Podcasts about bandit ii

Are you familiar with the trucker movie craze that swept the US from the late 1970s to early 1980s? Don't worry, not many are. But one of our VIPs is and wanted us to talk about a beloved classic that simply didn't translate well outside of America: Smokey and the Bandit II. Check out our various rewards and tiers on patreon: www.patreon.com/sequelisers Website: www.sequelisers.com/  Discord: www.sequelisers.com/discord  Shop: www.sequelisers.com/shop  Twitter: twitter.com/sequelisers Instagram: instagram.com/sequelisers TikTok: tiktok.com/@sequelisers Music by Daniel Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our first episode returning from paternity leave takes us back to 1983, and one of two sequel bombs Universal made with Jackie Gleason that year, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3. ----more----   TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   On this episode, we'll be covering one of the oddest Part 3 movies to ever be made.   Smokey and the Bandit 3.   But before we do, I owe you, loyal listener an apology and an explanation.   Originally, this episode was supposed to be about the movies of H.B. “Toby” Halicki, who brought car chase films back to life in the mid-70s with his smash hit Gone in 60 Seconds. Part of the reason I wanted to do this episode was to highlight a filmmaker who doesn't get much love from film aficionados anymore, and part because this was the movie that literally made me the person I became. My mom was dating Toby during the making of the movie, a spent a number of days on the set as a five year old, and I even got featured in a scene. And I thought it would be fun to get my mom to open up about a part of her life after my parents' divorce that I don't remember much of.   And it turned into the discussion that made me question everything I became. Much of which I will cover when I find the courage to revisit that topic, hopefully in time for the 50th anniversary this July.   So, for now, and to kind of stick with the car theme this episode was originally going to be about, we're going to do a quick take on one of the most bizarre, and most altered, movies to ever come out of Hollywood.   As you may remember, Smokey and the Bandit was a 1977 hit film from stuntman turned director Hal Needham. Needham and Burt Reynolds has become friends in the early 1960s, and Needham would end up living in Reynolds' pool house for nearly a dozen years in the 60s and 70s. Reynolds would talk director Robert Aldrich into hiring Needham to be the 2nd unit director and stunt coordinator for the car chase scene Aldrich's 1974 classic The Longest Yard, and Reynolds would hire Needham to be his 2nd Unit Director on his own 1976 directorial debut, Gator. While on the set of Gator, the two men would talk about the movie Needham wanted to make his own directorial debut on, a low-budget B movie about a cat and mouse chase between a bootlegger and a sheriff as they tried to outwit each other across several state lines.   As a friend, Reynolds would ask Needham to read the script. The “script” was a series of hand-written notes on a legal pad. He had come up with the idea during the making of Gator, when the Teamster transportation captain brought some Coors beer to the production team. And, believe it or not, in 1975, it was illegal to sell or transport Coors beer out of states West of the Mississippi River, because the beer was not pasteurized and needed constant refrigeration.   Reynolds would read the “script,” which, according to Reynolds' 1994 autobiography My Life, was one of the worst things he had ever read. But Reynolds promised his friend that if he could get a studio involved and get a proper budget and script for the film, he would make it.   Needham would hire a series of writers to try and flesh out the notes from the legal pad into a coherent screenplay, and with a verbal commitment from Reynolds to star in it, he would soon get Universal Studios to to agree to make Smokey and the Bandit, to the tune of $5.3m. After all, Reynolds was still one of the biggest box office stars at the time, and $5.3m was small potatoes at the time, especially when Universal was spending $6.7m on the Super Bowl assassin thriller Two-Minute Warning, $9m on a bio-pic of General Douglas MacArthur, and $22m on William Friedkin's Sorcerer, an English-language version of the 1950 French novel The Wages of Fear.   Reynolds would take the lead as The Bandit, the driver of the chase car meant to distract the authorities from what the truck driver is hauling.    Jerry Reed, a country and western star, would get cast as The Snowman, the truck driver who would be hauling the Coors beer from Texarkana TX to Atlanta. Reed has only co-starred in two movies before, both starring Burt Reynolds, and even if they have almost no scenes together in the final film, their rapport on screen is obvious.   Sally Field, a television star who needed a big movie on her resume, would take the role of Carrie, the runaway bride who joins the Bandit in his chase car. Field had just completed Sybil, the dramatic television movie about a woman with multiple personality disorder, which would break Field out of the sitcom world she had been stuck in for the past decade.   Richard Boone, the star of the long-time television Western Have Gun - Will Travel, would be considered as the sheriff, Buford T. Justice, in pursuit of the Bandit throughout the movie, but Reynolds wanted some who was a bit more crazy, a bit more dangerous, and a heck of a lot funnier. And who wouldn't think of comedy legend Jackie Gleason?   Shooting on the film would begin in Georgia on August 30th, 1976, but not before some pencil pusher from Universal Studios showed up two days before the start of production to inform Needham and Reynolds that they needed to cut $1m from the budget by any means necessary. And the guys did exactly that, reducing the number of shooting locations and speaking roles.   The film would finish shooting eights weeks later, on schedule and on budget… well, on reduced budget, and when it was released in May 1977, just six days before the initial release of Star Wars, it bombed.   For some reason, Universal Studios decided the best way to open a movie about a bunch of good old boys in the South was to give it a big push at the world famous Radio City Music Hall in the heart of Manhattan, along with an hour long Rockets stage spectacular between shows.   The Radio City Music Hall could accommodate 6,000 people per show. Tickets for the whole shebang, movie and stage show, were $5, when the average ticket price in Manhattan at the time was $3.50. And in its first six days, Smokey and the Bandit grossed $125,000, which sounds amazing, until your told the cost of running Radio City Music Hall for a week, stage show and all, was $186,000. And in its second week, the gross would fall to $102,000, and to $90,000 in week three. And Universal would be locked in to Radio City for several more weeks.   But it wouldn't all bad news.   Universal quickly realized its error in opening in New York first, and rushed to book the film into 381 theatres in the South, including 70 in the Charlotte region, 78 in and around Jacksonville, 97 theatres between Oklahoma City and Dallas, another 57 between Memphis and New Orleans, and 79 in Atlanta, near many of the locations the film was shot. And in its first seven days in just those five regions, the film would gross a cool $3.8m. Along with the $102k from Radio City, the film's $3.9m gross would be the second highest in the nation, behind Star Wars. And despite bigger weekends from new openers like The Deep, The Exorcist II and A Bridge Too Far, Smokey and the Bandit would keep going and going and going, sticking around in theatres for more than two years in some areas, grossing more than $126m.   Naturally, there would be a sequel. But here's the funny part. Smokey and the Bandit II, a Universal movie, would be shot back to back with Cannonball Run, produced by the Hong Kong film company Golden Harvest as a vehicle to break their star Jackie Chan into the American market, which would also star Burt Reynolds and be directed by Hal Needham.    Filming on Smokey and the Bandit II was supposed to start in August 1979, but would be delayed until January 1980, because the film Reynolds was working on in the late summer of 1979, Rough Cut, went way over schedule.   While the budget for the sequel would be $10m, more than double the cost of the original film, the overall production was not a very pleasant experience for most involved. Needham was feeling the pressure of trying to finish the film ahead of schedule so he'd have some kind of break before starting on Cannonball Run in May 1980, because several of the other actors, including Roger Moore, were already locked into other movies after shooting completed on that film.   Burt Reynolds and Sally Field had started dating during the making of Smokey and the Bandit in 1976, and both of them signed their contracts to appear in the sequel in 1979, but by the time shooting started in 1980, the pair had broken up, and they were forced to pretend to be in love and be side by side in the Bandit's Trans Am for a couple months.   One of the few things that would go right on the film was a complex chase scene that could only be shot one time, for the end of the sequence would be the destruction of a 64 year old rollercoaster in suburban Atlanta.   They got the shot.   Needham would get a few weeks between the end of shooting Smokey and the Bandit II and the start of Cannonball Run, but the production on the latter film would be put on hold a couple times for a few days each, as Needham would have to go back to Los Angeles to supervise the editing of the former film.   Smokey and the Bandit II would make its planned August 15th, 1980 release, and would have a spectacular opening weekend, $10.8m from 1196 theatres, but would soon drop off, barely grossing half of the first film's box office take. That would still be profitable, but Needham, Reynolds and Field all nixed the idea of teaming up for a third film. Reynolds had been wanting to distance himself from his good old boy 1970s persona, Field was now an Oscar winning dramatic actress, and Needham wanted to try something different. We'll talk about that movie, Megaforce, another time.   But despite losing the interest of the main principles of the first two movies, Universal was still keen on making a third film. The first mention would be a line item in the Los Angeles Times' Calendar section on August 28th, 1981, when, within an article about the number of sequels that were about to gear up, including Grease 2 and Star Wars 3, aka Return of the Jedi, that Universal was considering a third Smokey movie as a cable television movie. In May 1982, Variety noted that the reduced budget of the film, estimated at under $5m, would not accommodate Reynolds' asking price at that time, let alone the cost of the entire production, and that the studio was looking at Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider as a possible replacement as The Bandit. In the end, it was decided that Jackie Gleason would return not only as Sheriff Buford T. Justice, but that he would also be, in several scenes, playing The Bandit as well.   Thus would begin the wild ride of the third film in the Smokey and the Bandit Cinematic Universe, Smokey IS the Bandit: Part 3.   It would take 11 different versions of the script written over the course of six months to get Gleason to sign off, because, somehow, he was given script approval before filming would begin.   Paul Williams and Pat McCormick would return for a third time as Little Enos and Big Enos, and the storyline would find the Burdette father and son making a bet with Sheriff Justice. Justice and his son Junior must deliver a big stuffed swordfish from Florida to a new seafood restaurant they are opening in Texas. If Justice can get the big stuffed swordfish from Point A to Point B in the time allotted, the Burdettes will give him $250,000, which Justice could use towards his impending retirement. If he doesn't, however, Justice will have to surrender his badge to the Burdettes, and he'd retire in disgrace.   Dick Lowry, who had been directed episodic television and TV movies for several years, including three episodes of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and the TV movie adaptation of Kenny Rogers' hit song The Gambler, would make his feature directing debut on Smokey Is the Bandit Part 3.   Production on the film would begin in Florida on October 25, 1982, and lasted two months, ending two days after Christmas, mostly in Florida.   Lowry and his team would assemble the film over the course of the next three months, before Universal held its first test screening on the studio lot in March 1983.   To say the screening was a disaster would be an understatement.   The audience didn't understand what the hell was going on here. They wondered how Justice, as The Bandit, could bed a character credited only as Blonde Bombshell, who looks at him the way women in 1982 would have looked at Burt Reynolds. They wondered why a plot twist in the very last scene was presented, that Dusty was really Big Enos's daughter, when it affected nothing in the story before or after its reveal. But, mostly, they were confused as to how one actor could play both title characters at the same time. Like, is Justice seeing himself as The Bandit, seeing himself behind the wheel of the Bandit's signature black and gold Pontiac Trans Am, and a beautiful country music DJ played by Colleen Camp as his companion, all while actually driving his signature sheriff's car with his son Junior as his constant companion?   The studio had two choices…   One, pony up a few extra million dollars to rewrite the script, and try to lure Reynolds back to play The Bandit…   Or, two, bury the movie and take the tax write off.   The second choice was quickly ruled out, as a teaser trailer for the film had already been released to theatres several weeks earlier, and there seemed to be some interest in another Smokey and the Bandit movie, even though the trailer was just Gleason, as Justice, standing in a military-style uniform, standing in front of a large America flag, and giving a speech to the camera not unlike the one George C. Scott gave at the start of the 1970 Best Picture winner, Patton. You can find a link to the teaser trailer for Smokey is the Bandit Part 3 on our website, at The80sMoviePodcast.com.   So the studio goes down to Jupiter, FL, where Reynolds had been living for years, and made him a sizable offer to play The Bandit for literally a couple of scenes. Since Gleason as Bandit only had one line in the film, and since most of the shots of Gleason as Bandit were done with wide lenses to hide that it wasn't Gleason doing any of the driving during the number of scenes involving the Trans Am and stunts, they could probably get everything they needed with Reynolds in just a day or two.   Reynolds would say “no” to that offer, but, strangely, he would agree to come back to the film, as The Bandit, for an extended sequence towards the end of the film. We'll get to that in a moment.   So with Reynolds coming back, but not in the capacity they wanted him in, the next thought was to go to Jerry Reed, the country singer and actor who had played Bandit's partner, The Snowman, in the first two films. Reed was amiable to coming aboard, but he wanted to play The Bandit. Or, more specifically, Cledus pretending to be The Bandit.   The film's screenwriters, Stuart Birnbaum and David Dashev, were called back in to do yet another rewrite. They would have only three weeks, as there was only a short window in April for the production team to get back together to do the new scenes with Reed and Colleen Camp. Dusty would go from being a country radio station DJ to a car dealership employee who literally walks off the job and into Cledus as Bandit's Trans Am. Reed's role as Cledus as Bandit was greatly expanded, and Dusty's dialogue would be altered to reflect both her new career and her time in the car with Cledus.   The reshoots would only last a few weeks, and Lowry would have a final cut ready for the film's planned August 12th theatrical release.   It is often stated, on this podcast and other sources, that in the 1980s, August was mostly the dumping ground of the studio's dogs, hoping to get a little bit of ticket sales before Labor Day, when families look at going on a vacation before the kids go back to school.   And the weekend of August 12th through 14th in 1983 was certainly one way to prove this argument.   Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 would be the second highest grossing new release that weekend, which is surprising in part because it would have a smaller percentage of prints out in the market compared to its competition, 498 prints, almost exclusively in the southern US. The bad news is that the film would barely make it into the Top Ten that weekend. Cujo, the adaptation of the 1981 Stephen King novel, would be the highest grossing new opener that weekend, grossing $6.11m, barely missing the top spot, which was held for a third week by the Chevy Chase film Vacation, which had earned $6.16m. Risky Business, which was making its young lead actor Tom Cruise a movie star, would take third place, with $4.58m. Then there was Return of the Jedi, which had been out three months by this point, the Sylvester Stallone-directed Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive, the Eddie Murphy/Dan Aykroyd comedy Trading Places, the god-awful Jaws 3-D, WarGames and Krull, which all had been out for three to eleven weeks by now, all grossing more than Smokey and the Bandit 3, with $1.73m in ticket sales.   Having it much worse was The Curse of the Pink Panther, Blake Edwards' attempt to reboot the Inspector Clouseau series with a new American character who may or may not have been the illegitimate son of Clouseau, which grossed an anemic $1.64m from 812 theatres. And then there was The Man Who Wasn't There, the 3-D comedy featuring Steve Guttenberg that was little more than a jumbled copy of Foul Play and North by Northwest that arrived too late in theatres to ride the now-dead stereoptic movie craze, which took in $1.38m from 980 theatres.   In its second week, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 would only lose five screens, but lose 52% of its opening weekend audience, bringing in just $830k that weekend.   Week three would see the film lose nearly 300 screens, bringing in just $218k.   Week four was Labor Day weekend itself, with its extra day of ticket sales, and you'd think Universal would just cut and run since the film was not doing great with audiences or critics. Yet, they would expand the film back to 460 theatres, including 47 theatres in the greater Los Angeles metro area. The gambit worked a little bit, with the film bringing in $1.3m during the extended holiday weekend, bringing the film's four week total gross to $5.02m.   And it would slowly limp along for a few more weeks, mostly in dollar houses, but Universal would stop tracking it after its fifth weekend in theatres, giving the film a final box office total of $5,678,950.   Oh, I almost forgot about Burt Reynolds. Burt did film his scene, a four minute or so cameo towards the end of the film, where Justice finally catches up to Cledus as The Bandit, but in Justice's mind's eye, he sees Cledus as Burt as The Bandit, where Burt as The Bandit does nothing more than half-ass read off his lines while sitting behind the wheel of the Trans Am.   I watched the movie on Paramount Plus back in January, when I originally planned on recording this episode. But it's no longer available on Paramount Plus. Nor is it available on Peacock, which is owned and operated by Universal, and where the film was once available. In May 2024, the only way to see Smokey and the Bandit is on long out-of-print low quality DVDs and Blu-Rays. JustWatch.com says the film is available on Apple TVs Showtime channel, but I can't find any Showtime channel on Apple TV, nor can I find the movie doing a simple search on Apple TV. The first two are on Apple TV, as part of the AMC+ channel. It's all so darn complicated.   But like I said, I watched it for the first and probably last time earlier this year. And, truth be told, it's not a totally painful film. It's not a good film in any way, shape or form, but what little good there is in it, it's thanks to Colleen Camp, who was not only gorgeous but had an amazing sense of comic timing. Anyway who saw her as Yvette the Maid in the 1985 comedy Clue already knows that.    Like a handful of film buffs and historians, I am still wildly interested in seeing the original cut of the film after more than forty years. If Universal can put out three different versions of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, including a preview cut that was taken away from Welles and re-edited without his consent, in the same set, certainly they can release both versions of Smokey and the Bandit Part 3. But let's face facts. Dick Lowry is no Orson Welles, and there is practically zero calls for this kind of special treatment for the film.   I just find it odd that in this day and age, the only thing that's escaped from the original version of the film after all this time is a single image of Gleason as The Bandit, which you can find on this episode's page at our website.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, including links to Smokey and the Bandit fan sites that have their own wealth of materials relating to the movie, and a video on YouTube that shows about 20mins of deleted and alternate scenes used in the television version of the movie, which may include an additional shot from the original movie that shows Dusty riding in the back of Big Enos's red Cadillac convertible.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

Our first episode returning from paternity leave takes us back to 1983, and one of two sequel bombs Universal made with Jackie Gleason that year, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3. ----more----   TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   On this episode, we'll be covering one of the oddest Part 3 movies to ever be made.   Smokey and the Bandit 3.   But before we do, I owe you, loyal listener an apology and an explanation.   Originally, this episode was supposed to be about the movies of H.B. “Toby” Halicki, who brought car chase films back to life in the mid-70s with his smash hit Gone in 60 Seconds. Part of the reason I wanted to do this episode was to highlight a filmmaker who doesn't get much love from film aficionados anymore, and part because this was the movie that literally made me the person I became. My mom was dating Toby during the making of the movie, a spent a number of days on the set as a five year old, and I even got featured in a scene. And I thought it would be fun to get my mom to open up about a part of her life after my parents' divorce that I don't remember much of.   And it turned into the discussion that made me question everything I became. Much of which I will cover when I find the courage to revisit that topic, hopefully in time for the 50th anniversary this July.   So, for now, and to kind of stick with the car theme this episode was originally going to be about, we're going to do a quick take on one of the most bizarre, and most altered, movies to ever come out of Hollywood.   As you may remember, Smokey and the Bandit was a 1977 hit film from stuntman turned director Hal Needham. Needham and Burt Reynolds has become friends in the early 1960s, and Needham would end up living in Reynolds' pool house for nearly a dozen years in the 60s and 70s. Reynolds would talk director Robert Aldrich into hiring Needham to be the 2nd unit director and stunt coordinator for the car chase scene Aldrich's 1974 classic The Longest Yard, and Reynolds would hire Needham to be his 2nd Unit Director on his own 1976 directorial debut, Gator. While on the set of Gator, the two men would talk about the movie Needham wanted to make his own directorial debut on, a low-budget B movie about a cat and mouse chase between a bootlegger and a sheriff as they tried to outwit each other across several state lines.   As a friend, Reynolds would ask Needham to read the script. The “script” was a series of hand-written notes on a legal pad. He had come up with the idea during the making of Gator, when the Teamster transportation captain brought some Coors beer to the production team. And, believe it or not, in 1975, it was illegal to sell or transport Coors beer out of states West of the Mississippi River, because the beer was not pasteurized and needed constant refrigeration.   Reynolds would read the “script,” which, according to Reynolds' 1994 autobiography My Life, was one of the worst things he had ever read. But Reynolds promised his friend that if he could get a studio involved and get a proper budget and script for the film, he would make it.   Needham would hire a series of writers to try and flesh out the notes from the legal pad into a coherent screenplay, and with a verbal commitment from Reynolds to star in it, he would soon get Universal Studios to to agree to make Smokey and the Bandit, to the tune of $5.3m. After all, Reynolds was still one of the biggest box office stars at the time, and $5.3m was small potatoes at the time, especially when Universal was spending $6.7m on the Super Bowl assassin thriller Two-Minute Warning, $9m on a bio-pic of General Douglas MacArthur, and $22m on William Friedkin's Sorcerer, an English-language version of the 1950 French novel The Wages of Fear.   Reynolds would take the lead as The Bandit, the driver of the chase car meant to distract the authorities from what the truck driver is hauling.    Jerry Reed, a country and western star, would get cast as The Snowman, the truck driver who would be hauling the Coors beer from Texarkana TX to Atlanta. Reed has only co-starred in two movies before, both starring Burt Reynolds, and even if they have almost no scenes together in the final film, their rapport on screen is obvious.   Sally Field, a television star who needed a big movie on her resume, would take the role of Carrie, the runaway bride who joins the Bandit in his chase car. Field had just completed Sybil, the dramatic television movie about a woman with multiple personality disorder, which would break Field out of the sitcom world she had been stuck in for the past decade.   Richard Boone, the star of the long-time television Western Have Gun - Will Travel, would be considered as the sheriff, Buford T. Justice, in pursuit of the Bandit throughout the movie, but Reynolds wanted some who was a bit more crazy, a bit more dangerous, and a heck of a lot funnier. And who wouldn't think of comedy legend Jackie Gleason?   Shooting on the film would begin in Georgia on August 30th, 1976, but not before some pencil pusher from Universal Studios showed up two days before the start of production to inform Needham and Reynolds that they needed to cut $1m from the budget by any means necessary. And the guys did exactly that, reducing the number of shooting locations and speaking roles.   The film would finish shooting eights weeks later, on schedule and on budget… well, on reduced budget, and when it was released in May 1977, just six days before the initial release of Star Wars, it bombed.   For some reason, Universal Studios decided the best way to open a movie about a bunch of good old boys in the South was to give it a big push at the world famous Radio City Music Hall in the heart of Manhattan, along with an hour long Rockets stage spectacular between shows.   The Radio City Music Hall could accommodate 6,000 people per show. Tickets for the whole shebang, movie and stage show, were $5, when the average ticket price in Manhattan at the time was $3.50. And in its first six days, Smokey and the Bandit grossed $125,000, which sounds amazing, until your told the cost of running Radio City Music Hall for a week, stage show and all, was $186,000. And in its second week, the gross would fall to $102,000, and to $90,000 in week three. And Universal would be locked in to Radio City for several more weeks.   But it wouldn't all bad news.   Universal quickly realized its error in opening in New York first, and rushed to book the film into 381 theatres in the South, including 70 in the Charlotte region, 78 in and around Jacksonville, 97 theatres between Oklahoma City and Dallas, another 57 between Memphis and New Orleans, and 79 in Atlanta, near many of the locations the film was shot. And in its first seven days in just those five regions, the film would gross a cool $3.8m. Along with the $102k from Radio City, the film's $3.9m gross would be the second highest in the nation, behind Star Wars. And despite bigger weekends from new openers like The Deep, The Exorcist II and A Bridge Too Far, Smokey and the Bandit would keep going and going and going, sticking around in theatres for more than two years in some areas, grossing more than $126m.   Naturally, there would be a sequel. But here's the funny part. Smokey and the Bandit II, a Universal movie, would be shot back to back with Cannonball Run, produced by the Hong Kong film company Golden Harvest as a vehicle to break their star Jackie Chan into the American market, which would also star Burt Reynolds and be directed by Hal Needham.    Filming on Smokey and the Bandit II was supposed to start in August 1979, but would be delayed until January 1980, because the film Reynolds was working on in the late summer of 1979, Rough Cut, went way over schedule.   While the budget for the sequel would be $10m, more than double the cost of the original film, the overall production was not a very pleasant experience for most involved. Needham was feeling the pressure of trying to finish the film ahead of schedule so he'd have some kind of break before starting on Cannonball Run in May 1980, because several of the other actors, including Roger Moore, were already locked into other movies after shooting completed on that film.   Burt Reynolds and Sally Field had started dating during the making of Smokey and the Bandit in 1976, and both of them signed their contracts to appear in the sequel in 1979, but by the time shooting started in 1980, the pair had broken up, and they were forced to pretend to be in love and be side by side in the Bandit's Trans Am for a couple months.   One of the few things that would go right on the film was a complex chase scene that could only be shot one time, for the end of the sequence would be the destruction of a 64 year old rollercoaster in suburban Atlanta.   They got the shot.   Needham would get a few weeks between the end of shooting Smokey and the Bandit II and the start of Cannonball Run, but the production on the latter film would be put on hold a couple times for a few days each, as Needham would have to go back to Los Angeles to supervise the editing of the former film.   Smokey and the Bandit II would make its planned August 15th, 1980 release, and would have a spectacular opening weekend, $10.8m from 1196 theatres, but would soon drop off, barely grossing half of the first film's box office take. That would still be profitable, but Needham, Reynolds and Field all nixed the idea of teaming up for a third film. Reynolds had been wanting to distance himself from his good old boy 1970s persona, Field was now an Oscar winning dramatic actress, and Needham wanted to try something different. We'll talk about that movie, Megaforce, another time.   But despite losing the interest of the main principles of the first two movies, Universal was still keen on making a third film. The first mention would be a line item in the Los Angeles Times' Calendar section on August 28th, 1981, when, within an article about the number of sequels that were about to gear up, including Grease 2 and Star Wars 3, aka Return of the Jedi, that Universal was considering a third Smokey movie as a cable television movie. In May 1982, Variety noted that the reduced budget of the film, estimated at under $5m, would not accommodate Reynolds' asking price at that time, let alone the cost of the entire production, and that the studio was looking at Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider as a possible replacement as The Bandit. In the end, it was decided that Jackie Gleason would return not only as Sheriff Buford T. Justice, but that he would also be, in several scenes, playing The Bandit as well.   Thus would begin the wild ride of the third film in the Smokey and the Bandit Cinematic Universe, Smokey IS the Bandit: Part 3.   It would take 11 different versions of the script written over the course of six months to get Gleason to sign off, because, somehow, he was given script approval before filming would begin.   Paul Williams and Pat McCormick would return for a third time as Little Enos and Big Enos, and the storyline would find the Burdette father and son making a bet with Sheriff Justice. Justice and his son Junior must deliver a big stuffed swordfish from Florida to a new seafood restaurant they are opening in Texas. If Justice can get the big stuffed swordfish from Point A to Point B in the time allotted, the Burdettes will give him $250,000, which Justice could use towards his impending retirement. If he doesn't, however, Justice will have to surrender his badge to the Burdettes, and he'd retire in disgrace.   Dick Lowry, who had been directed episodic television and TV movies for several years, including three episodes of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and the TV movie adaptation of Kenny Rogers' hit song The Gambler, would make his feature directing debut on Smokey Is the Bandit Part 3.   Production on the film would begin in Florida on October 25, 1982, and lasted two months, ending two days after Christmas, mostly in Florida.   Lowry and his team would assemble the film over the course of the next three months, before Universal held its first test screening on the studio lot in March 1983.   To say the screening was a disaster would be an understatement.   The audience didn't understand what the hell was going on here. They wondered how Justice, as The Bandit, could bed a character credited only as Blonde Bombshell, who looks at him the way women in 1982 would have looked at Burt Reynolds. They wondered why a plot twist in the very last scene was presented, that Dusty was really Big Enos's daughter, when it affected nothing in the story before or after its reveal. But, mostly, they were confused as to how one actor could play both title characters at the same time. Like, is Justice seeing himself as The Bandit, seeing himself behind the wheel of the Bandit's signature black and gold Pontiac Trans Am, and a beautiful country music DJ played by Colleen Camp as his companion, all while actually driving his signature sheriff's car with his son Junior as his constant companion?   The studio had two choices…   One, pony up a few extra million dollars to rewrite the script, and try to lure Reynolds back to play The Bandit…   Or, two, bury the movie and take the tax write off.   The second choice was quickly ruled out, as a teaser trailer for the film had already been released to theatres several weeks earlier, and there seemed to be some interest in another Smokey and the Bandit movie, even though the trailer was just Gleason, as Justice, standing in a military-style uniform, standing in front of a large America flag, and giving a speech to the camera not unlike the one George C. Scott gave at the start of the 1970 Best Picture winner, Patton. You can find a link to the teaser trailer for Smokey is the Bandit Part 3 on our website, at The80sMoviePodcast.com.   So the studio goes down to Jupiter, FL, where Reynolds had been living for years, and made him a sizable offer to play The Bandit for literally a couple of scenes. Since Gleason as Bandit only had one line in the film, and since most of the shots of Gleason as Bandit were done with wide lenses to hide that it wasn't Gleason doing any of the driving during the number of scenes involving the Trans Am and stunts, they could probably get everything they needed with Reynolds in just a day or two.   Reynolds would say “no” to that offer, but, strangely, he would agree to come back to the film, as The Bandit, for an extended sequence towards the end of the film. We'll get to that in a moment.   So with Reynolds coming back, but not in the capacity they wanted him in, the next thought was to go to Jerry Reed, the country singer and actor who had played Bandit's partner, The Snowman, in the first two films. Reed was amiable to coming aboard, but he wanted to play The Bandit. Or, more specifically, Cledus pretending to be The Bandit.   The film's screenwriters, Stuart Birnbaum and David Dashev, were called back in to do yet another rewrite. They would have only three weeks, as there was only a short window in April for the production team to get back together to do the new scenes with Reed and Colleen Camp. Dusty would go from being a country radio station DJ to a car dealership employee who literally walks off the job and into Cledus as Bandit's Trans Am. Reed's role as Cledus as Bandit was greatly expanded, and Dusty's dialogue would be altered to reflect both her new career and her time in the car with Cledus.   The reshoots would only last a few weeks, and Lowry would have a final cut ready for the film's planned August 12th theatrical release.   It is often stated, on this podcast and other sources, that in the 1980s, August was mostly the dumping ground of the studio's dogs, hoping to get a little bit of ticket sales before Labor Day, when families look at going on a vacation before the kids go back to school.   And the weekend of August 12th through 14th in 1983 was certainly one way to prove this argument.   Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 would be the second highest grossing new release that weekend, which is surprising in part because it would have a smaller percentage of prints out in the market compared to its competition, 498 prints, almost exclusively in the southern US. The bad news is that the film would barely make it into the Top Ten that weekend. Cujo, the adaptation of the 1981 Stephen King novel, would be the highest grossing new opener that weekend, grossing $6.11m, barely missing the top spot, which was held for a third week by the Chevy Chase film Vacation, which had earned $6.16m. Risky Business, which was making its young lead actor Tom Cruise a movie star, would take third place, with $4.58m. Then there was Return of the Jedi, which had been out three months by this point, the Sylvester Stallone-directed Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive, the Eddie Murphy/Dan Aykroyd comedy Trading Places, the god-awful Jaws 3-D, WarGames and Krull, which all had been out for three to eleven weeks by now, all grossing more than Smokey and the Bandit 3, with $1.73m in ticket sales.   Having it much worse was The Curse of the Pink Panther, Blake Edwards' attempt to reboot the Inspector Clouseau series with a new American character who may or may not have been the illegitimate son of Clouseau, which grossed an anemic $1.64m from 812 theatres. And then there was The Man Who Wasn't There, the 3-D comedy featuring Steve Guttenberg that was little more than a jumbled copy of Foul Play and North by Northwest that arrived too late in theatres to ride the now-dead stereoptic movie craze, which took in $1.38m from 980 theatres.   In its second week, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 would only lose five screens, but lose 52% of its opening weekend audience, bringing in just $830k that weekend.   Week three would see the film lose nearly 300 screens, bringing in just $218k.   Week four was Labor Day weekend itself, with its extra day of ticket sales, and you'd think Universal would just cut and run since the film was not doing great with audiences or critics. Yet, they would expand the film back to 460 theatres, including 47 theatres in the greater Los Angeles metro area. The gambit worked a little bit, with the film bringing in $1.3m during the extended holiday weekend, bringing the film's four week total gross to $5.02m.   And it would slowly limp along for a few more weeks, mostly in dollar houses, but Universal would stop tracking it after its fifth weekend in theatres, giving the film a final box office total of $5,678,950.   Oh, I almost forgot about Burt Reynolds. Burt did film his scene, a four minute or so cameo towards the end of the film, where Justice finally catches up to Cledus as The Bandit, but in Justice's mind's eye, he sees Cledus as Burt as The Bandit, where Burt as The Bandit does nothing more than half-ass read off his lines while sitting behind the wheel of the Trans Am.   I watched the movie on Paramount Plus back in January, when I originally planned on recording this episode. But it's no longer available on Paramount Plus. Nor is it available on Peacock, which is owned and operated by Universal, and where the film was once available. In May 2024, the only way to see Smokey and the Bandit is on long out-of-print low quality DVDs and Blu-Rays. JustWatch.com says the film is available on Apple TVs Showtime channel, but I can't find any Showtime channel on Apple TV, nor can I find the movie doing a simple search on Apple TV. The first two are on Apple TV, as part of the AMC+ channel. It's all so darn complicated.   But like I said, I watched it for the first and probably last time earlier this year. And, truth be told, it's not a totally painful film. It's not a good film in any way, shape or form, but what little good there is in it, it's thanks to Colleen Camp, who was not only gorgeous but had an amazing sense of comic timing. Anyway who saw her as Yvette the Maid in the 1985 comedy Clue already knows that.    Like a handful of film buffs and historians, I am still wildly interested in seeing the original cut of the film after more than forty years. If Universal can put out three different versions of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, including a preview cut that was taken away from Welles and re-edited without his consent, in the same set, certainly they can release both versions of Smokey and the Bandit Part 3. But let's face facts. Dick Lowry is no Orson Welles, and there is practically zero calls for this kind of special treatment for the film.   I just find it odd that in this day and age, the only thing that's escaped from the original version of the film after all this time is a single image of Gleason as The Bandit, which you can find on this episode's page at our website.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon.   Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, including links to Smokey and the Bandit fan sites that have their own wealth of materials relating to the movie, and a video on YouTube that shows about 20mins of deleted and alternate scenes used in the television version of the movie, which may include an additional shot from the original movie that shows Dusty riding in the back of Big Enos's red Cadillac convertible.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

Stevens Roundtable: Stevens Transport's Field Recruiter, Charles Wages On Why is the Best Trucking Company to Work For Charles Wages, the Recruiting Manager at Stevens Transport, joins Tim Cicciarelli on the Stevens Transport Roadside Radio podcast to discuss his role as a field recruiter and the benefits of becoming a driver for Stevens Transport. Charles primarily focuses on the Houston market and uses various methods such as online applications, social media, and partnerships with local community colleges to reach potential drivers. He emphasizes the importance of Stevens Transport's culture, which allows drivers to choose their own career path and offers flexibility and diversity in terms of routes and driving options. Charles highlights the success of Stevens Transport, which has been in operation for 43 years without any layoffs, and credits the company's leadership and family culture for its continued growth and success. Charles Wages - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-a-wages-a653067a/ Charles Wages Contact Number - 713-213-2741 Driver Spotlight: Trucking Veteran Shares Love for Trucking and Freedom of the Road Steve Harris, a truck driver for Stevens Transport, shares his journey into the trucking industry and the freedom he found in the profession. Inspired by movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," Steve was drawn to the adventure and independence of trucking. As an independent contractor, he appreciates the opportunity to run his own business and not have a ceiling on his income. Steve emphasizes the importance of managing tire pressure and fuel to maximize efficiency and profitability. He also praises his driver manager, Johnny Cox, for his excellent communication and support. Steve shares a crazy incident he witnessed on the road involving an aggressive driver who ended up crashing his truck. Overall, Steve's love for trucking and his dedication to his business shine through in this interview. Trucking Song: Texas Bound and Flyin' - Jerry Reed This song, released in 1980 as part of the soundtrack for the film “Smokey and the Bandit II,” captures the essence of freedom, adventure, and the open road.  With its catchy melody, infectious rhythm, and poignant lyrics, “Texas Bound and Flyin'” taps into the universal desire for exploration and the thrill of embarking on a journey. The song celebrates the unique spirit of Texas, a state known for its vast landscapes, independent culture, and boundless opportunities. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3RLYBBPf1Xy3cGZhkYpJEb?si=98fe7369a16b4da7 Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/texas-bound-and-flyin-from-the-motion-picture/1462084199?i=1462084203 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJP-iuBJdWQ Pilot/Flying J Rewards App: https://pilotflyingj.com/rewards For questions on whether you meet our driver qualifications, please call our Recruiting Department at 1-800-333-8595 or visit: www.stevenstransport.com/drivers/ Become a Driver for Stevens TransportFor questions on whether you meet our driver qualifications, please call our Recruiting Department at 1-800-333-8595 or visit: www.stevenstransport.com/drivers/ Stevens Transport 9757 Military Parkway, Dallas, TX 75227 http://www.stevenstransport.com/ http://www.becomeadriver.com/ Driver Recruiting: 1-800-333-8595.  Apply Here: https://intelliapp2.driverapponline.com Stevens Transport on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StevensTransport

Don't worry, Theophiloi! You still have some time to leave coffee out for a werewolf and decorate your anti-arousal thorn bush for Approximate Week (observed). We're bumping back our celebrations to once again bring you a Chill Hangout Sesh with some of our multipals! This time, it's the oft-mentioned Drs. Janet Spittler and Tony Burke, a pair of experts in New Testament Apocrypha that I personally mostly just ask about Wolverine from the X-Men. Topics of Discussion: NASCAR: it really works!™, the noncanon canon, Just Some Gospels, a few apocalypses is plenty of apocalypses, the Comically Extended Death of the Herods, Johnnys Thunderson and Bapto, Jesus and the first chain letter, Jeezey and the Bandit II, Bible Team-Up #1-7, Toxic Mark Gospels_Manual_V9_Revised_Final.pdf, a consensus of one (onesensus), remembering the yellow guy from cartoons. Hymnal: "Hand on the Needle" by Brent Hagerman. Apocrypals is edited by Editorial Deacon Lucas Brown. Offertory: As Enoch writes, "Whoever of you spends gold or silver for his brother's sake, he will receive ample treasure in the world to come." Support the show via http://ko-fi.com/apocrypals, or check out Official Apocrypals merchandise designed by Erica Henderson! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/apocrypals?ref_id=18246  Black Lives Matter. Trans Lives Matter. Heck 12. Isaiah 54:17  

Mark and Chris discuss the 1980 movie Smokey & The Bandit! 

   On the season 4 premiere episode, Phillip and his cousin Chip talk about the 1980 sequel Smokey and the Bandit II. They first make some corrections from last years finale. Then they discuss the basic information about the movie. Then it's a new segment called Recasted, where they talk about who they would cast today in the movie. They read some listener opinions about the movie, and then it's a walk through and discussion about what's wrong and what's right with this movie. Phillip then ends the show with Phil's Film Favorite of the Week; Harvey (1950). It's a fun discussion, but come back next week for.... The Sequels Pt. 2: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

   On the season 4 premiere episode, Phillip and his cousin Chip talk about the 1980 sequel Smokey and the Bandit II. They first make some corrections from last years finale. Then they discuss the basic information about the movie. Then it's a new segment called Recasted, where they talk about who they would cast today in the movie. They read some listener opinions about the movie, and then it's a walk through and discussion about what's wrong and what's right with this movie. Phillip then ends the show with Phil's Film Favorite of the Week; Harvey (1950). It's a fun discussion, but come back next week for.... The Sequels Pt. 2: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

    This week on a special Year End Season 3 Finale wrap up Phillip is joined by his cousin Chip once again. They read some listener opinions about favorite movies, which lead the guys to talk about their favorite movies. Then they read some comments about the podcast. Phillip reads some questions that he has prepared for him and his cousin; favorite new movies of 2021, favorite episodes of the podcast, movies that stood out, personal goals achieved in 2021, personal goals for 2022, guest co-hosts coming up in 2022, and movies planned for the podcast for 2022. Then Phillip gives his Phil's Film Favorite of the week; Blast of Silence (1961). It was a good year and we hope that you come back next year to hear more shows. Happy New Year everyone! Come back on January 21st for Goosebump Moments Pt. 1: Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

    This week on a special Year End Season 3 Finale wrap up Phillip is joined by his cousin Chip once again. They read some listener opinions about favorite movies, which lead the guys to talk about their favorite movies. Then they read some comments about the podcast. Phillip reads some questions that he has prepared for him and his cousin; favorite new movies of 2021, favorite episodes of the podcast, movies that stood out, personal goals achieved in 2021, personal goals for 2022, guest co-hosts coming up in 2022, and movies planned for the podcast for 2022. Then Phillip gives his Phil's Film Favorite of the week; Blast of Silence (1961). It was a good year and we hope that you come back next year to hear more shows. Happy New Year everyone! Come back on January 21st for Goosebump Moments Pt. 1: Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

Download the episode We're Eastbound & Down…AGAIN!! Guilty Pleasures is teaming up with Front Row Classics to talk about the Smokey & The Bandit trilogy. On this episode, we get into 1980's Smokey & The Bandit Part II! Burt Reynolds, Sally Field & Jackie Gleason are back, this time with Dom DeLuise and an elephant. Cynical … Continue reading Smokey & The Bandit II →

Download the episode We're Eastbound & Down…AGAIN!! Guilty Pleasures is teaming up with Front Row Classics to talk about the Smokey & The Bandit trilogy. On this episode, we get into 1980's Smokey & The Bandit Part II! Burt Reynolds, Sally Field & Jackie Gleason are back, this time with Dom DeLuise and an elephant. Cynical … Continue reading Smokey & The Bandit II →

We're Eastbound & Down…AGAIN!! Guilty Pleasures is teaming up with Front Row Classics to talk about the Smokey & The Bandit trilogy. On this episode, we get into 1980's Smokey & The Bandit Part II! Burt Reynolds, Sally Field & Jackie Gleason are back, this time with Dom DeLuise and an elephant. Cynical cash-grab or hidden gem? Larry Smith (Convince Me) joins Lou & Brandon to render our verdict! Find Lou on Twitter - https://twitter.com/thefakelouhare Find us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Guilty-Pleasures-A-Front-Row-Network-Podcast-103833148379753

Sony ist zurück gerudert! Die Super League ist Geschichte! Alles nur wegen unserem Podcast! BattlefieldN00b EULE - Single by Jan Delay, Marteria | Spotify Fortitude - Album by Gojira | Spotify Reluctant Hero - Album by Killer Be Killed | Spotify Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt - Album by Danger Dan | Spotify Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - IMDb Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) - IMDb Auf dem Highway ist die Hölle los (1981) - IMDb Cannonball Run II (1984) - IMDb NieR Replicant Ver.1.22474487139... (2021) Picross S6 (2021) R-TYPE FINAL 2 (2021) Cuphead (2017)

In this episode: Justice League (2021); Mortal Kombat (2021); Godzilla vs. Kong (2021); The New Mutants (2020); Instant Family (2018); Eurotrip (2004); French Kiss (1995); Peggy Sue Got Married (1986); Beverly Hills Cop (1984); Smokey & the Bandit II (1980); Huh, That Was Interesting!; Man, Are We Old?!

Haw hawwww! It's the Bandit, and he's back to pester that pesky Buford T. Justice in another smash-em-up crash-em-up... complete mess of a movie. It's Smokey and the Bandit II, and we're talking about it this week on Time Bandits. Before that, we discuss what we're watching and enjoying in the year 2020 before hopping in the time machine, as always. Listen in, friends! Plus, we have an all-new mixtape featuring songs from 1980 for you to listen to right here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cCmVHwUxYJnfT5grcYkz3 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/time-bandits/message

John Durrill is a name you probably don't know but here's just a bit about him and why you'll want to listen to his story.For almost six decades, award winning, songwriter John Durrill's works have been recorded by more than sixty major recording artists in the US and around the world. Frank Sinatra, Bette Midler, Cher, and Everly Brothers, Chicago, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, The Statler Brothers, Joe Williams. Sarah Vaughn, Peggy Lee and Reba are a sampling of artists whose hits have sold over fifty million singles, albums, DVD's and CD's of John's compositions.As a former high school English teacher in Oklahoma John, along with his close friend Mike Rabon, formed "The Five Americans" in 1963. John, Mike and group member Norm Ezell, wrote and sang the Group's first top ten hit, "I See The Light", soon followed by the number on record "Western Union" selling over a million copies.In 1968 Durrill left the The Five Americans and joined the Internationally famous, instrumental group, "The Ventures" in Hollywood, California. Shortly after their mega hit "Hawaii 5-0", John co-wrote "Kyoto Doll" which was released by The Ventures in Japan and soon the multi million selling single became a standard recorded by scores of artists in the Far East. In March, 2008 The Ventures were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with John Mellencamp, Madonna, Leonard Cohen, and the Dave Clark Five.Besides his over fifty year affiliation with The Ventures, John is one of the Music Industry's most prolific songwriters. In 1970 he joined forces with one of Hollywood's all time, most successful, record producers, Snuff Garrett. Virtually every record project produced by Snuff had the Durrill name attached to it as a writer. During this period, John worked with Clint Eastwood writing songs and music backgrounds for five of Clint's popular films. His song "Misery and Gin", written for the movie "Bronco Billy" went on to become number one in the charts for legendary Merle Haggard. In Eastwood's "Any Which Way You Can", Durrill wrote five of the movies songs, one of them, "The Good Guys and The Band Guys" on camera in the film.John wrote for over twenty motion pictures and television series including "Smokey and The Bandit II", "Sharkey's Machine", "The Cannon Ball Movies", and "Reba".Over the years Cher has recorded five of Durrill's songs including her number on hit, "Dark Lady" and "I Saw A Man" and "He Danced With His Wife". The Everly Brothers' sang three of his compositions and Chicago's XXV Christmas CD included his song "Child's Prayer" which he co-wrote with Lee Loughnane, one of the founding members of the group.John continues to write and produce music, and when he can; he likes to visit Maui where I met him many years ago.

#SmokeyAndTheBandit #BurtReynolds This week, we are joined by Chauncey Frend (@ChaunceyF) to discuss one of his all-time favorites: Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sparkofmadness Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MadOfSpark/ Instagram: @sparkofmadness_podcast Twitter: @madofspark The Game Sharks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdUB-NbgXL-JTG5-O5hsuxA

STAR WARS was the highest grossing movie of 1977, but guess what was in second place? SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, a jovial jaunt through the American south starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields as they try to smuggle Coors beer across state lines. It was such a huge smash hit that there were SEVEN sequels, including four straight-to-television installments that almost nobody has heard of.Does the SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT franchise live up to the hero’s reputation, or does it deserve to get left in the dust? We’ll find out in this week’s CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, right after we dish about Witney Seibold’s debut in the MOVIE TRIVIA SCHMOEDOWN and review the new releases HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD and FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY!Email us at letters(a)criticallyacclaimed.net, follow your hosts on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani and @WitneySeibold, and follow the podcast/website at @CriticAcclaim. Check out our website at www.criticallyacclaimed.net and head on over to www.patreon.com/canceledtoosoon to contribute to the show and get even more exclusive content!1:34 - Introductions 3:43 - Movie Trivia Schmoedown (Spoilers) 11:48 - How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) 25:40 - Fighting With My Family (2019) 32:05 - Smokey and the Bandit (1977) 47:03 - Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) 59:50 - Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983) 1:10:48 - Bandit: Bandit Goes Country (1994) 1:19:58 - Bandit: Bandit Bandit (1994) 1:23:23 - Bandit: Beauty and the Bandit (1994) 1:19:10 - Bandit: Bandit’s Silver Angel (1994)

Hosts Mat Bradley-Tschirgi, Jersey Jason, William Thrasher (in his first Sequelcast episode) and special guest Will Kiser (Writer for The Super 8 Society) discuss Smokey and the Bandit II. The Snowman (Jerry Reed) and the Frog (Sally Field) have to sober up the Bandit (Burt Reynolds) to deliver a crate from Miami, Florida to Dallas, Texas. In many ways, this feels like a more family friendly remake of the original. Burt Reynolds seems tuned out reprising his role as the titular Bandit, but Jackie Gleason goes for broke playing Sheriff Buford T. Justice and two of his relatives (!!!). The new songs don't sound as catchy as in the first flick either. Follow the show on Twitter @Sequelcast2 Like our Sequelcast 2 Facebook Page Sequelcast 2 is delighted to be a member of The Batman Podcast Network. Hear more great podcasts here! Watch Thrasher's tabletop RPG YouTube show d-infinity Live!. Listen to Marc with a C's music podcast Discography. Buy One Starry Night, a Cthulhu Live scenario Thrasher contributed to, from DriveThruRPG!  Watch Alex Miller's YouTube series The Trailer Project!

This week's episode is a special tribute to Burt Reynolds: we're dropping Episode 3 of Redneck Matinee into the feed this week, all about Smokey and the Bandit. Dog contests, chimp bites, Jerry Reed genie, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Mike Henry, Hal Needham, Enoses Big and Little, and freedom.   Please subscribe to Redneck Matinee. Smokey and the Bandit II is coming soon, and it's got an elephant. Theme by William Sherry Jr. Art by Stephen Mullinax. Patreon! Twitter! Facebook! Our other podcast! And another!

A touch of creativity and the help of a good writer COULD HAVE produced a noteworthy sequel to one of the greatest car movies of all time, Smokey and the Bandit. Instead, everybody failed. Our hero Hal Needham failed to produce anything more than a week retread of the previous movie, our stars (with the exception of Jerry Reed) failed to show much interest in their own performances, and Pontiac failed by producing the most anemic, gawdy, Trans Am with 1980 Turbo Trans Am. Smokey and the Bandit II might have made a few kids happy. It might have made its money-grabbing producer happy, and it might have made Hal Needham happy on payday, but it sent what could have been a bankable franchise into a downward spiral it would never recover from. Jerry Reed tries his best to make this movie great - and it's not without its moments - indeed, a stunt man performs a record-setting jump that's mostly buried in the climactic game of chicken at the end of the movie - but it's not enough.  This movie, like Burt Reynolds' flagging career and the malaise-era, underpowered turbo Trans Am, is just plain terrible.  Don't watch this movie. Listen to this podcast. Learn where the best scenes are, then be happy you missed it. If you saw it, sorry. Follow us! @SidBridgeComedy, @S2KJames, @ReelsandWheels! Leave us some feedback! Anybody want to defend this movie? Let us know!

Scott is halfway out of the well! And just in time for a very strange episode, featuring films like SMOKEY & THE BANDIT II, THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU, and XANADU. This is the first appearance of Jackie Chan on the podcast, the first appearance of Tom Hanks, and we even cover two (yes, TWO) Chuck Norris movies.

Its time for another great threepeat of similarly themed crappy movies and in honor of Cap Vs Iron Man we are going to delve into some of the less talked about but maybe even worse superhero movies that have graced the silver screen and then tripped upon entrance. You'll thrill at Superman IV's ineptness! You'll gasp at the offensiveness of Supergirl! You'll wonder at the banana business that is Punisher: War Zone! Join us for this excellent showcase of flops in the worlds of DC and Marvel. This week we prepare to enter the world of the 4 Christopher Reeves' Superman experience with the fourth and final of them. Superman faces off against Nuclear Man and the world's problem with too many damn nukes! We start the episode with Arch-Maker.com, the only speed dating experience for hero's and villain's trying to find the perfect nemesis match. Streaming Do's and Don'ts Smokey and the Bandit II - Starz The Saint - Netflix Demons - Shudder.tv Wild Card - The Great Superpower Debate Static Electricity Sponge Person - 4/10 stars

The product of a sympathetic nervous system askew, Fake Limbs is simultaneous fight and flight; hysteria with teeth. This dumb, lumbering beast with four backs just wants to graze and screw but when forced into a corner, it transforms ferociously. They’re part Harry and the Hendersons and part Smokey and the Bandit II (the one where all the cops get destroyed). Concussive, unrelenting percussion supports wild, desperate guitars and unhinged vocalization. They transcend both the flailing childish entitlement of the aggro and the apologetic whining of the meek. The result is uncomfortable, loud, and sexually confusing.