Starsky and Hutch (1975)

Before I talk about this pilot movie for "Starsky and Hutch", I have an important confession....I have never seen the ensuing TV series. Yep, I was certainly old enough to watch it...just never did. However, my curiosity was piqued because this movie was an installment of "The ABC Movie of the Week"...and I've watched several dozen of these movies recently on YouTube. However, this pilot was not on YouTube (probably for copyright reasons), so I saw it on the first disc for the TV series...and it's available through Netflix.The show begins with two tough assassins killing a young couple making out in a cool looking red and white Ford Torino. Why is the car important? It's the spitting image of Starsky's car and the cops immediately wonder if the murderers were actually trying to kill Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Hutch (David Soul). Through the course of most of the film, the two detectives look for their would- be murderer...until they realize that the killings and motivations weren't exactly what they first thought.This is a reasonably good cop film made for television...but never once did it scream out "This is so good it MUST become a TV series"! In the case of "The Six Million Dollar Man", the pilot movies clearly DID and were very unique and compelling. This film, on the other hand was good...but not great. Worth seeing but nothing particularly memorable.By the way, when the two assassins are in their hotel room, I did enjoy seeing one of them (Richard Lynch) reading "The Age of Voltaire"...a very large and cerebral sort of book. This guy was no dummy and proves just how far in life you can go if you exercise your mind. Sadly, in a scene soon after this, you see the guy shoot at Hutch and the nearby car explodes...which was pretty stupid (and next to impossible).

As previously mentioned, this is a surprisingly gritty, dark and violent pilot for what would become one of the most popular TV shows of the '70s. While the series itself eventually evolved into (or degenerated into, depending on your point of view) a somewhat corny buddy-buddy show, you sure couldn't tell by this pilot. A couple is shot down on the streets of L.A. in a seemingly random killing, but the two detectives investigating the shooting discover that the couple was murdered by mistake--the actual targets were the detectives themselves. The pair then have to use all their wiles, skills and contacts in the city's seedy criminal underground to find out who is trying to kill them, and why. Soul and Glaser work extremely well together and play off each other as though they'd been doing it all their lives, the supporting cast is first-rate, the writing is sharp and clever, and it's very tightly directed by Barry Shear. It has exciting car chases, taut action scenes, some welcome humor, and the great chemistry between Soul and Glazer. A worthy effort from producer Aaron Spelling.

Although, the pilot isn't quite what the show would evolve into, once it was a series, it does demonstrate the remarkable chemistry between the two stars, David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser, which is probably the most memorable legacy about the show itself. The two portrayed an incredible friendship on-screen, shared a unique friendship off-screen, one that remains to this day. The pilot shows the two young police officers, working together, trusting in only each other...the beginning of a portrayal of friendship that has yet to be matched or surpass onscreen.

This show rocked! Fast cars, people going over bonnets, paper blown down a side street. And the clothes. 70's ruled. TV now stinks of a smelly bin that was raided by a 90's producer who just finished film school. The characters cared, the camera was observing not interrupting, and the plot was simple, but effective. David Soul, Paul M.Glazer had style, grace, and a good sense of humour. As a film producer myself, I hope I can bring some of this old school back to the modern world. Enough said.