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Starsky and Hutch (usually written as Starsky & Hutch) is a 1970s US television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a Movie of the Week entry) and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30 1975 and May 15 1979 on the ABC network; distributed by Columbia Pictures Television in the United States and, originally, Metromedia Producers Corporation in Canada and some other parts of the world.
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Quotations
Big Earl: Alright guys, I'm not gonna lie to you. This is gonna get kinda weird... Two dragons.
Come on cap, don't drag Hutch into this. I shot the pony.
I don't know. Listen to Jim Croce, play darts... whatever the hell else you white people do.
If this shit wasn't illegal guys, we'd be up for the Nobel Prize.
It was my mother she always used to say it was too much car for me to handle. I couldn't handle the V8.
Look man, this grass is Alabama Creepin' Bend, as opposed to Georgia Creepin' Bend. It's lighter.
Encyclopedia
Starsky and Hutch (usually written as Starsky & Hutch) is a 1970s US television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a Movie of the Week entry) and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30 1975 and May 15 1979 on the ABC network; distributed by Columbia Pictures Television in the United States and, originally, Metromedia Producers Corporation in Canada and some other parts of the world. Sony Pictures Television is now the worldwide distributor for the series.
Overview
The protagonists were two Southern California policemen: the dark-haired Brooklyn transplant David Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) who was a streetwise detective with intense, sometimes childlike moods, and the blond Duluth, Minnesota native
Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson (David Soul), a more reserved and intellectual character. Under the radio call sign "Zebra Three", they were known for tearing around the streets of "Bay City" in Starsky's two-door Ford Torino, which was red with a large white vector stripe. It was nicknamed the "Striped Tomato" by Hutch in the episode "Kill Huggy Bear"; the nickname was subsequently adopted by the fans of the series. However, the term didn't come from the writers - it came from a real-life comment that Glaser made. In a segment titled Starsky & Hutch: Behind The Badge that was featured on the first season DVD collection, Glaser stated that when he was first shown the Torino by Aaron Spelling, he sarcastically said to Soul, "That thing looks like a striped tomato!" Hutch also had a car, a battered tan 1973 Ford Galaxie 500, which occasionally appeared when the duo needed separate vehicles, or for undercover work.
Their main underworld contact was the street-wise, jive-talking Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas), who often dressed extravagantly and ran his own bar named Huggy Bear's, later The Pits. The duo's boss was the gruff, no-nonsense but fair Captain Harold Dobey, played by Bernie Hamilton in the series (gravel-voiced actor Richard Ward in the pilot). Starsky and Hutch was one of the first prime-time dramatic shows to cast black characters in a positive light; with both Captain Dobey, and - despite his walking on the edge of the law - the honest and trustworthy Huggy seen to be positive black role models.
Huggy's immense popularity caused Spelling and Goldberg to consider giving Fargas his own series. The second season episode "Huggy Bear and the Turkey" was the test pilot for a proposed spin off with Huggy and his friend, former Sheriff "Turkey" Turquet (Dale Robinette) becoming private investigators; however, it never led to a series. In the episode it was revealed that Huggy's last name is Brown (no clue as to his first name was given).
Two character names came from William Blinn's past: "Starsky" was the name of a high school friend, and "Huggy Bear" was a local disc jockey.
Fans loved the gritty, often violent, plotlines, comic banter, and particularly the close, devoted and enduring friendship between Starsky and Hutch. In stark contrast to police characters on TV up until this time, Starsky and Hutch were open with physical gestures of affection, often declaring that they trusted only each other against the world leading to some people claiming of manly overtones between the pair. In a "blooper tape" made during the show's run that can be found on YouTube, the narrator intones that some Hollywood industry types referred to the characters as "French kissing prime-time homos". This parallels a similar claim that was leveled by psychologist Fredric Wertham in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent about the relationship between the comic book hero Batman and his sidekick Robin. But most observers see this simply as male bonding, which soon became commonplace, as "new men" could admit to having feelings of many shades, with no homosexual implication - certainly the case with Starsky & Hutch. However, during the 1980s some fans, mostly women, started writing and extralegally publishing "slash fiction" stories about the pair and continue to do so in print and on the Internet.
Many fans were attracted not just by the characters, but the quality of writing during the first two seasons (despite the fact that the majority of first season stories were actually existing scripts that were merely adapted to fit the series). The second season episode "Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road", featured country star Lynn Anderson as a singer being stalked by a deranged person and was based upon a real-life incident involving Dolly Parton. The part was written with Parton in mind, but Anderson wound up playing the role.
In 1977, a rising concern about violence on TV forced the screenplay writers to cut down on violent action scenes and to employ more romantic and socially themed episodes, and play up the "buddy buddy" aspect of the shows leads even more. At the same time, the lead actors, in particular Glaser, became jaded with the general theme of the series. These factors, among others, contributed to the fading popularity of the series.
Glaser indicated several times that he wanted to get out of his contract and leave the series; he even sued to be released from his contract before the start of the third season. It seemed that he would not be returning for filming, so to fill the gap he would have left, the character of Officer Linda Baylor, played by Roz Kelly was created, and a number of alternative scripts featuring the character instead of Starsky were written (whether the shows name would have remained the same is unknown). After being given more control over scripts; opportunities to direct, and a per episode pay raise from $5,000 to $35,000, Glaser was persuaded to continue, and Baylor only ever appeared in one episode (alongside both Starsky and Hutch) in the Play Misty for Me-inspired episode "Fatal Charm".
Glaser again voiced his desires to leave during the fourth season. This time, Starsky's younger brother Nick (John Herzfeld) was introduced in the fourth season episode "Starsky's Brother", mixed up with some bad company. It was intended that if Glaser was to quit, that the reformed Nick would join the force and fill Glaser's place (this time at least being able to keep the shows title as Starsky & Hutch). Again, this idea never came to anything.
Although a fifth season was at one stage planned, it was ultimately Glaser's desire to quit the series, as well as by this time falling ratings, which brought an end to the series.
Ironically, as with many leading actors in hit shows over the years (such as Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek, Adam West in Batman, Tom Baker in Doctor Who, etc.), Glaser initially had little regard for his most famous role and wanted to be distanced from it, but in recent years has come to embrace it.
After its prime-time run, Starsky and Hutch was offered in syndication and has been shown on several local and cable networks, including The National Network and WWME-CA in Chicago. Several episodes from the first two seasons can be viewed for free in Minisode format on Crackle.
Much of the show was shot on location in the Los Angeles beach community of San Pedro. The building that was used as the "Metro Division" headquarters is now San Pedro's City Hall.
List of episodes
DVD Releases
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released all 4 Seasons on DVD in Region 1 and 2 in the UK for the very first time.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|
| The Complete 1st Season | 23 | March 2, 2004 | | The Complete 2nd Season | 25 | July 20, 2004 | | The Complete 3rd Season | 23 | March 15 ,2005 | | The Complete 4th Season | 22 | October 17, 2006 |
International
- In Italy was aired the 15 March 1979 on prime time on Rai Due achieving smash-hit status. Many years later (in 1987) it was broadcast again, this time in the late afternoon, on Italia 1 and on 2007 Rai Tre (at lunchtime). Now it is broadcast on mornings on Italia 1 and AXN.
- In France, the show was shown on TF1. The French version replaces the original theme(s) with a French song, singing about "Starsky et Hutch".
- In the United Kingdom, the series was a huge hit when shown in the 1970s on BBC One, with occasional re-runs through to the early 1990s. It was re-run by Five in 2003 in a 10 a.m. slot (later 11 a.m.; moving later on to an afternoon 2:30 p.m. slot); During its prime-time run, however, the BBC heavily edited or skipped altogether certain episodes; in fact, the first season episode "The Fix" (in which mobsters inject Hutch with heroin in order to extract information from him) was deemed too graphic and was effectively "banned" from all the corporation's runs of the series (despite being shown after the 9 p.m. watershed). Several other controversial episodes did on occasion air, but were heavily edited and / or seldom aired due to their nature. "The Fix" was never shown on British terrestrial television until May 31, 1999, as part of Channel 4's "Starsky & Hutch Night" (which also included the Pilot, a documentary about the series, and the second season episode "Gillian"). On January 10, 2003, Five actually broadcast "The Fix" in their regular 10 a.m. slot; however, the episode was notably edited, and the scene of Hutch being injected with heroin was almost completely absent. The series is now shown on the UK satellite channel Zone Thriller .
- The success of Starsky and Hutch caused British TV producer Brian Clemens to respond with a more hard edged, gritty show called The Professionals which aired on UK TV between 1977 and 1983.
- Although the two shows debuted within a few months of each other, so one was unlikely to have been directly influenced by the other, there are also some notable parallels with gritty 1970s UK Police series The Sweeney (1975-78), which was the predecessor to The Professionals.
- The first season is frequently aired on the Middle East Broadcasting Center with Arabic subtitles.
Cars
Stunt cars, camera cars, tow cars, dolly cars, and cars used for "beauty" shots varied in model year from 1974 to 1976 Ford Torinos, since the body style of the Gran Torino was unchanged.
Originally, Blinn was to have Starsky drive a Chevrolet Camaro convertible because he fondly remembered a green and white one that he owned. However, when production started on the pilot episode, Ford Motor Company's Studio-TV Car Loan Program was the lease supplier for Spelling-Goldberg. They looked at lease stock and chose two 1975 351 Windsor V8-powered "Bright Red" (code 2B) 2-door Gran Torinos. Both cars had a 'role' in the pilot movie, one being "Starsky's" car, and the other being a similar car which is mistaken for Starsky's car by the film's villains. They each had body-side moldings along with a black interior with vinyl bench seats. Interestingly, one of the 'pilot' cars had the 'luxury' chrome mirrors installed, while the other 'pilot' car had the cheaper, entry-level chrome mirrors installed. Unfortunately, in editing the film, Starsky and Hutch are shown to be driving around in each of the two cars at different times during the film. The cars were also custom painted (on top of the factory red paint color) with the distinctive white "vector" stripe designed by Spelling-Goldberg's transportation coordinator George Grenier. The rear ends were lifted by air shocks, and had "U.S." brand 5-slot mag wheels added with larger rear tires. While the tires were mounted so that only the black-wall side would show, thus hiding any unauthorized brand-name display, in one first-season episode ("Kill Huggy Bear"), a close-up shot of the villain cutting the rear brake lines shows the letters on the tires to say 'Firestone'. It is reported that the original 2.75:1 ratio rear axle gearing (standard on non-police Torinos from 1975 onward) was replaced with numerically higher ratio gears for better acceleration during stunt driving scenes, but this is not verified, and the obviously sluggish performance of the cars on the show seem to suggest that the stock rear-gears were indeed left in place. At least one of the cars was known to have a 'Dymo' label prominently attached to the dashboard which read:"DO NOT EXCEED 50 MPH".
Legend has it that during the early stages of production of the pilot, Aaron Spelling took Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky) outside to 'introduce' him to the Torino in all its red & white-striped, mag-wheeled glory. Glaser took an immediate and long-lasting dislike to the car, which has not changed to this day. According to Glaser in several interviews, there were three main reasons why he instantly hated the car: First, in his opinion, it was big, ugly and childish-looking. Secondly, the idea that two 'undercover' cops would drive around in a car with such an outlandish appearance seemed ludicrous, and lastly: He just doesn't like Ford products. At the first viewing of the car with David Soul (Hutch), Glaser remarked that the car looked like a 'striped tomato'. That nick-name stuck, and very soon the show's writers had worked it into the show as Hutch's derogatory name for Starsky's beloved Torino.
Glaser remarked to Soul that he hated the car and that he was "going to destroy that car...burn it down every chance I get!" Several scenes of Glaser driving the car show him smashing the front wheels into curbs as he slides the car around corners and such, but that may also be attributable to the fact that he is primarily an actor, not a trained stunt-driver. Over the years, with the Starsky & Hutch Torino gaining in popularity and becoming a much-loved icon of the show and of the seventies in general, Glaser has not so much grown to appreciate the car as he has learned to simply accept its popularity as a necessary component of the fan's appreciation of the show. In fact, during filming of the 2004 Starsky & Hutch movie, Glaser had several opportunities to sit in the newest iteration of 'his' car, and even drive them, but he refused. He just wasn't interested.
New 'high performance' engine sounds were dubbed over scenes during the show because California law forbade mechanically modifying the engines of new cars.
When the pilot was successful, Spelling-Goldberg ordered two new 1975 red Torinos for the first season. These cars were powered by Ford 335 engine-based 400 cubic-inch V8s because extra power was going to be needed for additional stunt driving scenes.
These new cars for the first-season were factory ordered in the bright red color (Ford paint code: 2B), which was a regular production color for 1975 Torinos.
The first-season Torinos had no body-side moldings, but did have body-colored "sport" mirrors, and cloth split-bench seats. With the acquisition of the new cars, the producers took the opportunity to 'improve' the design of the white stripe painted on the cars. The original 'pilot-movie' cars had the bottom, horizontal edge of the stripe about an inch or so above the mid-body character line that ran along the bodysides of the car, which was apparently done so that the section of the stripe that passes above the front wheel opening would not be 'cut-off' by the wheel opening. However, this compromise makes for a rather disjointed look with the bottom edge being above the main body line crease. So, for the new first-season cars, the bottom horizontal edge of the stripe was lowered and now directly on the bodyside crease, which gave overall a more cohesive look to the design of the stripe. The section of stripe that runs across the front wheel opening was gradually curved up and around the opening, hardly noticeable and a far better compromise visually than the original design. The stripe was also thicker on the roof section and whereas the front pointed section ended well behind the amber marker light on the pilot cars, the newer design had the point ending far ahead of it, on the front facia piece. These new cars also featured the complete 'bumper protection group' option, which included horizontal black 'rub-strips' on both bumpers that were not included on the 'pilot' cars.
In 1976, these were replaced by two (possibly three) new 1976 Gran Torinos that had vinyl split-bench seats, with the seat backs having a 'bucket seat' style that is completely different from the flat, plainer style of the previous cars. The new cars were ordered under Ford's fleet program, which is what was required to get them painted in the previous year's 'Bright Red'(2B), as Ford used a different shade of red for new standard-order Torinos by this point.
These newer cars can be identified by their silver 'sight shields' (bumper filler panels) which Ford used on specially painted fleet-ordered cars. They also had the luxury chrome mirrors offered on Torinos that year. Even though the body-colored 'sport' mirrors were still a Torino option in 1976, they could not be installed on a fleet-ordered specialty-painted car, as Ford had no provision for producing those mirrors in anything other than the regular production colors listed for that year. And since the 2B bright red was a special fleet-ordered color for the '76 model year, the cars came equipped with the luxury chrome mirrors. The body-side moldings were installed on these cars and the stripe was, unlike the pilot cars, integrated with the moldings.
They were powered by 460 Lima V8s, and Spelling-Goldberg kept these Torinos until production ceased. While these were the biggest, most powerful engines available from Ford at the time, they were still woefully underpowered at 202 net horsepower.
Due to the budget and time constraints inherent in a weekly production schedule for a TV show such as this, many shortcuts and 'cheats' were employed wherever possible, in just about every department. The appearance of the Torinos is no exception. The thin black stripe that sperated the white stripe from the red on the Torinos was clearly not painted on. In several episodes it is clear that the black tape-stripe is damaged and peeling. This could be easily and quickly replaced as opposed to having to spend the effort and time to carefully paint the black stripe on the cars each time they were repaired... which apparently was quite often.
Over time, an unforeseen problem was discovered with the Torinos when they were used during stunt driving scenes. In sharp left-hand turns, Soul would sometimes slide accidentally across the vinyl bench into Glaser. Although a potential safety hazard at the time, the problem was solved by replacing the front bench of the number two Torino with bucket seats.
The aggressive stunt driving required of the show resulted in many accidents and fender-benders for the Torinos. The time demands of a weekly production mandated quick body and paint repairs so the cars could get 'back to work' as soon as possible, and many of the quick and often sloppy repairs are quite evident to eagle-eyed viewers of the show. The front fenders seemed to have taken a lot of abuse, and the section of white stripe on the front fenders was repainted in an obviously 'wrong' pattern a couple of times. Also, the 'Gran Torino' emblems attached on the front fenders are missing in several episodes, as are the wheelhouse chrome moldings in some other episodes.
Towards the end of the four seasons of production, the Torinos were each noticeably worse-for-wear, and close watchers of the later episodes will spot many dents and other damage on the cars as they appear in various episodes. In particular, the driver's side 1/4 panel and tail-light area was seen to be smashed up in a couple of different 4th season episodes, and at least one of the cars was shown to have a dented and twisted front bumper along with some visible damage to the grill behind the bumper. The very last appearance of the Torino on the series seems to show that the driver's door and window will not even close correctly, possibly due to the rigors and effects of the 'spirited' stunt driving the car suffered over the years.
Due to the success of S&H, in 1976 (the Torino's final year) Ford released a limited edition (only 1001 units total, plus three 'pilot production' cars) Starsky and Hutch replica Gran Torino.
Manufactured at the Chicago plant, one of these code "PS 122" units was leased by Spelling-Goldberg from the middle of the 2nd season until the series' end as a backup for the main cars and was known simply as "Unit 129".
It was originally equipped with a 351 Modified V8; however, during filming, one of the stuntmen damaged the engine beyond repair, and it was replaced overnight with a 429 Lima V8.
During the last season of Starsky and Hutch, The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on CBS, and one of the factory replicas was used in the first episode, "One Armed Bandits", seen to be driven by regular character Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones). This was the only appearance of the Torino in the series, and many fans have speculated over its strange one-off appearance.
One theory is that it was merely an in-joke, with the Torino's former iconic car status now being taken over by the Dukes' car "The General Lee".
After Starsky and Hutch was canceled, the cars were returned to Ford and sold at auction.
Currently, Torino #1 is owned by a man in Ohio. Unrestored and somewhat battered, it still has its original 460 V8, interior, and paint.
Torino #2 is owned by a New Jersey man who supplied the main close-up Torino (featured on the movie posters) for 2004's big-screen Starsky & Hutch movie.
During its life after Starsky and Hutch, #2 was wrecked and sold as salvage. It was repaired, although it was repainted the wrong shade of red and the iconic stripe was improperly painted.
Although still equipped with bucket seats, #2 no longer has its original 460 engine, which was replaced at some point with a 2.8 liter Ford V-6.
The car is currently undergoing restoration in Pennsylvania.
Finally, Torino #3 reportedly resides in the South, while "Unit 129" is owned by a collector in New Hampshire.
In addition, the Torino has many fans and collectors in the United Kingdom, as evidenced by the large number of UK-owned replicas (both factory and aftermarket).
As stated previously, Glaser wasn't fond of the Torino as he found the car to be garish. Due to his contempt for the Torino, he deliberately mistreated the cars during close-up stunt scenes when he drove (this was admitted to in a 1997 letter he wrote to the owner of the #1 Torino; and in a first season DVD interview he said that tried to "destroy" the cars) and would often stop the car by hitting the front wheels against curbs, as well as coming into driveways at high speed and bumping into garbage dumpsters.
The Starsky & Hutch 2nd-unit production team had a number of nondescript 'filler' cars that were used by the 2nd unit whenever filming of the Torino was to take place. They were either parked along the side of roads or were used as 'traffic' through which the Torino would navigate. Some of these 'filler' cars that show up randomly in many episodes are listed below:
- 1973 American Motors 'AMX' (orange),
- late 60s-era American Motors 'Rambler' 4-door (blue);
- 1960 Chevrolet Impala (black) also used as the villain's car in "Savage Sunday",
- late 60s-era Volkswagen 'Beetle'(red with white hood);
- 1975 Ford LTD 4-door (light blue with dark blue roof),
- 1974 Mercury Comet GT (green); also used as villain's car in "Kill Huggy Bear".
Firearms
In the pilot episode, Starsky carries a M1911 pistol in .45 ACP, but once the series began, Starsky carried a 9mm Smith and Wesson Model 59.
In the pilot episode and through the series entire run, Hutch carries a Colt Python. Hutch's Python was medium-barrel length at the start of the series; however, in the third first-season episode "Texas Longhorn", the "Zak" character carried a long-barreled model, and Soul subsequently asked to carry that version from that point forward.
The criminals carry a variety of guns: rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers in a variety of makes, models, and calibers.
Theme music
The first season of the show had a theme written by Lalo Schifrin, used heavily during the US pilot episode. This was replaced for the second season by a Tom Scott-written theme entitled "Gotcha". The iconic "Gotcha" is the best known of the show's themes, and has been covered by several musicians, including the James Taylor Quartet and The Ventures. A version of "Gotcha" was featured on Scott's 1977 album Blow It Out. For the third season, a more dramatic theme was used that highlighted more socially-conscious and light-hearted stories. It was written by Mark Snow and released on an LP around 1979.
A revamped "Gotcha", similar to the version on Blow It Out, returned for the fourth and last season. The revamped version was the most easy-going of the different themes for the series, reflecting the last season's "buddy buddy" feel.
Parody
The show was parodied in the 2009 Chick-fil-A calendar where the show in March was referred to as Charsky & Hoof.
The show was also parodied on the Benny Hill Show in the late '70s, with Hill playing both Starsky and Hutch while Jackie Wright played Huggy Bear in blackface.
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