Supposedly, it is a trilogy, but virtually nobody knows if there really was a third movie, not even Burt Reynolds himself. A reporter recently insisted on this fact and got into an argument with Mr. Reynolds. The matter was settled in true Burt Reynolds fashion, with his greatly feared Media Freshmaker (a strong-arm slap of Rick James caliber).
The DVD we watched listed Smokey and the Bandit 1,2, & 3 on the menu, but when you try to access Smokey and the Bandit 3, all you see is a prompt to flip the disc over (note: the DVD is on a one-sided disc, thus trying to play the label side will only result in frustration and possibly a broken DVD player…personally I think it is one of Burt Reynolds’ practical jokes, but more on that later).
Anyhow, I thought I would give a brief synopsis as to why the original was and still is far superior to the sequel and rumored to exist “Smokey and the Bandit 3.”
As a true bench mark to any film’s worth, let’s first examine some of their finer snippets of IMDB Trivia.
Smokey and the Bandit was the second highest grossing movie released in 1977 next to Star Wars…compare that to…(Re: Smokey and the Bandit 2) To the chagrin of the stunt crew, the Turbo Trans Ams didn't have quite the performance they were hoping for. So to get a respectable amount of speed out of them, they installed nitrous oxide tanks.
Cleary the 1977 Trans-am (used in the original) was far superior to the 1979 Trans-am (used in the sequel).
The screen time of Fred, Cleetus Snow’s loveable hound dog and film’s true acting genius, was severely cut in the sequel in order to quell Sally Field’s complaints on continually being upstaged.
Anyone who’s worked with Burt knows he’s an absolute rapscallion of a practical joker. After shooting the Don Williams bar scene, they whole cast went out to blow off some steam. Everyone got sauced and when they returned to the set, Burt thought it would be funny to put a padlock on Dom Deluise’s personal refrigerator. Once discovered, an infuriated Deluise retaliated by eating Burt’s entire wardrobe except for the gay caballero outfit, which Burt was forced to wear for the remainder of the film.
After riding high on the hog of the first film (and not anticipating a sequel) Sally Field’s party-hard lifestyle finally caught up with her as she balloon to 8,000 pounds. Back then fitness routines were in the dark-age and personal trainers non-existent. As a result, Sally Fields made excessive demands in order for her to agree to be in the sequel. She insisted the sequel included BOTH Dom Deluise AND an elephant so as to give the optical illusion of her slimness.
