Smokey and the Bandit

Continuity mistake: In one scene Buford T. Justice comes up on a long line of cars stopped on the highway due to an accident, so he proceeds to pass the line of cars on the right berm of the road. He pulls up alongside a green Cadillac at the front of the line and stops just as a local cop walks up to his car. The shot changes to the passenger side of the car, but the green Cadillac is nowhere in sight when it was there just one second earlier. If the line had began to move there wouldn't have been enough time for the Cadillac to get out of the shot from a dead stop.

Continuity mistake: When Bandit jumps the bridge, the cop car following him goes into the water and appears to be floating before the camera switches to the cop car behind. When that one reaches the bridge, a pile of rubble is in the river from the bridge collapse that was not there in the previous shot.

Hawk

Continuity mistake: During the final scene as they are heading down that two-lane blacktop to the fairgrounds, Reynolds and Reed have a conversation over the CB radio. In the wide shots, the two lane road curves around tree-covered hills. In the close-ups of Reynolds, you can see the interstate highway through the rear and side windows. No hills, no trees, no winding road.

rcwkid99

Continuity mistake: When Buford T Justice is chewing out the trooper on the road at the accident, there is one point when you can see that all the cars have passed. A pickup truck is heading toward them, no other vehicles. Then it cuts to another angle facing Buford, and you see the tail end of a tanker truck that was not in the previous shot.

mchaos

Continuity mistake: Pay attention to the location of the trailer's wheels on the Bandit's truck. They change position several times during the movie from being at the very rear of the trailer, to being slid forward, towards the truck.

Continuity mistake: Just before the car jumps the bridge a driver view shows an aluminium airbox sticking through the bonnet and a shiny instrument panel in the car, just before jumping into the football field, same view, they are different.

billywhizzjayz

Continuity mistake: When being chased at the Mulberry bridge, as Bandit turns to run for the jump, he turns the wheel, turning the car. A second later, his foot is shown hitting the brake, and the car then is shown starting the turn.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: After the first major chase of the film, where the police car ends up in the lake backwards, there is a shot of the Trans Am power-sliding around a dirt corner as it gets back on paved roads to continue on. During this shot, it is plain to see that the entire three-piece front spolier (from each front wheel and under the bumper) is completely missing, probably torn off by the uneven ground while shooting this sequence.The immediate next scene shows the entire spoiler back in place as if nothing happened.

Continuity mistake: When Cletus bashes through the cop cars at the entrance to the fairgrounds, with Bandit right after him, there's only the two cars there. Then suddenly, there's a wrecked Trooper car that a second one bashes into.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: When being chased at the beginning it is raining. When he ducks in behind the building there's no sign it's been raining and T-top convertibles are out driving.

Continuity mistake: When Buford hits the back of Sheriff Branford's car on the bridge the hood of his own car is bent upwards in the middle but the next time we see Buford's car the hood is back to normal.

Continuity mistake: Just after Justice slams his patrol car into the beam in the street you see his head pop up with sunglasses on, an instant later they are off.

Continuity mistake: When Sheriff Justice is talking to the 3 boys there is a scenic view of the road and it appears dry. However when he leaves in the car minutes later the same road has several puddles of water.

Continuity mistake: At the beginning when big and little Enos Burdette show up at the truck races to see Bandit, a KW W925 is racing a GMC Astro 95. They cut away and then back, but this time the KW (still in the same lane) is racing a white cabover. The GMC he was racing in the earlier shot is now behind them getting ready to race a Chevy Titan cabover.

Continuity mistake: As Frog jumps through the shrubbery and onto the field, the rear view mirror is missing. A second later it's back in place.

Movie Nut

Continuity mistake: Sheriff Buford T Justice was supposed to be from Texas, but right as they start trying to find Frog (and before they caught up with Bandit), he passes an interstate sign with Georgia on it. If they were really in Georgia, that would have been one quick trip from Texarkana, and less than 60 miles to Atlanta.

Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie when Bandit, Frog, and Cledus are sitting in Big Enos' red Cadillac talking on the radio to Buford T Justice, a green Cadillac, which has been seen several times during the movie, is seen parked in the upper right portion of the screen. When Bandit pulls out on his way to Boston for clam chowder, Buford takes off chasing him and the green Cadillac is no longer there.

Hawk

Continuity mistake: When the motorcycle patrolman is chasing the trams am with a patrolman in the car behind him, a second highway patrolman crosses the median to join the chase. When the car crosses the median, the left front tire blows out after the car slides onto the highway. In the following scene the car is in the chase with a perfectly good left front tire.

Continuity mistake: When the Bandit first pulls over and picks up Sally Field, then he screeches off, if you look at the road you can see all the skid marks from all of the other takes of this scene, even down to the bit where the van pulls out of the junction and the bandit does his thing and then suddenly speeds off.

More mistakes in Smokey and the Bandit

Buford T. Justice: What we're dealing with here is a complete lack of respect for the law.

More quotes from Smokey and the Bandit

Trivia: Jackie Gleason's character is Buford T. Justice. This was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Burt Reynolds' father who was once Chief of Police of Jupiter, Florida.

More trivia for Smokey and the Bandit

Question: What did the trooper mean when he said, "Didn't you know this ain't Saturday"? It always makes me wonder.

Answer: The trooper on the motorcycle had just landed in the water. In older days, the typical day to take a bath, wash hair, etc. was Saturday. The trooper in the car (once he saw the motorcycle trooper was okay and wet) just made a joke about him taking a bath.

Zwn Annwn

Answer: I think the trooper makes this joke in reference to Evel Knievel, a popular performer of the day. His shows, which prominently featured motorcycle stunts (particularly jumping) usually occurred on the weekends (i.e. Saturday).

More questions & answers from Smokey and the Bandit

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.