On This Date In 1977, "Smokey And The Bandit" Was Released.

Hal Needham originally planned the Smokey and the Bandit as a low-budget B movie with a production cost of $1 million, with Jerry Reed as the Bandit. It was not until Burt Reynolds read the script—and said he would star—that the film was aimed at a more mainstream release; Reed would now portray the Bandit’s friend the Snowman (Reed would eventually play the Bandit in 1983’s “Smokey and the Bandit Part 3” while Reynolds made a cameo near that film’s end). At that time, Reynolds was the top box office star in the world. Reportedly, Needham had great difficulty getting any studios or producers to take his project seriously, as in the film industry, he was better known as a stuntman. He managed to obtain studio attention after his friend Reynolds agreed to portray the Bandit in the film.

In the original script, Carrie was called Kate while Big Enos and Little Enos were called Kyle and Dickey. The Bandit’s car was a second-generation Trans Am and the prize for completing the run was a new truck rather than $80,000. Reynolds revealed in his autobiography that Needham had written the first draft script on legal pads. Upon showing it to his friend, Reynolds told Needham that it was the worst script he had ever read, but that he would still make the movie. Most of the dialogue was improvised on set.

Smokey and the Bandit 1977 Vintage Men’s T-Shirt

Universal Studios bankrolled “Smokey and the Bandit” for $5.3 million, figuring it was a good risk. Just two days before production was to begin, Universal sent a “hatchet man” to Atlanta to inform Needham that the budget was being trimmed by $1 million. With Reynolds’ salary at $1 million, Needham was left with only $3.3 million to make the film. Needham and assistant director David Hamburger spent 30 hours revising the shooting schedule.

Buford T. Justice was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Reynolds’ father, who was once Police Chief of Riviera Beach, Florida. His father was also the inspiration for the word “sumb!tch” used in the film, a variation of the phrase “son-of-a-b!tch” that, according to Reynolds, he uttered quite often. Jackie Gleason was given free rein to ad-lib dialogue and make suggestions. It was his idea to have Junior alongside him throughout. 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 was rather Gleason’s idea.

In 1977, Coors Beer was unavailable for sale east of Oklahoma. A 1974 Time magazine article explains why Coors was so coveted that one would be willing to pay the Bandit such a high price to transport it. Coors Banquet Beer had a brief renaissance, as certain people sought it out for its lack of stabilizers and preservatives. The article says that future Vice President Gerald Ford hid it in his luggage after a trip to Colorado in order to take it back to Washington, D.C. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a steady supply airlifted to Washington by the Air Force. Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox would bring several cases back with him on the team plane, after playing opposing teams on the West Coast, by stashing it in the team’s equipment trunks. 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 were not kept cold throughout its transportation and in storage at its destination. This explains the 28-hour deadline in getting the beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. H/T>