Who remembers this?
Probably very few, as this was one of the few movies that came out the same year as Star Wars (the *first* time). (Damnation Alley was another.)

If this is ever on late night cable, I can't stop myself from staying up late and watching the whole thing. In my book one of the best buddy/travel flicks, and that's not counting the fact that it's a great reminder of what the era of CB (Citizens' Band radio) was like.

OK, here's a nit. At one point, Bandit says he takes the hat off for "one reason only" (wink, wink) -- um... doesn't he take it off to shower?

favorite line:
"We ain't never not done it yet, have we?"
--Bandit (trying to convince buddy that this trip is possible)

This movie made me laugh more than most. This, and "Caddyshack".
I guess the one reason Bandit takes his hat off is to get nekkid, no matter what else is going on.
I also laugh my head off when this comes on TV, cuz they have to re-write much of the Sheriff's (Buford T. Pusser?) lines, sort of get creative so when he's cussing a blue streak, it looks and sounds roughly like he really meant to say "you scumbunny son of a witch" and stuff like that-that stuff Slays me.

Here's a nit for ya. Bandit and Snowman both wakeup just before they begin their 24 hour challenge to run the beer from texas. They go straight for 24 hours with no sleep, and finish just under the 24 hour mark. But right after delivering the beer they go double or nothing on a run to Boston. No matter how exciting the past 24 hours were how could they realisticly be that energised and ready to go after 24 hours of being awake.

Poor Jackie Gleason. I hope he got a good payday, as he degraded himself playing a stereotypical redneck, racist sheriff. From Ralph Kramden and Joe the Bartender to this! To add insult to injury, he returned for the two sequels.

You can't say that the character was just some paycheck to him. If all he wanted was the money he would just have read his lines and gone home. Part of his deal for doing this movie was that he could develop his character as he saw fit. Many of his lines were ad-libed by Gleason and not in the script.

I am a major "Honeymooners" fan; I think it was the best sitcom ever. One thing, though, is that Gleason was a tough person to work for. He had total control on the "Honeymooners" set. At least here, he apparently had control over his part. I would like to know, though-during the shoot, was he palsy-walsy with Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham, or did he just say his lines and leave? Gleason was a very hard guy to get to know. Art Carney had said that he never invited Gleason to his home, as he knew Gleason would never come.

Gleason's character was Buford T. Justice.
Buford Pusser was a real-life person, whose story was told in the "Walking Tall" films

What we got here is no respect for the law.

Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleanson, Jerry Reed and Sally Fields are east bound and flying racing against the clock and the law to deliver a truck load of Coors beer to Atlanta Georgia. Why did they have to avoid the law just to get some beer to Georgia you might ask? Because at the time this movie was made it was illegal to ship Coors beer east of the Texas state line.

So this sets of the chase with the Bandit driving the decoy car, picking up field's character who is running away from Sheriff Buford T Justice's nephew who she was going to marry and generally breaking as many traffic laws as he can find while tormenting the aformentioned Sheriff Buford T Justice. (one of the running gags is he has to pronounce his entire name when talking to someone the other is that his cruiser progressively losses pieces along the way and by the end of the movie is little more than a frame and engine on wheels.) Another running joke is the taunting of Sheriff Justice by the Bandit. Some of this was Reynolds and some of it was Gleason's ideas.

Of course the Second Generation Black Trans Am used in the movie was a hot seller for those wanting to play at being the bandit. A redneck special edition if you will. Much like the Knight Rider show caused a big deal with some people for the third gen transam. And no AFAIK the company didnt actually name any of their models the bandit or knight rider specials but the salesmen would know what you meant and could order most of the options to simulate the appropriate car)

I also loved when Snowman (reed's character) got thrown out of the biker bar. Just because he couldnt hurt them with his fists didnt mean he couldnt hurt them at all. (although he had better hope he NEVER runs into those guys again in this lifetime.)

Personally this movie was the best of the trio and the funniest. Much as I enjoy Jackie Gleason the third movie just fell deadly flat out of gas to me.

This was the #2 box office hit of 1977. (Numero Uno was some little ditty titled Star Wars - you just might remember it.) However, as big a hit as this film was, it flopped at New York's Radio City Music Hall. That may have been instrumental in the Hall's management's decision a year or two down the road to stop showing first run movies.

The 1980 sequel seemed to be a re-hash of the same territory as the original, with an elephant substituted for the Coors beer.

I could never understand just why it was illegal to ship Coors beer east of the Texas state line at that time. Coors beer was eventually sold across the U.S. beginning around 1986.

Yeah i forgot about that. Star Wars and the Bandit. Now that would be a crossover. Hmm I didnt know they ever showed movies at music hall. I thought it was always live shows and orchestras etc and radio programs broadcast from there.

Yeah Bandit 2 was basically the same movie but still done reasonably well. Bandit 3 not only jumped the shark they picked it up and carried it along with them.

I'm not sure why it was either other than maybe some holdover from prohibition. Just down the road here is a dry township in Southern Ohio. It just depends on how the folks go I guess.

Was it actually illegal to ship Coors back then?
I thought it was only sold in a limited area because they couldn't ship it in a manner that would keep the flavor from deteriorating at the time. It's been a long time since I've seen the movie, so maybe I'm remembering wrong.

I'm not sure. In 77 I was 4 years old so beer wasn't exactly high on my mind.

I do know that since Coors wasn't pastuerized it might have been illegal for health reasons. Or since a lot of places where dry back then it might have been that as well. I havent really researched it and as plot holes go in movies it isnt exactly that spectacular.

R, you're a youngun'!!!

One of my co-workers (who I think knows a lot about beer, as well as muscle cars and motorcycles), informed me since Coors wasn't pasteurized back then, it was not able to be sold east of Texas. Now that it's pasteurized, it's sold across the U.S. But, he feels that the taste now suffers. I had unpasteurized Coors when I was in L.A. in 1983. I remember it was very good, better than Bud, and my co-worker may just be right.
Now for you beer guys, try to get your hands on "Old Slugger" ale. It's brewed in limited quantities in Cooperstown, N.Y. It's well worth it, if you can find it.

I didnt know they ever showed movies at Music Hall. I thought it was always live shows and orchestras.
The Hall always has The Rockettes, a live show and an orchestra along with the first run films. I remember back in Christmastime of 1967, my aunt took my sister Meg and I to see Disney's The Happiest Millionaire, which was part of the Hall's Christmas show that year.
IIRC, the last first run film that the Music Hall ran was The Promise in 1979.

All three Smokey movies are now available in one " pursuit pack".

ScottN: It isnt the years its the miles. :-)

Adam: Oddly enough I don't drink beer of any brand and have stayed out of the whole debate. I prefer whiskey or liquers when I do drink so I'll take your word for it.

And yeah I was gonna mention the Pursuit Pack. Thats kinda cool. Though they should give you a discount for throwing Bandit 3 in there.

Ed Harris over at "The Agony Booth" has composed a really good article charting the fall of Burt Reynolds as he starred in Hal Needham movies. Which he feels sank Reynolds' career. You can read it here.

I do love this movie. I remember reading a review of Smokey when it first came out on DVD. The reviewer said that if the rest of the films Hal Needham directed are any indication of his skills as a director than he never should have parted ways with the editor of "Smokey & the Bandit."

Blu-Ray review of this movie. The review is from a British web site, but it states that the disc is "region all". I admit that I'm unfamiliar with Blu-Ray regions, so is that possible? Also, there's no extras on the disc at all.

Bandit sure made good time in his Trans-Am (a 1976, IIRC.) I didn't realize, until I watched a recent cable run, that his Bird had an automatic transmission. Which in the 1970's were real slushboxes. Bandit probably would have done even better with a four-on-the floor. Which I'm sure was available on the Trans-Am in the '70s.

I read somewhere the Trans-ams used in the film were intended as dealer demonstrators.

A little tidbit from CNBC's Jay Leno's Garage: A Universal executive offered Burt Reynolds a car if this movie was a hit. But, the executive retired before the movie was released, and poor Burt never got the car.