Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 films. 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 Florida to Texas. Buford picks up the fish and starts driving with his son, Junior. The Enoses set many traps, but Buford dodges them, so they try to hire the Bandit to stop him. Deciding that the original Bandit is too hard to manage, they hire the Snowman to act as the Bandit. The new Snowman/Bandit parks his truck so he can drive a black and gold 1983 Pontiac Trans Am.
Burt Reynolds audition for the latter. The film's producer later said, "To be honest, we were not enthusiastic at first. There was the hair and his reputation, but we were curious." Reynolds got the role and earned some strong reviews. Reynolds was a supporting actor in "Frankenstein and Me" (1996), "Mad Dog Time" (1996), "The Cherokee Kid" (1996), "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997) with Rodney Dangerfield, and "Bean" (1997) with Rowan Atkinson. He had the lead in "Raven" (1996), a straight-to-DVD action film. Around this time he claimed he was broke, having gone through $13 million. In 1996, Reynolds' agent said "Regarding Burt,