Smokey and The Bandit - Production

Production

Director Hal Needham originally planned the film as a low budget B movie, with Jerry Reed as the Bandit. It was not until Needham's friend Burt Reynolds read the script and said he would appear in the film, as the film was aimed at a more mainstream release, with Reed now playing Bandit's friend Snowman (Reed would eventually play the Bandit in Smokey and the Bandit Part III).

"Buford T. Justice" was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Reynolds' father, who himself was once Chief of Police of Riviera Beach, Florida. His father was also the inspiration for the word "sumbitch" used in the film, an apparent mispronunciation of the words "son-of-a-bitch" he reportedly uttered quite often, according to Reynolds.

Jackie Gleason was given free rein over ad-libbing dialogue and making suggestions. In particular, the scene where Sheriff Justice unknowingly encounters the Bandit in the "choke and puke" (a roadside diner) was not in the original story, but rather Gleason's idea.

Reportedly, director Needham had great difficulty in getting any studios or producers to take his project seriously (he was better known in the film industry as a stuntman). He managed to obtain studio attention after his friend, Reynolds, agreed to star in the film.

The movie was filmed primarily in Georgia in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro, and Lithonia. The scenes in Texarkana were filmed in Jonesboro and the surrounding area, and many of the chase scenes were filmed in the surrounding areas on Highway 54 between Fayetteville and Jonesboro for a majority of the driving scenes, Mundy's Mill Road, Main Street in Jonesboro, Highway 400, I-85, and in McDonough. The scene where they drive through the Shell gas station, was however, filmed in Ojai, California on the corner of Ojai and El Paseo. Much of the surrounding scene comes from that immediate vicinity. The scene at the race track was filmed at Lakewood Speedway at the old Lakewood Fairgrounds on the south side of Atlanta. The roller coaster seen in the movie was the Greyhound. It had not been used for some time and was repainted for the film. It was destroyed in Smokey and the Bandit II and a flash back scene used in the third.

The area around Helen, Georgia was also used for some scenes. The location where Buford T. Justice's car has the door knocked off by a passing semi was shot on GA 75, 3 miles north of Helen. The tow truck driver was an actual local garage owner, Berlin Wike.

The film made use of four modified black 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am "Special Editions" that were each built according to the required stuntwork. All were damaged during the rigors of filming the stunts. The particular car used to jump over the dismantled bridge was reportedly destroyed performing the stunt. The bridge itself, though no longer used for traffic, was still intact prior to filming. The middle section was demolished specifically for the stunt.

The film also used two Pontiac LeMans cars, again donated by Pontiac. All five cars were more or less destroyed by the end of shooting, with only one model of each car barely running by then, mostly due to cannibalizing the other three cars. The 1978 Trans Am "Special Edition" model used in the movie traces back to a GM Design show car created for Bill Mitchell (VP of Design) for the 1974 GM Division Show Circuit. Bill liked the Lotus F1 race car "John Player Special" livery and used that Black and Gold paint scheme to create the car.

The film also made use of three Kenworth W900A short-frame semi trucks which Jerry Reed's character "Snowman" can be seen driving, each equipped with 38" sleepers. Two units were 1974 models, as evidenced by standard silver Kenworth emblems on the truck grille, and one unit was a 1973 model, as evidenced by the gold-painted Kenworth emblem on the truck's grille signifying Kenworth's 50 years in business. The paint code for each truck was coffee brown with gold trim, and the 48-foot (15 m) mural trailer used was manufactured by Hobbs Trailers in Texas with a Thermo King Refrigeration unit.

In 1977, Coors was unavailable for sale east of Oklahoma. A 1974 article in Time magazine explains why Coors was so sought after and why someone would be willing to pay the Bandit such a high price to transport it. Coors Banquet Beer enjoyed a brief renaissance as certain people sought it out for its lack of stabilizers and preservatives. The article explains that Vice President (at the time) Gerald Ford hid it in his luggage after a trip to Colorado in order to take it back to Washington. President Eisenhower had a steady supply airlifted to Washington by the Air Force. The article also mentions Frederick Amon, who smuggled it from Colorado to North Carolina and sold it for four times the retail price. The lack of additives and preservatives meant that Coors had the potential for spoiling in a week if it was not kept cold throughout its transportation and storage at its destination. This explains the 28 hour time limit placed on the Bandit in the film.

Reynolds and Sally Field began dating during the filming of Smokey and the Bandit.

Though the 1975 film Moonrunners is the precursor to the 1979–1985 TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, from the same creator and with many identical settings and concepts, the popularity of Smokey and the Bandit and similar films helped get the Dukes series on air. Three actors from the main cast of The Dukes of Hazzard appear in small uncredited roles in Smokey and the Bandit: Ben Jones, John Schneider, and Sonny Shroyer (who, incidentally, played a police officer in both). In return, Burt Reynolds portrayed the Dukes character Boss Hogg (originally portrayed by Sorrell Booke) in the 2005 film adaptation, The Dukes of Hazzard. Burt Reynolds is also referenced by name in several early episodes of the series.