Much like screenwriter Larry Karaszewski I have never seen
this film but would like the opportunity to judge just how bad it really was.
This might have been the first film I was aware of that was radically changed with
reshoots before it was finally released. When I saw the resulting theatrical
presentation SMOKEY & THE BANDIT 3, with Jerry Reed called in to replace
half of Gleason’s work, I just thought it was a terrible movie and moved on. But,
decades later, I would gladly pay to see the original version preview audiences
ripped apart. I might even enjoy it as a cringe comedy classic. Who knows if I’ll
ever get the chance? Are there even bootlegs of this out there?
Friday, January 06, 2023
Trailers From Hell - SMOKEY IS THE BANDIT (1983)
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1 comment:
I've seen this film when it played on Showtime in the early 80s several times,for it's nowhere as perfect as the first two films but it has its own unique fun filled charm(and plays out like one of Roger Corman's New World Pictures car chase/crash films) with (ex-Tarzan) Mike Henry as Jackie Gleason's super doofus son who merely exists to super annoy Gleason(from beginning to end) as well as a visit to a nudist camp with a surprising amount of nudity for a PG rated feature(with [future Andy Sidaris cinema regular]Ava Cadell and Nikki Fritz providing the cleavage). I'd sure would love to see the original cut SMOKEY IS THE BANDIT with Gleason as both Buford T. Justice and The Bandit if there someday is a DVD/Blu ray release of both versions of the film(in both its original cut and its re-structured theatrical cut[with Burt Reynolds cameoing in a daydream sequence as The Bandit]).
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