With the loss of movie star Burt Reynolds recently, I could not help but think of a few days in August of 1976 in McDonough. We received word that the film crew for the movie Smokey and the Bandit would be visiting Henry County. At the time, we were unaware of the Hollywood talent that would be in this movie.

  Our quiet little town was transformed into Hollywood “Southern Style” for several days that summer. I’m telling you, this movie was packed full of stars. Jackie Gleason, Sally Fields, Jerry Reed and his dog, a Basset Hound, and of course the star of the movie and at the top of his game at the time was ladies man, “Burt Reynolds.”

  We were overwhelmed with all of the production crews, equipment trucks and movie stars that took over our town for that brief moment. I know that several movies have been filmed here since then, but back then this was a huge deal and never since has any movie come close to the excitement that we had for this event.

  Two of the most famous scenes of the movie were shot right here in McDonough. The first one took place downtown, right in the middle of the Square. That was an exciting night in my life and I remember it well. Myself and some family members and friends had planned to go up on the roof of the McDonough Theatre where we would have a great view of the Square. We set up camp in the classic 1940’s art deco “Penthouse” which is still there today in it’s original condition.

  I made friends with two of the grips that worked for the film crew, Buddy Colson and Chris Weldon. They would give me information on when and where the shots would be filmed. This particular night was action packed with Burt Reynolds driving his classic 1976 Pontiac Trans Am up from Macon Street. He went to the left of the Square and jumped the rock wall right up into the Square, hiding his car behind the Police Shack that was located there at the time.

  I’ll never forget the next part. When Burt Reynolds got out of the car, all of the girls there started screaming and yelling and I thought that I was at Shea Stadium and The Beatles had just come on stage. It was a moving moment. Burt was in the middle of McDonough, Ga., and the ladies had him all to themselves for that space in time.

  There was a truck that stayed in town that had five brand new 1976 black Pontiac Trans Ams that were guarded 24 hours per day by the City of McDonough Police. These were backup cars for Burt because some of them went through a lot of action and they did not have time to fix them. So, they were replaced at the first sign of trouble. I wish I’d taken a picture of all of the cars on that truck but I had no idea that Smokey and the Bandit would become such an iconic film and would be watched over and over for years to come.

  Now the moment I have been waiting for. Enter Billy Ray Bell! Billy Ray (as we called him) was a colorful character in McDonough. He was widely known by everyone and lived here all of his life. Billy Ray was a brick mason by trade but he was always getting involved in situations and he knew how to capitalize on opportunities as they presented themselves.

  Billy Ray was a good friend of Grady Lamar and the second scene they filmed was shot at Grady Lamar’s Night Club located on Macon Street beside the McDonough City Cemetery. The club is still standing today. On the other side is a wash house, also located on Macon Street.

  I was down at Grady Lamar’s the day of the second scene, which was as exciting as the first one. The stars that day were Jerry Reed, his dog and Grady Lamar. Billy Ray knew that I’d made friends with some of the crew and he asked me if I could get him a job as an extra. I told him that I would see what I could do. Well I asked my friends and, as luck would have it, the person responsible for caring for Jerry’s dog had gotten ill and had to go home. So the position they needed to fill was that of dog sitter. I told Billy Ray about it and of course, according to him, he was well qualified to look after a dog.

  Now it turned out that the dog spent a lot of time with Billy Ray because they would film scenes several times until they got it right and then would bring the dog on the last take because the dog didn’t have to say anything and didn’t have to worry about remembering his line. All the dog did was sit in the truck and wait on his next meal.  

  The scene that day was Jerry Reed pulling up at the gas station and going into Grady Lamar’s club to get a sandwich and chips to go. While he was in the club there was a group of bikers there also. Some of the bikers started giving Jerry a hard time and he was all by himself, other than the dog. When he left the club and went back to his truck, there were probably 30 motorcycles parked outside the club in front of his tractor trailer. What Jerry did to get even was, when he left, he drove over the motorcycles and smashed them all as flat as a pancake and then took off down Macon Street going South on Highway 23 and 42. What you didn’t know and could not see in the movie was that every one of those motorcycles was wired down to the ground with railroad spikes to keep them from getting caught in the wheels of the truck. They only shot that scene one time and I was standing right there when it happened.

  Billy Ray spent a lot of time with Jerry’s dog and one day a photographer walked by and asked to take a picture of the dog. Billy Ray, being the businessman that he was, asked if he could be in the picture as the caretaker for the dog, and she said, sure.

  Well the next day she brought a copy of the picture to Billy Ray and I don’t think I had ever seen him that happy before. I’ll never forget the look on his face. Now Billy Ray started showing that picture to everyone he could and several people asked to get a copy. So, as Billy Ray’s manager, I thought we could get copies made and sell them. Billy Ray signed them and people started to buy them. In fact, we sold out by the end of the day.

  But this time I thought we could charge more if we had the dog’s autograph and Billy Ray’s on the same picture. Billy Ray said, “Jeff, you know that dog can’t read or write.” I told him, “I know he can’t but I’ve got it all figured out. We will get a stamp pad and put the dog’s paw on the pad then on the picture.” I had another batch of photos printed and with both autographs we were able to sell them at a higher price. Everything was working out well for all of us until someone in the production caught wind of it. They came to see us and said we could not sell the picture with the dog in it. So I had a picture taken of Billy Ray by himself, but sales were not as brisk without the dog. I let Billy Ray keep the proceeds and that was the end of that!

  I once asked Billy Ray if he was kin to Archie Bell, of the music group Archie Bell and the Drells. Billy Ray said that yes, Archie Bell was his fourth cousin third removed. Archie Bell and the Drells had a huge hit in the 1960’s called “Tighten Up.” They still play it today on oldies stations. I asked Billy Ray what Archie was removed from. Billy Ray just said he wasn’t sure, all he knew was that Archie was third removed. I said, ok, and didn’t ask anymore questions!   I miss Billy Ray!