Smokey and the Bandit Part 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dick Lowry
Written by	Stuart Birnbaum David Dashev
Based on	Characters by Hal Needham Robert L. Levy
Produced by	Mort Engelberg
Starring	Jackie Gleason Paul Williams Pat McCormick Jerry Reed Mike Henry Colleen Camp
Cinematography	James Pergola
Edited by	David E. Blewitt Byron "Buzz" Brandt Christopher Greenbury
Music by	Larry Cansler
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	August 12, 1983 (1983-08-12)
Running time	85 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$9 million[1]
Box office	$7 million[2]

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (also known as: Smokey and the Bandit III) is a 1983 American action comedy film and a sequel to Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Smokey and the Bandit II (1980). The film is the third and final installment of the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy in the Smokey and the Bandit franchise, starring Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Paul Williams, Pat McCormick, Mike Henry and Colleen Camp. The film also includes a cameo near the end by the original Bandit, Burt Reynolds.

With one of the main titular characters missing, the plot of the film revolves instead around Sheriff Buford T. Justice ("Smokey"), with the presence of the Bandit merely being suggested through him being impersonated by Cledus ("Snowman").

The film received negative reviews and was a box office bomb.

Plot

Big Enos and Little Enos offer retiring Sheriff Buford T. Justice a wager, betting $250,000 against his badge on his ability to transport a large stuffed fish from Miami to Austin. Buford rejects the wager and retires, but goes through all sorts of mishaps before finally realizing retirement is not all it is cracked up to be and accepting the Enoses' wager. Buford picks up the fish and starts driving with his son, Junior.

As the Enoses set many traps, but Buford dodges all of them, they decided to hire Bo "Bandit" Darville to intercept him. However, he was due to being too hard to manage. So instead, they hire Cledus Snow from retiring as the Snowman, to become the new Bandit. Cledus parks his semi truck at his house, and leaving Fred with Freida for his company. Cledus sets off by driving one of the Bandit's Pontiac Trans Am cars.

Cledus picks up Dusty Trails, who quits her job at a used car dealership at the town's Autorama. Cledus catches up with Buford, and steals the fish with Dusty's help. Buford pursues Cledus, with another local officer who attempts to take charge of the situation. Both police cars are disabled in the chase.

Buford catches up after Cledus and Dusty make their stop at the Gator Kicks Longneck Saloon to eat. The chase then creates mass chaos in a local town. Cledus escapes when an 18-wheeler blocks the alleyway where he sped through. While trying to get the truck out, Buford's car is towed, but he reverses the car and escapes. The tow truck driver chases him, while Junior is spinning on the hook. As Buford keeps on going with the chase, he makes the tow truck ram the cars and tipped over, as Junior falls down and got scared as he quickly climbed up to the tree as the other car crashed into a pile-up.

Buford chases Cledus in the Mississippi Fairgrounds. Buford's car is thrown up on two side wheels by an incline, but he continues the pursuit while driving on two wheels.

That night, Cledus and Dusty stop at a hotel called the Come On Inn, where people are involved in an orgy. Buford sees the Trans Am parked there and searches for the fish, which he finds. Buford also thinks he finds Cledus in the sauna, but it turns out to be a muscular woman who bonds with him.

The next day, one of Buford's tires are blown by the "Enos Devil Darts". Cledus retakes the fish. Buford pursues on the remaining three tires, first through a herd of cattle, then through parked boats, then a nudist camp, then through a field where the Enoses set off explosions, one of which destroys the car except the engine, seat, and lights, the latter of which Junior is holding above his head.

Cledus intends to surrender the fish (while Junior bravely gets it back, carefully) and takes first place, while Buford takes second place, and the Enoses take third place as they arrived at the Enos' Fish & Chips restaurant. As Buford collects his money from Little Enos, he sees Cledus. Thinking he is dealing with the real Bandit, he resists as the Bandit (imagined as Burt Reynolds) attempts to sweet-talk him out of capturing him before Junior (in a voiceover), reminding him of what is in store for him if he retires. Buford and the Bandit both separately come to the same conclusion that they need each other in order to have meaning in their lives and the chase resumes, with Buford giving the Bandit a five-minute head start and with the muscular woman joining up with him. Junior is left behind and chases after Buford and the muscular woman, dropping all the money in the process and during sunset.

Cast

Production

The film was originally entitled Smokey IS the Bandit, and did not include Jerry Reed in the cast. Contemporary newspapers refer to original plans to feature Gleason as both "Smokey" and "the Bandit",^[3] and Reed's name does not appear in early promotional materials or newspaper accounts during the film's production. According to some accounts, Jackie Gleason was to play two roles: Sheriff Buford T. Justice and a different "Bandit". The original version was shot in October 1982. Reportedly test audiences reacted poorly, finding Gleason's two roles confusing, so the studio opted to do re-shoots in April 1983.^[4] The Bandit scenes were re-shot with Jerry Reed playing the role. Other accounts indicate that the title was more literal: that Gleason was to play only Sheriff Justice, but the character would also fill the role of "the Bandit", by taking the Enos family's challenge (as Reynolds' character had done in the previous two films).^[5] In a teaser trailer for the film (billed as Smokey IS the Bandit), Gleason appears in character as Justice, explaining to the audience that to defeat the Bandit he would adopt the attributes of his prey, "becoming [my] own worst enemy". A publicity still of Gleason apparently shows him in costume as the Bandit.^[6]

Soundtrack

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on vinyl and cassette tape by MCA Records in 1983.

Reception

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 received negative reviews by critics and the film was generally regarded as the weakest of the three Bandit films in terms of both storyline and revenue.^[7][8] On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 17% based on reviews from six critics.^[7]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave the film a negative review: "The already skimpy running time of Smokey and the Bandit, Part 3 is padded by an opening montage of earlier Smokey scenes, including shots of Burt Reynolds lounging in a zebra-print hammock. He is grinning, as well he might, because he has been able to sit out Part 3 altogether. What has he missed? An interminable car chase punctuated by dumb stunts and even dumber dialogue, plus the well-worth-missing sight of Paul Williams in a dress".^[8] Variety magazine staff wrote: "The sense of fun in that original is missing and the countless smashups and near-misses are orchestrated randomly".^[9]

Despite the enormous financial success of the original film (grossing over $300 million on a budget of less than $5 million), coupled with respectable (though significantly lower) numbers generated by the sequel, the third installment was both a critical and box office flop, grossing only $7 million against the film's $9 million production budget.^[1][2]

References

External links

• Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 at IMDb
• Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 at AllMovie
• Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 at the TCM Movie Database
• Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 at Box Office Mojo