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![]() ![]() The original budget financed by Universal Studios was $5.4 million, but right before shooting was to begin, it was slashed by $1 million. after the main movies in drive-in theatres, to be a feature film that was second only to Star Wars in 1977. Reynolds read it, and said he would do the movie, and Reed became the truck-driving “Snowman.” This bumped the project up from a B movie destined to play at 1:00 a.m. He wrote the original movie, with a $1 million budget, for another pal, Gerry Reed to play the Bandit. Needham made it work, partly because this was his first stab at directing and writing a movie, so he was highly motivated to make it a success! ![]() The movie’s director, Hal Needham had guts! The former stuntman and good friend of Burt Reynolds asked Pontiac for six Trans-Ams, but got only four Trans-Ams and two sedans for Sheriff Buford T Justice to abuse. The era of Muscle Cars was over and this was one last kick at the can for a big powerful American car to rule the day! Burt Reynolds driving the Trans-Am in the movie certainly contributed to a sales jump for Pontiac! Product placement was certainly not new the use of James Bond’s Aston Martins and the Bullitt Mustang certainly helped sales of those cars….but those cars were driven by the “Good Guys.” Asking Pontiac to pony up six brand-new Trans-Ams for an outlaw, that takes some guts. As films go, 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit may not have been as epic as Ben Hur, but it certainly firmly planted the 1977 Pontiac Trans-Am into every teenage boy’s dreams. ![]()
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