Starsky & Hutch - The Complete First Season
by Barry Shear, Bob Kelljan, Dick Moder, Don Weis, Fernando Lamas
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DVD details
Actor: Antonio Fargas, Bernie Hamilton, David Soul, Paul Michael Glaser, William WatsonDirector: Barry Shear, Bob Kelljan, Dick Moder, Don Weis, Fernando Lamas
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1200 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-03-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Starsky & Hutch - The Complete First Season
DVD Review: The best cop show of the 70s!
Summary: 5 Stars
For true 'Starsky & Hutch' fans, this is an excellent box set. I give it 5 out of 5 stars simply because any fan of 'S&H' will no doubt love it.
'Starsky & Hutch' was a ground-breaking show when it debuted in 1975. Based loosely on the early-70s TV movie 'Super-Cops', itself a true-life inspired story, 'Starsky & Hutch' blended the buddy-formula that worked so well in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', as well as 'The Sting' with the conventions of TV cop show simplicities, throwing in a lot of personal touches along the way.
Critics initially lambasted the show for being little more than an ultra-violent shoot-em-up peppered with endless car chases, but the sincere sensitivity displyed by the main characters, fleshed out by the very-likable leads Paul Michael Glaser as 'Starsky' and David Soul as 'Hutch', as well as supporting cast Antonio Fargas as thier snitch-buddy 'Huggy Bear'(he was NOT a pimp!)and Bernard Hamilton as thier tough-as-nails 'Captain Dobey' was enough to take the hard 'edge' off of the violent action that would have quickly become boring and uninteresting.
The TV show 'S.W.A.T.', another Spelling-Goldberg production airing during 1975 was also initially a huge hit, packed with even more of the audience-grabbing uber-violence. Unfortunately, that show did not have the talents or likeability of a cast like Glaser, Soul, Fargas and Hamilton to give it any lasting appeal, and it was soon gone from the air-waves.
What gave this show it's lasting appeal was the near-perfect balance of action, friendship, humor and drama, all capped off with theme music, as well as incidental episode music that was far and away the best ever used on an hour long weekly cop series up until that time.
The opening theme music for the first season, as well as much of this season's incidental music was by the award-winning Lalo Schifrin, most famous for his unforgettable them to 'Mission: Impossible', as well as his jazzy theme for the private-detective series 'Mannix', starring Mike Conners. Schifrin also was responsible for the award winning scores from both 'Dirty Harry', the Clint Eastwood film and 'Bullit', the Steve McQueen actioner famous for its near-perfect 15-minute car chase scene through the streets and hills of San Francisco.
Along with Schifrin's unbeatable contributions, many other famous film composers contributed to the 'Starsky & Hutch' sound during its freshman season.
Probably the most amazing thing about the first season of 'Starsky & Hutch' is the fact that of the 23 episodes, only two of the stories were written originally for this show.
This show was cutting-edge for its time, tackling subjects rarely, if ever shown on a typical hour long TV show before.
Of the entire first season, almost every episode is a classic, with no stinkers in the bunch.
The biggest treat to fans for this set is the inclusion of the rarely-seen pilot episode. Like most pilot shows, there are a few differences from the series once it was underway, but they are very few and barely noticeable. In other words...they got it right from the beginning and didn't have to 'fix it' when it became a series. The most obvious change is that 'Dobey' is played by Richard Ward in the pilot, who was unavailable for the series. Bernie Hamilton then became the beloved 'Dobey' for the entire 4-year run of the series. The pilot is a little more gritty and rough than what the series was, but all the elements are clearly in place. After all these years, seeing the pilot again is a real treat!
Unlike most cop-shows from the era, 'Starsky & Hutch' gave its two leads plenty of opportunities for some real acting by letting the characters show flaws, hesitations and quirks along with the usual heroic and unflinching abilities of most TV cops.
'The Fix' is probably one of the best hours of episodic drama ever produced for American televison, even by today's standards. As revenge for 'stealing' his girlfriend, a viscious and insanely jealous mobster gets Hutch strung-out on heroin, simply to get him to reveal where Hutch is hiding her. David Soul's performance in this episode is a tour-de-force display as he takes the viewer through every harrowing stage of Hutch's ordeal from being kidnapped, shot-up while blindfolded, beaten to near-death while high, and eventually left for dead as a strung-out junkie too weak and disoriented to even know who his friends are. This episode was so disturbing it was banned from all European broadcasts of 'Starsky & Hutch' until the early 1990s!
'Texas Longhorn' tells the story of good ole' boy millionaire car-dealership owner 'Zack Tyler', who's wife is brutally raped and murdered. Instead of the typical TV show rage and anger, Zack's sedate and disturbing depression draws so much sympathy from Starsky & Hutch (as well as the audience!) that it is hard to find fault with him for hunting down the rapists responsible for his wife's death. Another touching episode.
'Deadly Imposter' features the awesome Canadian-actor Art Hindle as Starsky & Hutch's friend John Colby from thier police-academy days. Colby's surprise return to Bay City, asking his pals Starsky & Hutch to help him find his ex-wife and son is in reality a cover for the fact that he is now a highly-paid assassin, using his friends Starsky & Hutch to unknowingly help him track down a mob informant marked for assassination...by Colby! The hand-to-hand combat between two former close friends on the beach at the end of the episode is startlingly realistic and quite dramatic. Another great episode!
'The Hostages' tells the suspenseful story of a young armored car driver(John Ritter) and his pregnant wife being held hostage who will be killed unless he turns in all the money from the day's pick-ups. A well-acted and well paced race-against-time episode.
These are only a few of the great episodes, and my favorites from this season. But rest assured...every episode from this set is a great one!
The over-riding theme set up during the first season is that 'Starsky & Hutch' are truly best friends, not just co-workers. They would willingly give thier life for each other if necessary, and thier dedication to each other, as well as 'doing the right thing', even if it means bending the rules a bit is inspirational and makes the characters seem like real people.
Glaser and Soul ARE 'Starsky & Hutch' and are unforgettable. Stiller and Wilson were just acting.
The picture quality and sound on this set is generally excellent. Some artifacts from the original source films are present, mostly in the opening credits on some episodes.
The packaging is pretty nice, with a colorful box, a nice fold-out section to hold the 5 discs, and plenty of close-ups of the famous Torino to look at. Unfortunately for true aficianados, the Gran Torino used on the package is the version used in the new Stller and Wilson 'Starsky & Hutch' movie, not the 'real' Torino from the TV show.That's undestandable, since the original cars are owned by a collector and are in original, unrestored condition...meaning they are pretty rough! In fact, there is a short featurette in the 'special features' all about these origianl cars.
The 'special features' also includes a nice up-to-date set of all-new interviews with Glaser, Soul, Fargas and the producers. Very enlightening!
The only sore spot for me is the 'Original TV Promo Spots' included. They are in fact NOT original 'promo spots', but are actually the promo spots produced in 1980 as part of the syndication package for the entire series. Its still cool to see them though.
If you are a fan of 'Starsky & Hutch' this set is for you. You will definately enjoy it, so just get it.
Do it.Do it.........Do it.
Description of Starsky & Hutch - The Complete First Season
Produced by Aaron Spelling, "Starsky & Hutch" roared onto small screens in 1975 to become one of the most popular, iconic series of the decade. This was TV?s coolest buddy cop show, fueled by full-throttle car chases, offbeat humor, colorful characters and a hip vibe. Now the first season of this landmark show is available on DVD for the first time in an action-packed 5-disc set!Bestsellers in DVD
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