cult film freak: BURT REYNOLDS MOSTLY AVOIDS 'SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT PART 3'

Written by James M. Tate / 8/31/2024 / No comments / burt reynolds franchise , colleen camp , cop , eighties , jackie gleason , jerry reed , mike henry , pat mccormick , paul williams , sequel

BURT REYNOLDS MOSTLY AVOIDS 'SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT PART 3'

8/31/2024 | No comment

Burt Reynolds cameo in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3 Year: 1983 Rating: **

The irony of Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham (mostly) avoiding SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3 is that, during the same year, their own separate car-comedy STROKER ACE ruined both their careers...

Originally titled SMOKE IS THE BANDIT, Jackie Gleason, the scene-stealing cop always tailing Reynold's road-roving outlaw, was to also play Burt's part... or else pretend to be Bandit... but that thankless role went to otherwise fan-favorite trucker Jerry Reed...

Jackie Gleason in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

About as awful as he was great in the original... hired here by the more hands-on Burdette's Pat McCormick and Paul Williams to carry a plastic shark across state-lines...

Reed looks downright awkward and silly dressed in Bandit garb while driving a Trans-Am: only this time it's a sleek 80's model that, looking bland and mainstream, doesn't belong in a car chase franchise...

Shark from SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT PART 3

Which the third SMOKEY hardly is, and, like the even lousier CANNONBALL RUN 2, it's more a collection of wacky road vignettes where Gleason and Reed (with dimwitted Mike Henry and token girlfriend Colleen Camp respectively) seem in different movies...

Actually true since Reed's scenes were last-minute re-shoots: pasting together a dire production that, while a tremendous guilty-pleasure, should have never been green-lit in the first place.

The Shark from SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

Austin Kelly (falsely billed as Joe Pesci for awhile) SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

The Shark from SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

Pat McCormick and Paul Williams in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

From SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

Jackie Gleason in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

Jerry Reed in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3 with Colleen Camp

Jerry Reed in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3

Jerry Reed in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3 with Colleen Camp

SHARK from SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT Part 3

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Tags : burt reynolds franchise , colleen camp , cop , eighties , jackie gleason , jerry reed , mike henry , pat mccormick , paul williams , sequel

James M. Tate

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