Smokey and the Bandit petroleum company Mobil 1 produced television commercials, featuring NASCAR star Tony Stewart, closely based on the film. Called "Smoke is the Bandit" playing on Stewart's nickname, the commercials featured him as the Bandit opposite Darrell Waltrip who played Snowman and Jeff Hammond as Buford T. Justice. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. The adverts poked fun at the film and even featured a Pontiac Trans Am and a cover version of the song "East Bound and Down". The commercials were produced after Stewart mentioned that the movie was one of his favorites. When "Smokey and the
Quentin Tarantino earliest works, a screenplay called "Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit", based on Hal Needham's 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit" starring Burt Reynolds. The summer after his 15th birthday, Tarantino was grounded by his mother for shoplifting Elmore Leonard's novel "The Switch" from Kmart. He was allowed to leave only to attend the Torrance Community Theater, where he participated in such plays as "Two Plus Two Makes Sex" and "Romeo and Juliet". At about 15, Tarantino dropped out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Los Angeles. He then worked as an usher at a porn theater in Torrance,