The Highwayman

Well i haven't seen this for years, but i remember i did love it as a kid and it had something of a cult following in my class. Don't know if i would still enjoy it as much now I'm all grown up - but i wish they would repeat it so i could see!

Basically Sam Jones' character "the Highway man" drove around in a big truck with his Austrailian friend. They were both government agents or something. But the basic premise was that the truck had super powers or was just very technologically advanced - cant remember which, and the 2 guys Sam and friend were big and butch and were able to win the battles with the bad guys every week. Sounds awful, probably was, but when your only about 10 years old it seemed like the best thing on TV!

I loved this show, the tec stuff, the cast, the story lines. It should have had a lot longer run. Sam Jones is a handsome, masculine presants. he is tall (6'3") dark and good looking. I wouldn't be afraid to walk down any dark street with him. Check it out, you won't be dissappointed.

I liked the idea of the show when it first came out. US Marshalls in high tech rigs, etc. Sam Jones was good for the part. Jacko "Jetto" was an interesting addition later on, and I liked his truck better. But the show lacked following and the scripts got worse and worse. One thing I will note. I recognized one of "The Highwayman" scripts in an episode of "Seven Days" with Jonathan LaPaglia. This was the one with the alien ship crash-landing. And while they were transporting the body, the alien would take over certain people in order for it to complete it's mission here on earth. The even used Jetto's truck to transport the alien body. It nagged me until I had realized this was an old Highwayman episode. But then again "Seven Days" also had an episode that mirrored the movie "Ghost" with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. I guess Hollywood runs out of ideas and has to repeat old ones.

Sam Jones is highly underrated, both as an action actor/tough guy and a great person in real life. The Highwayman, to me, was one of the last great action series and had all the elements I like, even if they are cheesy. It had the tough guy, the wise-cracking sidekick (Jacko), the hot babe (Jane Badler) and the trusted associate (Tim Russ). Plus, to top it all off, the great William Conrad did the narration. You can't beat all that. But, it didn't escape the axe of the TV execs. Another casualty, among many others (like The Phoenix). I have the complete series from the original airings with all the original commercials intact. The regular pilot is Terror On The Blacktop. Epguides.com lists a previous movie called Road Ranger. Does anyone have any details about this movie? I've never seen it and would like to get my hands on it.