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 $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",