Smokey and the Bandit episodes of the series. Needham saw an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and knew right away that would be the Bandit's car, or, as Needham referred to it, a character in the movie. He contacted Pontiac and an agreement was made that four 1977 Trans Ams and two Pontiac LeMans 4-door sedans would be provided for the movie. The Trans Ams were actually 1976-model cars with 1977 front ends. (From 1970 to 1976, both the Firebird/Trans Am and Chevrolet Camaro had two round headlights, and in 1977, the Firebird/Trans Am was changed to four rectangular headlights, while
Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 is a 1983 American action comedy film and a sequel to "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977) and "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980), starring Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Paul Williams, Pat McCormick, Mike Henry and Colleen Camp. The film also includes a cameo near the film's end by the original Bandit, Burt Reynolds. With a budget of a television movie, which was around twice the budget used for the first part, many action and comedic scenes are rehashes of scenes from the previous two "Smokey and the Bandit"