TEXARKANA -- "East bound and down, loaded up and truckin', we gonna do what they say can't be done."
It's unlikely anyone who grew up in the South has not heard of "Smokey and the Bandit" or can read those lyrics without starting to hum, especially if they were alive in the '70s and '80s.
Either they have watched the movie, heard the song, or seen the memorabilia and collectibles. At the very least, they are familiar with the movie's iconic black Pontiac Trans Am and have heard the catchy theme song "East Bound and Down."
But as years pass since the movie's 1977 release, it's important to recognize what an iconic film it was and what an integral role Texarkana played in it. More than the movie's star cast, Texarkana might have been the real winner, coming to national fame because of the movie's success.
The movie tells the story of truckers paid to illegally haul 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta, Georgia, using the Trans Am to run interference if any police attention is attracted. There's a runaway bride, an adorable basset hound and plenty of road action, romance, comedy, classic chase scenes and cheeky nicknames to boot.
Texarkana fits nicely into the "Smokey and the Bandit" story. Not only was Texarkana a realistic, small but storied town at the time of the movie's filming, but it had a history of bootlegging and in general was known at one time for nefarious activity. Legend has it that bootleggers used to sneak back and forth across state lines to avoid being caught with alcohol during prohibition.
The director, Hal Needham, planned a low-budget film, but his friend Burt Reynolds happened to read the script and agreed to star in it, launching the movie into a very different reality. It was the directorial debut for Needham, a well-known Hollywood stuntman before the project.
In a 2011 Fortune magazine article, Needham wrote that he was inspired to write the script after he was given some Coors beer in 1976 on the set of "Gator," put it in his hotel room refrigerator, and noticed it kept disappearing while he was working. He set a trap, caught the perpetrator and then sought to understand why the beer was so sought after. It didn't take long for "Smokey and the Bandit" to begin formulating in his creative mind.
In 1977, Coors beer was unavailable for sale east of Oklahoma. It wasn't nationally distributed until 1986, as it was more of a regional product in the beginning. There has even been some speculation that regional sales were a part of Coors marketing strategy in the early days of the brand.
Reynolds was arguably the most popular male actor in the world at the time of production and would later reveal in his autobiography that the original screenplay for the movie, written on a yellow legal pad, was the "worst script he'd ever read." Still, Reynolds agreed to do the movie, and it ended up being the second-highest grossing in the U.S. in 1977, earning $126 million at the box office, second only to "Star Wars."
Most of the dialogue for the movie was improvised on set. The famous diner scene between Reynolds and Jackie Gleason as Sheriff Buford T. Justice was reportedly an on-the-spot decision -- an idea from Gleason himself.
It's safe to surmise that if the cast had not been so star-studded and the crew filled with a wealth of Hollywood experience, "Smokey and the Bandit" wouldn't have had a chance. But Reynolds, Fields and Gleason, along with the rest of the cast and crew, dedicated time and effort and ended up with instant gold. The movie was even said to be Alfred Hitchcock's favorite, and he was known to watch it again and again.
Reynolds and co-lead Sally Field were popular before the film was released, but it propelled each further into stardom. The production sparked a relationship off-screen between the two, and they dated for five years.
The movie was one of several of its time that focused on truckers and boosted the '70s CB radio fad, including its precursor "Moonrunners" and the television series "The Dukes of Hazzard."
The scenes set in Texarkana were not filmed locally but in Jonesboro, Georgia, where the climate is much the same as in Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas -- hot and muggy in the summers, wet and mild in the winters -- and the terrain is full of mature trees and rolling hills.
The 48-foot mural trailer pulled in the movie by Jerry Reed's character, Cledus "Snowman" Snow, was manufactured by Hobbs Trailer in Lakeside, Texas, just outside Fort Worth. The trailer was also used in the TV series "The Walking Dead" as an Easter egg for viewers 40 years later, one of many tributes to the movie that came about in the new millennium.
They include the Bandit Run, a ride from Texarkana to Jonesboro for a group of Trans Am owners and fans of the movie. The event took off in 2007 and celebrated the movie's 40th anniversary with a special screening attended by Reynolds. The Bandit Run also staged a recreation of the movie's famous jump scene in 2017. There was even a group of truckers that participated in "Snowman's Run" to raise money for a wounded veteran program in Reed's name.
Now, as the 45th anniversary of the movie approaches, more events and tributes are planned. Texarkana and a few towns in Georgia still have cultural relevance based on the movie, which generates tourism and events from time to time, and frequently these towns cash in on the connection to the franchise.
Rumor has it that a remake television series starring David Gordon Green and Brian Sides could be in the works. While there is no way to match the greatness of the original movie, it is exciting to think about the future of a "Smokey and the Bandit" series and what it could mean for Texarkana and the South.
It seems a growing popularity of all things '70s, '80s and '90s keeps resurfacing in modern pop culture, including mullets, denim, feathered hair and more. It would only be fitting if "Smokey and the Bandit" made a comeback, as well.
After all, "The boys are thirsty in Atlanta, and there's beer in Texarkana, and we'll bring it back no matter what it takes."
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Eastbound and Down: 'Smokey and the Bandit' re-creators visit mural at Texarkana restaurant