Smokey and the Bandit II the Bandit to sober up, since Big Enos has raised the stakes to $400,000. Frog abandons her second attempt at marrying Buford T. Justice's son Junior. She is initially persuaded more by the money than her love for Bandit. She buys him a 1980 Pontiac Trans Am named "Son of Trigger," powered by the Pontiac 301 Turbo, by trading in Junior's car. A race ensues as the trio once again tries to outrun and outwit Justice and Junior. They make it to Miami with little trouble, even fooling a Florida Highway Patrol speedtrap along the way. Their cargo is in
Smokey and the Bandit $4.3 million two days before initial production), the film eventually grossed $126,737,428 in North America, making it the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977. The worldwide gross is estimated at over $300 million. Burt Reynolds rated the film as the one he most enjoyed and had the most fun making in his career. Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a good rating (3 stars out of a possible 4) and characterized it as "About as subtle as "The Three Stooges", but a classic compared to the sequels and countless rip-offs which followed." Gene Siskel, in his review in the "Chicago Tribune",