The Golden Angel

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (The Golden Angel) (2)

The kind of melodramatic, cartoony acting that both Starsky and Hutch have exhibited in some recent episodes finally gets its rightful outlet: in the wrestling ring. Just think how much better 'Dandruff' and 'The Groupie' would have been if they'd played out in the ring, where the exaggerated mannerisms and off the wall characters would have been in their element! It's not like the series had never shown an enthusiasm towards the most American of sports, with both Seasons 1 and 3 featuring episodes about the fine sport of wrestling, or ring-related entertainment. S&H had to fight a wrestler in 'Texas Longhorn,' featuring an actor by the name of Butcher Brannigan, took on Hammerlock Grange himself (well, the actor who played him), in 'Lady Blue,' Hutch had a bout with The Omaha Tiger from the episode of the same name (and it's good to see his athleticism and history with such things coming back to the fore, such as when he says the 4th Street Gym reminds him of where he used to work out), and memorably, 'The Heavyweight' from Season 3, although technically that was a boxing episode, but along the same lines. I like that they went back to wrestling again, and this time it's the whole package, not just the business end, an actual full-on match in a stadium of screaming people - an excellent way to shoot the fight, too, because you can tell it's not really a huge stadium, as when they focus on one of the stands they just show the same one with people throwing rotten veg, cheering or booing, but in the dark, smoky haze of the auditorium, lights glaring down on the combatants, the atmosphere is sold and it seems bigger and full of people.

The direction all round deserves praise. Pulling off a televised wrestling match on a weekly budget for the Seventies was one thing, but good use is made of handheld camerawork in the gym scenes (and the match), and I especially loved the evocation of the heavy atmosphere of Buzzy Boone's dippy New Age ex-wife, Camille: the camera lazily tracing the intricate woodwork in her front room, framing the drowsy Hutch, who mumbles out his questions to her, while she sits or moves, repeating every last word like some kind of mantra, Hutch so hypnotised that he almost finds himself repeating the final word of his sentence! You can't smell incense or feel draining warmth, but the way it's directed, and the way Hutch is so lethargic in her presence provides all the scene setting you need for this strange, estranged lady. It was a stretch for her to be this gun-wielding, anti-wrestling hater, and she was never allowed any development: one moment she's mellow muesli (or 'space chicken' as Hutch mutteringly dubs her), then she's at the fight on Saturday night trying to blast her ex-husband. And we know what it means, it's not necessary to spell it out: she must have been jealous of Buzzy's affection for Candy and it bubbled up into a rage against his profession, but when we've seen characters with a little more nuance and depth in recent episodes, such as 'Starsky's Brother' or 'Black and Blue,' it would be nice to have that more often, especially when it comes to villains.

The way I used to order episodes was whether they were in the camp of portraying the city in a negative aspect, with its griminess and the moral ugliness of its people to the fore, as opposed to the positive of opulent surroundings and kind people, but this season it would make more sense to make the dividing line whether its a serious story or a wacky comedy fun time. Even then I'd have a hard time defining this episode because it begins as a bit of a mystery: who shot Buzzy Boone? There are the tricks and traps, threats and attempts on his life, but then there's the public persona he presents for TV and in his match, which is as over the top as possible, running around in a sparkly golden suit, from head to toe, a gold mask, and large, white angel wings! Starsky doubling him was a masterstroke because he always plays the extroverted characters, while Hutch takes on the more introverted roles, and here that continues with Starsky as the 'real' Golden Angel, and Hutch as Louie 'The Nose' DiCarlo (I had to get that from the subtitles because you can't hear his full introduction over the roar from the audience), the NWA Official Referee, complete with fake bald pate and extended stomach! In this part of the episode it's definitely in the farce category, but most of the episode is a serious business, not just the business of wrestling, but because Buzzy's life is threatened by an unknown enemy.

More could have been made of the mystery (is it a disgruntled fan, someone from his past, or even a jealous fellow wrestler?), but like Camille Boone it doesn't receive much development, though it does lead to some dramatic moments, such as the bloodied skull on a spring bouncing out of Buzzy's locker screaming "Die Saturday night!" in a most unnerving way. I have to wonder if Camille had the technical skill not only to put something like that together (or the dummy with a door-triggered blasting cap that is the first locker surprise - I only remembered the skull so I was expecting that, not some mannikin in Golden Angel outfit!), but also to be able to creep into the gym, break into his locker (she could have had a spare key from the time they were married, if we're generous), and get out again without being seen. Mind you, she was a master, or mistress, of disguise, getting in to shoot Buzzy with a silencer at the beginning, which was as unexpected as it was shocking, and showing up in dark wig and glasses at the fight, so perhaps all her pent up energy was spent on creating gadgetry and obsessive schemes - she also clearly knew how to handle a gun, although that point could be disputed since she only grazed his arm with the first attack, then in the sequence where she lures him to the phone at the window she fails to hit him at all (it's all very much in a 'Mission: Impossible' style, what with disguises, and the ringing phone on the wall as a decoy, and S&H putting a trace on the incoming call), and at the match she's firing wildly all over the place, but her fury may have ruined her aim.

The story really isn't about the mad ex-wife, it's a snapshot of history that gives us an idea of how wrestling was perceived in this period - rather than the multi-million dollar extravaganzas and pay grades to match, with ridiculous levels of pizazz and pyrotechnics that became the norm, this is quite a primitive, old-fashioned affair, as simple as two large brutes mouthing off in costumes and going for each other. At heart, that's what wrestling's all about, that's its charm, so you could say this was its purest form, although they do touch on the showmanship aspect when Tommy Reese is excited that wrestling is being talked about again, since it's become unpopular - even Starsky hasn't been keeping up with it. He doesn't care what they say about it as long as they say something, and cites the sport's four thousand year history that all those other conventional sports don't have, but there's a definite sense of it being on the decline. Candy even concedes she'd like to breathe some life into it or let it fade away with dignity. Starsky mentions the circus is dying, vaudeville is dead, nightclubs are turning into discos, and it's true, but like a lot of entertainment, it goes in cycles - wrestling has gone through surges and drops in popularity in the decades since, and appears to be back in the popular zone again (even I watch some 'Impact Wrestling' on a regular basis). Circuses changed, becoming more focused on the athletic displays of skill than animals and weirdness, nightclubs stopped being discos as that fad died out, and I do find it fascinating to see this moment in history where this particular brand of entertainment seemed on the way out - it shows you never know what the next phase will be or what will attract the crowds.

If the character has less nuance than some episodes (Huggy and Dobey an example: here they're around, but it could have worked just as well if they never appeared, even if it's funny seeing Hug in Starsky's corner), and if the story is shallow (the mystery is supposed to drive the plot, but it's debatable whether it works, since there's only one suspect, it's not like Tommy is ever considered likely to be shooting his own wrestlers to drum up interest), it does at least make up for its inconsistencies by giving us a rollicking view into the world of wrestling, both in front of, and behind the camera. There's the pre-show publicity where Golden Angel and his nemesis, bad Hammerlock Grange, dissolve into a shouting match, then have to be restrained by police, while Tommy Reese gleefully tries to keep control and give out the fight details. But it's the actual match that is most fun, with all the glitz, glamour and scale they could muster. Hutch is good fun as the biased ref who demonstrates all the foul moves they can't make by doing them to Hammerlock, then gets involved in the match by tripping him up. It's the same idea as in those wrestling moments of other episodes, this time Starsky the one to be thrown in at the deep end, unprepared. There's none of the calling foul about the fakeness of wrestling this time, that had been done, they just revel in the rumpety-bumpety bash-about and it becomes high drama when Starsky removes his mask after Buzzy's shown up as a second Golden Angel, and Candy runs on to show that Starsky's the 'real' one, enraging Camille into her firing spree.

The idea of a woman pulling out a gun and going crazy in the midst of a show could have been a chilling horror if this was another series, but by this point everything's become farcical so it gets lost in the general panic and confusion and she's taken down without much trouble. About the most violent thing that happens is Hutch getting tangled in the ropes while Dobey tries to pull him up, half-strangling the poor guy! Again, the threat wasn't really driving the story, it was almost second fiddle to the chance to stage a wrestling episode, and I'm glad they did do one - it fits the mould of the series, and S&H, though not quite as athletic as they once were, are ideal for that world. You can see how much has changed, too, with Buzzy scoffing burgers at The Pits rather than being on the kind of strict diet and regime I imagine most wrestlers are nowadays to keep their edge in an over-populated arena. Often when you see actors eat they'll take tiny bites or barely touch their food because they have to do multiple takes, but Buzzy tucks in good and proper in true character. You still get the mountains of blubber like Hammerlock Grange, if perhaps not as hairy (the 'jelly-bellied missing link,' as Buzzy calls him), but I get the idea that conditioning was much more relaxed in those days! Still, Hammerlock manages to make a fool of the unsuspecting Starsky when he wants to see what happened in the initial murder attempt and is shown, forcefully and firsthand!

The episode may have been running short, since there are occasional scenes that go slower than you'd expect, the most notable being S&H in Dobey's office when they're discussing the fact they have no clue who's making the threats. I say discussing, but there's not much dialogue, the camera plods round the office over to Starsky at the door in an unnaturally long time, only for him to say something completely obvious. It just looked like they were padding it out, which is strange since most of the episode is well paced, even busy and punchy when we get to the fight end. A running gag helps to add a little something: this time it's the prospect of Starsky becoming a millionaire as his rich Uncle has just died, so he's unwisely vocal about his prospects of inheriting ten million dollars (or fifteen million by the time he's told Huggy!), looking at Ferrari and Cartier catalogues and held back from giving Dobey a piece of his mind by the sensible advice of Hutch, after the Captain's been his usual rude self, barking out orders and treating them like cops. Interesting that he'd be into Ferraris, but maybe he just goes for red cars? Starsky looks a bit of a fool several times in the episode, but none more so than at the end when his measly $224.98 inheritance (he's last in a very long line), isn't even enough to cover the party he's holding for the wrestlers at the gym, with a particularly grumpy (and large), caterer glaring over his shoulder. I do find it a bit odd that they came up with another family related plot when we'd only just met his brother - maybe that was what inspired it? But we all knew Hutch's reminder of his partner's place on the four-lane highway of life was a true one, and so it proved.

We're surprisingly short on eccentrics for the episode, because though the wrestlers go crazy, when they're out of character, they're pretty normal guys (even if Hammerlock has a fantastic voice!), so you could only put Camille in that category, and even then she was more of an insane fury than a cosy crazy. Stella, who owned a thrift shop might have qualified, but she's not really that odd and never comes back into it again. Tommy, in his persona as announcer, especially when he's live on TV for KBEX Spotlite on Sports, goes for the role wholeheartedly, but is a straight-laced businessman in real life. Nor was there much to note in character traits or familiar situations, outside of the wrestling: Hutch has some trouble shutting the door of Starsky's Torino when they visit the gym, but it's not a big deal; Starsky calls Tommy 'wrestling's answer to Howard Cosell' (though the reference went right over my head as I've never heard of him!); and Huggy calls Starsky the West Side J. Paul Getty, who was a wealthy US industrialist. That's your lot, and we only get one returning face: Richard Karron as Hammerlock Grange, who'd played Slow in Season 1's 'Lady Blue.' It was a big deal for me to have Ray Walston as the Special Guest Star as he's more famous to me as Groundskeeper Boothby in both 'TNG' and 'Voyager,' and has a special place in 'Star Trek' history.

***