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
The Hills Have Eyes (1977 film) of the individual theaters that it opened in. The film's gross was impeded by the financial success of the Burt Reynolds film "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977). Locke characterized the film as neither a huge hit nor a box office bomb, and was pleased with the amount of money it generated. The staff of "Variety" called "The Hills Have Eyes" "a satisfying piece of pulp," adding "Gratifying aspects [of the film] are Craven's businesslike plotting and pacy cutting, and a script which takes more trouble over the stock characters than it needs. There are plenty of laughs, in the dialog