Death Ride

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (Death Ride)

Each new episode brings more pictures to the title sequence, this time featuring a shot of Starsky from a future episode ('Pariah,' I think). The series itself continued to play to its strengths with this action-packed chase story with S&H having to stay out of contact thanks to a leak in the department (yes, another one!), forcing them to return to their previous motto, that they can only really rely on each other. That's not quite true, as we get scenes of Captain Dobey anxiously rueing his decision not to tell them the truth about their mission (although we don't realise that is motivating his outbursts at the time), and he seems much more caring about his men than we've yet seen. We also see what would become another running theme when S&H get angry at the police outsider who comes in and tells them what to do, and Dobey too gets annoyed by this man giving his men orders in his own office. After the nasty police guy from the pilot they have good reason not to trust anyone outside of the triumvirate.

Huggy's role has steadily increased with each episode, though he's mainly used for comic effect in this one and to conclude the theme of the episode, something else which they tended to have running through the story. This time it's Starsky's new watch and you just know that something's going to happen to it. It becomes a 'Legend of Zelda' swapping game - they trade the watch for security on the taxi, then the taxi for security on the battered old van, then it turns out Huggy sold Starsky the watch and it was 'hot' property! The other running gag is also present and correct as the evil secretary gets their names confused when handing out the air tickets (you'd think they would have noticed her mass of curly hair and bright office clothes when they drive to pick up the gangster at the hotel and she's outside hanging around by a public phone booth so she must be one of those people that fades into the background).

The attack by two people on a motorbike wielding a shotgun was exciting, though the moment when the cars sloooooowlyyyy driiiiive out of the hotel grounds felt like slow motion it took so long, the fact that the cars are so big and long only increasing that impression. It may have been because they didn't want to jiggle the moving camera too much so they had to go slow, as later we see much more dynamic shots of cars speeding past a stationary camera or the excellent in-car shots of Starsky driving through the cornfield. The dubbed line where Hutch radioes in to let them know about the cycle goons before heading to Memorial Hospital (for its first appearance on the series), was necessary to explain why they just left these criminals who were probably in need of medical attention from the way they flipped off their bike. Sometimes the added lines seem really obvious as an afterthought, but in this case they worked.

The house they drive by in the neighbourhood to pick up the supposed daughter of the gangster looked very much like Lynda Carter's house in 'The Las Vegas Strangler,' and while there was a future element like this, there was also a link back to the previous episode as we see the green Chevy again! Maybe it was a popular car and a popular colour, but right after an episode where it blows up they use one again? The sequence in the cornfield is the best action sequence of the episode, preceded by an intelligent scene between the four occupants of the taxi and covering various story points: Starsky isn't happy about the woman (though he's never had any reservations until this point - maybe the ride gave him time to think), she tries to justify the position of the woman she's playing, and 'her' Father's, while Hutch takes her side and George the driver tries to get some friendly conversation going and can't, the beginning of a bad day for him. They then wrench off the road into the field as two cars and four 'hoods' come after them.

My question is what happened to the fourth man? There are two men in each car, the Chevy crashes into the rusting shell of an old car and later only three of the men show up at the petrol station. Was one of the men in the Chevy killed on impact? I love the bit where George gets chucked around and the sequence where they all run through the tall corn is really well shot. It gets even better when Starsky, after holding the baddies off, leaps back in the taxi and speeds into the corn, with a fantastic view of corn zipping past the window as he gains and eventually catches up with his fleeing comrades. If only there could be more of this stuff in the series. The tension of being chased is carried over when they stop at the petrol station - we get another quirky character in the old pump manager who smells a quick buck (more than a few, in fact), and the gag of Starsky eating any old rubbish when he chooses the meatloaf against the old man's advice, while Hutch can't stand it.

The poor owner of the diner must have been a bit bewildered - he takes the meatloaf back to put gravy on it then when he returns Starsky slings the cups and saucers right on top of it, leaps over the counter and is gone. My favourite comedy moment comes in the midst of the danger, with Starsky taking the initiative and hiding under the old van when the bad guys come calling. Banging the vehicle with his magic fixing rock doesn't seem to do much good, but I love his line "don't tell me your troubles, I don't even work here!" and the injured way he says it. The chase with the van was another good sequence, especially the moment he realises they aren't going to outrun them so they might as well play chicken. I'm not sure if the bad guys survive, but they seem to be moving after the crash into the post. The dark-haired guy at the end that tries to take out the real daughter was the one the evil secretary spoke to and he was in the action so she must have been talking to one of these guys at the end unless the organisation is much bigger.

It doesn't end quite as well as the rest of the story played out, but it's a good twist when you don't know it. The dark-haired goon at the end who dresses as a surgeon is the same guy who played one of Tallman's men in the pilot and doubles for Starsky, most notably in the previous episode leaping out of the car. This is his most visible role so far so I imagine he won't be used so much for a while. Dobey's thing at the end was kind of odd - it looks like he wants to start a game of ring a ring o' roses when he comes over to S&H and holds out his hand with a big grin on his face! The pop culture references this time were James Bond (Dobey talks about disliking the James Bond antics, or something), and S&H play the computer game 'Pong' at Huggy's.
So far this was the best for action, but maybe it wasn't as well balanced as 'Savage Sunday,' although it remains one of my early favourites.

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