Murder On Voodoo Island

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S3 (Murder On Voodoo Island)

It's been a couple of years since I last reviewed a season of this series, mainly because it was not so easy to drum up the enthusiasm to get through Season 3, which I've always considered the weakest of the four, especially after Season 2, the greatest. This opening two-parter does little to dispel my lasting impressions of a failed third season. I can see what they were trying to do: after the success they'd had with big, bold two-part episodes, especially the way they kicked off Season 2 with 'The Las Vegas Strangler,' I imagine they were hoping to do the same again. The two-parters so far had concentrated on taking the duo out of their familiar surroundings and placing them in a new environment. Whether that was for the audience's benefit, a sort of TV film within the series with the emphasis on, and budget for, extensive location work, or whether it was to keep the actors sweet and wanting to come back to work, I don't know. Perhaps a bit of both? I may be placing too much power in the laps of the two stars, as although I'm sure they could have got other work, a definite season of TV must have been strong incentive to continue in their roles. And clearly the series wouldn't have worked without either Dave Starsky or Ken Hutchinson, though it would be interesting to imagine what might have been if one had left - a new partner might have been introduced (as happened with the third season of 'Due South'), or Huggy or Dobey might have been elevated to equal status in story exposure. Whatever would have been, I'm glad to be able to welcome back all four of the cast in this episode, the fourth two-parter in the series.

Huggy and Dobey often get sidelined (full stop!), in the location episodes, so you're used to them barely being in a two-parter, if at all, but this time Huggy's been sent over to their destination in advance: Playboy Island (I wasn't quite clear on where this was supposed to be, but presumably in the Americas somewhere as it's full of Americans, as well as the natives). Captain Dobey (sporting a goatee!), interrupts the pair's holiday plans, using Meghan to entice them up to a hotel suite. It was an odd thing to do, but apparently it's for their own safety… They lost me there, I didn't catch why they might be in danger, since they weren't even on the case at that point, but it's nothing compared to the odd (not to mention inappropriate), use by Walter Healey, the man on the case, to get them to sign on: he shows slides of some of the bikini girls of the island before getting to the real meat of the story. Very seventies in its attitudes, of course, but Healey seemed like quite a straitlaced type, too! The story is that William Mackenzie Thorne, considered to be the richest man in the world, may be under the influence of something bad, his associates and friends being killed off, and Johnny Doors, the West Coast Godfather, spotted hanging out at his mansion. It's up to S&H to find out what's going on and potentially rescue Thorne if he's under duress. A simple setup in order to get the cops off on their adventure.

The thing is, it's all very Season 2 in style, with the pair barely being serious for more than an odd minute as they playact undercover roles as Fred Knight (Starsky), and Ed Day (Hutch), good old boys from a waste firm, going to the island for a S.L.O.B. convention, partners in grime. It's that level of humour. That works when the episode is comedic, but the story is heavily held in the thrall of voodoo magic and an evil witch doctor, so the light tone doesn't suit. They've yet to fully succeed with the sub-genre they chose to sprinkle through the first two seasons, 'Bloodbath' perhaps being the one to come closest to chilling horror. The outlandish presentation of Papa Theodore and other natives, while supposed to up the creep factor, merely makes him appear clown-like with over-the-top laughter and dramatic showmanship. I suppose voodoo was in vogue in the seventies, with films like James Bond's 'Live and Let Die' (1973), giving this episode a solid base to imitate in the sincerest form of flattery - in other words they nicked a lot out of the Bond films such as that and 'The Man With The Golden Gun' (1974)! The witch doctor, the dwarf henchman (Philippe), the weirdness… But they didn't do a good job of marrying comedy and horror, so there's never a feeling of jeopardy. My only memories of this episode, never having seen it on TV, and only watching it once on DVD previously (which shows how much I liked it), was of the voodoo man making S&H writhe around on the floor, a foreign location, and a pasty-faced old man in a wheelchair, like Marlon Brando in 'The Island of Doctor Moreau.'

What always stuck in my head, was the thought that S&H were playing along with Theodore's game in order to fool his guards into thinking they were in his power so that they didn't get killed then and there by the machete-wielding thugs, but then finding out that actually they were genuinely under the spell of voodoo magic as they writhed around on the floor. It's just not very believable in such a down-to-earth series - yes, we'd had horror stories, but they always showed that the more supernatural elements were generally nothing more than charlatans or people with mental problems, so it felt like it was crossing a line to say that S&H were indeed beaten by 'bad magic.' It makes them look lesser heroes and gives credence to Papa Theodore's prancings where the story didn't. We're supposed to be afraid of this dangerous man, but he just makes his enemies look foolish, like blowing dust in their eyes and playing a flute could control their minds and bodies. You could say that the dust was some kind of poison or drug that initiated hallucinogens and made a person have muscle spasms, but even so S&H didn't come out of the episode looking very bright for the failed intervention.

To add to the disconnect in tone, there are other oddities, such as the aforementioned recruitment slide show, or S&H dressing up in black face in order to get into a party at the mansion with Huggy. At least Hug is a useful part of the episode, acting as their guide and liaison, thanks to having family all over the island ("In cahoots with my roots"), though we only meet one, Aunt Minnie, something of a witch doctor herself. She's not a lot of help, except for giving them the name of Papa Theodore and warning them he's dangerous. There's also the impression of just how James Bond this episode is - it could almost be a tribute. You have the setting, the villain, very much in the Baron Samedi role, the dwarf, even the silly name Bond girls (Silky, who works at the mansion; Pussycat, doorman for the hotel; and Easy, who also works at the hotel). Granted, the surplus of characters, and especially the trademark wacky ones is something the series often did. This time in the category we have Jerry Perry and Phil Hill, convention attendees and characters who just seem to be there for the sake of wackiness. Healey's a serious character, as is the slightly sinister Sterling Amadeus Godfrey, Chief of Police, who knows S&H's true identities as police officers. Most people we're just introduced to and as the cast is so large we don't really get to know anyone. Joan Collins, the Special Guest Star as Janice, the photographer of the Playboy Hotel, is hardly in it, mainly there to liaise with Healey before he dies by falling off a cliff, and watching the antics of S&H. Maybe she'll be more in evidence in part two, as she was certainly underused.

Some characters were played by actors returning to the series, though in new roles. Most obvious is Paul Picerni (whom I've always assumed was the brother of Charles, the guy who doubles for Starsky, though I didn't notice any stunts in this episode, so maybe the doubles had some time off?), a villain in the 'Murder At Sea' two-parter. I thought they were bringing back the gangster from those episodes, but no, Johnny Doors was definitely not Patsy Cairo. Many actors had more than one role in the course of the series (as was probably the case for many TV shows in those days), and there were two others in this episode: Anitra Ford was Silky, and had played Molly in Season 1's 'Pariah,' and Easy was played by Dana House who'd been credited as 'Girl' in Season 2's 'Gillian.' In terms of the regular tropes of the series there were fewer, as the series was out of step with its usual rhythm on purpose for an away shoot, which can seem a little jarring at the very start of a season when you want to get back to the series you know, not jump off into other climes right away. The Torino is only seen at the beginning, parked up outside the Jungle Club, the notorious location from Season 1's 'The Bounty Hunter,' full of exotic dancing which was in the opening credits. This doesn't seem like the same place as S&H are sitting at a bar, so the external view may have been stock footage, the sign quite small.

The confusing of their names is almost obligatory when they're undercover, and yes Godfrey confuses them ("He's Mr. Day, and I'm Mr. Knight"), and although there was no pool into which to dive dramatically, there was a river and they were forced to wade through it, a tentative link, I know. As if to make up for the lack of other knowing references there were a ton from pop culture, with the horror genre suitably represented by mentions of Vincent Price, the famous genre actor, Count Dracula, and Frankenstein (commonly confused with the man who made the monster, so to be specific he should always be called Frankenstein's monster, really). Music is represented by country singer and actor John Denver, whom Starsky mentions, and he, Hutch and Huggy sing Earth Kitt's 'Somebody Bad Stole The Wedding Bell,' before starting off the limbo. The incidental music was unmemorable with no firm theme to stay with me as sometimes happened last season, not even the usual discordant jangling they tended towards for horror-themed episodes much in evidence. It's really only towards the end that full-on horror is brought in, with faces leering into the camera and bodies writhing puppet-like in an ecstasy of evil, the mood having attempted a steady rise in foreboding atmosphere, but failing because S&H rarely seem to take it seriously, although that's one running joke that appears again: Starsky's superstitions come out in force in the face of the briefing. He also expresses dislike of the great outdoors against Hutch's more positive attitude, then turns the tables in front of Meghan, making it seem Hutch was the stay-at-home one!

They also set the tone with references to Big Foot and flying saucers, as well as Starsky claiming to spend more time in the woods than Grizzly Adams. I could also count Fort Knox, too, as that's almost an urban myth in its own right for security. You'd think if Thorne was the richest man in the world he'd have security as good as Fort Knox, as was claimed, but his grounds border on a golf course open to tourists, and all it takes is a short wade across a river to breach the mansion's perimeter! At least his nurse seemed genuine, though with a name like Charlotte Connery I have to wonder if my Bond tribute idea was a genuine attempt, and not my imagination. The only other thing that's left to mention (aside from the typically longer episode, running at about fifty minutes), was the third time in as many seasons that they changed the theme music and opening titles. I don't know why they felt they had to - Season 1 I could understand, as that was a bit ropy, so perhaps they decided the Season 2 music was too jolly or silly, because they go for something which is almost a mix between the two styles. Of course we'd seen it before in last season's 'The Set-Up Part Two,' though I still don't know if this was a genuine choice from the time, or a mixup on the DVD, though that seems unlikely as presumably the episodes exist in their entirety and were shot straight onto the disk without any cleaning up or sorting out. Odd.

I don't expect my views on the weaknesses of the third season to change with this watch through, but hopefully I can get a bit of perspective on the series as a whole, and how it all fits in the grand scheme of things, but even so, there are episodes I look forward to seeing again and writing my thoughts on, such as 'Manchild On The Streets,' 'The Heavyweight,' 'The Trap,' 'Foxy Lady' and 'Partners,' to name a few. Put another way, I'd rather have this season than for the series to have been cancelled at the end of Season 2, because then we'd never have got Season 4 when the zaniness was turned up to full!

**