Smokey and the Bandit Part 3

By Joe Simiana Sydney Australia I was disappointed that Universal did not wait for Burt To Finish making "Best little whorehouse in Texas" instead they went on ahead anyway and made this flick, they only had to wait 10 months, i hated that darn fish on the roof of the sheriffs car all the way through, sort of took away the authority and stature of Sheriff Buford T Justice.

The Main thought that stuck in my mind with Sheriffs Character from the previous Films was that he was from the old school of law enforcement, stood tall and proud and took no crap from any foe, and was always entertaining watching his confrontations with others during the earlier films Smokey 1 and 2.

This seemed to diminish and the character changed somewhat, venturing into strip clubs, nudist colonies, Fetish motels, very unnecessary.

I would have thought "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo" would have made a better film, with Claude Atkins, Jackie Gleason, Bj and Bandit joining forces.

In Smokey and the bandit part 3 the woeful actress if that named (Colleen Camp), who teams up with Jerry Reed as bandit throughout the film wears a bad wig, bad dress sense, and really cannot act, she can be noticed really trying to put on fake laughs throughout this film, and her whining voice, i mean i always remembered the true Burt Reynolds bandit with the hottest girls ever, you can't tell me there was no other better looking women hanging around the Universal back lot that could of been used instead,or where they all taken up and sent over for filming "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", i was wondering when she would be thrown out of the car, Jerry reed getting all excited parading around as bandit with that car and hat and he reels in Colleen Camp????...Getting Desperate in his old age, and Jerry Reeds Character (snowman) is married with Children, and Fred the dog, so whats he doing ??? and why with Colleen Camp for heavens sake?? Im Sorry but every film (Colleen Camp) has been in she plays the same obnoxious, in your face, character resembling a caffeine addict, or suffering some sort of withdrawal symptoms in the attitude and whinny voice she has in her acting desperately in need of a fix.

One stunt woman turned actress named (Faith Minton) is a remember able looking sort, tall, leggy, and a face to match any fantasy, plays the dragon lady who is smitten by the Sheriff who forces her way into hitching a ride with the Sheriff....i don't know why the sheriff is running away from her as she is more of an eye full better than bandits colleen camp seat cover.

Watch this movie if you are a fan of Jackie Gleeson....or Faith Minton remember this film was shot in the years where CB Radios where dying out and truckers fighting cops were all said and done, even BJ and The Bear was axed 3 years before, "The dukes of Hazzard" and "The A-Team" were on the rise so i guess Universal wanted In on the Zany Madcap Sheriff Car Crashing Icon that was a big hit in the early 1970's But this was 1983, and it just didn't stick with other films out that year like "Ghostbusters" "Gremlins" "Two Of A Kind" and "Twilight Zone The Movie" and another Universal comeback "Jaws 3" they must have fired a scriptwriter that year....or Hal Needham wasn't available.

Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) is retiring despite never having caught the Bandit. Big Enos and Little Enos challenges him to transport a fish sign from Florida to Texas for his beloved badge. After getting hounded, Buford accepts the challenge with his son as his co-pilot. Big Enos hires Snowman (Jerry Reed) for $250k who dresses up to be the new Bandit. Dusty Trails (Colleen Camp) has have enough of her lecherous boss and quits on TV. She hitches a ride with the new Bandit.

This is a mess and I don't care about any of it. Other than the archival opening, Burt and Sally are not even in this movie. It is really Smokey and the Fake Bandit. The movie doesn't even make geographic sense. He leaves Florida for a shortcut through Mexico which is complete non-sense. The first two movies survived on Burt and Sally's charisma and chemistry. That cannot be recreated with Fake Bandit. It's an impossible task.

Why can't Hollywood just let good movies die in peace? This 2nd sequel to the original (and quite good) "Smokey and the Bandit" stinks everywhere. The story is lame and the characters have been reduced to caricatures of themselves.

Let's start with the story. The premise here is that those Enos boys are at it again, wanting to have some fun at the expense of someone. That someone is none other than Sheriff Buford T. Justice (key the tuba) who has just put in for retirement. When those retirement plans aren't what he expected, our valiant Sheriff accepts the Enos' challenge: Deliver a plastic shark to the new restaurant the Enos boys opened up. While along the way, those rascally Enos dudes are going to try to stop him at any cost.

Okay, stop right there. In the first Bandit movie, the idea was a simple challenge and bet. The Enos boys were depicted as nothing more than a rich father and son team who were bored so they thought up a good challenge. No real maliciousness involved - just a challenge with some money put up to make people take it seriously. That was fun.

In the 2nd Bandit movie, the Enos reputation (such as it is) is on the line and they want to beat a political rival. Not as strong, but again, nothing terribly malicious involved.

This movie has them just trying to be mean to their new play toy. Namely, Sheriff Justice. So they send him on his way and start trying to sabotage his trip. When Justice beats them at every turn, they figure that they need a professional to deal with him. Since the Bandit isn't around (he's off making "Stroker Ace") they give the job (and the red shirt, belt buckle and hat) to Cledus, our old truck driving buddy.

So, Cledus chases Justice to get the prized shark and fun and laughter ensue. Well, not too much fun and little laughter but look on the bright side - it was a paycheck for Gleason and Reed.

Anyway, from there on out it becomes the now tired old cat-and-mouse game with one side giving chase to the other. But even the chases lack the polish to make you remember back to the ones in the 1977 original. They seem more staged and one dimensional. For example, there's a scene where Cledus and a new buddy "sneak" up from behind and take the shark off of the Sheriff's car. The shot is not technically difficult and it's rather boring. Plus, what law enforcement officer doesn't check his mirror to make sure of what's behind him? I learned that in 11th grade driver's ed.

Anway, to summarize, I think the use of the 1982 (anemic) Trans Am is allegorical to this movie: It's got the right name but is under-thought, underpowered and basically is just a diluted version of its former self.

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Big and Little Enos bet Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) $250,000 that he can't complete a day's ride in the time they give him. If he doesn't he must hang up his badge forever. The sheriff decides to take the bet and soon the Enos' boys hire The Bandit (Jerry Reed) to try and slow him down.

SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT PART 3 probably never should have been made. The previous film's director Hal Needham and star Burt Reynolds weren't interested in many this because they were tied up with STOKER ACE. This didn't stop Universal as they made the film with Gleason playing both the sheriff and The Bandit but test audiences hated the film so then Reed was brought back and the end results are what you see.

I must say, this is certainly the worst film in the series and it's awful on many levels but at the same time I think it's much better than STOKER ACE. With that said, there's no question that this movie shouldn't have been made as there's just not enough going on with it to make it worthy of the previous two films. What's more shocking is that the original version with Gleason in both roles has yet to ever be released, which is a real shame. I'd love to see exactly what it was like.

The problem with this movie is that it just as an incredibly cheap feel to it. From start to finish you can tell that they are using editing to try and make something out of very little. Even the car chasing are really lacking here as you can tell they don't have that magic touch that Needham brought to the first two films. Crashing through bags of ice, a milk truck and other items is mildly entertaining but none of it makes you really excited.

As for Gleason, I'm sorry but even with bad material he's still quite funny at times. The jokes here are usually pretty lame but he still gets a few good lines in. The majority of the humor comes from putting him in weird situations and this includes running into the KKK, arriving at a nude colony and there's even an orgy at a motel. None of these situations are funny and we're basically relying on Gleason's one-liners. Reed is wasted in his few scenes in the film and even the late appearance by Reynolds can't save the film.

SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT PART 3 has an awful reputation and more times than not it's not even brought up in discussions. It's easy to see why people hate the film but I think its reputation is much worse than the picture actually is.

Call me weird, but I love bad movies. I just get a kick out of seeing what a couple of million dollars really means to Hollywood. In this case, it doesn't mean much. Smokey 3 is one of the biggest stinkers ever produced by a major studio. Besides asking the obvious questions that this movie poses (Why would "The Great One" actually star in this disaster and how could Universal create, release, and advertise this movie and still be able to sleep at night?), you have got to wonder one thing...where in the heck did all of these ramps come from? One example (out of too many to count) is how Jerry Reed (Snowman posing as Bandit) actually jumps his Firebird out of his garage...from a dead stop...huh?? The plot is putrid, the supporting cast is horrible (Jerry Reed used to be lovably annoying as Snowman...all he can do here is utter obnoxious one-liners and triple-speak while hooting and hollering about getting to pretend to be Burt Reynolds), and there is actually a point during all this mess when the pity for Gleason lifts, and you actually want something to fall from the sky onto Buford T. Justice and end it all. But watch this movie...I beg you...this is the worst bad movie ever made, and it is worth the rental money to spend 1 and 1/2 hours being embarrassed for the families and friends of everyone who had a hand in this disaster.