Savage Sunday

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (Savage Sunday)

The first thing to notice is that we now have a proper title sequence, mainly of clips from the pilot episode. We didn't get one in that because it would have given away what was going to happen in the episode so it's very strange that they use clips from this episode to fill out the title sequence, and not only that, but the most action-packed moments such as Hutch shouting right in front of the camera and Starsky driving the explosives-packed car, leaping out, and then it being blown sky high. Oddly enough the sequence was edited better in the title than in the actual scene where it's turned from a last-second bail-out to something that seems to be there for humour - Starsky leaps behind a straggly bush (a lot of protection there!), then looks up after a while because it doesn't seem like it's going to blow, and then it does. I can only imagine that was done for safety so that the stunt man (the same guy who played one of Tallman's goons in the pilot and often doubled for Glaser), was nowhere near when the blast went off since it really looks like a boot full of dynamite went up.

Another difference between this and the first episode is that Bay City actually looks inviting, like a place you'd want to hang out. There's no better scene to illustrate this than when Starsky cruises through the streets, the sun sparkling off of his bright red bonnet (the car I mean, he wasn't acting out Little Red Riding Hood), almost like a starship gliding through space, and it feels like a nice, laid-back place that Starsky belongs in rather than a hostile environment which he'd love to escape. This is also true in the way the city is shown or what is shown of it. It's all bright and sunny where the pilot was dark and rainy, with shops and rich people where it was tramps and grime. The city is shown expansively and openly - you can see hills stretching off into the distance and chain-link fences don't hide a long shot. It's no longer claustrophobic and stifling as it could be in the first episode.

We're seeing another side of the city and it feels a lot less like the toilet bowl analogy of the first episode, which was not inviting in the least, except to provide sympathy for S&H. There are still criminals, but they're a pickpocket that takes the wallet of a rich tourist, old people that want to protest their treatment, and the 'salt and pepper' team of the two main villains who visit businesses such as Ted's Fender and Body Workshop, or the grocery store full of products. Like before there are two of them for S&H to fight as if they're the evil version of the goodies. It's also nice to see the basketball hustle which is how S&H progress their investigation. At this point they don't realise the gravity of the situation, but it's a lighthearted scene that shows they know their stuff and how to handle people.

Then there's the old people's home which is about as far removed from the sleazy, seedy locations of the pilot as can be, with 'villains' that rank high on the quirkometer - they did something extreme and set in motion a dangerous situation, but for the best of causes: their desperation to be heard. Otherwise they're such nice people and it's so funny the way they confess their crime while a piano plays quaintly in the background. Huggy's much more like the man we know from other episodes and Captain Dobey has put on a little weight, as well as gaining much more of an attitude, but there's absolutely no difficulty in understanding what he says or what he wants, even though Starsky tries to do so by pulling the 'crackly radio interference' trick, which Dobey saw right through. He feels much more like a boss they've known a long time, who knows them well - as he responds to the old man's compliment of them that he must think a lot of them, he turns it around and says he does think of them a LOT! Right away we have a much more interesting dynamic between him and his men that couldn't have been achieved in the pilot because Dobey had to be under suspicion or it would have been easy to work out who the police villain is that's playing both ends.

Playing both ends is something that comes up again in this one when S&H target an illegal gambling den (though we'd already seen them taking on the bouncers in the title!), and after they've gone, the bookies play along, but also leave a message for the two villains. The two baddies, a hairy Tom Selleck-like white guy and a younger, Eddie Murphy-type black guy aren't in the same league as the hitmen from episode one (though remembering how useless they were at the end maybe they were), and seem like ordinary blokes who don't care about the law and are just out to have some fun in their dull lives. They have friends who are on the right side of the law in terms of having a job, though Ted isn't averse to a bit of faking number plates and repainting a stolen car (he claims cops are weird, but he's pretty weird himself), and we learn that one of the men had been married to a more than open dancing girl. They seem like they could be normal citizens if they only had a bit more ambition in life, but instead they enjoy ripping off others and threatening to kill people - I never got the sense they had serious intent upon S&H though, they don't make a proper job of taking them out in the back alley and go to the trouble of slashing their tyres. Why do that if they were going to kill them?

The camaraderie between S&H is even better in this one with beautiful scenes that would become the norm and define their friendship, occasionally bickering, often teasing, but ultimately their total dependency in a crisis. I'm thinking of the moment when Hutch is getting dinner and we have the running gag of Starsky eating all kinds of crazy stuff with everything on his hotdog or whatever it is, and Hutch having plain. Then a call comes in and Hutch chucks Starsky's meal in the bin much to his dismay on the pretext that Starsky's got to drive so he gets all sulky and it's just a marvellous comedy scene that's true to the situation, but unique to these two characters. This then leads to another running gag when Starsky pleads for Captain Dobey's extra burger - the Captain eats too much and doesn't share, and then that leads to another familiar thing with Starsky taking the burger anyway and Dobey shouting angrily after him!

One of the funniest bits is not the scene itself but the way Starsky operates in it: he's chasing 'Milty,' a dealer, in an unrelated moment from what is about to become their main objective, and the way he runs is laugh out loud funny. I don't know whether this was Paul Michael Glaser's natural way of running or whether he deliberately made his character look funny, but seeing Starsky grabbing the air with his arms and lifting his knees up did make me laugh. Glaser really added so many little ticks and physicality to the character and he seems like he's always full of energy through his gestures and actions, but there's also amusement in the way he does things, like beckoning over Ted and the way he deals with him, or the how he asks the old people why they planned to blow up their car in a way that he's really trying to understand. It's funny, but that's Starsky.

It's also good to see another episode that fits neatly together and builds to a climax - they're forced to bundle Milty into the back of their car when a call comes through about the stolen vehicle. An aside: I think this was after the robbery as that gave them a reason for the car to be wanted as we later find out the old couple never reported their car was stolen. This then starts them on the trail and at this stage they can still joke about what's going on (in terms of us watching, not them doing as they aren't trying to be funny, but seeing them read the rights to Milty as they screech round corners is funny).

Again, the episode is clearly not for children in the way the dancing girl holds nothing back about her marriage to one of the bad guys, and in the way Huggy gives us mixed messages - he's telling his new barmaid (with the very deep voice), he expects her to steal from him a bit, but not a lot. What a strange situation he operates in! It's meant to be funny, and it is, but it's not the sort of message you want the impressionable to take on board. There's also the scene where Starsky interviews the son of the store owner, and openly takes a biscuit off the shelf, rips off the wrapping and eats it without paying! You can understand him doing that in an illegal business, as they came in and bullied the occupants of the shady bar in the last episode, but this was a legitimate store that had just been robbed, the owner hospitalised and the son nursing a bump on the head - you'd think he'd have a bit more propriety!

This is also the scene that features probably the most quirky of the quirky characters this time: the man with the excellent memory who saw the car registration. I felt sure he was in another episode as his face and voice seemed familiar, but I couldn't place him. Hutch gets Starsky out all for the purpose of asking him if he's got a pencil to write down to the reg number and they go through the whole rigmarole of this man getting to the point and then on top of that you learn the man has a pencil and paper anyway! The series excelled at these eccentric caricatures and is another element of its makeup that stopped it from being just another cop show. Not everyone who helps the police is rewarded though: the guy that phones in about the stolen car parked in his car park had his livelihood destroyed - a police bike almost runs him down forcing him into a cartoon-style stand up straight to avoid being winged, then the car can't get past quick enough so he's forced to leap to one side and his little glass cubicle is smashed to smithereens! Another police relations disaster...

I don't know if this was done on purpose and may just be because I've seen the episode a few times and you begin to notice things more since you don't have to take in the story, but when S&H are at Huggy's, Hutch talks about the jokers they're after, and behind him is some kind of slot machine with a big Joker card right behind Hutch's head. Coincidence or a glitch in the Matrix? I also noticed the legendary damage that Glaser used to inflict upon the Torino he hated so much: when the police bike drives past the green Chevy (did he not see it or was he giving S&H room to park?), they screech to a halt and Starsky leaps out slamming his door into the back of the other car without even looking at the paintwork. Granted this wasn't the time to be worried about such things, but you'd expect at least a pained backward glance. But he was off doing his hero thing, and a really heroic moment it is. Is it Starsky that goes simply because he's closest or is he considered a better driver? Once he's gone it looks like Hutch just settles down for a nice rest, but he soon gets his end of the action taking on the baddies and defeating them without his partner's help much to Starsky's apparent disappointment after he'd come rushing back.

One thing that's funny is the way he comes bursting out of the underground car park, the car with dynamite in the back lifting off it's front wheels and slamming hard down again when the rest of the episode people have been saying how any little jolt could set off the explosion! What's less funny is that all these police are supposed to be out looking for the danger car and then when we find out where it is only S&H and a police bike are sent to intercept it, which is why Hutch has to deal with the villains alone. Where were all the other police, did they just give up and go back to what they were doing once they heard the car had been located? Also I was unsure of whether Morton, the black guy, was killed or only wounded. It's fun to spot the pop culture references: Morton says 'faster than a speeding bullet' which is one for Superman, and Robert Redford's also mentioned.

I really wasn't expecting much of this episode. I remembered liking it, but somehow my hopes weren't high that it would hold up for some reason (maybe because I saw it with my cousin and he didn't think much of it so it might have affected my perceptions), but it definitely held up and had a really good balance of action, fun and the running jokes of the series, as well as looking good and moving well. It wasn't without problems - the build up to the time limit wasn't as well done as it could have been and there were unnecessarily slow scenes like the cop waiting by the side of the road - do we need seconds of watching him waiting for S&H? The explosion should have gone off when Starsky leapt out of the car, but you can't fault the explosion. Importantly, it ended well - you think it's going to go out with everyone laughing and smiling, so cliched, but then it ends on Hutch looking like he's thinking 'oh brother' and rolling his eyes and that really is funny!

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