Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 movie starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, and country singer Jerry Reed, who also sang the film's theme song "East Bound and Down". It is the
Trope Codifier of the
"Moonshiner on the run from Corrupt Hick cops" movie. The plot revolves around truck driver Bo "Bandit" Darville (Reynolds), who is offered $80,000 to bootleg four hundred cases of Coors beer from
Texarkana, Texas to the Southern Classic truck rodeo in Georgia within 28 hours. The Bandit recruits fellow trucker Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Reed) to make the journey with him, with the Bandit's
Pontiac Firebird Trans Am acting as a spotter for Snowman's rig. On the journey back, the Bandit picks up a
Runaway Bride named Carrie (Field), making him the target of the jilted groom's father,
Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason).
Hilarity and a chase across the South ensue.
Smokey was the second highest-grossing movie of 1977, beaten to the #1 spot by
Star Wars: A New Hope, and established Burt Reynolds as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the late '70s and early '80s. Two sequels were made,
Smokey and the Bandit II in 1980 and
Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (
sans Reynolds and Field) in 1983. They did not end up doing as well in competition with the respective
Star Wars films at the box office.
Breaker, breaker, Bandit Lister, this is Trope Reader, what kinda tropes ya haulin'?
Smokey and the Bandit
- The Alleged Car: Buford's police cruiser becomes this as it gets smashed to hell.
- Aluminum Christmas Trees: In 1977, it was indeed illegal to ship large amounts of Coors beer east of Texas due to state alcohol laws at the time. Since at the time the company still produced all of its beer in Colorado, it didn't bother to seek state licenses for parts of the country outside of a comfortable shipping range.
- Are You Sure You Can Drive This Thing?: "I can drive any fork'n thing around."
- Aside Glance: The Bandit gives one after hiding behind a building from the cops.
- Badass Boast
- Badass Driver
- Bar Brawl: Snowman gets his ass kicked in one after his dog bites one of the patrons. He gets his revenge.
- Bowdlerise: The TV edit replaced "sum'bitch," Buford's Catch Phrase, with "scum bum". This phrase wound up becoming quite popular with children at the time. Years later, when Hot Wheels released a '70s Firebird Trans Am toy car, it had the word "scum bum" on the back as a reference to the TV edit.
- Bizarrely, much of Buford's dialogue in the TV Edit was redubbed by Henry Corden, whose most famous character Fred Flintstone was inspired by Gleason's most famous character Ralph Kramden.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Bandit does this when he smiles at the audience after eluding a cop on the way to Texarkana.
- Butt Monkey: Junior, hands down.
- California Doubling: The movie was mostly filmed in Georgia, which not only appears as itself, but is also used to represent four other Southern states. The scene where they drive through the Shell gas station was also filmed in Ojai, California.
- Captain Obvious
Junior: The top came off, Daddy.
Buford T. Justice: No shit.
- Catch Phrase: "I'm in the MIDDLE of a HOT PURSUIT!" "Sum'bitch!"
- Chewing the Scenery: Jerry Reed.
- City Mouse: Carrie, a Broadway dancer who is implied to be from New England (judging by her comment about taking a bus up to Jersey and walking the rest of the way home).
- Clueless Deputy: Junior.
- Cool Car: The Bandit's black Trans Am. It's not for nothing that the caption under the poster refers to it as "the other star" of the film.
- Corrupt Hick: Buford T. Justice.
- Well, Sheriff Buford T. Justice is treated as one of these, even though the titular Bandit is breaking the law left and right.
- Buford has no idea that The Bandit is hauling illegal beer, which would have justified the pursuit at least within his jurisdiction. His pursuit is entirely for personal reasons and thus qualifies as being corrupt. Neither party comes to the plot with clean hands.
- Cyclic National Fascination: This film, along with the CW McCall song "Convoy", helped to kick off the CB radio and trucker fads in the late '70s.
- Determinator: Buford in every movie.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Buford.
- Dynamic Entry: The door for the Coors warehouse is locked, so The Bandit kicks in the door.
- Epic Race
- Expecting Someone Taller:
Oh, pardon me. For some reason you sounded a little taller on radio.
- Follow the Leader: The Dukes of Hazzard was at least honest about being a blatant ripoff of this movie.
- Actually, both Smokey and The Dukes can be seen as ripoffs of a 1975 film called Moonrunners
...which even has some of the same characters as the latter show!- Dukes was less a rip off and more of an adaptation of Moonrunners, as several of the creators and actors were directly involved in both... even the first five episodes of Dukes, filmed on location, were tonally similar, making them Early Installment Weirdness compared to the series as a whole.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: Parodied by Buford T. Justice
- Greasy Spoon: references to the "Choke-and-puke".
- Hollywood CB: Perhaps the Trope Codifier.
- Hollywood Police Driving Academy
- Hot Pursuit
- Jurisdiction Friction
- The Lancer: Snowman to the Bandit.
- Lemming Cops
- Lovable Rogue: Bandit. Everywhere he goes there are people lining up to help him out or at least cheer him on.
- Male Gaze: The camera lingers on Carrie's ass for about five seconds as she's reaching into the backseat.
- The Mountains of Illinois: While northern Georgia has mountains. Northeastern Texas does not, as the nearest is 100 miles to the north.
- Motorcycle Dominoes: After Snowman gets beat up by bikers because his dog supposedly bit one of them, he stumbles outside and sees their bikes lined up. So he gets in his semi and runs over the entire line of them on his way out of the parking lot.
- Ms. Fanservice: Carrie.
- Playing Against Type: Jackie Gleason was a New York Jew. He plays an East Texas redneck in all three movies.
- Plot Hole: Buford never learns about the illegal cargo of beer; The Bandit never learns that Frog left Junior at the altar.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Buford, as seen with his reaction to finding out that Sheriff Branford is black.
- Porn Stache: Burt Reynolds, naturally.
- Ramming Always Works: Snowman near the end to save The Bandit.
- Ramp Jump: The "Reynolds Ramp" originator.
- The Red Stapler: After this movie came out, there was a six-month waiting list to purchase black Trans Ams.
- Runaway Bride: Carrie.
- The Seventies
- The Sheriff: Buford T. Justice.
- Sound Effect Bleep: The only way they kept a PG rating.
Officer: I hope you'll accept my apologies for my profanity.
Buford T. Justice: Apology accepted. Now, (mouths "fuck off" but is bleeped out by truck horn)
- Supporting Leader: Bandit is essentially a professional leader, even if he's the main character.
- Sweet Home Alabama
- Take the Wheel: Lampshaded; it turns out to be harder to do this than it looks.
- Also a This Is Reality moment as Bandit comments that it's easier in the movies.
- Throw It In: Jackie Gleason was given a lot of lee-way to ad lib. The scene where he meets Bandit at the choke'n'puke without knowing it was his idea.
- Unintentional Period Piece: That's a big 10-4.
- Worthy Opponent: Buford and the Bandit both admit a mutual respect for the other's tenacity at the end over the CB.
- You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Buford.
- Your Mom: "Your mama's so ugly..."
- A version of Your Mom is a Running Gag with Buford and Junior—Buford insults Junior's mother, but she is of course Buford's wife.
Smokey and the Bandit II
Smokey and the Bandit Part 3
That's a big 10-4!
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