“Smokey and the Bandit II” (トランザム7000 VS 激突パトカー軍団), Original Release Japanese Movie Poster 1981 (film 1980), Burt Reynolds / Sally Field, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) O869
This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the first Japanese cinema release of Hal Needham’s Smokey and the Bandit II (トランザム7000 VS 激突パトカー軍団), starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason. The film was produced in 1980 and first opened theatrically in Japan on 14 March 1981, distributed domestically by Universal-CIC.
The sequel to the enormously successful Smokey and the Bandit, the film reunites Bandit with Carrie, Snowman and Sheriff Buford T. Justice for another spectacular highway chase. This time, Bandit and Snowman are hired to transport an unusually important cargo—a pregnant elephant—from Miami toward Texas, inevitably placing them back in the path of Justice and culminating in an enormous confrontation between a convoy of trucks and an army of police cars. Directed by legendary stuntman and filmmaker Hal Needham, the cast also includes Jerry Reed, Dom DeLuise, Paul Williams and Pat McCormick.
Poster design
A fantastic, action-packed Japanese first-release design that focuses almost entirely on the film’s automotive destruction and larger-than-life personalities. The upper half is filled with enormous semi-trucks, police cruisers skidding across the highway and a vehicle spectacularly flipping through the air, immediately selling the sequel as an escalation of the original film’s celebrated stunt driving.
At the centre, Burt Reynolds appears in his unmistakable cowboy hat, smiling and flashing a peace sign, accompanied by Sally Field and Jackie Gleason as Sheriff Buford T. Justice. Smaller imagery includes the famous black Pontiac Trans Am, a convoy of eighteen-wheelers and even the elephant at the centre of the story.
The Japanese campaign makes the vehicular spectacle the principal attraction, with bold copy describing the ferocious collision between a fearless convoy and an elite army of police cars. The enormous red title トランザム7000 dominates the lower section, followed by VS 激突パトカー軍団 — approximately “versus the Clashing Police-Car Corps.” Japan’s decision to market the series around the iconic Trans Am rather than translate Smokey and the Bandit literally gives the poster a particularly distinctive local identity.
It is over 45 years old!
Condition
Excellent. The poster retains superb colour saturation, with the red typography, turquoise and orange vehicle imagery and photographic character portraits remaining exceptionally strong. There are only very minor signs of age and handling, with no significant condition issues affecting the central artwork or typography. Please review the photo—it shows the exact poster for sale.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
