Smokey and the Bandit

FADE IN:

THE HIGHWAY - DAY

Georgia. Two-lane blacktop, stretching from here to heaven.

Empty. Silent. Then, suddenly in the far distance, several

dark specks rise over a hill and head straight toward camera.

Camera holds and the specks begin to take form. Vehicles.

Trucks. Six monstrous eighteen-wheel diesels, coming at us,

their smokestacks blasting. Sound grows louder, as we begin

to hear snatches of Citizens Band Radio talk over:

VOICE ONE:

-- Breaker, this is Banana Peel...

VOICE TWO:

-- Yeah, Breaker go head on.

VOICE ONE:

-- Thanks much. I'd like to get me a

Smokey report?

VOICE TWO:

-- Road looks clean as a hound's

tooth.

VOICE ONE:

-- Okey, doke. Last one to the Roadeo

is a homo.

Voices fade and titles and credits begin. "Black Smoke Blowing

Over Eighteen Wheels" by Red Simpson comes up in the b.g. as

the six trucks blast right over camera.

AN AERIAL VIEW:

of the trucks driving through an entrance gate to a huge

parking lot. Over the gate is a sign reading: "GEORGIA TRUCK

ROADEO STATE FINALS." Music and credits continue.

TRUCK ROADEO - PARKING LOT - DAY

Macks, Kenworths, Whites and Jimmys, all polished to a

mirrored finish. Truck drivers decked out in their flashiest

western outfits. The stands filled with spectators on the

edge of their seats, watching the gearjammers put their rigs

through tests of skill and reflexes -- parallel parking,

driving around eggs, through complicated barricades, etc.

CAMERA PICKS UP:

a customized white Cadillac convertible pulling into the

Roadeo grounds. The Caddy has mounted chrome quarter horses

on each front fender, bull horns on the front bumper, stacked

rifles displayed in the rear. Garish. The car's Texas license

plate reads "Mr. Big."

CLOSER ANGLE:

The Cadillac stops. Two men climb out and wend their way

through the trucks and spectators. Camera tracks behind them.

Although we can't see their faces, we see that one man is

pudgy and decked out in a fancy white western suit and hat.

The other is younger, tall, skinny and wearing a grey western

suit and hat. Kyle Brand and his son Dickey.

MUSIC AND CREDITS FADE

ANGLE - ROADEO INFIELD

The crowd roars, as the trucks race through an obstacle

course.

ANGLE - THE MEN - TRACKING

Camera still on their backs.

DICKEY:

(referring to race)

Is that Bandit in the lead?

KYLE:

If that sumbitch was in the race,

he'd be in the winner's circle by

now.

DICKEY:

I still think this whole idea is

dumb, pop.

KYLE:

Then it must be a helluva idea.

Kyle laughs. His laugh then turns into a hacking cough.

DICKEY:

Why don't we just rent a Lear jet

and haul it back ourselves?

KYLE:

Because I wanna see this hot shot

Bandit do something that can't be

done. Besides, there's nothing I

like better than breaking legends.

He laughs, coughs again, continues walking.

DICKEY:

(not getting it)

But if it can't be done, how's he

gonna do it?

KYLE:

That's the point, Dickey.

DICKEY:

Oh.

KYLE:

Now, you just find him, son.

DICKEY:

Yes, sir.

Dickey crosses to a trucker couple, polishing up their chromed

rig.

DICKEY:

Say, hoss. Where might I locate the

Bandit?

HUSBAND:

Ain't seen him.

WIFE:

(immediately)

Over there behind his rig.

The Husband shoots his old lady a jealous look. Dickey rejoins

Kyle and they head toward Bandit LaRue's truck.

NEW ANGLE - MOVING

as they come to the only battered, beaten-up eighteen-wheeler

at the entire Truck Roadeo. It looks like it hasn't been

washed since it left the showroom.

On one side of the truck is a faded and peeling mural of a

stagecoach being held up. A teamster and a shotgun guard

have their hands high in the air and a Bandit on horseback

has a six-gun pointed at them.

An elaborate CB radio antenna grows out of the cab beside

the driver's door.

ANGLE - KYLE AND DICKEY - FROM BEHIND

as they round the truck and stop in their tracks.

REVERSE ANGLE - WHAT THEY SEE

A hammock is stretched from the cab of the truck to an oak

tree. A man wearing a faded denim western shirt, open with

the sleeves rolled up, levis and silver-toed cowboy boots is

lying in the hammock. A cowboy hat covers his face.

CLOSER ANGLE:

as shadows fall across the figure. The man slowly tips back

his hat and we see he's in his thirties, boyishly handsome,

with a cocky smile. Bandit LaRue.

FULL SHOT:

And for the first time we get a look at Kyle and Dickey.

Kyle is wearing sunglasses and diamond rings on every finger.

His smile is as tasteless as the suit he wears.

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