When “Smokey and the Bandit” hit theaters in 1977, its promoters had envisioned it as a lightweight B movie rather than the icon it became. It grossed the second largest revenue of all movies that year, outpaced only by “Star Wars.” The trilogy of “Smokey” films (with “Smokey and the Bandit II” in 1980 and “Smokey and the Bandit Part 3” in 1983) and the 1978 film, “Convoy,” portended a craze that swept the nation’s collective imagination of truckers as rebel cowboys. Yet “Smokey” is also just a corny comedy.
Burt Reynolds, as the Bandit, accepts a bet to deliver Coors beer from Texas to Georgia and meets Carrie (Sally Field), whose father-in-law to be (Jackie Gleason), the sheriff, plays the frustrated buffoon who’s on the losing end of a prolonged car chase.
“Smokey” opened with a drag race filmed in Atlanta. For the 1980 sequel, “Smokey and the Bandit II,” 40 truckers served as extras for scenes shot in Nevada, and 15 others were filmed in 1979 at the first-ever 200-mile bobtail race at the Atlanta International Speedway. Many of the movie’s truckers were recruited by Overdrive.
The Bandit’s appeal has thrived, spurring devotees like Tyler Hambrick, of Newnan, Ga., to take his life-size replicas of the 1974 Kenworth W900A and a trailer adorned with a horse mural to trucking shows. (Visit smokeyandthebanditmodels.com). Both he and Bradley Wike, who customized a Bandit truck-and-trailer replica in Taylorville, N.C., have attracted visitors from all over the world, both at shows and on his website, bradsclassictrucks.com.
1961: The Jacobs Engine Brake
BY John Baxter
