In Smokey and the Bandit, the race car driver, Bo "Bandit" Darville (played by Burt Reynolds), is offered $80,000 to transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia in under 28 hours. The problem? Coors beer was not legally available east of the Mississippi River at that time.
To help him complete the mission, Bo enlists the help of his truck-driving friend, Cledus "Snowman" Snow (played by Jerry Reed), who will drive the truck carrying the beer while Bo drives a Pontiac Trans Am as a decoy to attract attention from the police, nicknamed "Smokey".
But their plan becomes complicated when Bo picks up a woman named Carrie (played by Sally Field) along the way. She's on the run from her wedding to the son of a wealthy Texan and needs to get to Atlanta to marry someone else. Bo reluctantly agrees to help her and she tags along as they outrun the police and encounter various other obstacles on the way to their destination.
Along the way, they also encounter law enforcement officer Buford T. Justice (played by Jackie Gleason), who is determined to catch them and bring them to justice. Bo and the gang must use their wit and driving skills to outsmart Buford and complete their mission before time runs out.
Smokey and the Bandit was a huge commercial success and became a cult classic. It was followed by two sequels, Smokey and the Bandit II and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, both of which were not as successful as the original.