| “ | What we're dealin' with here... is a complete lack o' respect for the law. | „ |
| ~ Buford after getting run off the road by Cledus "Snowman" Snow. |
| “ | You must be part coondog, 'cause I've been chased by the best of 'em. Son, you make 'em look like they're all runnin' in slow motion. I just wanted to say that. | „ |
| ~ Bandit taunting Buford at the end of the first film. |
| “ | You SUMBITCH! | „ |
| ~ Buford's catchphrase. |
Sheriff Buford T. Justice is the titular main antagonist of the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit and two sequels. With audiences cheering for Burt Reynolds as Bo "Bandit" Darville, Gleason as Sheriff Justice automatically becomes the de-facto villain in at least the first two of the three films.
He was portrayed by the late Jackie Gleason.
About Buford[]
A veteran lawman of more than thirty years, Buford T. Justice is the sheriff of fictional Portague County, Texas (as shown in the closing credits of the first movie); in reality, Texarkana is in Bowie County.
Buford is overweight sporting a pencil-thin mustache and often smoking a cigarette. He is foul-mouthed, crude, cheap, homophobic, and has a very dry sense of humor. He also has suppressed racist tendencies, as evidenced by when he (literally) runs into Arkansas Sheriff Branford, who is black. When they meet face-to-face, Buford says to him "For some reason or 'nother, you sound a little taller on radio", but then quietly said to Junior, "What the hell is the world comin' to?" Despite his covert racism, Buford is not a member of the Ku Klux Klan, though he mentions that his wife at one time was.
In his defense, Buford does retain some positive stereotypes of the southern gentleman. He is polite and deferential to women, often uniformly calling them each "Nice lady".
Family[]
Buford has at least one son- Junior, whom he constantly belittles calling him, among other things, a "moose twit", and a "barrel of monkey nuts". Junior is noticeably clumsy and dense, which convinces Buford that he cannot possibly be Junior's biological father, and more than once he has stated as much when Junior said or did something dimwitted: "There's no way-- no way, that you could come from my loins", adding that he plans to do physical harm to his mother when they get home:
- "Soon as I get home, the first thing I'm gonna do is punch your mama in the mouth."
- [~from the first film]
- "I'm goin' home an' kick your mama in th' butt.."
- [~from the sequel film]
Buford also has at least two brothers: Reginald "Reggie" van Justice, a Canadian Mountie Sergeant who lives in Quebec (which Gleason based on Reginald van Gleason III, a character from his classic TV variety show), and Gaylord Justice, an effeminate Texas Highway Patrolman. Both played by Gleason, they appeared in Smokey and the Bandit II.
Vendetta against The Bandit[]
Initially, Buford is interested only in getting Carrie back and to "set everythin' straight", as she insulted his town, his son, and his authority by running away from her wedding to Junior. But then, as he finds out more about the black Trans Am and its driver, Buford decides to shift his focus to Bandit instead. This carries over to the two sequel movies, as Bandit's elusiveness becomes more of a personal deal for the Sheriff, as he is unwilling to let his man get away, if it can be helped.
Smokey and the Bandit[]
Bo "Bandit" Darville and his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow are recruited by Big and Little Enos Burdette to run to Texas to pick up 400 cases of Coors Beer and illegally transport it to Atlanta in 28 hours. They reach Texarkana and load up, but just as they start back, Bandit is flagged down by Carrie, still in her wedding dress, who was about to marry Junior before she got cold feet and fled in their 'Just Married' car. She unwittingly makes Bandit a target for Buford when she hitches a ride with Bandit, taking off in his Trans Am just as a trio of teenagers pull up to the abandoned car to strip it for parts. Moments later, Buford pulls up with Junior along, and after some manhandling of the teens, gets some info about the car Carrie rode off in and its license plate, and then takes off to get her back.
With Junior in tow and ignoring his own jurisdiction, Buford pursues Bandit all the way to Atlanta, with numerous mishaps and missteps causing his police cruiser to disintegrate along the way. Neither Buford nor any other lawmen know of the illegal manifest of beer, while Bandit is initially likewise unaware that Buford is chasing him because of Carrie. Bandit and Snowman succeed in their quest, but to get away from the law, the Burdettes send them on a double-or-nothing challenge to run to Boston for some clam chowder. Out of respect for the lawman, Bandit reveals his actual location to Buford over the radio right before they set out on their second run; Buford is undeterred and continues his chase leaving Junior behind, and with more and more parts falling off of his cruiser as he limps off after Bandit.
Smokey and the Bandit II[]
Carrie has returned to Texarkana to marry Junior, but during their wedding, Cledus calls long distance and offers her $50,000 to help them out with another run, this time to take a package from Miami to Dallas for the GOP National Convention. Carrie agrees and again becomes a runaway bride, and Buford resumes his pursuit of Bandit, again with Junior along this time wearing a police uniform instead of his wedding suit.
Bandit and Cledus make it to Miami and pick up the package- a live elephant, and are stopped by Buford and Junior just as they start their trip to Dallas. Buford catches up with them in Miami, but after Bandit outsmarts him and escapes, Buford again gives chase across the south, first into Mississippi where he pursues him through the structure of a roller coaster that soon collapses. When he gets word that Bandit has entered Louisiana, Buford decides to call on some help from his brothers Reggie and Gaylord. Together, they muster over 40 police cruisers to chase Bandit across the Texas desert basin until Cledus comes to his rescue with a large convoy of his trucker pals and destroy the cruisers, including all three of the Justice Brothers' cars. At the very end of the film, Buford is still pursuing Bandit, only this time driving a Greyhound bus.
Smokey and the Bandit, Part 3[]
In the third film, the rivalry between Buford and Bandit takes on a reversal of roles, with Buford being portrayed in a more positive light. The Burdettes bet $250,000 against Buford's badge on his ability to transport a large stuffed shark from Miami to a new seafood restaurant they're opening in Austin, Texas. Buford, who is about to retire, declines, but soon reconsiders when he finds that retirement is not his thing.
The Burdettes stack the deck heavily against Buford's success, but after he manages to dodge all of their traps, Big and Little Enos hire Bandit (who, except for a brief cameo by Reynolds at the film's end, is played by Jerry Reed) to intercept Buford, steal the fish and take it to Austin himself. En route, Buford and Junior get stuck behind a slow moving chicken truck driven by two older black men, but when he sees that they're being harassed by a pickup truck driven by a group of Klansmen in their full uniform, Buford decides to help out, running the Klansmen's pickup into a tar truck which spills tar all over their white uniforms. The chicken truck bumps into them and feathers fly everywhere, essentially "tar and feathering" the Klansmen, much to the black men's delight.
Bandit and Buford chase one another across Dixie, going back and forth stealing the fish from one another, with the Burdettes monitoring the whole thing and futilely continuing their attempts to stop Buford. He finds Bandit has stopped at a 'no-tell motel' for the night and steals the fish back, but in the process reluctantly befriends a husky, oversexed woman named Tina; despite his assertion that he is into "pursuit, not poontang", Tina becomes infatuated with Buford, affectionately calling him "Bu-Baby".
At the race's end, Junior has stolen the fish from Bandit and won for Buford by getting to the seafood restaurant first. As he collects from the Burdettes, Buford sees Bandit and the Trans Am nearby; thinking that he is the actual Bandit, Buford walks up to the car and quietly revels in finally capturing his nemesis. But when Junior reminds him that now he can retire, Buford, realizing that he needs Bandit to maintain meaning in his life, lets him go with a five-minute head start, and then takes off after him again off into the sunset, this time with Tina in tow, and again leaving Junior behind dropping all the money as he runs after them.
Vendetta against The Bandit[]
Initially, Buford is interested only in getting Carrie back and to "set ev'rythin' straight", as she insulted his town, his son, and his authority by running away from her wedding to Junior. But then, as he finds out more about the black Trans Am and its driver, Buford decides to shift his focus to catching Bandit instead. This carries over to the two sequel movies, as Bandit's elusiveness becomes more of a personal deal for the Sheriff, as he is unwilling to let his man get away, if it can be helped.
Inspiration[]
"Buford T. Justice" was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Burt Reynolds' father, who himself was a one-time Police Chief of Riviera Beach, Florida. His father was also the inspiration for the word "sumbitch" used in the film, a variation of the phrase "son-of-a-bitch" that, according to Reynolds, he uttered quite often.
Gleason was given free rein to ad-lib dialogue and make suggestions, including the idea to have Junior alongside him throughout the film. Another of Gleason's ideas included the scene in which Buford unknowingly encounters Bandit in a "choke and puke" (CB lingo for a roadside diner); Gleason suggested Bandit wipe his eyes whenever Buford talked into his face. Reynolds was initially slightly put off by the idea, but then later admitted that it got him a bigger laugh.
Trivia[]
- Gleason refused to dub his lines to attenuate the profanity for the television edit of Smokey and the Bandit. As a result, voice actor Henry Corden, who at the time was known for voicing Fred Flintstone, was called on to overdub the offending lines. The replacement of 'sumbitch' with 'scum bum' was very popular with children once the movie began appearing on television.
- In 1981, Gleason, again in character as Justice, made a cameo appearance in a televised party honoring Burt Reynolds [1]. During his brief and hilarious presence, which was accented by Buford's ominous musical fanfare, Gleason never addressed Burt directly or even mentioned Bandit's name, but broke the fourth wall and told the audience that he would continue to pursue him; he also censored his own dialogue on camera saying "You sum--" cutting himself off before finishing the word 'sumbitch'.