Am. It was destroyed in Smokey and the Bandit II and in a flashback scene in Part 3. how many cars were destroyed in smokey and the bandit 2. [5], Universal Studios bankrolled Smokey and the Bandit for $5.3 million, figuring it was a good risk. 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. 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. With Reynolds agreement to do the movie, and his insistence upon casting Gleason as Sheriff Justice, the movie became a larger venture. Well, the Corvettes success is clearly due to Corvette Summer, @Jim I remember that movie! 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.. I've heard . A group of Trans Am owners and fans of the movie take part in an annual road trip from Texarkana to Jonesboro, recreating the route taken by the characters in the film. I prefer Buford T. Justices 1980 Pontiac Bonneville and his 1983 Pontiac Bonneville in Smokey and The Bandit III. When I was a kid I thought they were the same person. Smokey and the Bandit was the second highest-grossing domestic film of 1977 in the United States. 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. A Pontiac wagon from earlier in the decade. As deals were made for the actors and producers, the studio wanted to renegotiate my deal. I always think scumbum because when I watched it as a kid in the early 90s, it was usually on TBS. 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. you can find it on amazon.com . 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. The secrets behind the cars and stunts in 'The Italian Job'. East bound and down, loaded up and truckin [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. Likely this isnt any rare engine venting package, but I could be wrong. The remaining Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am is currently owned by Florida car collector John Staluppi. 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. $30.00 + $11.45 shipping. 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. How did any bra manufacturers survive the 70s? Jason, Using the words nuance, subtlety, complexity and intellect to describe this movie, is, as they say, trs amusant! I also own a 1:18 scale version of the Bandit Trans Am. 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. 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. 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. Whaddya expect outta a guy what drives a conversion van? Earlier DVD releases and the 40th Anniversary Blu-ray of the film have the original soundtrack intact. And back then what I wanted most of all was a highly customized Vette with exposed headlights. It outsold its Chevrolet Camaro counterpart for the first time. Needham stated that by the end of production, there really wasnt much left of any of the three. The cars were originally ordered by a car rental agency in Phoenix, who refused to accept the . Sheriff Justices son, Junior. Apparently the engine sounds were lifted from another movie, I think two lane blacktop? Your email address will not be published. I am still drawn to the shape of these cars, and others that have that long and low look about them. I started cruising through EBay and the next thing I knew I won the auction for a clean 400/4 speed/T-Top 78 Trans Am. A 1977 special-edition model once owned by the late actor Burt Reynolds recently wound up on the car auction website Bring a Trailer. 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. Unfortunately he passed away a few months ago or that would have been a great question to ask. Id been driving for years by the time I was 15, so I just wanted to complete the course with as little static as possible. 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. MN12 Thunderbirds had the same appeal to me, for similar reasons. I also own a Etrl replica of the Pontiac Bonneville Buford T. Justice drove in Smokey and The Bandit II. A paper on Cognitive psychology was published in the 1990 issue of Computers in Human Perception. In response, Needham told Reed that he liked the song so much that if Reed changed even a word or a note, Needham would "choke him". 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. Its W.W. The roundup sequence in the desert shows many new Pontiac Le Mans sedans decorated as police cars being destroyed. Was it a heathen? An effort to recreate a jump from Smokey and the Bandit doesn't go perfectly when the car takes a rough course off the ramp. When it was over, I cried and cried and cried because I didnt want it to end. One guy did a while ago a fan-made trailer of Smokey & the Bandit 4. [11] The movie was primarily filmed in Georgia, in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro, and Lithonia. If they werent burning candles to an image of a cowboy hatted Burt Reynolds at Pontiac headquarters. 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. The scoops were added by the department because the engines ran so hot. The roller coaster in the movie was the Greyhound. . Have the movie, cheesy as hell, but does have appearances by several NASCAR drivers of the day, including Dale Earnhardt (Senior, not Jr) Kyle Petty, Harry Gant, and one of my favorites of the era, Tim Richmond. And lets not forget the Trans Am rental car Steve McQueen drove in his very last movie, The Hunter from 1980. Except for Gleason, the original actors mostly redubbed their lines for the television version. Sales jumped even higher in 1979 when Pontiac moved 117,108 Trans Ams. However, as our heroes were successful in delivering their truckload of Coors, the writers effectively poised themselves for a sequel. Although 1977 models also featured 6.6-liter engines, they were rated at only 200 horses. 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. 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. Nothing annoys him more than car electronics, and he just hates it when performance cars lack a third pedal. Sally Field and Burt Reynolds began a relationship after meeting on set. In its place was the nonsensical "scum bum." . Thats all well and good, and it worked smooth as silk for a good while. ARRGH! [12] The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. When Im driving the Bandit Trans Am while playing one of my many Forza Motorsport games I always put that song on. Other than Jackie Gleason upstaging every other cast member, the perceived star of the show is this 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. And the 400 Pontiac or 403 Olds versions could be made to run well. It made no sense to me as it was fifty miles north and fifty miles south. If I recall correctly, Firebirds in general (along with Camaros) were selling well prior to 1977, but the Trans Am was not the best-selling one. Producer Hal Needham intended Smokey and the Bandit to be one of the best product placement films of all time. It became Reed's signature song and is on multiple albums, including Country Legends and his live album Jerry Reed "Live!" Weve got a long way to go and a short time to get there 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. 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). It had amazing throttle response, with a hit that either scared people, or made them giggle. They destroyed all those cars in the films he said. The remaining Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am is currently owned by Florida car collector John Staluppi. Let me get the popcorn for this one. [31] Smokey and the Bandit was released in the United Kingdom on August 28 and was a success there, garnering positive reviews. . Both sequels used another Trans Am, not a Cadillac Eldorado, as seen below. Im probably in the minority as usual, but I prefer the Black and Gold 50th Anne. The three movie cars were destroyed during various stunts, so the promo car is the only surviving Trans Am connected to this film. 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 distinctly remember my mother buying Coors and being asked if she lived in Missouri or Illinois by the cashier. There are an abundance of cars in this movie. Additionally, he can give you several reasons why theres still no replacement for displacement. 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. Smokey and the Bandit was one of the most iconic movies of the 1970s. Here in Canada they didnt censor it, so we always got the sumbitch version. Wouldnt the accent give you away? All I know is, at the time, if you lived in the east, Coors was some really special beer not unlike microbrews are now. 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. [23] It then opened in just the South of the United States over the Memorial Day weekend and grossed $2,689,851 in 386 theaters. Ive also looked at a Fox based LTD cop car and an early 1991 whale Caprice 9C1 detective model, burgundy on burgundy cloth. That said, an uncomplimentary accent does exist. I was a junior high school age kid when this film came out. 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. Theres really nothing like an old cop car. I have worked a long time to eradicate the one I had but it still crops up periodically from exposure, like you experienced. The unrestored car reportedly showed up on eBay back in 2015, but no one wanted to buy it. 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. 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! It was his idea to have Junior alongside him throughout the film. These Furys, as well as some of the LeMans units, have hood scoops. Reynolds and Needham owned the Skoal Bandit team at the time, so getting these other drivers to appear probably would not taken much more than a six pack of beer and a hug from co-star Loni Anderson . But would the black and gold T/As be as desirable today without the movie? The Bandit Run quickly became a fixture, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the movie with a special 2017 screening of the film attended by Reynolds and a recreation of the jump undertaken by the Bandit and Frog across a river. Director Hal Needham convinced Pontiac to feature the Pontiac Trans Am in the movie. Funny that T/A isnt on the movie poster, considering it was the obvious star of the show. 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. 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!!! 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. Depends upon what he converted it from. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. Five-string banjo player Bobby Thompson is prominent toward the end of "East Bound and Down". Im pretty sure that the car that barks second when he takes off with Frog had to be a stick. Jane Russell hawked bras on television for full-figured gals like her, a line that evoked snickers among my high-school classmates. S/E T/A with the round headlights. Out of four Trans Ams used for the filming of Smokey And The Bandit, three were completely totaled in the process. Back in 1984, I went to look at a late 1970s Plymouth cop car as well. The checker, not batting an eye, Do you want that chilled?. Actually, there were 2 future Dukes stars in the movie: Ben Jones (Cooter) was in an early scene helping Big Enos find Bandit. We just watched this with the kids the other week, along with Cannonball Run. In particular, the scene where Sheriff Justice unknowingly encounters the Bandit in the "choke and puke" (a roadside diner) was not in the original story but was rather Gleason's idea. How many police cars were wrecked in Smokey and the Bandit? 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. [9] Though the film Moonrunners (1975) is the precursor to the television series The Dukes of Hazzard (19791985), from the same creator and with many identical settings and concepts, the popularity of Smokey and the Bandit and similar films helped get the Dukes series on the air. a custom mandrel bent dual exhaust, and the Mondello bottom end plate to stabilize the windowed mains. I drive a conversion van. 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". Now, having only three Trans Ams to wreck for a movie is minimalist, to say the least. You will receive a verification email shortly. Smokey & The Bandit Police Cars. 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".