Bandit (film series)

{{Infobox television

| image =

| image_upright =

| image_size =

| image_alt =

| caption =

| genre = {{Plainlist|

Action
Comedy

}}

| based_on = Characters created by Hal Needham

| writer = Chris Abbott
Brock Yates
David Chisholm
Jay Huguely

| director = Hal Needham

| starring = Brian Bloom
Brian Krause

| theme_music_composer =

| composer = Steve Dorff
Velton Ray Bunch

| country = United States

| language = English

| num_seasons =

| num_episodes = 4

| list_episodes =

| executive_producer =

| producer =

| cinematography = Michael Shea

| editor = Stephen Lovejoy

| camera =

| runtime = 91–94 minutes

| company = Universal Television

| budget =

| network = Syndication

| first_aired = {{Start date|1994|01|30}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1994|04|10}}

| related =

}}

Bandit is a 1994 American television series 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.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIIwCgAAQBAJ&q=body+chemistry+%22claire+archer%22&pg=PA30|page=201|title=Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series|first1=Richard B.|last1=Armstrong|first2=Mary Willems|last2=Armstrong|publisher=McFarland|date=2009|isbn=9781476612300}} 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

{{Episode table |background=EE9A4D |overall= |title= |director= |writer= |airdate= |episodes=

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 1

| Title = Bandit Goes Country

| DirectedBy = Hal Needham

| WrittenBy = Chris Abbott

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|1|30}}

| ShortSummary = 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.

| LineColor = #EE9A4D

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 2

| Title = Bandit Bandit

| DirectedBy = Hal Needham

| WrittenBy = Brock Yates

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|3|13}}

| ShortSummary = A Bandit impostor (Gerard Christopher) lands the real Bandit (Bloom) in jail, he is arrested by Sheriff Enright (John Schneider of Dukes of Hazzard Fame) but he needs to break out so he can deliver a futuristic car safely to Governor Denton (Gary Collins).

| LineColor = #EE9A4D

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 3

| Title = Beauty and the Bandit

| DirectedBy = Hal Needham

| WrittenBy = David Chisholm

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|4|3}}

| ShortSummary = 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.

| LineColor = #EE9A4D

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 4

| Title = Bandit's Silver Angel

| DirectedBy = Hal Needham

| WrittenBy = Jay Huguely

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1994|4|10}}

| ShortSummary = 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.

| LineColor = #EE9A4D

}}

Home media

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.[https://www.amazon.com/Smokey-Bandit-7-Movie-Outlaw-Collection/dp/B003VRJ89S/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1536593748&sr=1-3&keywords=smokey+and+the+bandit+7-movie Smokey and the Bandit The 7-Movie Outlaw Collection at Amazon.com]