wkozak221
I really like this series. I still watch it in reruns. I like the make-up of the series. It was not just car chases, gun fights and screeching tires. The chemistry between every one until the end of the series. They actually did police work and did deductive reasoning. At the beginning of the series everything was smooth sailing. That is until David soul had a hit record. He grew hi hair long, with a mustache. Hutch became very arrogant. Just watch an episode. He actually insults starsky. He keeps saying he is the brains of the pair. He spits out psychology, t.m. . In early episodes he was a health nut: carrot juice, wheat germ, fasting, etc. . They really overstuffed his character. It still is a fun series to watch. Even the later episodes.
elshikh4
I wanted to begin my review by saying "welcome to the 1970s" but I believe (Starsky and Hutch) isn't the good introduction for that era. It's the TV, the entertaining TV, but it's still a TV.. in a bad scene I suppose. The worst about this show, which isn't a bad show by the way, is its writing; from the start there wasn't a main irony between this 2 leads, that's a high treason for the genre as a Buddy-show. For little instance, at the same year of its launch (1975) there were another Buddy-shows such as (Switch) or the cartoon (The Oddball Couple), actually both of them got basically an effective irony unlike those 2 – just seemingly different – cops. I bet a lot of kids went to play (Starsky and Hutch) at the time, yet not with many things to mimic I believe !It was playful plain comics, namely fun time, but too flat, tame, with no twists. Sometimes it managed to present attractively suspenseful and vigorous episodes, but this kind of solid scripts that utilized the elements and exceeded their own weakness didn't recur much. The theme music wasn't engaging or catchy, and the first opening credits looked as one of the dullest indeed (freezing David Soul's image while his mouth is wide open !, clips for Soul wiping a glass ?, boring pointless shots for the car, etc) you'll wait some years later till the opening credits became a star with many memorable works. Evidently its production wasn't that big. The action was suitable like one can of your favorite soda (small can by the way !), and the red "gran torino" wasn't given the chance to be that heroic the way next cars will be (such as The Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee 4 years later) being all the time nothing but a part of the nice picture.On the other hand, the top of the essential attractive points was the main plot of 2 title's roles awfully handsome unmarried young police (officers, cops, detectives, YOU NAME IT !) that belong to the streets more than the offices, being in action more than mysteries, chasing the bad guys all the time, and beating them every time. Not to mention a very childishly nerves but good superior, a very loyal 'police snitch', and the company of one of the coolest cars in the decade. This simple frame will be copied hundreds of times after, whether in TV or cinema (remember shows like CHiPs, Miami Vice, or Cagney & Lacey).Another factor : the awfully handsome unmarried young 2 heroes (Paul Michael Glaser) and (David Soul). Both of them surely captured too many hearts back then. There is a certain chemistry between them, but it's clear that (Glaser) was the best always, not because he can deliver fine and make every effort, but also because (Soul) wasn't making any efforts at all, relaying mainly on the way he, or his hair, would look!With the exception of short-lived TV shows like (Shaft), (Get Christie Love!) which were just humoring the gigantic success of the Blaxploitation movies at the 70s' start, it was such a scarce matter to watch black actors in such respectable roles in a TV drama back then. So I think, as a third factor, it was really something to watch (Bernie Hamilton) starring as the adorable Captain (Dobey), and (Antonio Fargas) as the good-humored good-hearted street hustler (Huggy Bear) sharing the opening credits with the title's characters like equal stars as well. They were both the best sidekick Starsky and Hutch would ever have, and some of the best characters – that were given to black people – to be remembered from that era. It took years to see black actor as a title's role in action shows like this, the closest that I can remember is (Avery Brooks) in (A Man Called Hawk – 1989). So it's about having a nice time, but even if, it wasn't that top-notch memorably great nice time. Unfortunately nothing but the stars' glamour was that clever. However, despite me and my opinions, it is watchable, and with the nostalgic feel (Starsky' wool sweater.. I used to wear that once!), increased by the end of this kind of entertainment today, it's rather highly watchable and so needed as one feel good show where the bad guys aren't meanly bad, the girls are all gals, the 2 leads must go in a street fist fight and win, and at its extreme there was no blood or explosions, only innocently blank shoots confrontations that always end well, and there must be a laugh, any possible or impossible laugh, at the finale.. Actually it was beyond redemption for that to be cut even for once, they didn't stand but to leave you with a smile.. so cute.
winstonfg
The best cop show of the 70's and, with the exception of Kojak and the Rockford Files, a jewel in a sea of studio-cloned crap. First with the much-copied clichés of gruff captain and streetwise, all-knowing snitch, it had pace, pathos and, of course, the Striped Tomato.Until the Hill Street Blues ushered in a new style of cop show for the eighties, Starsky and Hutch was the defining show of my teens and a rollicking, unashamed express-ride through the polyestered, bell-bottomed decade with two likable cops who are also best friends and plenty of short-skirted, tight-jeaned girls. It also had the great sense not to outlive its popularity.We all had favourites (mine was Starsky) and we all tried to be as cool as Huggy Bear (brilliantly played by Antonio Fargas)...and failed miserably.It has definitely dated down the years, but I have a copy on DVD and still take it out now and again for a chuckle at what we used to look like.
vanhecker
Starsky and Hutch is one of TV's most iconic shows.Saying your close to someone like Starsky and Hutch is synonymous with being best buds. It wasn't the car chases or the story lines that kept the fans coming back each week; It was the friendship between the partners. Close friends off the set, Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul brought their real friendship to the show. This personal touch can be seen throughout the run of the series. It does come off as dated when watched on DVD, but the combination of action adventure and humor are still addictive. These cops were more like superheros than real cops but thats half the fun. Todays cop shows are almost too real. There is no escapism. In 4 years Starsky and Hutch got poisoned, shot,shot up with heroin, kidnapped, pushed down canyons, and had some of the worst luck with women ever seen in prime time but that's the reason we watched. They also had help in one flashy pimp named Huggy Bear and the gruff butloveable Captain Dobey. The third star of the show was the Striped Tomato. That Torino was probably every boys(and some girls)dream. Thank God for DVD's. Now I can go revisit Bay City anytime I like.
