Smokey and the Bandit episodes of the series. Needham saw an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and knew right away that would be the Bandit's car, or, as Needham referred to it, a character in the movie. He contacted Pontiac and an agreement was made that four 1977 Trans Ams and two Pontiac LeMans 4-door sedans would be provided for the movie. The Trans Ams were actually 1976-model cars with 1977 front ends. (From 1970 to 1976, both the Firebird/Trans Am and Chevrolet Camaro had two round headlights, and in 1977, the Firebird/Trans Am was changed to four rectangular headlights, while
Bandit (film series) Bandit (film series) Bandit is a series of four American made-for-television film spin-offs based on the popular "Smokey and the Bandit" film series. The four films in the series are: "Bandit Goes Country", "Bandit Bandit", "Beauty and the Bandit" and "Bandit's Silver Angel". The films were produced for Universal Television's Action Pack syndicated programming block in 1994 from original director/writer Hal Needham. Brian Bloom stars in the series as a younger version of Bandit, the character originated by Burt Reynolds in the films "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977) and "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980). The series also serves as