Review: Lizzie Guilfoyle
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Feature film photo gallery; Starsky
And Hutch - The Movie featurette; 'It's Harder Than It Looks'
featurette; 'The Third Star' featurette; Making of - Behind The
Badge; Promo trailer - original TV promo spots.
Episode titles: Starkey And Hutch - The Pilot Episode; Savage
Sunday; Texas Longhorn; Death Ride; Snowstorm; The Fix; Death
Notice; Pariah; Kill Huggy Bear; The Bait; Lady Blue;"Captain
Dobey, You're Dead!"; Terror on the Docks; The Deadly Impostor;
Shootout; The Hostages; Losing Streak; Silence; The Omaha Tiger;
Jojo; Running; A Coffin for Starsky; The Bounty Hunter.
WITH Starsky & Hutch hitting the big screen, what was it
about the original TV series that so captivated audiences for
so long?
The answer, in part, has to be its two main stars - the charismatic
duo that was Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky) and David Soul (Hutch).
Good looking, in spite of that one, now infamous hairstyle, they
shared a rare and enduring chemistry - the sort that made Paul
Newman and Robert Redford such a successful pairing in Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid and, later, The Sting; and, through them,
the characters of Starsky and Hutch lived.
Colleagues first (for the uninitiated, that's plain clothes cops),
and then friends, Starsky and Hutch was neither ashamed, nor afraid,
to depict platonic love between two adult males.
There was, of course, the odd whisper of it being otherwise,
but you only had to witness Starsky's heart-rending concern for
a desperately sick Hutch, or Hutch's consideration for Starsky
mourning the death of a particularly special girlfriend (an episode,
incidentally, that move me to tears) to know it wasn't so.
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Besides, both had their share of romance, although, in the interest
of the series, the development of the characters, and, of course,
the legions of adoring female fans, none of it was meant to last.
Yet, not only did Glaser and Soul interact so well with one another,
but with the shows two supporting stars as well - Bernie Hamilton,
whose Captain Doby, literally filled our screens, and whose brusque
exterior concealed a deeply caring man, as well as an abiding
respect for the young detectives in his charge; and the irrepressible
Antonio Fargas, whose smooth, fast-talking Huggy Bear gave police
informers a respectability never seen before.
All that, plus terrific story-lines, that took policing to a
new dimension without ever breaching the limits of propriety.
And no one swore - refreshing and surprising, no doubt, in this
age of mindless profanity.
Humour, too, was part and parcel of the package, the comic timing
of Glaser and Soul as good as anything delivered by Laurel and
Hardy.
It wasn't, however, without its critics and, at one stage, fell
victim to the anti-violence-on-television lobby. As a direct consequence,
hard-hitting storylines were toned down to the point where it
was in very real danger of losing its credibility.
Fortunately, a compromise was reached and the impetus restored.
Starsky and Hutch also spawned a modest side-line in memorabilia,
from T-shirts to annuals and, of course, models of the famous
Ford Gran Torino. Now, with so much renewed interest, they could
well become collectors' items of some value.
Starsky and Hutch appealed to young and old, alike, to men as
well as women, and was responsible for many Saturday nights in
front of the telly.
A cult, a classic and most definitely a challenge, for the original
is, beyond doubt, a hard act to follow.
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