Smokey and the Bandit original film. The updated version of the film features sounds inaccurate for what would be produced by the Trans Am or the numerous other Pontiac vehicles in the film. The original film had correct sounds that were usually recorded live as the action took place. A series of four made-for-TV spin-off films ("Bandit Goes Country", "Bandit Bandit", "Beauty and the Bandit" and "Bandit's Silver Angel") were produced in 1994 for Universal Television's Action Pack with actor Brian Bloom playing a younger version of Bandit. The three original films introduced two generations of the Pontiac Trans Am, and the Dodge Stealth
Jackie Gleason New York City, filming moved to Miami, Florida, in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there. Among his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in the 1961 Academy Award-winning drama "The Hustler" (co-starring with Paul Newman), and Buford T. Justice in the "Smokey and the Bandit" series from 1977 into the early 1980s (co-starring Burt Reynolds). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career, producing a series of best-selling "mood music" albums. His first album, "Music for Lovers Only", still holds the record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks),