Smokey & The Bandit UNCUT DVD

[stone88]

Anyone else besides me remember when this movie first came to the theatres it was rated R? I do because I was pissed that I wasn't old enough to see it when it came out. After the movie became popular, they re-released it with the PG rating.
From research I've done it looks like about 20 to 25 minutes of footage was cut from the R-Rated version.
Does anyone know if the original uncut version exists? If so, who would be interested in a re-release of the DVD with the cut footage restored?

[BWilliams]

I don't know about Smokey and the Bandit, but I clearly remember a much longer version of Hooper that ran on television with about 20-25 minutes of
additional footage. It's run on CBS and I think on
some of the pay-cable channels.

Funny you should mention Smokey and the Bandit, because one of my father's friends who has now since passed away was a non-speaking extra in several of Burt Reynolds' movies in the 70's. His name was Robert Harper, and he owned a steel manufacturing business and foundry, and my dad worked for him as the financial officer. Anyway, Robert was an extra in several of Burt Reynolds' movies - in Hooper, for example, just prior to the climactic rocket car launch, look for the older man with the walkie talkie in his hand, that's him on screen for a couple of seconds. And I'm pretty sure Robert was also in one of the Smokey and the Bandit films, too.

[manigrasso]

stone88,

I'd be interested in links to your info. I just checked out imdb.com and allmovieguide.com, and neither site mentioned anything about Smokey & the Bandit originally being released with an R rating. I would also think that Warner Brothers, never ones to miss an extra buck, would have released an R-cut on VHS long before DVD ever came to be. If given the choice, what fan of Snokey & the Bandit would REFUSE an R-rated cut, you know? So, again, if you have links to your research, I'd love to take a peek at it. Thanks.

[Dr. Lecter, MD]

It was Universal who did the Smokey and The Bandit movies not Warner. I would buy it if the re-released it.

Also, if anyone remembers correctly, there was a scene where Bufford told them to set up a roadblock. JR tells him, "good idea." with a bad dub of someone else's voice the statement, "what the hell you know" was added in. I think Gleason originally may or could have said, "what the fuck you know".

Also...even though the sequel was okay and the third one was awful, I still want them for my Smokey collection.

Anyone heard anything about those two?

[caligulathegod]

Are you sure you didn't dream this? I know Saturday Night Fever, MASH, A Clockwork Orange and Dawn of the Dead were reissued with lower ratings, but I do not remember Smokey and The Bandit doing this. I don't believe Jackie Gleason ever uttered "F**k" in it. There is a joke in the film where Burt asks Jackie if the "Letters 'F-O'" means anything to him. That joke would have lost any meaning if there had been a more explicit use of that word.

[stone88]

If you look at the scene where Bandit is talking to Buford while sitting at the gas station. After Buford sees the bandit he takes off with the car jacked up and then a abrupt cut to the next scene.

My dad remembers seeing the R-rated version when it first came out, but only saw it once before it was cut to a PG.

I found this link while I was looking for info on the r-rated version.
121 Minutes is alot longer than the 96 we get on the PG version.

http://online.swank.com/publicity/Synopsis/0001365.html

So far this is all I can find, but it does prove that it exists.

I'd love to see the extra 25 minutes and would love to see a re-release of the DVD because the crap version that was released was piss-poor. No extra's no bloopers, a crappy 2.0 mono soundtrack. This movie deserved better treatment.

[caligulathegod]

I think the page (which is simply someone's Microsoft Word Document saved as HTML and put online-It's not even a real site, Just someone's archives of film synopses)just mis-referenced the running time and rating. It says nothing in the text about an "R" rating. I can't believe that the second highest grossing film of 1977 (After Star Wars!) would have come out in an R rated version and no one noticed it being recut and rereleased as a PG film. It's not too hard to find info regarding Saturday Night Fever's rerelease. Twenty-five year old memories are tricky and unreliable things. I still swear I saw an extended cut of Star Wars the first time it aired on Network TV. I remember seeing the scene with Biggs that didn't make it into the SE. Other folks remember it too(according to letters to SW Insider mag), but apparently we all imagined it. Official word is that it didn't air like that. I suspect we just saw some making of special and, in our minds, incorporated it into the film. I know I saw the Jabba footage, with the little Scottish guy that was reinstated with a superimposed CGI Jabba, years ago. So it must have been the same special. Anyway, I suspect false memories here.

Oh yeah, the:

scene where Bufford told them to set up a roadblock. JR tells him, "good idea." with a bad dub of someone else's voice the statement, "what the hell you know" was added in. I think Gleason originally may or could have said, "what the f**k you know".

You are thinking of the TV version. The cursing was redubbed by Henry Cordon, the second voice of Fred Flintstone. That was not in the Theatrical version. Gleason wrote all his own dialog and First time director Hal Needam was not going to dub over that.

[stone88]

Originally posted by caligulathegod
I think the page (which is simply someone's Microsoft Word Document saved as HTML and put online-It's not even a real site, Just someone's archives of film synopses)just mis-referenced the running time and rating. Anyway, I suspect false memories here.

Oh yeah, the: You are thinking of the TV version. The cursing was redubbed by Henry Cordon, the second voice of Fred Flintstone. That was not in the Theatrical version. Gleason wrote all his own dialog and First time director Hal Needam was not going to dub over that.

At one time the page i referred to linked to a company that provided movies to college's for their on-campus theatres plus other business events. It was a real site at one time, you may not know this but I know this is a fact not false memories. Where the site is now, probably out of business.

In regards to the "what the hell you know" line, it is dubbed in the PG version released on video, it's not Gleason's voice.

[caligulathegod]

Fine and good, but I can't find anything about it. Like I said, it was the second highest grossing film of 1977 and even Burt Reynolds' site doesn't mention anything like this? Perhaps your father saw a test screening. Saturday Night Fever was the first R rated film to earn >$100 million and its PG version was released the following year. I hope your whole quest is not built upon a Microsoft Word document on a dead site. No offence, but it's not proof. I might buy it if some reference had been made to it, but not from a mere time listing. And as obsessive as folks can be on the 'net, not a single review mentions it? I fully believe you are sincere. I just believe you are mistaken.

[manigrasso]

Well, first off, I stand corrected in saying Warner Bros released Smokey & the Bandit. So many of this crappy Burt Reynolds movies were WB releases, I guess I got confused.

Just for chucks & giggles I looked up Saturday Night Fever on both imdb.com and allmovieguide.com. imdb.com had running times for both the R-rated & PG-rated versions of SNF. allmovieguide.com only mentioned it as being R (I don't think it was out long as a PG-rated film, & the majority of its gross was as an R-rated film). Yet both these sites say Smokey is a PG-rated film, and make no mention of an R-rated print.

Sorry, but I remain unconvinced. I could BECOME convinced, but I'm not yet.

[dp200]

Hi!

I came upon your thread searching yahoo for and UNCUT version. I had just bought the DVD and was disappointed at the edits on that. There is the scene where Sheriff Bufford is arguing over the condition of his mangled car with a State Trooper. The Sheriff tells him to F--- O-- but a tractor trailer's air horn blasts so you can't hear it. And I agreee with the Fred Flintstone overdub where he says, "what do you know?"

Here's the biggies, though....

I am not sure of this one....when an Oriental truck driver takes the Sheriff's car door off, he makes a comment that calls him a nip bastard or something like that.

I AM sure of this...when sheriff Branford knocks Bufford's car into a creek, Bufford says, "what is this world coming to.." The DVD switches scenes here but in the original movie he continues.."a Ni---- for a Sheriff"

Surely all these cuts were made to be P.C. and to make the language more suitable so kids can watch without hearing the F word and sell more DVD's

[SeanL]

Smokey & the Bandit was NOT rated 'R' when it initially aired in theaters. I know, because I saw it at the theaters and my parents would not have taken me to an R rated film. Some language edits may have occured during post production, but none for it's home video release.

[dugpa]

There are only two versions of Smokey and the Bandit, the original theatrical and the tv version which has a couple of scenes added and some language changed. Any other versions are a product of one's imagination. Swank's page that says R rating and 121 minutes is a misprint, if you look at their main catalog listing it states PG.

[Son of Nothing]

Originally Posted by caligulathegod

I remember seeing the scene with Biggs that didn't make it into the SE. Other folks remember it too(according to letters to SW Insider mag), but apparently we all imagined it. Official word is that it didn't air like that. I suspect we just saw some making of special and, in our minds, incorporated it into the film. I know I saw the Jabba footage, with the little Scottish guy that was reinstated with a superimposed CGI Jabba, years ago. So it must have been the same special. Anyway, I suspect false memories here.

I think the special was From Star Wars to Jedi. I know the Jabba footage was in that documentary. I remember the Biggs scene being in the little storybook they made back in the day.

[wmajero]

Originally Posted by SeanL

Smokey & the Bandit was NOT rated 'R' when it initially aired in theaters. I know, because I saw it at the theaters and my parents would not have taken me to an R rated film. Some language edits may have occured during post production, but none for it's home video release.

We must have had the same parents. This is my recollection as well. It was PG from the get-go.

[WraithGTS]

I am going to have to agree with the PG voters. I was the ripe ole age of SEVEN in 1977 . . . no way in hell my parents would have taken me to see a R rated flick @ 7 . . . and I DID see Smokey & the Bandit in the theatres.

Peace

[moviezzz]

As stated by others, SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT was ALWAYS PG. No R rated version was ever released.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER did indeed have a PG and an R version, but not SMOKEY. They must be confusing the two.

[Damian]

I've become so use to the TV edit of this film with the horrid Fred Flinstone sounding voice overs I totally forgot what the original dialogue was.