The Bandit Run of the movie's most famous sites. The Bandit Run The Bandit Run is a reenactment of the journey portrayed in the 1977 film, "Smokey and the Bandit". The reenactment first took place on May 15, 2007 and has become an annual event. The reenactment was the brainchild of David Hershey and Dave Hall who wanted to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the classic film. Hall, of the website, "Restore a Muscle Car" and Hershey came up with the idea shortly after Hershey purchased his restored 1977 Pontiac Trans Am from him in 2006. Following the same route that the characters
Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 getting the prize money, Buford finds the Bandit, but he is shown as the original Burt Reynolds bandit, who sweet talks him to letting him go and starting a new pursuit. Junior is left behind, dropping all the money. The film was originally entitled "Smokey IS the Bandit", and did not include Jerry Reed in the cast. Contemporary newspapers refer to original plans to feature Gleason as both "Smokey" and "Bandit", and Reed's name does not appear in early promotional materials or newspaper accounts during the film's production. According to some accounts, Jackie Gleason was to play two roles: Sheriff