Smokey and the Bandit

Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American action comedy road film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams, and Mike Henry. The film marks the directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham.

The film follows Bo "The Bandit" Darville (Reynolds) and Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Reed), two truck-driving bootleggers attempting to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. While the Snowman drives the truck carrying the beer, the Bandit drives blocker, in a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am, to distract law enforcement and keep the attention off the Snowman. During their run, they are pursued by Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason), of Montague County, Texas, as indicated by the decal on the Sheriff's patrol car.

Smokey and the Bandit was a box office success following initial screenings at drive-in theaters across the Southern United States that prompted Universal to reopen the film nationwide, grossing $127 million ($512 million in 2024) against a $4.3 million ($17.3 million in 2024) budget, becoming the second-highest-grossing domestic film of 1977 in the United States.

The film became the first installment of the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy as the start in the Smokey and the Bandit franchise.