Smokey and the Bandit sponsored a racer in Atlanta's Southern Classic and wants to celebrate in style when he wins. They find local legend Bo "Bandit" Darville at a roadeo at Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta and offer him $80,000 to pick up 400 cases of Coors from Texarkana (the closest place it could be legally sold at that time), and bring it back to Atlanta in 28 hours. Bandit takes the bet and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow to drive the truck, while Bandit drives a black Pontiac Trans Am bought on an advance from the Burdettes as a "blocker" to divert attention
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