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Amazon.co.uk Review
Starsky & Hutch: The Complete Second Season proves the 1970s series, in its sophomore year, both codified its earliest strengths while continuing to evolve into a sharper, wittier and often darker show. Contributing to those improvements were the stars themselves: David Soul (who plays maverick police detective, intellectual and health nut Ken Hutchinson) and Paul Michael Glaser (as Hutch's more impulsive, junk-food-junkie partner Dave Starsky), each of whom directed exemplary episodes in the second series. The series' creators also struck a more entertaining balance between the comic and dramatic possibilities inherent in Starsky and Hutch's bluntly honest, fraternal relationship. A number of stories placed the guys in intentionally funny undercover situations: as garish gamblers in the two-part opener "The Las Vegas Strangler"; entertainment directors (named Hack and Zack) on a luxury cruise ship in "Murder at Sea"; gigolo-like dance aficionados in the playfully-titled "Tap Dancing Her Way Right Back into Your Hearts"; and, most amusingly, stunt men in "Murder on Stage 17".
Those are all good shows, and the duo often bicker within them, to great comic effect, like an old married couple. But it's the relentlessly tougher episodes that prove each character's mettle and demonstrate the depth of Starsky and Hutch's mutual trust. Among these is the powerful "Gillian", in which Starsky discovers Hutch's classy new girlfriend is a prostitute and breaks the news to his shattered friend. Somewhat lighter but just as revealing is "Little Girl Lost", starring a young Kristy McNichol as an orphaned street urchin whom Hutch, lately in a misanthropic, anti-Christmas mood, takes into his home. Glaser's directorial debut, the harrowing "Bloodbath", gives Soul a lot of room for an intensely physical and psychological performance as Hutch scurries to find his kidnapped partner. Soul returns the favour with "Survival", in which Starsky desperately seeks his missing pal, trapped and slowly dying beneath a car wreck. All in all, a very good series, with (of course) Antonio Fargas still sharp as sidekick Huggy Bear. --Tom Keogh
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I loved Starsky and Hutch when I was growing up so I re-visited it with some trepidation incase I found my childhood favourite to be horribly naff - I needn't have worried though, it is still as amusing and thrilling as I remember.
Starsky and Hutch are two detectives in a grimy inner city populated with seedy characters. It is heavy on the action - our heroes are more than happy to run around waving guns, jump in/out/over cars (why walk around the famous red and white Gran Torino when you can roll over the bonnet, right?), crash through empty cardboard boxes in alleyways and get heavy handed with the low-life. They are tough and they (almost) always get the bad guys with their own, no nonsense, approach to law enforcement.
But this series (and this season in particular) has much more to offer than just action.
The makers and actors have said that this is a show about a deep platonic friendship between two men who are cops and, for me, it is this relationship that makes this show better than anything in the genre that came before or after. Glaser and Soul have incredible chemistry and are utterly convincing as best friends - they are easy together, they bicker, they joke, they are bluntly honest and they are affectionate and very tactile. Much of the humour comes from this relationship but it also helps to sell the drama.
The stories themselves are good (although many of them have been recycled in other shows since) and the casting often throws up familiar faces before they were famous. It is fun to see our heroes working undercover (there are several such episodes in this season) but they are at their very best fighting crime on their own beat, backing each other up, talking to the incomparable Huggy Bear and driving Captain Dolby mad. There are several of the very best episodes of the entire series in this collection.
Of course, it is looking a little dated: the 70s clothes (although they look quite good, for the most part - except for the cravats...); the lack of IT/Mobile telephones and; the fact that our heroes think nothing of indulging in a little sexual harrassment in the workplace or openly leering at women in general. To be fair the last two are very much a product of the time and are done with such good humour and lack of malice that it is difficult to be offended. The passage of time has not diminished the stories or the acting and you soon stop noticing the 70s quirks.
There are no extras but who cares? This is the season that got the balance between gritty storylines and humour spot on and is an absolute must for anyone who remembers the series fondly and is a good place to start if you've never really watched Starsky and Hutch before.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Forget the new starsky and hutch movie with messers Stiller and Owen. Nothing can compare to the genius of Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul. I grew up watching those two and I still love em today.They have a chemistry on screen that is just timeless.
Captain Dobey is sooo grumpy, but he,s great, and Huggy too.
Ilove it and I don,t think I,ll ever grow out of em, don,t want to either. Forget the new movie with the fake ones, watch the real thing with Paul and David.Brilliant.***********
Captain Dobey is sooo grumpy, but he,s great, and Huggy too.
Ilove it and I don,t think I,ll ever grow out of em, don,t want to either. Forget the new movie with the fake ones, watch the real thing with Paul and David.Brilliant.***********
Format:DVD
About the series:
A funny and exciting series about (really close) male friendship and crime fighting. Sometimes it is a bit silly and dated, but the actors in the lead roles are geniuses.
About this DVD box set: The great thing about this collection is that it has subtitles (English and Dutch). The negative things are that there are no chapters (every episode is a chapter) and no extra features. The image quality is pretty bad/average but one has to consider that it was filmed in the 70's.
A funny and exciting series about (really close) male friendship and crime fighting. Sometimes it is a bit silly and dated, but the actors in the lead roles are geniuses.
About this DVD box set: The great thing about this collection is that it has subtitles (English and Dutch). The negative things are that there are no chapters (every episode is a chapter) and no extra features. The image quality is pretty bad/average but one has to consider that it was filmed in the 70's.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fantastic!
I originally saw the recent movie, and being a fan of the actors, thought it was great. I then went on to study it for my A-level Media Studies coursework. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2007 by C. D. Tasker
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I wasnt around when the original series first aired, and really only got into Starsky and Hutch watching re-runs on Granada Plus. Read more
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