Good ol’ Han and Lando, bosom buddies of the Star Wars saga. They shared a past, a ship, and a scoundrel disposition. What you may not have known is that they also shared an episode of a little-known TV show from 1971 called “Dan August,” starring Burt Reynolds.
Snooping around imdb.com recently, we discovered actors Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams had actually been cast together for an episode of the crime teledrama (titled “The Manufactured Man”). We’ve not seen the episode, or a script for that matter, which is why we’re not able to relay the basic plot. Still, seeing the card-player/scoundrel and no-good swindler in a schmaltzy 1971 Burt Reynolds pre-Bandit vehicle — starring Gary Busey, Mickey Rooney, and David Soul, no less — sounds to us like TV worth watching.
Check out the imdb page for the episode here.
Tags: Celebrities, Humor, TV
WOW! What an interesting discovery! I would love to see this episode. I wonder if Billy Dee and Harrison shared any scenes together? Sadly, Dan August is not available on DVD…Yet. Some episodes are available online from underground video collectors but I cannot find this particular episode. Harrison played a character named Hewitt and Billy Dee played Steve McAdams. Here is a plot description courtesy of http://www.harrisonfordweb.com
Episode The Manufactured Man
Broadcast Date March 11th, 1971
Episode Summary The secretary of a political candidate is found murdered in an alley. A witness at the nearby bus depot reports that a drifter, who has stuff stashed in a locker at the bus depot, was bothering the young woman before she was murdered. Further, the witness saw the drifter running form the scene of the crime. Dan August & partner have the locker under observation and when a girl comes to pick up the contents they follow her. She goes to an apartment, where the drifter – Al Hewitt (HARRISON FORD) – is hiding out. Hewitt spots the girl being trailed and tries to knock out Dan with a guitar but is subdued and arrested on suspicion of Murder One. Autopsy of the murdered secretary shows that she gave birth to a child just a few months before her death and that she was once involved with the son of the political candidate. Armed with information from reporter Steve McAdams (BILLY DEE), Dan looks further into the case.