Fun movie trivia

[Norm357]

The Jerry Reed thread reminded me of the Smokey and the Bandit move. That movie was filmed in my neighborhood. The Bandits house is now my bank, and the famous river jump scene took place about three block from my house.

Taken from Wiki:

The movie was filmed primarily in Georgia in the cities of McDonough and Jonesboro. The scenes in Texarkana were filmed in Jonesboro and the surrounding area, and many of the chase scenes were filmed in the surrounding areas and in McDonough. The scene at the race track was filmed at Lakewood Speedway at the old Lakewood Fairgrounds on the south side of Atlanta. The roller coaster seen in the movie was the Greyhound. It had not been used for some time and was repainted for the first Smokey and the Bandit film. It was destroyed in the second film and a flash back scene used in the third. [1]

The film made use of five modified 1977 Pontiac Trans Ams that were each built according to the required stuntwork. All were damaged during the rigors of filming the stunts. The particular car used to jump over the river towards the middle of the movie was reportedly totaled doing the stunt.

Up till maybe ten years ago, Jonesboro was a little podunk town with nothing going on. A lot of the older folks around here remimber Burt Renyolds and Jerry Reed, and Alan Reid as really nice, down to earth folks.