49 free Smokey and the Bandit trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Smokey and the Bandit trivia questions with answers. Smokey and the Bandit was the second-biggest film of 1977 behind Star Wars, and to a lot of the South it still feels less like a movie than a documentary. This quiz covers the whole run: the $80,000 Coors bet, the black-and-gold Trans Am, Cledus and Fred in the Kenworth, Sheriff Buford T. Justice and his 'sumbitch', Jerry Reed's overnight hit song, the bridge jump, the Georgia locations, Hal Needham's stuntman past and the two sequels. It starts easy and works up to production details only devoted fans know. Use it solo, at a car show, or as a round on movie night; difficulty ratings are shown so you can pick your battles. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the films, the song and the people who made them, and each question carries its source.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who plays Bo 'Bandit' Darville?
Burt Reynolds
Director Hal Needham had originally imagined Jerry Reed in the role before Reynolds signed on and Reed became Snowman.
Q 02Which comedy legend plays Sheriff Buford T. Justice?
Jackie Gleason
He was given free rein to ad-lib, and the roadside diner scene with the Bandit was entirely his idea.
Q 03What cargo do the Bandit and Snowman have to haul from Texarkana to Atlanta?
400 cases of Coors beer
In 1977 Coors was not sold east of Texas, so hauling it across the Mississippi was technically bootlegging.
Q 04How many hours do they have to make the round trip?
28
The deadline has a logic: unrefrigerated Coors could spoil in a week, so nobody wanted it hanging around.
Q 05How much do Big Enos and Little Enos offer the Bandit for the run?
$80,000
Everyone else who had taken the bet had failed, and many had been arrested along the way.
Q 06What car does the Bandit drive?
A 1977 Pontiac Trans Am
Needham saw an advertisement for the not-yet-released model and knew instantly it was the car; sales nearly doubled within two years.
Q 07What nickname does the Bandit give his car?
Trigger
The name borrows Roy Rogers's famous horse; the car works as a 'blocker' to draw police away from the truck.
Q 08How many Trans Ams did Pontiac supply to the production?
Four
All four were badly damaged during filming, along with two Pontiac LeMans sedans that played Sheriff Justice's cruiser.
Q 09Which country singer plays Cledus 'Snowman' Snow?
Jerry Reed
He also wrote the film's theme virtually overnight, and it became his signature song.
Q 10What make of truck does Snowman drive?
A Kenworth W900
Three of the trucks were used for the beer-hauling scenes, with a mural on the trailer.
Q 11What breed of dog is Fred, Snowman's companion?
A basset hound
Reynolds reportedly picked the dog himself because it refused to obey anyone.
Q 12Who plays Carrie, the runaway bride the Bandit picks up, nicknamed 'Frog'?
Sally Field
She only took the part after her agent told her she needed a big movie, and she and Reynolds began dating on set.
Q 13Whose wedding does Carrie run away from?
Junior Justice's
That is why Sheriff Justice chases the Bandit across state lines, never knowing about the beer.
Which diminutive singer-songwriter plays Little Enos Burdette?
Q 21In which state was the film primarily shot?
Georgia
McDonough, Jonesboro and Lithonia stood in for the whole route from Texarkana; the annual Bandit Run still ends in Jonesboro.
Q 22What helped the Trans Am clear the dismantled Mulberry bridge in the famous jump?
A booster rocket like Evel Knievel's
The car that made the jump was wrecked on landing, one of the four Pontiac supplied.
Q 23Which title did the film's theme song carry?
East Bound and Down
It spent 16 weeks on the country chart, peaking at number two, and Ford revived it for truck ads in 2018.
Paul Williams
Pat McCormick, a foot and a half taller, plays his father Big Enos; the pair are the film's running sight gag.
Q 15Which word did the actor playing Buford T. Justice improvise into his signature insult?
Sumbitch
Television censors overdubbed it as 'scum bum', which became a joke of its own.
Q 16Where did the name Buford T. Justice come from?
A real Florida patrolman known to Reynolds Sr.
Burt Reynolds Sr. had been a police chief in Florida and knew the man.
Q 17Which actor was originally considered for Sheriff Justice before Gleason?
Richard Boone
The Have Gun, Will Travel star would have played it straight; Gleason turned it into comedy.
Q 18Smokey and the Bandit was the directorial debut of which former stuntman?
Hal Needham
He had lived in Reynolds's guesthouse for the better part of 12 years and went on to direct Hooper and The Cannonball Run.
Q 19What was the film's production budget?
$4.3 million
It went on to take $126.7 million in North America and more than $300 million worldwide.
Q 20Which film was the only one to out-gross Smokey and the Bandit domestically in 1977?
Star Wars
The Bandit was a sleeper: it flopped at Radio City Music Hall, then opened only in the South and spread from there.
Q 24For the westbound scenes, Reed recorded an alternate version of the theme called what?
West Bound and Down
It had modified lyrics and added strings and horns, and rarely gets played today.
Q 25Where do the Bandit and Snowman have to deliver the beer in Atlanta?
The Lakewood Fairgrounds truck rodeo
Cledus smashes through the police roadblock at the main gate and they arrive with ten minutes to spare.
Q 26What double-or-nothing challenge do Bandit and Carrie accept at the end?
Fetch clam chowder from Boston in 18 hours
They race off in Big Enos's 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible while Sheriff Justice's wreck of a cruiser limps after them.
Q 27Which famous director said Smokey and the Bandit was one of his favourite films?
Alfred Hitchcock
The master of suspense apparently loved the chase; the film also earned an Oscar nomination for editing.
Q 28For which Academy Award was Smokey and the Bandit nominated?
Best Film Editing
It lost to Star Wars, which beat it at the box office too.
Q 29Where did the film have its premiere on May 19, 1977?
Radio City Music Hall
It performed poorly there; the studio then opened it only in the South, where it became a phenomenon.
Q 30Which studio distributed Smokey and the Bandit?
Universal
The studio cut the budget before filming, which is why it came in at just $4.3 million.