Smokey and the Bandit petroleum company Mobil 1 produced television commercials, featuring NASCAR star Tony Stewart, closely based on the film. Called "Smoke is the Bandit" playing on Stewart's nickname, the commercials featured him as the Bandit opposite Darrell Waltrip who played Snowman and Jeff Hammond as Buford T. Justice. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. The adverts poked fun at the film and even featured a Pontiac Trans Am and a cover version of the song "East Bound and Down". The commercials were produced after Stewart mentioned that the movie was one of his favorites. When "Smokey and the
Smokey and the Bandit holds up the CB mic for Snowman to hear. The film's editors, Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes it has a 79% rating based on 29 reviews. Alfred Hitchcock stated that the film was one of his favorites. Upon meeting Burt Reynolds, Billy Bob Thornton told him that the picture was not considered a "film" in the south, so much as a documentary. "Smokey and the Bandit" was released in the United Kingdom on August 28, 1977 and was a sizeable success there, garnering positive