Smokey and the Bandit

Continuity mistake: Sheriff Buford T. Justice gets out of his car and leaves the door open. A few moments later, we see a different shot of the car with the door closed. Then a truck drives by and tears the car door off which is open again.

Continuity mistake: When the Bandit first pulls over and picks up Sally Field, then he screeches off, if you look at the road you can see all the skid marks from all of the other takes of this scene, even down to the bit where the van pulls out of the junction and the bandit does his thing and then suddenly speeds off.

Smokey and the Bandit mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene near the end Snowman drives a truck into a load of police cars if you play it in slow motion you can see a protector around the lights.

Continuity mistake: When Bandit and Snowman are picking up the beer, Bandit crashes the forklift into the boxes of beer which also forces Snowman to fall into the boxes. You can see all of the boxes crumble under the weight of Snowman, which then shows that all of the boxes are empty.

Continuity mistake: In one scene where the Bandit and the Snowman are on their way to pick up the beer, you can see Frog (Sally Field) riding with the Bandit. They did not pick up Frog (Sally Field) until after they were on their way back to Atlanta.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Frog and Bandit crash onto the football field, as they are getting off of the field, you can see them approaching a dugout made of concrete blocks. When they crash through to the other side, the same building is made of wood.

Continuity mistake: When the Bandit and Frog make the jump onto the field where the kids are playing football, the Trans Am goes through a chain linked fence then under a score stand. As it emerges through the wall, the antenna is broken, lying rearward onto the rear glass. The very next shot from the other side shows the antenna is fine and a few wood boards are around it. And when the boards fall off, this antenna falls off completely. The next time we see the car, a third antenna is in place again.

Continuity mistake: Many times, especially early on, you can hear shifts and see through skid marks that the Trans Am is a 4-speed, but interior shots show it to be an automatic transmission, except when Bandit mashes the brakes - then the car's a stick-shift again.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where the tractor trailer and the Trans Am meet up at Ole Miss, We see the Trans Am stop a ways ahead of the rig. In the next shot the Trans Am is closer than before.

Continuity mistake: When The Bandit is getting ready to get in the convoy of trucks, right before he gets in between the trucks, all the trucks are close together. When they show a closeup inside the car, you can see the trucks are farther apart when you look out he back window. In the next shot when the cop car is pulling up, the trucks are close to each other once again. (01:16:35)

TiggBoy

Revealing mistake: In a scene where Frog is riding with the Bandit, she's resting her head on the center gearshift console. Although they're supposed to be cruising down the road, the automatic transmission shifter is in neutral.

Smokey and the Bandit mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After the Bandit jumps the bridge Sheriff Justice rear-ends the cop car in front of him, smashing the hood of his car. In the next scene Sheriff Justice's hood is fine.

Continuity mistake: The odometer in the Trans Am is shown to have 1108.8 miles on it, rolling on up to 1108.9 during the shot. A little later during the movie, after they have travelled a considerable amount of miles, Bandit says, "We'll let's just see what he's got under the hood." A close-up of the speedometer shows the odometer is still on 1108.9.

Revealing mistake: In the scene where the Trans Am is hiding among the truck convoy, you can see that the vehicles are all on the wrong side of the highway, as if to let the camera vehicle travel on the normal side of the highway. Notice the missing westbound lanes in the background as the vehicles are pointing directly to the viewer's right...then the lanes are back when the vehicles are shown from the front or rear.

Smokey and the Bandit mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Buford T Justice is waiting in line behind a bunch of cars stopped at a car accident (in Alabama) there is a green Cadillac behind him, when he pulls off to the side to try getting through and gets stopped by the trooper, the same Cadillac is in the front of the line. At the very end of the film, when Bandit and Smokey are talking on CBs to each other, the same Cadillac is parked in the background, ahead of the red convertible that Bandit is driving...now in Georgia!

Visible crew/equipment: When Snowman stops off at the diner, when he enters and leaves from the diner, various crew-members and equipment are visible in the windows on the doors.

Other mistake: They go to Texarkana, Texas, to pick up the beer, and later in the movie, they are in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Why would they go due north to Fayetteville to get to Atlanta, which is East?

Visible crew/equipment: There is a scene that is filmed with a camera mounted outside the passenger door of the Trans AM as it is being driven. Frog is in the passenger seat, Bandit is driving. Look at the bottom of the screen at the reflection in the car door. The camera is clearly visible.

Continuity mistake: When Justice arrives to find the roadblock has broken up to chase Bandit, his car has a black quarter panel on the passenger side. But before and after this moment, the quarter is the same bronze as the rest of the car.

johnrosa

Revealing mistake: When Frog makes her "We're going 110." comment, they then show a close-up of the dash-board. Even though the speedometer does show them to be going 110 (albeit km/hr, not miles), the ignition key is in the 'off' position, and the 'amp' gauge shows '0'. This is a clear indication that the engine was not actually running during this shot. (00:21:00)

Buford T. Justice: What we're dealing with here is a complete lack of respect for the law.

More quotes from Smokey and the Bandit

Trivia: Jackie Gleason's character is Buford T. Justice. This was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Burt Reynolds' father who was once Chief of Police of Jupiter, Florida.

More trivia for Smokey and the Bandit

Question: Does anyone know if the Trans AM and the truck used in the film are still around?

Answer: The trailer appeared in a recent episode of "The Walking Dead"

The trailer on the walking dead episode is a replica it's not the original one used in the movie as the one in TWD is a standard low slung with air baffles the original one doesn't have those and is also refrigerated.

Answer: The original "Bandit" Trans am no longer exists, but one from the second movie is kept at The Performance Car Museum, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The original "Bandit" Trans Am still exists. Burt Reynolds owned it right up to the time of his passing. It was then auctioned at the Barrett-Jackson auction house in Florida and sold for more then half a million dollars. That Trans AM is now in the hands of a private collector and no doubt very well cared for.

More questions & answers from Smokey and the Bandit

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