Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)

That was an excellent one.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The big question here is whether a "Smokey and the Bandit" movie can be done without Burt Reynolds and Sally Field. I guess that's a yes, but you really shouldn't try it. "Part 3" has Buford T. Justice once again tailing the Bandit (now Jerry Reed behind the wheel) and at least they go back to the car chases; that, and the Knight Rider Firebird looks good on the road. It'd be easy to say that Reed is much better as a side player, but really, he didn't have anything to work with here. These gags are terrible.Urban legend tells of a workprint with Jackie Gleason playing both roles ("Smokey IS the Bandit!") and that I'd like to see. The potential for irony speaks for itself. But this TV-grade movie is a weak effort.4/10

Big and Little Enos (Pat McCormick and Paul Williams) decide to have some more fun, with plans to open "fish'n'chips" restaurants, offering $250,000 grand to the "retiring" Sheriff Buford T Justice (Jackie Gleason, trying his damnedest to make the material work despite itself, with lines like "Junior, when this is all over, I'm gonna buy you a nice lobotomy.") if he'll transport a dummy shark with their advertisement from Miami to Austin, with multiple attempts along to way to deter them from their quest. But each time the Enos duo seem to throw up roadblocks, Buford and his oft-ridiculed son, Junior (Mike Henry, as amiable and clueless as ever) just seem to keep going. Buford is relentless, even as the Enos duo elicits the assistance of a "new Bandit", Cletus (Jerry Reed, still plenty appealing and relishing the chance to be in the driver seat for a change instead of second fiddle to Burt Reynolds), to secure the shark himself, offered the same reward if he can make the trip in a few days time. With a tagalong, Dusty Trails (Colleen Camp; I swear this is the poor girl's character's name in the film!) as his passenger, Cletus will further complicate matters for poor Buford, stealing away the shark (he uses a lasso as Dusty takes temporary control of the steering wheel!), and forcing the sheriff to play a game of "take the shark" throughout their journey cross country.This film seems designed specifically to destroy Gleason's cop car (and, man alive, does that car take a beating!) as it explodes through a milk hauler (that showers the Enos duo who planned to use the truck as a diversionary tactic), takes out the Klu Klux clan (who had been tormenting a black chicken farmer and his father (but the chicken farmers get the last laugh when the Clan is tarred and feathered!), smashes through a flower stand and cartons of eggs, not to mention, a bumper is torn off from a tow truck, the tires are flattened, and the Enos duo drop bombs at the end leaving it a skeletal wreck. Gleason and Reed try really hard to make the comedy work, and that saddens me to no end because the film just does them no favors. The script leaves Gleason trying to make "flea pecker" and "you dumb sht" zingers tickle our funnybone, and after a while I could only feel sorry for him. It isn't for a lack of effort, though. Reed has this one scene where he must go into a bar with Harley bikers hanging around and fall out over and over while asking Camp what all she wants on her cheeseburger, repeatedly returning to eventually vanquish the baddies giving him a hard time…it feels like a daunting task for poor Jerry, having to get laughs out of spilling from a bar, all smiles and flashing the "ah, gee, whiz" attitude despite punches to the face nearly damaging his shades. Camp is given little to work with, trying (bless her heart) to use her bright personality to overcome uninspired dialogue that is more or less chatty back and forth with Reed. I did like Reed allowing Buford the chance to win at the end; it was very "un-Bandit like". The Burt Reynolds cameo still feels as forced as I remembered from childhood. Gleason and Henry got some giggles out of me, and I love Reed even if his role is overwhelmingly reduced in relation to Gleason's. Right from the song sung during the credits sequence, this film was designed around the Buford T Justice character; even the poster for this film has Gleason's face at the forefront. As the film goes, everything from a sex hotel orgy to a colony of nudists is hurled at us, with Gleason reacting exhaustingly, "What has this world come to?!?!" Don't worry, you get to see the Trans Am drive right through an inferno with Gleason following suit, the two cars joining a race, and a dirt hauler dumps a load on poor Gleason's car, helping the Bandit get a little distance from the persistent sheriff. I think the absence of the star power of Reynolds and Sally Field can be felt, but even the previous sequel with them in it proved that the first film probably should have remained standalone. There are times where a film feels like a desperate attempt to keep a dead franchise resuscitated, and this is such an example...also an example of fun actors unable to overcome the odds compounding them. At least you get to see Gleason standing in front of a giant American Flag, dressed as George C Scott's Patton, boring the audience of his law enforcement peers while praising his career and announcing his retirement...

I've been swimming in 70's nostalgia lately, reliving my childhood, and I've taken a stroll through many of the 'car chase movies' that had their day in that decade. Some I had strong memories of seeing as a child, like "Gumball Rally" and "Cannonball Run". I recently re-watched the first "Smokey and the Bandit" and it hit all the right notes -- well-paced, nice proportions of fun and action, and a fine cast. "SATB 2" was also fun viewing...a slightly weaker story, but offset by the welcome addition of Dom DeLuise. I came across the "SATB" triple-pack DVD set, and got it to consolidate shelf space on my DVD rack, and to finally see "Part 3".....Good Heavens, this was bad, and painfully unfunny. A movie can't be filled with only supporting characters, and while Sheriff Justis' idiot son saying "Daddy, Daddy..." is funny a few times in the original, it is NOT funny in big doses throughout a whole film. Even Gleason's performance seemed forced, and some voice dubs didn't even sound like him. How could Jerry Reed go from so likable and natural in the first two films, to so crazed and annoying in the third? The writing was terrible, Colleen Camp was a complete piece of wood, and the jokes were embarrassing excuses for humor. This film proved that the fun-loving 70's were over, and the tasteless stench of the 80's is evident here in every shot. Excremental.

Smokey and the Bandit The first one is one of the greatest movies of all time. Smokey and the bandit three is actually a good sequel. Jackie Gleason is still funny as Buford T Justice. Jerry reed is still funny as the snowman but he ain't the bandit. Pat Mcormick and Paul Williams are funny as the big Enos and little Enos. the car chases are still good. it deserver's more credit then it got. i not saying its one of the best its just that good movies are a lot of times underrated. the son is funny except i do not know the actor who plays him. i like how they basically replicated the scene in the first one when bandit picks up frog. overall a pretty entertaining movie