Smokey and The Bandit

[TAKerry]

There was a thread on here awhile ago about car movies. Fathom events/TCM is playing Smokey and the Bandit on the big screen the end of May and the first of June. I have enjoyed several Fathom movie events. Although there were only a few people in the theatre each time. This movie is campy, corny, or whatever but is fun to watch. Oddly enough I have never seen it on the big screen so I am looking forward to it.

 

2021-04-19_08-19-04 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

 

May the T/A live long and prosper 😁

[Flivverking]

We saw the film first run..

The effect was crazy teens screaming their cars out of the theatre lot.

 The night I saw it with my friend Karl, after we went fyling around the back roads in his mint original '63 ,4 door,3 on the tree,6 banger Impala.

 

We hit a main drag and jumped a curb ,blowing out all 4 tires trashing the front rims..oval at 90 plus MPH.

 He chiped a tooth,I spilled my Coors.

  Poor Karl,who's after reply was"we should have taken your Essex."

 Nothing like seeing older movies on a big movie screen....

You'll love it!

 

 

[JamesR]

Beautiful Trans Am, TAKerry! Without a doubt, '77 is my favorite year.

 

I'd like to see Smokey and the Bandit again, if only because some folks in high places today would frown on such a movie. I like Flivverking's idea of giving tribute with some Coors. 😉

[1937hd45]

What are those clones worth on a good day at the auction? 

Edited May 3, 2022 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[TerryB]

I saw Steve McQueen in Bullitt on the big screen, never forgot it and the chase scene. Movies like that and the older James Bond flicks are always best on the big screen.

[63RedBrier]

Is there a link to the event?  Location?

[Studeous]

My wife and I have enjoyed several Fathom Events in theatre. We love the films- usually classics, the great big screen/big audio format, and the sparsely occupied theatre. The seats are reserved so you can book em online and pick your favorite spot. 
And That film should be great on big screen! 

[STEVE POLLARD]

5 hours ago, TAKerry said:

There was a thread on here awhile ago about car movies. Fathom events/TCM is playing Smokey and the Bandit on the big screen the end of May and the first of June. I have enjoyed several Fathom movie events. Although there were only a few people in the theatre each time. This movie is campy, corny, or whatever but is fun to watch. Oddly enough I have never seen it on the big screen so I am looking forward to it.

Beautiful T/A , would like to see more pictures ! While growing up, one of our neighbors had a black T/A - it was older than yours Kerry, I remember the single headlights. I only saw the man drive that car once ! He would start it up, pull it out of the garage, let it idle for 10-15mins and pull it back into the garage. That car is probably still in the garage, my mother still lives at the house I grew up in, I'll have to ask her about it.

 

Steve

[pkhammer]

  I was 14 when Smokey and the Bandit was originally released in theatres. I thought that black Trans-Am was the coolest car ever! Had an opportunity to meet a man a few years later that had a blue one. T tops and "radial tuned suspension" if my memory serves me right. Very cool cars that I've unfortunately never had the opportunity to own or drive.

[avgwarhawk]

I was 12 when the movie hit the big screen.  I went to see the move 14 times.  Yep...14 times.  Just a fun movie to watch!!!  

[pkhammer]

It had adventure, fast cars, pretty girls and beer. What else was there as a teenager? I even wanted to be a long-haul trucker at the time so I was as fascinated by the Kenworth as I was the Trans-Am!

[Graham Man]

My 14 teen year old watches it about once a month... what could go wrong?

 

 

This is the car I would want

 

 

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/a1707736/meet-original-bandit-trans-am/

 

 

The other reason to watch....

 

 

[TAKerry]

I was 13 when the movie came out. My family would take a summer vacation to Wildwood NJ. That is the only time we would see a 'big screen' movie. And typically it was only one for the trip. I think we saw Star Wars, as I remember seeing that one at the theatre. Honestly I cannot remember the first time I saw Smokey and the Bandit. I knew of the car and had been raised with Pontiac blood in veins and had always had a sweet spot for Firebirds/Trans Ams. 

 

Steve, your neighbors car was most likely a 1976 model. Last year with a single headlight and the first year Black was offered. The black and gold Trans Am started in 1976 as a 50th anniv. edition for Pontiac. It was called an L.E. (limited edition), in 1977 and on they changed that to S.E. (special edition). Some of the movie cars were actually 1976 models that had a replaced front end. If one knows what they are looking at you can see the differences in quite a few scenes.

 

Graham Man, Im not sure what the 'official first born bandit' is but it is NOT a  movie used car (in the pic you can see the 1976 only badge on the fender). Pontiac only gave the movie a handfull of cars for filming, something like 5 or 6. All were destroyed during the making of the movie. I have read that for the final filming the last car they had was in such bad shape it had to be towed into the scene. None exist, sadly enough. 

18 hours ago, 63RedBrier said:

Is there a link to the event?  Location?

Go to Fathom Events or the TCM website. There is a link to the movies there. I think you can type in your city or zip and they will give you a list of theatres in your area that are participating.

[TAKerry]

2017-11-09_12-05-10 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2017-11-09_12-04-53 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr2017-11-09_12-06-34 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2017-11-09_12-05-35 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

 

2017-11-09_12-05-54 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

 

Wheels are from a 1978 model as they are a bit wider than the 77's, I like the looks of them better but I do have a set of originals.

[8E45E]

18 hours ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

Beautiful T/A , would like to see more pictures ! While growing up, one of our neighbors had a black T/A - it was older than yours Kerry, I remember the single headlights. I only saw the man drive that car once ! He would start it up, pull it out of the garage, let it idle for 10-15mins and pull it back into the garage. That car is probably still in the garage, my mother still lives at the house I grew up in, I'll have to ask her about it.

That front plate must GO!   

 

Some cars just weren't designed to have a front plate (or tag), and the later painted bumper second generation F-bodies are one of them.

 

Craig

[TAKerry]

Agree completely. Being the state requires them I left the bracket on when I restored it. On my 79 I am currently working on I filled the holes and do not plan on putting one on unless one of my friends in blue insist upon it. The 79 front looks even worse with the plate. 

[John348]

Funny, I don't remember the car in the movie, just Sally Field's in her shorts.................... must be me

[CarNucopia]

That’s a movie I have to watch whenever I come across it. Jackie Gleason as Buford T. Justice never gets old.

[DAVES89]

Not me. I watch it for Sally Fields and a little bit of Burt.

[Joe in Canada]

I was crossing the boarder a few years ago hauling a car behind off to an AACA event. The younger border guard had just seen S&B movie for the first time and I could not get away from him being all exited about it. Until he noticed his line was really backing up told me to be on my way. 

[NewOldWood]

I saw an interview recently with Burt Reynolds, he said that he recommended Sally Field for the part and that the execs didn't like the idea claiming that she "lacked sex appeal". Wow, couldn't disagree more, thankfully Burt got his way. Also remember reading something long ago, said that they were shopping for someone to donate cars for the movie and not getting any takers. Pontiac reluctantly agreed to supply three cars. By the end they were down to one, patched together from parts of all three. The jump scene above completely destroyed one of them. They knew they had one take to get that shot. Those cars probably turned out to be one of the best marketing investments ever made! My drivers license was hot off the press when this came out, can't remember how many times I've seen it.

[Pfeil]

Smokey and the Bandit, even Bullet is kind of tame. Haven't you guys ever seen Death Proof????

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[alsancle]

On 5/3/2022 at 12:15 PM, 1937hd45 said:

What are those clones worth on a good day at the auction? 

 

Kerry knows better than a but a real Y82 (black/gold/T-Tops) Trans Am with the W72 engine can be close to a 100k for a perfect one.

 

My pet peeve is that in the scenes the car makes noises like a four speed but acutally is an automatic.

[TAKerry]

I have read and heard more stories related to the movie than anyone should be allowed to, LOL. One of them is that they used the sound from 2 Lane Blacktop for a lot of the scenes with the trans am banging through the gears.

 

Another item is that the motor that was put into the jump car was a (ahem, clear my throat) a nascar prepped chevy engine. 

 

'Yes, I said this car is death proof, only thing is you need to be sitting in my seat!'

Edited May 9, 2022 by TAKerry (see edit history)

[drhach]

Young me loved the Trans Am, older me loves Sally Field. What a great movie. 

[Rivguy]

My older brother let me use his red '76 Trans Am to go the theater to see the movie when it opened. Trans Am owners would show up in groups to see the movie during it's run. Those T/As are beautiful cars and were a hoot to drive, just loads of low end torque from that Poncho 400 V8. Just seeing these brings back memories, they were popular with disco fans also, Oh, the good old Days! 

There's a very good compilation of the action scenes of the movie on YouTube.

[TAKerry]

Went to the movie Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of fun. My son went with me, wife dropped us off and went shopping for her birthday, which was also on Sunday. Theatre had a good sized crowd for a Fathom movie. I would say it was 50% full (last 2 we went to had about 10 people each!). Very diverse crowd, a few families, older guys like myself and some young people as well. I decided at the last minute not to take my car, but wished I had.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

@TAKerry, did you see this?  Son had golf on background on his TV yesterday (he plays, I used too but don't have temperment...) and I did a double take on one gift awarded to the winner!

 

https://www-essentiallysports-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.essentiallysports.com/golf-news-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-beautiful-vintage-car-sam-burns-won-on-the-pga-tour-this-weekend/amp/?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From %1%24s&aoh=16540304893161&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.essentiallysports.com%2Fgolf-news-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-beautiful-vintage-car-sam-burns-won-on-the-pga-tour-this-weekend%2F

[TAKerry]

Yes, someone posted a link to that car on another forum. Pretty nice ride. A bit too much advertisement for my taste (schwab was all over, including continuous embroidery on the seats) however, if they gave me the car I would not complain, LOL.  I wonder if he will keep it? Terry Bradshaw was given a 1979 Tenth Anniversary Trans Am for winning the super bowl. He said he traded it on a horse!!

[54Coupe]

We went to see it as a family when I was about 14. My parents sat near the back of the theatre, and us kids (five of us) sat together about half way down. Then the scene came, where Sally Field flips off the cop, and we hear my Dad's voice in the back of the theatre.... "Did you see what the flying nun just did?!?!"  We were embarrassed as hell... Looking back now, It's pretty funny.