Snowstorm

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (Snowstorm)

"You just want me to drive around in a striped tomato like you got."
"My car is a striped what?"
And thus, a legend was born! One of the good things about watching the series in order, even the episodes that aren't that good, is that you uncover little moments like this, the first time we ever heard Starsky's red and white-striped Torino referred to as a striped tomato. I think it was something viewers or production staff were calling it very early on, so by this episode they had grasped the nettle and written it into an episode. It had now been said and the series could move on, people happy to suspend disbelief that two well-known detectives could speed around in such a bright, attention-grabbing vehicle and still successfully creep up on criminals.

Hutch's car was probably thought up to be the antithesis, right from the pilot episode. It's completely unremarkable, falling apart and probably wouldn't get a second look from anyone. The running joke of the poor quality of the car is played up again with it literally falling to pieces at the touch of Starsky, and his annoyance at an insistent squeak leading to Hutch suggesting he tows him on roller skates out the back which gives the episode a very amusing visual image. It gives me one, anyway. He mentions his Uncle, in one of many attempts in the series for Hutch to give up his pile of junk and get something better. Still on a car related subject, I noticed the dull green car that Stryker's men used looked similar to the one in 'Savage Sunday' that was sprayed to disguise it, and that also cropped up in another episode. Could it be that they use the same pool of cars all the time? I'll certainly be on the lookout for it again.

Other nods to the runnings gags of the series include Huggy Bear deliberately getting S&H's names mixed up to telegraph danger; Captain Dobey with a huge pile of food in the end tag - interestingly he seems quite happy to be seen in Huggy Bear's, treats the proprietor in a civil manner, and doesn't mind when the bill for the meal and the damage to Hug's upper rooms lands on him. I thought that was going to be the frozen picture they would cut out on: Dobey having read the price on the bill, Starsky and Hutch both exiting the table as fast as possible, but no, it ended with the mysterious Dalmatian getting all the attention when perhaps they shouldn't have drawn attention to it at all! It's the most perplexing part of the episode because you assume the dog is going to be integral to catching the criminals, or explained in a clever way as to why it should pop up several times, but instead it's just there. S&H tended to flit into mystical things that were completely outside the purview of a rational detective action series (the voodoo from the start of Season 3 immediately springs to mind), and this seems to be the first indication that they were willing to do things like that, that didn't make any sense.

The dog was just one of the loose ends this episode left hanging, in a script that felt like it was falling into the trap of laziness already. It certainly wasn't a tightly drawn story, and while it had its moments, the direction was again slow and drawn out in places: case in point is the moment S&H speed up in Starsky's car and the camera looks down the road. It takes seconds before we even see their car, then it has to get all the way up to the camera position to screech to a halt, and it just seems odd that such a moment had to take so long, as if they were filling up time. I felt the same drag when Dobey was talking in his office at one point and talks really slowly, pausing, the camera sitting there like it had fallen asleep. It's not like I want quick-cutting, but there's a happy medium which the better episodes reach.

It started out quite well with a good action sequence as the drugs bust takes place - I love Starsky's leap out from behind the truck, then lightning-fast return to cover before he can be shot. As soon as I saw the chubby Crandell I thought he was the informer, whether that was a memory or he looked like the informant type, I don't know. He certainly had some unease about him, which the others didn't. Crandell was another loose end of the story - he was set up as the guy working with them, which became more complex when we find out he's raped a seventeen year old girl, but instead of getting to know him, being disgusted by him, he's a very simply written character and soon ends up out of the picture. It also didn't ring true that he would go to a known S&H hotspot; Huggy's, where he could be easily found. It wasn't like he'd agreed to meet them there, he just went for a drink. As he said, if Stryker's people caught him with S&H he'd be dead, so them talking to him there made no sense.

A good bit of that scene was the play on S&H's good cop, bad cop routine. They usually both play bad cop, or hard cop, but this time they have a little joke about Starsky wanting to be the good cop for a change because he's tired, and then at the end Hutch says he never even had time to get into his own character. The episode also isn't served well with some of the indoor sets that are supposed to be outside, such as Crandell's shack which they have to break into which is so well lit and swept clean (yes, there's litter, but the corners seem nice and tidy), and some of the end sequence when they go to the holiday home to pick up the errant cops. Saying that, I'm not entirely sure the outside portions were on a set, but they didn't look right.

There are some well done scenes which remind us that things can get exciting, such as when the three cops who share suspicion with S&H over the missing drugs, speed alongside them, forcing them to a halt. S&H have just talked about how they want to help their fellow cops and suddenly they're getting shouted at and accused of making accusations against them! I think this was to surprise them or knock them off course a little, give the villains time to carry out their plans, but it's a moment of strong tension and surprise that the episode needed more of. It's also where another loose end shows up because the third man, (Callowitz?), was never anything to do with their nefarious plan, yet they've made him suspicious of S&H. Worse, he's clearly only in the story as a blind to give us someone else to suspect, but he never really features again as if they forgot all about him.

The crooked cops could have been made to seem more dimensional in very simple ways with a little more thought in the writing. We would have felt far more horror for them if we'd seen them at home with their families before going off to murder Crandell. All we get is a mention that they're family men, and that's it. Their motivation is apparently money, so maybe we could have felt some sympathy if they needed it for a life-saving operation for one of their children, something to make us care, but instead they are simple criminals. It could be that they didn't want us to sympathise with the baddies because that might make S&H seem harsh, but it usually works in a tragic way. About the most interesting thing about them was that they seemed not to like each other, but I can't work out whether this was a show to avert suspicion that they were working together, or true. They're like an amalgamation of the villains from the first two episodes of the season - bent cops and a 'salt and pepper' team, as it was described in 'Savage Sunday,' a black guy and a white guy working together.

The real heart of the story should have been Stryker. I had previously thought the crime lord had been in two episodes, this and the pilot, but checking the credits it's an obvious mistake to make. It was the same actor (Gilbert Green), playing both Tallman and Stryker, five episodes apart. I understand that TV in those days was pretty much a one time only watch and people were expected to forget what had happened previously, but five episodes apart? It's not even like he was playing different characters, they're both rich crime lords with a verbose and slightly eccentric manner (the way Stryker keeps asking his heavy, Freddie if he wants some cheese is a good example, or watering his plants as he orders a hit). It's just confusing. What's more, this is the first really strong missed opportunity to develop Captain Dobey. We learn that he has history with Stryker, his partner, Elmo Jackson, ended up on a meathook after tangling with the crime boss, which is why it's so satisfying for Dobey to be able to put the cuffs on Stryker.

This is another case of conflict of interests, since he's got the history, but it was one of those things of the time and is reflected in the series. Dobey also bends the rules when it comes to S&H being allowed out to continue working on a case even though they're under investigation, instead of being suspended, but far from being a problem, moments like these are nice to watch because they demonstrate Dobey's special trust in his men, the heroes of the series. It still missed a chance to delve into Dobey's backstory and explore his motivations and who he is through the connection with his partner. Elmo may have been mentioned again in the series, but Dobey rarely got out of the office as many times as he did in this one, which is a real shame. It's expecting too much to see flashbacks to the time Dobey and Jackson worked the streets, but I still longed for it and it would have raised the episode.

Aside from the confusion over his previous non-appearance, I liked Stryker and felt he made a better villain than some, especially the previous episode's. Putting the car headlamps on S&H to blind them as he gives his ultimatum may be a cliche, but it worked quite well. It was his goons that brought down the quality of the episode - none of them were dangerous enough for S&H to handle. Admittedly it was quite close for Starsky who uncharacteristically appears to freeze when he and Hutch are shot at by a rooftop sniper. That sequence didn't make them look too clever as they get to the roof long after the assassin has driven off into the distance. Another unnecessary to moment to show. Then Freddie says he'll deal with them, and the best he can come up with is trapping himself in Huggy's upper room! At least we get to see a bit more of the place, the landing and the stairs, to give it a bit more shape. It kind of worked that they dealt with everything else and then had to go and sort out Burke and Corman, the bad cops, but it felt a little weak as an episode overall.

The only time I noticed Starsky's stunt double this time was in the fight with Burke when he kicks the villain over a table and chases him out the door, but there weren't many stunts in the episode so it was unsurprising. And of course I continue to keep my ears open for pop culture references: this time I caught 'Santa,' Dumbo and Starsky saying, "I wish I may, I wish I might…" which I believe is a nursery rhyme of some kind. Oh, and Hutch asks if Stryker's offer is 'Let's Make A Deal' which I assume was a game show of the time.

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