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Bandit (film series)

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Bandit
Genre
  • Action
  • Comedy
Based onCharacters created by Hal Needham
Written byChris Abbott
Brock Yates
David Chisholm
Jay Huguely
Directed byHal Needham
StarringBrian Bloom
Brian Krause
ComposersSteve Dorff
Velton Ray Bunch
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes4
Production
CinematographyMichael Shea
EditorStephen Lovejoy
Running time91–94 minutes
Production companyUniversal Television
Original release
NetworkSyndication
ReleaseJanuary 30 (1994-01-30) –
April 10, 1994 (1994-04-10)

Bandit is a 1994 American television miniseries based on the Smokey and the Bandit franchise. All four episodes – Bandit Goes Country, Bandit Bandit, Beauty and the Bandit and Bandit's Silver Angel – were produced for Universal Television's Action Pack programming block from original Smokey and the Bandit director/writer Hal Needham.

Brian Bloom stars as a younger version of Bo "Bandit" Darville, the character originated by Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Smokey and the Bandit II (1980). The series serves as a reboot set in 1994.[1] Instead using the then newly released fourth generation Pontiac Trans Am at the time, the car featured as "Bandit One" in this series is a Dodge Stealth, while the original Smokey and the Bandit trilogy introduced two generations of the Pontiac Trans Am, Smokey and the Bandit I and II both featured a second-generation Trans Am while Smokey and the Bandit III (1983) featured a third-generation Trans Am.

The show's hit theme song "Another Dream Away" was performed by country music singer Dawn Sears. Sears is also featured in the opening title sequence performing the song while playing her guitar.

Episodes

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Nº Episode title Directed by Written by Airdate
1"Bandit Goes Country"Hal NeedhamChris AbbottJanuary 30, 1994 (1994-01-30)
The Bandit (Brian Bloom) goes home for a family reunion and along the way, he meets music star Mel Tillis, who is forced to make an emergency landing when his plane malfunctions. The Bandit helps Mel, but soon finds himself in hot water when his cousin Johnny (Christopher Atkins) gets into the music bootlegging business.
2"Bandit Bandit"Hal NeedhamBrock YatesMarch 13, 1994 (1994-03-13)
A Bandit impostor (Gerard Christopher) lands the real Bandit (Bloom) in jail, but he needs to break out so he can deliver a futuristic car safely to Governor Denton (Gary Collins).
3"Beauty and the Bandit"Hal NeedhamDavid ChisholmApril 3, 1994 (1994-04-03)
The Bandit (Bloom) is on the run with Crystal "the Beauty" (Kathy Ireland), a young woman being pursued by a mobster (Tony Curtis), a bounty hunter (Joseph Cortese) and the FBI.
4"Bandit's Silver Angel"Hal NeedhamJay HuguelyApril 10, 1994 (1994-04-10)
The Bandit (Bloom) gets an unexpected visit from his Uncle Cyrus (Donald O'Connor) who later dies of a heart attack, leaving his carnival to his widow Angel (Traci Lords). The Bandit helps Angel face off against some shady characters smuggling stolen silver ingots hidden in the carnival.

Home media

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After many years of being an extremely hard-to-find series to locate, on October 12, 2010, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment finally released all four episodes on DVD, along with the original Smokey and the Bandit trilogy as part of Smokey and the Bandit: The 7-Movie Outlaw Collection.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Armstrong, Richard B.; Armstrong, Mary Willems (2009). Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series. McFarland. p. 201. ISBN 9781476612300.
  2. ^ Smokey and the Bandit The 7-Movie Outlaw Collection at Amazon.com
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