how many cars destroyed in smokey and the banditgoblin commander units
While I have read undocumented accounts of there being more than three Trans Ams, Needham stated three is all that were used. 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. [24] With an original budget of $5.3 million (cut to $4.3 million two days before initial production),[4] the film eventually grossed $126,737,428 in North America,[25] making it the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 (only Star Wars earned more, with $221.3 million). Director Hal Needham convinced Pontiac to feature the Pontiac Trans Am in the movie. Its lack of additives and preservatives meant that Coors could spoil in one week without refrigeration, explaining the film's 28-hour deadline. I have always loved this movie, watched it dozens and dozens of times on TV, video, DVD, laserdisc, almost any form of media. 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. The Trans Am was already pretty popular in the mid-1970s, with sales hitting 68,745 units in 1977. Apparently the engine sounds were lifted from another movie, I think two lane blacktop? Burt Reynolds recently revealed the ridiculous number of Pontiac Trans Ams they went through filming 1977s Smokey and the Bandit. 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 made no sense to me as it was fifty miles north and fifty miles south. Just like the exaggeration sales went up 700%. Before Gleason was cast in the film, Richard Boone was originally considered for the role of Buford T. Set with his . Rockford Files also featured Firebird, and was on since 1974, and Fs sold well despite gas crunch I and inflation. I know, Ive owned a 75 for 23 years. Nothing annoys him more than car electronics, and he just hates it when performance cars lack a third pedal. However, as our heroes were successful in delivering their truckload of Coors, the writers effectively poised themselves for a sequel. I really enjoyed this discussion. Gleason was given free rein to ad-lib dialogue and make suggestions. 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 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. January 24, 2019 100 comments. Though no authoritative source identifies the composition of the sandwich, there are several possibilities. At the time, Reynolds was the top box office star in the world. I have since moved on from them, mainly because in stock form, they were not particularly great cars (though good enough for the times). 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. Gleasons Justice is the stereotypical Southern sheriff, as seen in this clip. Reynolds replied: We went through 12. 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. It airs on cable tv all the time. 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) . The LeMans police car did nothing for me because there was a colonnade LeMans sedan in the garage at home. 1-Smokey and the Bandit-The classic, the original, and the best one by FAR. 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. This was the lull between Gas Crisis I and II, 1976-78, and Boomers were wanting stylish cars. Many of the film's original sounds were replaced. [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. "Smokey and the Bandit Pursuit Pack" is formatted as a box set that in presented in full color in widescreen. And he succeeded as far as the Pontiac Trans Am is concerned. The cars were wrecked on purpose to create the illusion of a high-speed chase. A dastardly scoundrel? It had not been used for some time and was repainted for the film. As a publicity stunt, the Trans Ams used in the movie had different decals on the hood scoop. Chevy almost did the same with its counterpart, the Camaro. Also up for auction was a go-kart replica of the car, which sold for nearly $14,000. And lets not forget the Trans Am rental car Steve McQueen drove in his very last movie, The Hunter from 1980. In return, Reynolds portrayed Boss Hogg (originally portrayed by Sorrell Booke) in the film adaptation The Dukes of Hazzard (2005). That's because the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit didn't sound like a Trans Am. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_301466-Ford-LTD-II-1977.html. Bill Justis is the first name on the credits for the soundtrack, as he composed and arranged original music throughout the film. The original Blues Brothers movie from 1980 is a classic, and fans were excited when a sequel was announced in 1998. . 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. Behind Sheriff Justices Pontiac, there is a nice looking 1965 or 1966 Ford Mustang fastback and a Toyota pickup. 5. (it did taste a lot better than Bud as I recall). MN12 Thunderbirds had the same appeal to me, for similar reasons. News . Actually, there were 2 future Dukes stars in the movie: Ben Jones (Cooter) was in an early scene helping Big Enos find Bandit. 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. What were the police cars in Smokey and the Bandit? [34] In 2015 a Florida-based automobile customization company built 77 Trans Ams modeled after the car that Reynolds drove in the film. With this, the Sheriff begins his pursuit of the Mann Act-violating Banditall the way to Georgia. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The whereabouts of the remaining Smokey and the Bandit car, the one that was used to promote the movie, remained a mystery for years. He's a proud member of the TopSpeed team since early 2014. 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. Conversely, I could go to Paducah and be asked where up north I was from. Now, having only three Trans Ams to wreck for a movie is minimalist, to say the least. 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. How many police cars were wrecked in Smokey and the Bandit? Will Walker: Independence Return For Season 2 Amid CW Shakeups? I have at least 4 really good car buddies that will from time to time love popping this movie in to watch. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. 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. They destroyed all those cars in the films he said. 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 think more of Smokey and the Bandit II and the awful part 3 were filmed largely in Florida, I dont know if I-75 construction was started by 1976-77, at least the section down to Miami part, when they filmed. 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 cop cars with the hood scoops were ex-DeKalb County (Georgia) cruisers. I'm afraid I was responsible for a good few of those. Supposedly there was a stick car for the burnouts and an automatic car for other shots. With Reynolds' salary at $1 million, Needham was left with only $3.3 million to make the film. The cars were 1976 models, the engines fitted to them were 455ci powerplants, the last year these engines were offered for sale before withdrawal. Revisit this scene featuring "East Bound and. 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.. Coors is still brewed just outside Denver, Colorado. [22] It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where it performed badly. Movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and Furious 7 may ruin a lot of cars, but they were far from the first. The production team wrecked three for the four cars it received from Pontiac. Got Greyhound cutout decals on the rear side windows. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 78% rating based on 32 reviews. A segment of the CMT program Reel Eats used a sloppy joe-style recipe consisting of seasoned ground beef, corn, and sour cream. Except for Gleason, the original actors mostly redubbed their lines for the television version. 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. So, for years one, two, and three, he got a shiny new Pontiac. Free shipping for many products! Today, Smokey and the Bandit remains one of the most popular car action films ever made, and the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am will forever be wed to the movie. 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. Other than Jackie Gleason upstaging every other cast member, the perceived star of the show is this 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. The worldwide gross is estimated at over $300 million. 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 three movie cars were destroyed during various stunts, so the promo car is the only surviving Trans Am connected to this film. [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. Smokey & The Bandit was the first of three movies in that franchise. Dont let his grumpiness fool you though; hes more than excited to provide the latest news and reviews on the most interesting cars in the industry. Great write up. 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. So these kind of represented a rebellion attitude to the government mandated diesel econo hatches everyone thought we were going to be forced to drive in the 80sinterestingly 1979 was also the best year for the Corvette too. During this time, the Firebird also surpassed sales figures of the Chevrolet Camaro. Television censorship and alternative versions, second highest-grossing domestic film of 1977, AFI's 100 Years100 Heroes and Villains, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Smokey and the Bandit at 35: A Case for the Genius of Hal Needham", "Greyhound Lakewood Park (Atlanta, Georgia, USA)", "Burt Reynolds' old Pontiac Trans Am replica sold for $317,500", "An Interview With Jim Wangers: Pontiac and the 1970's", "How the Bandit, Coors and a bunch of Makers changed the course of booze history", "Various Smokey And The Bandit (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)", "Smokey and the Bandit, Box Office Information", "Burt Reynolds at the 2015 Macon Film Festival", "Seven Quirky Lowbrow Favorite Films of Highbrow Directors", "Remembering Hal Needham and the Birth of Redneck Cinema", "Smokey and the Bandit Film from RadioTimes", "Burt Reynolds' Bandit Trans Am sells for $450,000", "See a "New" Vintage Bandit Trans Am Approved by Burt Reynolds Himself", "Diablo Sandwich Recipe from CMT's Reel Eats", "Diablo Sandwich / "Diablo & Doc" From Smokey & the Bandit, Identified! Originally, the film was going to be a B-movie played only in the Southern United States. [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. Of course, nobody else cared if it was in the trunk of the car when heading back home. Two of the most high-octane films of 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road and Furious 7, each burned through hundreds (Furious 7 alone destroyed a reported 230 cars), but theyre far from the first to do so. The side vents give it away. 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 . I only got one of them LOL. And Coors itself limited its distribution to west of the Mississippi. I certainly hope the guy hired to drive that 74 Ford Torino wagon was paid well for his work. They retained the white steering wheels until 72 or so , just the thing to preveny burned fingers in the Desert sun . Reynolds is referenced by name in several early episodes of the series. Although he's into just about any type of vehicle, Ciprian is not your typical car enthusiast. This same restaurant was used for a scene in the 1983 Stephen King Movie Christine, which was ultimately cut in the final film (it can be viewed as a deleted scene on the DVD release of the film). The roller coaster in the movie was the Greyhound. 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. Not all the police cars had hood scoops. Smokey and the Bandit was one of the most iconic movies of the 1970s. The advertisements lampoon the film and feature a Pontiac Trans Am and a cover version of the song East Bound and Down. 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. Of the many cars saved from the fire was the only surviving Knight Rider KITT Super Pursuit Mode car created by Jay Orberg. Not a bad deal, but on the fourth year, no new car. (Still). A diablo sammich from my understanding is a like a Sloppy Joe but with taco seasoning added in for spice. 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. That is why there are not any left. [31] Smokey and the Bandit was released in the United Kingdom on August 28 and was a success there, garnering positive reviews. I recall a big smokey burnout right after they left Snowmans house that looked 455-worthy and also after Bandit picked up Fields he left two strips after nailing second (right before the tire thieves crossed the road), which makes me think there was also a 4 speed car used. Smokey and the Bandit II is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham, and starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, . Burt Reynolds may be 79, but he shows no signs of slowing down. and the Dixie Dance Kings, and Burts car was a 57 [56?] Heres how it works. Hal Needham did pass away as someone earlier said. The owner restored it and sold it at the Scottsdale 2016 auction by Barrett-Jackson. However, the scene where they drive through the Shell gas station was filmed in Ojai, California, on the corner of Ojai Avenue and El Paseo Road. I will confess that by the time this movie was out, I was a Mopar guy. 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 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. That said, an uncomplimentary accent does exist. 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. 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. Well, they simply considered that the Trans Am didn't sound intimidating enough. Another one is, Theres no way youre from my loins.. 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. Olds 88. [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. In October 2020, a Smokey and the Bandit TV series was revealed to be in development, with a pilot written by David Gordon Green and Brian Sides and also executive produced with his Rough House confederates Jody Hill, Danny McBride and Brandon James, as well as Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door.[44]. While it's sad that the other two cars were destroyed . 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. [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). Round and dumpy, just like the Colonnade LeMans! On top of Burt Reynold's top-notch acting, Smokey and the Bandit is also famous for the Pontiac Trans Am that the actor drove throughout the film. Watching TV and Movies you would think that sales dropped to nil. Wouldnt the accent give you away? His personaround, dumpy, and clipping wordsreminds one of another fictional southern sheriff. 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. 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. My family did all grocery shopping in Cape. The movies are rated PG with a run time of 282 minutes and released to video by Universal Studios. Well, at least that's what you saw in the movie. The movie had an even bigger impact on the Trans Am. AWESOME! 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 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. 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 . UNIVERSAL CUT THE BUDGET JUST AS PRODUCTION WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN. I always think scumbum because when I watched it as a kid in the early 90s, it was usually on TBS. That is an excellent question. One of those things that will make my kids think Im crazy some day. 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?????? 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!. Here are 20 facts about the Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit. Frederick Amon smuggled it from Colorado to North Carolina and sold it for four times the retail price.[19]. 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. Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Jerry Reed) drives the truck while his good buddy Bo "Bandit" Darville (Reynolds) serves as the "blocker," a fast car used to divert police attention away from payload. Stroker Ace is after S&B, 1983, and features the then new for 83 aero Fox Body Thunderbird. [original research?] Henry Corden, the voice of cartoon character Fred Flintstone. These two 1967 Ford Galaxies (CC here), soon to be redecorated by a Kenworth road tractor, do not. Jason, Using the words nuance, subtlety, complexity and intellect to describe this movie, is, as they say, trs amusant! Likely this isnt any rare engine venting package, but I could be wrong. Because sales were so high, Pontiac decided to delay the third-generation model. But while the cars shown in the movie look like 1977-model-year Trans Ams, they were actually 1976 models. 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. Mr. Reynolds elevated the dreck that he appeared in to a higher level, that is, enjoyable. 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. I never understood why dragging a truckload of beer from Colorado to Georgia was such a big deal. 1979 was equally successful for the brand, joining 1978 to create Pontiac's best sales years ever. 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. I think you may be confusing the movie Honky-Tonk Freeway with the filming done during I-75 construction near Sarasota. It was the second highest-grossing film of the year, trailing only Star Wars: A New Hope, and it made Burt Reynolds into a certifiable superstar. But 1978 returned sales of 93,351 examples, a jump of around 25,000 cars. [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. Amazing how a combination of desire and unobtainability can make an ordinary product special. Jackie Gleason ad libbed a lot of his lines too. 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. Jana, another oddity was that I could go to Carbondale and be asked where down south I was from. 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. 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. Back in 1984, I went to look at a late 1970s Plymouth cop car as well. I own all three films on a dvd called the Smokey and The Bandit Pursuit Pack. It took four evenings to see almost all of the movie in bits and pieces. 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. These questions all need to be answered. Sales of the coupe exploded after the film hit the silver screen and set unprecedented records for both Pontiac and the Firebird nameplate. Well, the Corvettes success is clearly due to Corvette Summer, @Jim I remember that movie! I prefer Buford T. Justices 1980 Pontiac Bonneville and his 1983 Pontiac Bonneville in Smokey and The Bandit III. 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. Reed would eventually play the Bandit in Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, in which Reynolds only appeared in a cameo near the end. The scene where Sheriff Justice's car has the door knocked off by a passing . 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!) The comedy has been remastered to DVD standards. 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. 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. 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).