Search results
Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry. The film marks the directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham.
May 27, 1977 · Smokey and the Bandit: Directed by Hal Needham. With Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Mike Henry. The Bandit is hired on to run a tractor-trailer full of beer over state lines, in hot pursuit by a pesky sheriff.
- (57K)
- Action, Adventure, Comedy
- Hal Needham
- 1977-05-27
- IT WAS BASED ON A REAL COORS BANQUET BEER PROBLEM. While Needham was in Georgia working as Reynolds' stunt double in Gator (1976), the driver captain on the set brought some Coors beer from California and brought a couple of cases to Needham's hotel room.
- BURT REYNOLDS'S FRIENDS BEGGED HIM NOT TO DO IT. Needham—who had been living in Reynolds' pool house for 12 years (the two barely ran into each other due to their busy schedules)—presented his landlord and close friend with the script for Smokey and the Bandit, written on yellow legal pads.
- SALLY FIELD DID IT BECAUSE SHE WAS SEEN AS UGLY. "I did Smokey and the Bandit because Sybil (1976) was coming out, and everyone said, 'Whoa, the work is extraordinary.
- NEEDHAM COULDN'T GET ALL THE CARS HE WANTED (AT LEAST FOR THE FIRST MOVIE). Needham saw a picture of a Pontiac Trans Am in a magazine and thought up a product placement idea.
- Jeff Somers
- Coors beer really was unavailable east of the Mississippi. To modern viewers, the very premise of the film seems a little weird. Two rich guys want to serve classic Coors Banquet Beer at a party.
- Buford T. Justice was based on a real guy. Buford T. Justice, the county sheriff portrayed by the legendary Jackie Gleason, seems like a pretty broad comedic stereotype at first glance.
- The movie got made because the director was friends with Burt Reynolds. Hal Needham, the director and writer of "Smokey and the Bandit," was known as a legendary stunt man before making the film.
- Jerry Reed wrote the theme song in a few hours. As the New York Times reports, Jerry Reed was an established star by the time he appeared in "Smokey and the Bandit," with numerous Top 40 country hits and a handful of acting roles to his name.
Burt Reynolds as the Bandit can always count on the truckers on the other end of his C.B. radio to help him out. Revisit this scene featuring "East Bound and...
- 7 min
- 3.9M
- Universal Pictures
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) is an American action comedy film and stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry and was the directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham.
People also ask
Did Sally Field date Burt Reynolds?
Did Burt & Sally have a relationship?
Did Smokey & the bandit make the Dukes of Hazzard?
Did Seth MacFarlane make Smokey and the bandit?
Dec 15, 2019 · Burt and Sally met in 1977 on the set of the hit movie Smokey and the Bandit, and dated for nearly five years. In her memoir, In Pieces, released less than two weeks after Burt’s death, Sally described the actor as controlling and distant.
