MovieChat Forums > Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983) Discussion > GLEASON as THE BANDIT PICTURE!?!?!?!?!?!...

GLEASON as THE BANDIT PICTURE!?!?!?!?!?!?

posted 16 years ago by theroberthawleyexperienc
17 replies | jump to latest

I saw this same pic on EBAY a few years ago for sale...is this Gleason dressed as the Bandit? Someone please confirm...

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fotosearch.com/bthumb/IST/IST536/1208548.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/dick.html&usg=__RPeNeahymeo-Q877foDSH97SLhc=&h=170&w=114&sz=6&hl=en&start=106&um=1&tbnid=Em-gqOyJIN1_kM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=66&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSmokey%2Band%2Bthe%2BBandit%2BPart%2B3%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D90%26um%3D1

[–] theroberthawleyexperienc 16 years ago

Here is a smaller pic of it too...

http://www.fotosearch.com/bthumb/IST/IST536/1208548.jpg

[–] jasoncampbell05 16 years ago

Thats the pic that was on ebay. id say that is pretty good evidence that they filmed stuff with him as the Bandit.

[–] theroberthawleyexperienc 16 years ago

It so looks like he is outside the bar that Snowman gets in the fights with

[–] jasoncampbell05 16 years ago

It kinda does. This pic, combined with a fat stuntman doing some of the Bandit stunts in S&TB3 is pretty good evidence that some, if not all was filmed with Gleason doing both roles.

[–] theroberthawleyexperienc 16 years ago

Even at the very end when Justice is sneaking up on the Bandit, just before the Burt Reynolds cameo check out the differences in the cowboy hat when the car is far away and when it is Jerry Reed...no mistaking i think all of this was finished and in the can with Jackie in a dual role. This flick after the reported "Disasterous" test screening was either locked away or put in the Universal vault along with the footage of Eric Stolz in BAck to The Future, the Gleason Estate has it or it was destroyed.

[–] jasoncampbell05 16 years ago

Im sure that something else othe rthan that pic exists somewhere. Whether or not it will ever get released will be another story.

[–] theroberthawleyexperienc 16 years ago

A trip to the Universal vault, if it is in there would sure be interesting... Even if it is in rough shape, it would make great extra if they decide to make another Smokey boxset...on the Pursuit Pack which i own, Smokey 3 didnt even get a trailer, as a matter of fact i've never even seen a trailer for Smokey 3, was one even made?

[–] jasoncampbell05 16 years ago

Ive never seen a trailer for Smokey 3. Im sure one must have been made.

[–] Starscream2011 16 years ago

I'll be damned...that is him as The Bandit!

Just curious, but why hasn't anyone in 26 years got the rumors comfirmed? You'd think that someone would have asked Gleason before his death about this or even the co-stars.

You would think some of them are still alive and still working. I guess since the film tanked...they probably wouldn't want to talk about it, but then again...it seems to be such an odd-ball flick with rumors floating around that they would deny or confirm just to clear the matter up.

[–] jasoncampbell05 16 years ago

Who knows what the true story is. But I do believe that some if not all footage was filmed with Gleason playing both roles.

[–] theroberthawleyexperienc 16 years ago

I believe the movie was completed...too much evidence from the chubby student driver that appears throughout the entire movie for me. Who would know? Mr Gleason, Jerry Reed and Pat McCormick have all passed on...if someone could chat up the lovely Collen Camp or perhaps even Paul Williams they might be able to confirm.

[–] jasoncampbell05 15 years ago

Dave Cass, the Second Unit Director on S&TB3 confirmed to me via email that the film was completed with Gleason playing both roles and it was the studio that decided to reshoot w/Jerry Reed as the Bandit.

[–] theroberthawleyexperienc 15 years ago

It would be nice to see if Mr Cass had any stories from the set of S&TB 3.

[–] jasoncampbell05 15 years ago

send him a message, im sure he would share what he remembers.

[–] trekkie313 14 years ago

Photo links no longer work!

"Listen, do you smell something?"
Ray Stanz-Ghostbusters

[–] wmlopez 10 years ago

The movie must have really sucked for the studio to want to re-shoot the whole movie. So why do you guys want to see Gleason in bad work?
Just watch the color late 60s' HONEYMOONERS for that.

[–] Tjanssen411 10 years ago

for a lot of people it's not so much about the Footage or whether or not Gleason is any good... its just that the legend of 'Smokey IS the Bandit' has grown to such levels that people want concrete proof that it exists...

kind of like a comedic version of Jerry Lewis' "The Clown Cried" or what ever it's called... few if any actually want to see a Judas Goat Clown in a Death Camp... but the fact that so few have seen it and that the creators/studios don't want people to see it, makes people want to see it