Survival

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S2 (Survival)

I wouldn't be surprised if the stars of this series had a mutually exclusive deal, just as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy had making the 'Star Trek' films - if one got something, the other had to have it too. Paul Michael Glaser had already made his debut as a Director this season with 'Bloodbath,' and now it was Soul's turn in the chair, and even this early in their directing careers on the series I could see the seeds of their styles and which one fitted the series best. While 'Bloodbath' was a slightly better episode, Soul's direction showed itself to be more natural at suiting the series rather than an excuse to express his artistic flourish as Glaser would go on to do. It's still very early to be comparing them, but I felt Soul had an instant and natural flair for directing the action, it was just that he was let down a little by a slightly humdrum story that was raised by the action rather than complimented by it. You couldn't mistake this being directed by the star as his directorial credit came up big and bold right over his face as he drives to a sting operation. It's usually the case that whichever one directed would be a much smaller part in the story, and this is the case here with Hutch soon stuck in a crashed car, the echoes of his cries for help taunting him, not moving for much of the story. Not that that would have been easy to direct, I'm sure - Leonard Nimoy said it was difficult to direct himself and others around him when he was lying down in 'Star Trek III,' having to visualise the scene in his head.

I don't know whether it was Soul's influence, but the music helps to define the episode where sometimes it's just background, and reused background at that. Here, Andrew M. Kuhlberg brings some distinctive theme music that is exciting, but bright rather than sinister, aptly conveying movement and speed without going creepy, much more heroic music than warning of danger. Or the coolness of Hutch speeding in to meet Vic Humphries, the (mostly ineffectual) villain of the piece. This time S&H are up against the legal side of the profession as much as the simple violence of criminals, as Vic is rich enough to be able to afford a good lawyer (who's actually a bad lawyer, too), in James Balford. He's happy to use the law when he can, while also doing his criminal work… I wasn't clear exactly what Vic's crimes were, but presumably he was selling stolen cars, and was certainly not above murder. Unfortunately for the story, which needed a threatening villain to carry it off, Vic was ugly, stupid, and no match for Starsky, as we see at the end when it becomes a race to reach Hutch first, and Starsky has no trouble dealing with the rotund criminal. This was one example of a part of the story that could have increased the thrill level by Starsky having to fight it out with a henchman or only just save Hutch before he was shot.

There are other times when the story needed improvement to match the action beats - the only thing I remembered about it was Hutch lying under his car and found by a strange old man, and this part of the story lost the pace, slowing to a crawl, and had little to make it worthwhile. Not to say Sonny McPhearson wasn't a good, well-acted character, because he was - there's a moment when this old man that pretends he's a Colonel in World War II, whom we later learn had suffered shell shock after being caught too close to an attack in the actual war (that dates the series, it was still close enough to the Second World War that veterans weren't really old men!), comes out of the comfortable fantasy world he's created around him: Hutch pleads for help, and Sonny shows great strain in his face as if he's fighting with reality, then in a vulnerable way he tells Hutch that he can't help, and it's such a poignant moment, seeing through the layers of fantasy, a big thing for him to even do that. Of course he does help in the end, though he's not listened to, at first. Soul's introduction of the character is very effective, panning over his bicycle, hearing him singing, and seeing only his boots and legs, the kind of view that Hutch would have, sympathetic with his position on the ground. The powerful, heavy boots also contrast with Hutch's weakness and vulnerability lying on the ground, and it provides a tension to the audience that puts them in the same position as Hutch, not knowing who is coming.

The villain that takes the action reins from Vic is nasty Roy Slater, a pugnacious sort who's a hired gun (or hired lorry cab, as that's what he uses to force Hutch off the road in a fantastically James Bond-esque moment of high road stunt driving), and it's he that makes a superior opponent for Starsky to fight, so much so that I was disappointed that he was dealt with by losing his balance in an effort to escape, falling from a balcony to his death. I suppose the selection of villainy was actually quite astute now that I think about it - you have the legal representative for S&H to come up against in red tape; the money man, or to a certain extent, the brains behind it (or at least the instigator that's happy to use any means necessary and pulls the strings of the other two); and the hired heavy to provide the muscle and threat. I'm not sure how effectively the first two were written into the story, but Slater was certainly well defined both onscreen and by reputation - Starsky goes to visit a prostitute he's been linked to and she shows great fear of him, and we've already seen him push Hutch off the road.

Soul shows great timing and instinct again in his chase scene when Starsky goes after Slater. The city is spread out beneath them as they pound up some fire escape to roof level (the working cityscape is sometimes forgotten with indoor settings and talky scenes in some episodes, but there's the sense of a real place with people going about their lives and work in this one - even at an enclosed area at Vic's warehouse, two tall buildings stand up in the background to remind us that we're in a city), and that whole sequence reminded me of 'The Bourne Ultimatum' where someone's searching for someone else over white-topped roofs in a mediterranean style with red roof tiles. The way it's directed heightens the excitement, with shots from above as Starsky runs down passageways, or handheld to emphasise the closeness of the walls. As I said, the only letdown is that Slater's dispatched by slipping as he tries to climb on a balcony (that reminded me of the final episode of 'BUGS'!), but even the end of that scene is directed well as we look down on his body and see two police cars speed in, artistically framing the scene.

Soul's grasp of action doesn't preclude his ability to create artistic shots, much favoured by his co-star, he just doesn't let them take over (not that Glaser did that in his first episode, but he went on to become far too obsessed with the lighting and creating a tableau or visual art that it could be detrimental to the style of storytelling and pace the series required). The Slater chase scene was bookended with an artistic temperament as it also starts by looking in at Starsky as he waits for his enemy in the car, then leaps out, shouts his name and gives chase, the camera all the while staying in its position, looking through the car windows. There's also the scene where Starsky goes to meet Carla to find out where Slater might be and gets into her personal space, the camera slowly zooming in as his appeals become more forceful; there's the piano tuner at The Pits where the camera focuses past him to show Huggy; use of mirrors, when Hutch checks his rearview to see the Torino glide into vision ready to support him, or when Vic slides open a drawer to get his gun and a mirror inside is arranged to show his face; and there's the shot of Sonny standing on a bridge over a pond where Starsky goes to him, their meeting at first shown in the reflection of the pond. None of these moments take us out of the story or linger more than they need to.

Starsky gets good character moments, something not always seen when one or other of the partners is missing. He shows his anger by thumping Vic in the lift, which, as we've seen before, is usually contained by professionalism, and only when one of them is threatened do they show sign of losing control. Not that there was a great impression of urgency or anxiety over Hutch's disappearance - Captain Dobey seems to accept it as something he might do, but Hutch is the more levelheaded of the partnership, so you'd think any deviation from his routine (especially in the middle of cooking dinner for a girlfriend we never see), should have been cause for concern. As at the end of 'The Set-up Part Two,' Dobey lays down the law at first, but responds to Starsky's pleas, though he doesn't take too much convincing. Even Starsky isn't showing intense worry about it, but is insistent that he wants to find him. Maybe this aspect of the story needed the kind of fearfulness shown in 'Bloodbath' where early on we feel a sense of doom hang heavy. Then again, this is quite a different story, not exactly lighthearted, but bright and breezy. Even at such a critical time as Starsky searches for Hutch, he doesn't forget to thank Bobby, the helpful boy that picks up Hutch's distress call on his radio equipment, saying he should come down to the station sometime to see the communications centre. This generosity of spirit is also shown in his interactions with Sonny where he deals with him on his own terms, entering his world to get the needed information on Hutch's whereabouts.

There's a contrast between good boy Bobby who contacts the police, and the bad couple of teenagers who find Hutch and rip off his wallet to sell to a pawnbroker. It was necessary for the story as Harry Trask, the pawnbroker, proves to be a friend of Vic Humphries so gives him the heads-up about Hutch being alive which coalesces into the final dash to reach Hutch. There were several characters like this that didn't have much purpose, another being Bobby's Mum whose sole reason for being there seemed to be as a threat to Hutch as she tells her son to shut off his equipment. I'm not sure it was the right message to be saying that it's better to disobey your parents because something good will come out of it, but I thought she might show up again later to see how this hobby she didn't understand had saved a cop's life, but she never did.

Due to the nature of the story you'd think this would be a very serious episode, but they still find time for plenty of comical moments. For the first time we see the requisition department at Police HQ, run by Bigalow, a fastidious and easily riled man of numbers. I could identify with the guy to some extent as in my job I find things by number, so I enjoyed his snide remarks about the description being for simpletons and the obviousness of certain things being under a certain number, proving he did have a sense of humour, it was just different to ordinary people's! The actor, Paul Pepper, had previously played J.J., the landlord or caretaker of a rundown apartment block in 'Little Girl Lost.' The mood was light enough that when Starsky drops in through the cab window of Humphries' escaping car transporter, I half expected him to say 'Olly, olly Humphries' as he has done (similarly), before. The main humour comes from Hutch's over the top undercover role as New York City native Larry Scanlon, come to see his merchandise, and wearing a silver jacket which was almost as garish as Vic's choice of wardrobe, though at least he had his own hair! The episode had to end on a happy moment, they usually do - this time it's Starsky introducing Hutch to his new wheels which, much to his partner's distaste, he loves, as it looks just as ramshackle and broken down as the one that got smashed rolling down the hill.

The car situation is worth mentioning, as I never realised Hutch's battered old vehicle wasn't the same throughout the series. But then, Starsky's Torino got burnt to a cinder in the previous episode and he's driving around in an identical one, so either his insurance paid out for a brand new one, or maybe he got in contact with Merl The Earl to repair the damage? It's never mentioned, which is a shame, as even a throwaway line about him recently losing his own car would have been appreciated, but they didn't want to put new viewers off with continuity like that, oh no! It is fascinating to realise that both S&H's cars that had been in the series since the first episode were destroyed within an episode of each other! We also learn what kind of car Hutch has when one of his personal snitches, Lou Scobie (I wish they'd had a moment where Hutch catches up with that no good, double-crossing…), who set him up for Slater to kill, describes it as a light brown '72, or '73 Ford, the kind of information we're not often given.

As for references, there were plenty: Hutch suggests as code word for his colleagues to charge in, 'sufferin' succotash,' which was Sylvester The Cat's catchphrase on 'Looney Tunes.' That was likely Starsky's Humphrey Bogart impression when he points out to the escaping Vic that brains aren't his strong point 'are they, shweetheart?' Product placement? Probably not, but Starsky swigs from a clearly marked Coca Cola bottle. Sonny sings 'Glory, Glory Hallelujah,' and I thought the piano tuner at The Pits was playing the same song, though according to the subtitles it was 'The Battle Hymn of The Republic,' and unless I'm mistaken, they aren't the same thing. Balford calls S&H 'the dynamic duo' a reference to Batman and Robin. We see Hutch's home at Venice Place again, though only briefly. And Mandalay Heights gets two more mentions (by Huggy in his one and only scene at The Pits, and by the dispatcher, whom Hutch calls Mildred), though the Amusement Park spoken of there is probably not the one we've seen and heard of, as that was the seaside park. Not a great many wacky people, but Biggy would be one, as would Hutch in his Scanlon guise, and perhaps the stone-faced goon that grins at Hutch when he looks at him (and shortly after pounds him into a car bonnet!). Also on the radio, it's interesting to hear other Zebra numbers called out, so Zebra Three isn't the only call sign used by their force.

Some good stunts were in evidence, but so was Charles Picerni, as Starsky tended to be the one in action. It's great that he did them, but it's so easy to spot him as he looks and moves just differently enough to Glaser to be noticeable. I spotted him in three scenes: the leap onto and climb along the moving car transporter, doubling Slater for the high fall (though a real shame that it looked so planned - we cut from Slater losing his balance to the stunt guy standing and falling in such a careful and rehearsed way that it didn't look natural), and finally in the leap down the steep hill as Starsky chases Vic down to Hutch's car. I also didn't understand the significance, if there was any, to the radio programme Hutch was listening to as he made dinner, and in-car on his way to meet Scobie. Was it just meant to be a distraction so we could more easily believe that he wasn't fully concentrating when Slater motors into him? Overall, the episode is a good indication of the proficiency David Soul had in directing and promised better for the future if only he could be given a better story to work with.

**