Time to take to the road, for a quiet little drive in the country...or not.
"What we have here is a total lack of respect for the law!"

It's Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason, in high gear and hot water!

Meet Bo Darville, aka, "The Bandit." Smokies (Cops) hate him. Guys dig him. And even girls can't get enough of him!


"Smokey," aka Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), is the prospective father-in-law of unwilling bride Carrie (Sally Field). The Bandit (Burt Reynolds), a maverick racecar driver, makes an 80,000-dollar bet that he can transport a shipment of Coors beer from Texarkana, TX, to Atlanta within 28 hours. It's important to note that in 1977, it was illegal to sell the Coors brand east of the Mississippi River without a permit; if we don't note that, then the plot won't make sense at times. Already in danger of arrest from redneck lawmen like Buford T. Justice, Bandit furthers his chances at a stiff jail term when he offers a ride to Carrie, who hopes to escape her unwanted wedding to Justice's boy. The rest of the film is one long chase; not quite as subtle as a Road Runner/Coyote cartoon, not quite as restrained as a Three Stooges comedy. Universally panned by critics upon its first release, Smokey and the Bandit reportedly pulled in just under $126 million and led to two sequels.

Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry. It inspired several other trucking films, including two sequels, Smokey and the Bandit II, and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3.
There was also a series of 1994 television films (Bandit Goes Country, Bandit Bandit, Beauty and the Bandit, and Bandit's Silver Angel) from original director/writer Hal Needham loosely based on the earlier version, with actor Brian Bloom now playing Bandit. The three original films introduced two generations of the Pontiac Trans Am. The film was the fourth highest-grossing film of 1977.


Smokey and the Bandit was a smash hit at the box office. Bankrolled with an original budget of $5.3 million (cut to $4.3 million two days before initial production),[2] the film grossed $126,737,428 in North America,[9] making it the 4th highest grossing movie of 1977. The worldwide gross is estimated at over $300 million.[2]
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."[10]
Gene Siskel, in his review in the Chicago Tribune, gave the film two stars and complained that the film failed to let the audience in on when the clock started on the beer run thus removing suspense regarding how long they had to go throughout the film. He also pointed out that 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. The Bandit is told however seconds after meeting the Bandit that "there is a wedding in search of a bride".
The film's editors, Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross, were nominated for the Academy Award. It currently holds an 80% "Fresh" rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[11]


When Smokey and the Bandit first aired on American network television in the early 1980s, censors were faced with the challenge of toning down the raw language of the original film. For this purpose, they overdubbed dialogue deemed offensive, which was (and remains, to an extent) common practice. 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 nonsense phrase "scum bum". 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 TV prints of the first two Bandit films are still shown regularly on television, although a few TV stations aired the unedited version in recent years as some of the phraseology (i.e. "(son of a) bitch", "ass", etc.) became more acceptable on TV.
The original actors mostly redubbed their own lines for the television version except for Gleason. Actor Henry Corden, who voiced Fred Flintstone after original performer Alan Reed died, was used to replace a considerable amount of Sheriff Justice's dialogue. This is fitting, as Fred Flintstone was a parody/homage of Gleason's character Ralph Kramden and The Flintstones was a parody/homage of The Honeymooners.
In the UK, the heavily dubbed version was shown for a number of years, particularly by the BBC. 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 and noticeably.
The theatrical release itself had a few lines deleted, including a creative edit in which Sheriff Justice tells a sheriff's deputy to "fuck off." His expletive is obscured when a passing big rig sounds its horn. At the time, using the 'F' word would immediately require an R rating which the producers were looking to avoid. This clever self-censorship allowed the film to avoid this rating and reach a much larger audience.
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. It should be noted however that many of the film's original sounds were replaced. For instance, the diesel engine start and run up sequence in the opening sequence of the film was completely dubbed over with a totally new sound. A few other examples of "sound effect replacement" occur when Bandit takes off after managing to get a reluctant Cledus involved in the bet, and after he comes to a screeching halt on a roadway moments before picking up Carrie. Some of the original sound effects (such as Cledus' dog Fred's barking) and music (such as the final chase to the Southern Classic) were removed and not replaced. (Note: earlier DVD releases of the film have the original soundtrack intact.)
Major portions of the audio 'background' have been modified with different engine sounds or tire squeals from the original film. The updated version of the film features sounds inaccurate for what would be produced by the Trans Am or the numerous other Pontiac vehicles in the film. The original film had correct sounds that were usually recorded live as the action took place.
Some TV versions also feature a longer version of the scene where Cledus wades into the pond after Fred.[12]


Release date: May 27, 1977 @ Radio City Music Hall

Distrib: Universal


Boxoffice: $126,737,428 2013: $463,756,700