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Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Series (15)



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.

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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