DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (The Omaha Tiger)
Another of those that begins well, ends well, even has some good bits in between, but never quite satisfies as the sum of its parts. They showed how to do a good wrestling episode in the fourth season with 'The Golden Angel' which played to the theatricality of it all rather than the behind the scenes business side. People crawling around under chairs (I pity the actors in that scene as it must have been a real wrestling auditorium with the real mess of a thousand fights under the spectator's seats), or talking in the offices rather than a full house of screaming fanatics cheering and booing. We never really got to see the Omaha Tiger fight in the ring, the best we get is his bout with Hutch, so I wonder if he was a real wrestler or an actor? I think it was new information that Hutch had been a college champion and had wrestled for three years, but it's fun seeing the age-old argument between those that think wrestling's a phoney, over-the-top spectacle, and those that consider it imaginative, impressive art, played out between S&H. That could have been turned into a proper running joke, but it only runs until Hutch matches up with the Tiger.
There's little familiar territory to latch onto with an episode that takes place mainly indoors and mainly on foot. That's probably the reason for the car chase that opens the episode, as it otherwise had no bearing on the story. Like last episode there's good shooting of the scene with in-car views of the pursuit, and a feeling of the over-the-top screeching of brakes and desperation of a criminal. Was he on something? His eyes were so wide and staring, but it could have been fear rather than anything drug-related. But there aren't the pop culture references usually scattered around, nor much of the Torino, and as for Dobey all he warrants is a couple of mentions (his former police department buddy Mac asks S&H if he's still putting on weight, which is a continuing theme in the overall season; and later he's said to be in a meeting and thus too busy to talk to his men), but at least Huggy gets his due.
Actually he gets more than his due as the joke about the racing mice runs it course and then they start talking about it again! There's also the scene right after where S&H are trapped in an apparently airtight room which is padded out beyond belief, but these scenes don't really drag because you sense they're leading up to a gag, even if it takes its time getting there! The long-windedness of much of the story is what prevents it from being an evenly good episode to watch, but it still has enough good bits scattered about to keep it watchable. The odd characters this week are limited to Terrible Tessie the wrestler latching onto Starsky (he always attracts the weird ones), but I enjoyed how it plays out, with Richard Kiel (of Jaws in James Bond fame) making it more fun, especially the end scene which is another genuinely funny moment: Starsky lifted off the ground in a bear hug by the great man as a sign of friendship for 'helping' him and Tess decide to marry, and the only way down is to fulfil an old Russian tradition of kissing both cheeks!
The incarceration of S&H by the bad guys working for Boyce (I think… there are a lot of names and not a great deal of exposure to many of the characters so you're fighting a little to keep in mind who's who), is one of those scenes that sums up the series and the partners and would be used in future seasons in the credits: Starsky charges the door, smashing right through it with a trolley-load of ballast, then an explosion throws him at Hutch, who promptly shrugs him off leading Starsky to look mildly hurt at the brush off! The claustrophobic filming of that scene in De Pew's Meat Plant, with the camera hovering behind pipes like the latter day shaky-cam action films we get, looked as if we were watching them from the bad guys' point of view, but there was no suspense as we knew the baddies were outside. It also seemed like they could have simply banged on the door they'd just come through where Hug was staging his mice racing, but they don't think of that. It was unclear where the explosion came from - it could have been something to do with Starsky's violent door rush, but it's not explained.
One of the bad guys, the chunky, fair-haired man, I'm sure was in another episode, though I couldn't remember which. The shootout at the end worked fine, though the baddies are awful shots and seem unable to see, even with the floodlights shining on S&H! I also appreciated the Tiger rushing out to help S&H by grabbing Carl Boyce, and S&H dealing with the men in the ring (and another previously seen trope is one of them having trouble with their opponent while the other watches). But there was a lot of missing drama in the writing: Boyce is this commanding guy that's in control of Ellen Forbes, though she owns the wrestling company. There's a definite tension when S&H first question them, and he shows who's boss by shouting at the cleaners in front of them. It's also mentioned that Eddie, The Tiger has great love and respect for Miss Forbes (as Boyce calls her, or Mrs. Forbes as Hutch calls her during the later questioning and Starsky calls her in the initial meeting!) and knows Boyce is a bad sort, but doesn't wish to upset the applecart when he's on the way to big money, so there's a measure of revenge for him when he gets his hands on Boyce. But none of it's played up and if you think back, Eddie is only there to be a suspect and the story really wasn't centred around him.
The other point to look out for is Mac Johnson and the nostalgic feelings emanating from him, but again, aside from talking about how he used to be on the beat and is a friend of Dobey's that broke him on his beat, we don't learn enough about him to care that he's dead. If we'd had Dobey reminiscing that could have been a good scene, so was Bernie Hamilton ill or otherwise unavailable at this time in the season? I suppose the only other theme that's come up before is people saying how S&H don't look like cops. This time Hutch has a reply: "we believe in understatement." If only the same couldn't have been said about the drama of the story - even with the bit of wrestling glamour that comes across, this doesn't have the strength to make it to a three-count. And you're out!
**
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment