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Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season (15) Columbia Tristar retail .0...
TV Starsky & Hutch: The Pilot Five. Sun 21 Mar, 9.55pm COCO
At school, we called them Starkers and Crutch. For anyone of a certain chronological persuasion (now situated between the ages of 29 and 44), the original 1975 series of Starsky 8. Hutch came like a bolt from the blue and screeched into our common psyches quicker and harder than a Ford Torino slamming into a stack of cardboard boxes. So deep was the impression made upon our tiny minds that the only way to pay proper tribute to detectives Dave Starsky and Ken Hutchinson was to form our very own local law enforcement agency.
Unfortunately, there were only three of us, all of whom had dark hair which, when there’s only one Dave Starsky, is an equation too far. No one wanted to be dull old Hutch (even David Soul admitted he had tried and failed to convince co-producer Aaron Spelling that he was perfect for the role of Starsky in the pilot episode), leaving Captain Dobey and Huggy Bear as the last two roles to play. Both were unattractive propositions: Dobey was pissed off on a permanent basis and as for Huggy, well, goddamn it, we knew he was kinda funky but we just didn’t trust that shifty snitch. And the fact that we were all tucked up in bed when most of the local drug lords were out and about indulging in their nefarious acts never struck any of us as being a problem.
Naturally enough, this illogical fascination had to end and we moved maturely on to Subbuteo, raiding orchards and, yuck, girls. Still, for a number of years afterwards, whenever we saw each other downtown
we’d shout ‘freeze’ and point an imaginary .357 Magnum and swagger around like a midget fool in an oversized cardigan shooting off cool quips and acidic asides by the dozen. As the hookers and pimps who trailed our paths would attest, there were almost no homoerotic undercurrents in sight.
So, as those fond memories are jerked back into place by the Hollywood re-enactment of the finest US cop show of the 705, revisiting the old episodes is a task which is undertaken with fevered anticipation. And against almost every odd in the book, the first series actually stands up to scrutiny. But after all, as the documentary ‘Behind the Badge’ on the five-disc, 17.6- hours DVD release notes, what’s not to like? Most cop shows of the time were almost pedestrian in comparison when it came to presenting a relationship between men and portraying brutal streetcrime. But, more importantly, they had far superior iconic props. Kojak had a lollipop, Columbo his dirty mac and lronside the wheelchair. But our Bay City strollers had THAT CAR. The red Torino with the white flash deservedly gets its own featurette here, The Third Star.
If you can, you should try to forget the disastrous aftermath: David Soul’s hit singles and downward spiral into alcoholism and domestic violence; Paul Michael Glaser’s family disaster with AIDS; and Antonio Fargas appearing in Holby City. Starsky and Hutch are still very much the men. Anyone doubting the influence of the show should bear in mind the mid-70$ words of Ken Oxford, chief constable of Merseyside. He complained furiously that his officers had started driving erratically, that they would often wear sunglasses in the middle of winter and, most profoundly, ‘wore their gloves with the cuffs turned down’. Now, that’s cool. (Brian Donaldson)
PICTURES: CPT HOLDINGS. INC
3 L ,‘
FOR YEARS AFTERWARDS, WHENEVER WE SAW EACH OTHER WE'D SHOUT ‘FREEZE' AND POINT AN IMAGINARY .357 MAGNUM
15% Mill 1 Apr Z/’()()-1 THE LIST 103