<P> Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry . The film was the directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham . It inspired several other trucking films, including two sequels, Smokey and the Bandit II and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 . Smokey and the Bandit was the second highest - grossing domestic film of 1977 . </P> <P> Wealthy Texan Big Enos Burdette and his son Little Enos seek a truck driver willing to bootleg Coors beer to Georgia for their refreshment . At the time, Coors was regarded as one of the finest beers in the United States, but it could not be legally sold east of the Mississippi River . Truck drivers who had taken the bet previously had been caught and arrested by "Smokey" (CB slang for highway patrol officers, referring to the Smokey Bear--type hats worn in some states). </P> <P> The Burdettes find legendary trucker Bo "Bandit" Darville competing in a truck rodeo at Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta; they offer him $80,000 to haul 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas back to Atlanta in 28 hours; Big Enos has sponsored a driver running in the Southern Classic stockcar race and "when he wins I want to celebrate in style ." Bandit accepts the bet and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow to drive the truck, while Bandit drives the "blocker", a black Pontiac Trans Am bought on an advance from the Burdettes, to divert attention away from the truck and its illegal cargo . </P> <P> The trip to Texas is mostly uneventful except for at least one pursuing Arkansas State Trooper whom Bandit evades with ease . They reach Texarkana an hour ahead of schedule, load their truck with the beer and head back toward Atlanta . Immediately upon starting the second leg of the run, Bandit picks up runaway bride Carrie, whom he eventually nicknames "Frog" because she is "kinda cute like a frog", she is "always hoppin' around", and because he "wants to jump" her . But in so doing, Bandit makes himself a target of Texas Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a career lawman whose handsome but slow - witted son Junior was to have been Carrie's bridegroom . Ignoring his own jurisdiction, Sheriff Justice, with Junior in tow, chases Bandit all the way to Georgia, even as various mishaps cause his cruiser to disintegrate around them . </P>

Bandit's real name in smokey and the bandit