Smokey and the Bandit episodes of the series. Needham saw an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and knew right away that would be the Bandit's car, or, as Needham referred to it, a character in the movie. He contacted Pontiac and an agreement was made that four 1977 Trans Ams and two Pontiac LeMans 4-door sedans would be provided for the movie. The Trans Ams were actually 1976-model cars with 1977 front ends. (From 1970 to 1976, both the Firebird/Trans Am and Chevrolet Camaro had two round headlights, and in 1977, the Firebird/Trans Am was changed to four rectangular headlights, while
Smokey and the Bandit II fill up a movie with stunts than to create a comedy that's genuinely funny." Burt Reynolds later stated that he did not enjoy working on the movie at all, feeling that it was an unnecessary sequel put together by Universal purely for money-making reasons rather than to try making a good picture. It was the eighth-most-popular 1980 film at the United States and Canada box office earning $66,132,626. This box office income inspired a third film where Reynolds appeared only in a cameo appearance before the end credits, Field had no involvement whatsoever, and Gleason practically filled the film. Smokey