96 Fun Facts About Smokey and the Bandit

In the trucker slang behind Smokey and the Bandit's title, what is a 'Smokey'?

A highway patrol officer is a 'Smokey' because state troopers' wide-brimmed campaign hats resemble the one worn by Smokey Bear, the Forest Service's fire-prevention mascot.

Which comedy legend plays Sheriff Buford T. Justice in Smokey and the Bandit?

Jackie Gleason asked not to be left alone in the patrol car, so a dim-witted son was written in beside the sheriff to give him someone to play off.

In Smokey and the Bandit, the beer has to be collected from which city?

Texarkana sat on the edge of Coors country: in 1977 the beer could not legally be sold east of Texas, so hauling 400 cases of it home turned the heroes into bootleggers.

Why did 1970s Coors, the Bandit's contraband cargo, have to be kept cold on the road?

It was unpasteurized and free of preservatives, so Coors could spoil within a week if it got warm, and it went from brewery to customer in refrigerated trucks.

What is the Bandit's real name in Smokey and the Bandit?

Bo Darville is the Bandit's real name; the part was first planned for another actor in a $1 million B movie, until Burt Reynolds read the script and agreed to star.

What do fans call the giant bird decal on the hood of the Bandit's Trans Am?

The Screaming Chicken, as fans call the Firebird's hood decal, flew on cars that weren't what they seemed: the film's '1977' Trans Ams were 1976 models fitted with the new front end.

In Smokey and the Bandit II, what is the Bandit's new Trans Am called?

Son of Trigger replaces the Trans Am the washed-up Bandit sold to pay for his drinking: 'Can you imagine Roy Rogers selling Trigger for a six-pack?' he asks.

What is the job of the Bandit's Trans Am during the beer run?

Decoy to draw police away: the Bandit calls his car the 'blocker', speeding ahead to attract the patrol cars while Snowman's truck slips through with the beer.

What make of truck does Snowman drive in Smokey and the Bandit?

A Kenworth W900 is Snowman's rig, and it saves the run: four miles from the finish, with the Bandit ready to give up, Snowman takes the lead and smashes through the police roadblock.

In Smokey and the Bandit, what breed of dog is Snowman's companion Fred?

A basset hound, Fred rides in the truck cab with Snowman; a biker's claim that the dog bit him starts the diner brawl that ends with Snowman flattening the gang's motorcycles.

Who plays Carrie, the runaway bride the Bandit picks up, nicknamed 'Frog'?

Sally Field won the part because Burt Reynolds fought for her casting when the studio had doubts, and the two began a romance during the shoot.

In Smokey and the Bandit, whose wedding does Carrie run away from?

Junior Justice's wedding is the one Carrie flees, which is why his father, the sheriff, hounds the Bandit across state lines without ever learning about the beer.

Which diminutive singer-songwriter plays Little Enos Burdette?

Paul Williams plays Little Enos opposite the 6-foot-7 comedy writer Pat McCormick as his father, a size mismatch all three films play for laughs.

Which word is Sheriff Buford T. Justice's signature insult for the Bandit?

Sumbitch was borrowed from real life: Burt Reynolds told the sheriff's actor about a lawman back home who said it all the time, and it became the character's catchphrase.

Sheriff Buford T. Justice was named after a real highway patrolman whom Burt Reynolds's father knew in which state?

Florida: Burt Reynolds's father was police chief of Riviera Beach and knew a highway patrolman named Buford T. Justice, so the name was borrowed for the film's Texas sheriff.

Which TV western star was the studio's pick to play Sheriff Buford T. Justice?

Richard Boone, the Have Gun – Will Travel star, was the studio's choice, but Burt Reynolds wanted someone 'a little crazier, a little more dangerous, and a lot funnier' and pushed for the eventual star.

Smokey and the Bandit was the directorial debut of which former stuntman?

Hal Needham had been Burt Reynolds's stunt double and houseguest for more than a decade when he wrote the script and talked his famous friend into starring.

Which film was the only one to out-gross Smokey and the Bandit domestically in 1977?

Star Wars alone earned more at the US box office in 1977; the trucker comedy was a sleeper that caught fire in Southern theatres before spreading nationwide.

In which state was Smokey and the Bandit primarily shot?

Georgia stood in for every state on the route: even the famous bridge jump, set in Arkansas, was filmed outside the town of Jonesboro.

In Smokey and the Bandit, what does runaway bride Carrie do for a living?

A dancer: Carrie calls herself a gypsy who goes from chorus line to chorus line, and boasts that she was on Broadway once, for almost 12 minutes, because the show closed on its first night.

What is the title of Smokey and the Bandit's theme song?

East Bound and Down was written virtually overnight by the film's Snowman, and when he offered to rework it the director warned him not to change a single note.

For the westbound scenes, Reed recorded an alternate version of the theme called what?

It had modified lyrics and added strings and horns, and rarely gets played today.

Where do the Bandit and Snowman have to deliver the beer in Atlanta?

The Lakewood Fairgrounds truck rodeo is where the bet began and must end: Snowman rams the police roadblock at the gate and the heroes roll in just before the deadline.

What double-or-nothing challenge do the Bandit and Carrie accept at the end?

Fetch clam chowder from Boston: the Burdettes offer double or nothing on an 18-hour run, and the heroes speed off in the Burdettes' convertible with the sheriff's wrecked cruiser limping behind.

Which famous director counted Smokey and the Bandit among his favourite films, as his daughter later confirmed?

Alfred Hitchcock screened films in his studio office every week, and his daughter Patricia confirmed that this good-ol'-boy chase comedy was a favourite of his final years.

For which Academy Award was Smokey and the Bandit nominated?

Best Film Editing brought the film an Oscar nomination, on a shoot where the stunt cars were wrecked so fast that the crew stripped dead ones for parts to keep the last running.

Smokey and the Bandit premiered at which famous New York venue?

Radio City Music Hall hosted the premiere, where the trucker comedy did poor business; rebooked into Southern theatres and drive-ins, it took off and was then reopened across the country.

Which studio distributed Smokey and the Bandit?

Universal backed the film but sent a 'hatchet man' two days before shooting to cut $1 million from the budget, forcing a 30-hour scramble to redo the schedule.

Pat McCormick, who plays Big Enos Burdette, was a joke writer for which late-night host?

Johnny Carson delivered Pat McCormick's best-known gag after a Los Angeles tremor: 'Due to today's earthquake, the God Is Dead rally has been canceled.'

The idea for Smokey and the Bandit came to its director on the set of which 1976 Burt Reynolds film?

Gator was on location in the South, where Coors couldn't be bought, when a stuntman on the crew caught a hotel maid stealing his smuggled bottles and saw a movie plot in it.

What do the Bandit and Snowman have to transport in Smokey and the Bandit II?

An elephant named Charlotte is the cargo, a Republican mascot bound from Miami for the party's convention in Dallas, and she turns out to be pregnant on the way.

Which comedian plays Doc, the doctor roped into the run in Smokey and the Bandit II?

Dom DeLuise plays Doc, a gynecologist stranded when his ambulance drives off without him, who hitches a ride and ends up as the cargo's travelling medic.

In Smokey and the Bandit II, Sheriff Justice calls in his brother Reggie, a sergeant in which police force?

The Mounties: Reggie Van Justice is a Mountie sergeant from Quebec, and one actor plays him, the sheriff and a third brother, Gaylord, in the sequel's desert pile-up.

Which two Pittsburgh Steelers appear as themselves in Smokey and the Bandit II?

Terry Bradshaw and Mean Joe Greene do the Bandit a favour: asked to hold up the sheriff for a while, the quarterback simply tells his teammate to 'tackle that car'.

Who plays the Bandit for most of Smokey and the Bandit Part 3?

Reynolds appears only in a cameo near the end; the film was originally shot as Smokey IS the Bandit with Gleason in both roles.

In Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, what does Sheriff Justice do when he finally catches the Bandit?

Gives him a head start: the sheriff realizes that jailing his rival would leave his own life without a purpose, so he allows five minutes and takes up the chase all over again.

What cargo must be hauled from Miami to Texas in Smokey and the Bandit Part 3?

A large statue of a shark rides on the retired sheriff's roof: this time the Burdettes bet him $250,000 against his badge that he can't deliver it.

What is the title of Jesse Moss's 2016 documentary about the making of the film?

It explores the friendship between Reynolds and stuntman-turned-director Hal Needham through interviews with Reynolds and the crew.

Which role did Burt Reynolds play in the 2005 movie of The Dukes of Hazzard?

Boss Hogg, Hazzard County's corrupt commissioner, turned the man who played the Bandit from outlaw driver into the crooked authority the heroes outfox.

Which future US president brought a case of Coors home in his luggage after a Colorado ski trip?

Gerald Ford tucked a case into his luggage after a vice-presidential ski trip, at a time when one real-life bootlegger was trucking a refrigerated load of Coors to North Carolina every week.

What phrase did network TV censors dub over Sheriff Justice's favourite insult?

Scum bum was looped in by a soundalike for the network cut, because the sheriff's actor was the one star who did not come back to re-record his lines.

In the original script for Smokey and the Bandit, what was the prize for completing the beer run?

A new truck was the prize in the first draft, handwritten on yellow legal pads; the finished film raised the stakes to $80,000.

How much did Burt Reynolds's promotional Bandit Trans Am fetch at his 2014 memorabilia auction?

$450,000 was more than five times the top estimate of $80,000, even though the car, a gift after the promotional tour, never appeared in the film.

Before Smokey and the Bandit, its leading lady was best known for which 1960s TV sitcom?

The Flying Nun had made her famous as the airborne Sister Bertrille, and Burt Reynolds fought to cast her against type, reportedly saying 'this nun is dangerously sexy'.

At the end of Smokey and the Bandit, the heroes escape in the Burdettes' convertible of which luxury make?

Cadillac built the Eldorado convertible the heroes flee in; by then the last working Trans Am was so battered that it had to be pushed into its final scene.

Which Fred Flintstone voice actor redubbed much of Sheriff Justice's dialogue for television?

Henry Corden, Fred Flintstone's voice from 1977, supplied the sheriff's cleaned-up lines; fittingly, The Flintstones had been modelled on The Honeymooners, the sheriff's actor's own sitcom.

In Smokey and the Bandit, why does the Bandit race a flashy black car ahead of Snowman's truck?

To divert the law is the whole plan: the car acts as a 'blocker', pulling patrol cars after it while the rig with the illegal cargo rolls by unnoticed.

In the trucker slang that gives Smokey and the Bandit its title, what exactly is a 'Smokey'?

A police officer earned the label because highway patrol campaign hats look like the one worn by Smokey Bear, the forest-fire mascot. Truckers also shortened it to 'bear'.

The ex-NFL linebacker who plays Junior in Smokey and the Bandit once starred as which screen hero?

Tarzan was his role in three 1960s jungle adventures, all shot back to back in 1965, a decade before he rode shotgun in the sheriff's crumbling patrol car.

Which filmmaker drew on the bond between the director and star of Smokey and the Bandit for Cliff Booth and Rick Dalton?

Quentin Tarantino drew on their real-life bond for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and in 2012 he introduced the old stuntman at his honorary Oscar ceremony.

The black sports car in Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 is near identical to the star car of which TV series?

Knight Rider built its talking car KITT on the same third-generation model. Part 3 is the only chapter of the trilogy to use that body style.

The Sheriff Justice actor in Smokey and the Bandit found fame as bus driver Ralph Kramden in which sitcom?

The Honeymooners made him a household name in the 1950s, and he gave the Kramdens the Brooklyn address of his own childhood home, 328 Chauncey Street.

Which 1979 drama won an Oscar for the actress who played runaway bride Carrie in Smokey and the Bandit?

Norma Rae cast her as a union organizer and also won her the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Her agent had urged her to take the chase comedy to get a big film on her résumé.

After a gang throws Snowman out of a truck stop in Smokey and the Bandit, what does he flatten with his rig?

Their motorcycles go under the wheels in one slow pass, his reply to bikers who had picked a fight after claiming his dog bit one of them.

Which actor told the star of Smokey and the Bandit that Southerners see the film as a documentary?

Billy Bob Thornton made the crack on meeting him, saying people from the region where the story is set treat it less as cinema than as a record of real life.

The actor who plays Little Enos in Smokey and the Bandit co-wrote which Oscar-nominated Muppet song?

Rainbow Connection, written with Kenneth Ascher and sung by Kermit, reached cinemas two years after his turn as the smaller of the scheming Burdettes.

In which car, belonging to Big Enos, do the Bandit and Frog flee at the end of Smokey and the Bandit?

Cadillac Eldorado convertibles rarely came flashier than Big Enos's 1974 model in candy red, which carries the Bandit, Snowman, Carrie and the dog away from the finish.

What does Sheriff Justice order in Smokey and the Bandit while standing unaware beside his quarry?

A diablo sandwich is the order, and nobody is sure what goes in one: guesses run from a sloppy joe with corn and sour cream to hot links with hot sauce on Texas toast.

In the CB slang heard in Smokey and the Bandit, what kind of place is a 'choke and puke'?

A roadside diner got the unflattering name from truckers, and the scene where the sheriff chats with his unrecognised prey in one was the sheriff actor's own idea.

In Smokey and the Bandit, Texas sheriff Buford T. Justice first catches up with his quarry in which other state?

Arkansas is where he first radios a threat to the black car, and the Bandit wonders aloud what a Texas lawman is doing across the state line.

When Carrie briefly parts from the Bandit at a bus depot in Smokey and the Bandit, where is she headed?

New York is the plan, but she never boards: he comes out of the depot to find her waiting at the wheel of his car, and she drives the next stretch of the chase herself.

Which license plate from Smokey and the Bandit was later copied onto college football helmets?

BAN ONE is the tag, and after the star's death in 2018 his old college team wore it as a helmet decal, with his signature, for the rest of the season.

For Smokey and the Bandit, the actress playing Carrie earned a best actress nomination at which awards?

The Golden Globes shortlisted her in the musical or comedy category, a rare awards nod for a film she remembers as almost entirely improvised.

After a poor premiere, Smokey and the Bandit became a sleeper hit by opening across which US region?

The South embraced it over the Memorial Day weekend, when it took $2.7 million from 386 theaters, and only at the end of July did it reach Northern states.

In Smokey and the Bandit, Bo tells Carrie that Bandit is his 'handle'; what does that CB term mean?

An on-air alias let drivers talk without giving their real names, and at the height of the 1970s craze many users ignored the official call signs they were meant to use.

What about the beer hauled in Smokey and the Bandit kept it out of eastern states?

It was not pasteurized and held no preservatives, so it had to travel refrigerated, and the brewer sold it only in eleven western states.

Which composer of the 1957 instrumental hit Raunchy wrote the original score for Smokey and the Bandit?

Bill Justis, whose surname sounds just like the sheriff's, scored the chase scenes and went on to do the same for the director's next two films.

Charles Shyer, a co-writer of Smokey and the Bandit, got an Oscar nomination for which Goldie Hawn comedy?

Private Benjamin, written with Nancy Meyers and Harvey Miller, topped the box office on its opening weekend; the chase comedy had been his first film writing credit.

On what did the director of Smokey and the Bandit hand-write the draft his star called the worst ever?

Legal pads held the whole first draft, and his friend agreed to make the picture anyway. Most of the dialogue ended up being made up on set.

The stuntman who directed Smokey and the Bandit spent the better part of twelve years living where?

His star's guesthouse was home for most of a dozen years; the two had met when he worked as a stuntman on the TV series Riverboat.

The director of Smokey and the Bandit later owned a land speed record car named after which beer brand?

Budweiser put its name on the three-wheeled machine, whose claim to have broken the sound barrier on land in 1979 was never recognised by the record bodies.

Which NASCAR driver raced the Skoal Bandit car owned by the director and star of Smokey and the Bandit?

Harry Gant drove the No. 33 for their Mach 1 Racing team through the 1980s, won a Cup Series race at the age of 52 and picked up the nickname the Bandit himself.

The star of Smokey and the Bandit became part-owner of a 1980s USFL team called the Bandits, based where?

Tampa Bay's Bandits were coached by Steve Spurrier and had a theme song, Bandit Ball, written and sung by the actor who played Snowman.

Which 1978 comedy about an ageing stuntman reunited the director, Bandit and Frog of Smokey and the Bandit?

Hooper was made as a tribute to Hollywood's stunt performers, and its two leads were by then a couple, having met on the set of the trucking comedy a year earlier.

Which 1981 coast-to-coast road race comedy reunited the director and star of Smokey and the Bandit?

The Cannonball Run was based on a real outlaw dash from Connecticut to California and became the sixth-biggest film of its year at the US box office.

Which future lead of The Dukes of Hazzard has an uncredited bit part in Smokey and the Bandit?

John Schneider, the show's Bo Duke, slipped in as an extra, and two more Hazzard regulars, Ben Jones and Sonny Shroyer, turn up as a trucker and a lawman.

Which New York Jets defensive star, once a real-life trucker, appears as himself in Smokey and the Bandit II?

Joe Klecko had driven tractor-trailers before college and kept at it in NFL off-seasons, which landed him bit parts as truckers and strongmen in several of the star's films.

Which US president had the beer smuggled in Smokey and the Bandit flown specially to the White House?

Dwight D. Eisenhower received special air deliveries of it at the White House, because the brewer sold it only in a handful of western states.

What name does Snowman give the live cargo in Smokey and the Bandit II, in honour of his aunt?

Charlotte is his aunt's name, and the animal repays the favour by taking a shine to the Bandit after he pulls a splinter from her foot.

The mystery crate in Smokey and the Bandit II must reach a Republican convention in which city?

Dallas was the script's guess, but by the time the sequel opened the real 1980 Republican convention had gone to Detroit.

Doc, the Italian physician tending the cargo in Smokey and the Bandit II, practises which specialty?

Gynecology turns out to be useful training: he is the one who works out that the patient is pregnant and about to give birth on the road.

In what vehicle is Sheriff Justice still giving chase as Smokey and the Bandit II ends?

A Greyhound bus is all he has left, his patrol car having barely survived a desert pile-up that wrecked dozens of other cruisers.

What end-credits feature did Smokey and the Bandit II introduce, later a habit of its director?

A blooper reel of fluffed lines and outtakes ran down one side of the screen while the credits crawled up the other, a first for the director.

Which singer, a recording star since her 1950s childhood, plays the Nice Lady in Smokey and the Bandit II?

Brenda Lee, signed to Decca at the age of 11, appears on screen and also sings on the sequel's soundtrack album.

Who rescues the Bandit from dozens of patrol cars in the desert roundup of Smokey and the Bandit II?

A trucker convoy rounded up by Snowman ploughs into the trap and turns it into a demolition derby, wrecking nearly every one of the forty cruisers.

The country star who plays Snowman in Smokey and the Bandit wrote and played on which Elvis Presley hit?

Guitar Man stalled in the studio until Presley's producer tracked its writer down on a fishing trip and brought him in to play his own finger-picked part.

In Britain and Australia, Smokey and the Bandit II reached cinemas as Smokey and the Bandit what?

Ride Again replaced the plain numeral across Britain, Australia, New Zealand and several other Commonwealth countries.

David Huddleston, Big Enos's rival in Smokey and the Bandit II, later played which Coen title character?

The Big Lebowski gave him the title role in 1998, thirteen years after he had played another one in Santa Claus: The Movie.

In Smokey and the Bandit II, Big Enos Burdette is running a mudslinging campaign for which Texas office?

Governor is the prize, and to win the outgoing officeholder's endorsement he schemes to deliver the man's mystery crate under his own name.

As Smokey and the Bandit II opens, what has become of the Bandit since splitting from Carrie?

He is a heavy drinker who has sold his famous car, so Snowman and Carrie spend the first act sobering him up and getting him back into shape.

In Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, what does Sheriff Justice stake against the Burdettes' $250,000?

His badge is on the line; he first refuses the bet and retires, then finds retirement so dull that he comes back to take it.

Which actress, later the maid Yvette in Clue, plays Dusty Trails in Smokey and the Bandit Part 3?

Colleen Camp's Dusty Trails quits her job at a used-car lot to come along, much as the runaway bride had done in the first chase.

In the 1994 Bandit TV movies spun off from Smokey and the Bandit, which car replaced the black coupe?

Dodge Stealth was the surprise choice for 'Bandit One', skipping the newly launched fourth generation of the hero's old model.

Which NASCAR champion played the Bandit in 2014 Mobil 1 commercials spoofing Smokey and the Bandit?

Tony Stewart, nicknamed Smoke, starred in ads titled Smoke is the Bandit, with motor oil standing in for the smuggled cargo.

Pat McCormick, the towering Big Enos of Smokey and the Bandit, wrote for which late-night institution?

The Tonight Show used many of his lines, and at six foot seven he made a natural sight gag beside his pint-sized on-screen son.

The actor who played the Bandit in Smokey and the Bandit earned his only Oscar nomination for which 1997 film?

Boogie Nights was hailed as his comeback, though he disliked making it and reportedly dismissed the agent who had recommended the part.