Shoot Out

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (Shoot Out)

No one said 'Starsky & Hutch' had to stick to formulaic police show stories, and even if this one is somewhat formulaic, it's a formula not seen on the series before, and one of those that hints at the breadth of styles they were prepared to play with. This has nothing to do with competition between law enforcement bodies, or experiencing city life, be that the down and dirty streets or the posh and poisoned holes of the richly extravagant. This is in the mould of 'Key Largo' and probably many other similar stories of a group of people being stuck in a room for the duration, throwing together various characters and letting the drama unfold. That's the plan of these kinds of vehicles, anyway. Whether it's successful or not depends on the viability of the characters, the depth of their interactions and the ability to raise the tension levels through the course of their incarceration. Neither of the first two amounted to much, and with no payoff for them, they were merely extraneous pawns to wait out the conclusion with.

Not to say there was no tension, but it was handled sloppily in a way that this still-new series tended to do, much lower down on the scale than 'Pariah,' still the high-water mark for the season. The business with the gun, and Hutch's determination not to give up hope, to plan carefully with whatever was available, like a constrained, and much more cerebral Rambo, gave the story its grit, and his bravery shows through several times, whether warning the hit men he's going through to his partner in the other room, against their orders, in spite of the gun trained on him; or his dangerous action heroics with Theresa causing a diversion with a tray, so he can whip out the hidden gun and shoot the baddies. I envisioned a small tray, rather like the one she carries drinks on, but then she brings out a gong-sized thing! It certainly had the ability to distract, just a shame she was practically standing behind Hutch so the hit men didn't get diverted far!

I liked a lot of things about this episode, mainly thanks to the close directing - head shots of people talking, the rain lashing down outside on the dark, empty streets, and some of the shots used. It was the writing at fault not to give the hostages more of a story to expand them, and a conclusion to see them get something out of the experience, so it had been worthwhile. Like Sammy Grovner, the comic and his girl on the way to Las Vegas, or the old couple who felt nobody would miss them if they didn't get out of this situation; the big, sporty-looking guy, and even Theresa the barmaid. They had moments, but they weren't given a chance to show they'd learned from this brush with death, so the episode becomes treading water. In a good way for Hutch, whose resourcefulness is his asset, but there was little to gather from anyone else. I liked that Vic Monte, the gangland boss, drives in faceless, there's the sound of shooting, and he's driven out faceless, though I'd have liked that to have led into a recurring plot line of this Mr. Big S&H were having trouble with and would eventually meet over the course of several episodes.

Like the end scene, in which, for some reason, I expected to see the people who'd been involved in the hostage situation at Hutch's rather than those nondescript strangers, and which was only an excuse to get Huggy in the story (fine by me), the opening had almost nothing to do with the rest of the episode, beyond setting up that S&H were going out for a meal that night, and to give Starsky something to do since he'd be on his back most of the time, much like the series finale 'Sweet Revenge.' But it was a good opening, with Starsky showing he can act, though I suspected he was not being himself when he throws Hutch against the wall - only just, mind, as we've seen him hot with righteous indignation at a criminal's acts before. Usually the detectives play hard cop, hard cop, but here they do the classic good/bad, and it's all good fun, maybe getting the lightness out of the way before Starsky goes down so dramatically in the shootout. It leads to the only reference to running jokes of the series that I picked up, when they discuss the kind of weird food Starsky eats, as well as one of the few pop references of the episode, this time for famous horror actor Bela Lugosi (or Lugoosi as Starsky erroneously calls him!).

Another reference I picked up was to Western actor Gene Autry, whom Starsky compares himself or his wounds to. There's also a swimming pool seen clearly on screen, yet no one dives into it, mainly because it's only in an establishing shot of the hit men's apartment, so no one went near it. And the biggest and most obvious references come in the end scene when S&H bizarrely dress up as comics to entertain their guests, though unfortunately I'm not up with my American comedy history, so the only one I got for sure was Groucho Marx at the end. I imagine they did the comedy routine because they had that guy (Norman Fell), as the comic, and I believe he was a known face at the time. So I'll give them that it had some connection to the episode it followed. Not much, but some. Captain Dobey doesn't appear, but does get mentioned by Starsky, who compares Hutch's worried shouting of orders to their superior.

The villains made an odd couple; a young, cocky, uneducated type, and an older, refined, learned type. But they didn't plan too well. It wasn't clever to sit in the corner together so that everyone could talk and plot if they wanted to, and Joey should have stayed by the door or something. He was a curious character, not falling into the category of oddness we usually encounter (only Harry Sample, the crook at the beginning, or the Maharaji Jehru, as he'd created himself, did that - like the Ezra guy in 'Terror On The Docks' he was trying to fool the law by taking on a 'higher' persona of cult and mysticism, really a sham, as S&H proved), and in fact the characters inhabiting this story were more real than we usually see, but Joey took pleasure in blowing people away and the power rush, but then shows discomfort with the fact that he might have killed a cop. It doesn't stop him from threatening Hutch later, though. Maybe not the best idea of his associate's to let him drink, but it did seem to make him more relaxed than before.

I suppose what they were going for was a classier kind of episode, to try and keep the direction tight, write some serious character stuff, and build a tension-filled story that led up to an exciting climax. It did end well, but it needed more work if they were to come up with another 'Key Largo.' Having Hutch mainly work alone puts him in a different position, and Starsky shows his care for his partner when he does all he can, though injured, so it was good from their character's perspective, continuing to demonstrate the strong bond of friendship and reliance between each other. But it could have done with something extra to make it a good episode to watch.

**