"What do you say we have a game and then afterwards we can.sit down and maybe rap a little bit?" - Michael Ontkean as Officer Willie Gillis on The Rookies
The Greatest '70s Cop Shows DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Feathered hair, polyester pantsuits, sideburns long enough to drag the floor, cars as big as parade floats - the '70s were tough years to be a cop, as evidenced in this DVD compilation. Presenting the first episodes of Charlie's Angels (1976-81), S.W.A.T. (1975-76), Police Woman (1974-78), The Rookies (1972-76), and Starsky & Hutch (1975-79), this collection may stretch the meaning of the word "greatest," but it still manages to be highly entertaining.
First up is Charlie's Angels: "Hellride." In this episode, the Angels go undercover at a racetrack to investigate the murder of a young female driver who died when her car was rigged to explode. As usual, this episode does not take itself too seriously. Sabrina (Kate Jackson), pretending to be a professional racer, drives a car that would have been rejected from a demolition derby. Bosley's (David Doyle) cover is Brother John, a speedway evangelist whose motto is "Race for the Lord." As if that is not ridiculous enough, Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) plays his daughter, a bible toting babe who praises the Lord but still manages to wear short-shorts paired with shirts seemingly made of Kleenex. Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) goes undercover as, well, Kelly. The plot is negligible and the key to the mystery is rather abruptly discovered (by Charlie, of course), but no one really watches Charlie's Angels for its rich story arc.
S.W.A.T.: "The Killing Ground" follows the story of the creation of a Special Weapons and Tactics unit. When Jim Street's (Robert Urich) partner is shot during an ambush, the young officer vows to avenge the death by becoming a candidate for the new S.W.A.T. program being formed by tough Lt. Hondo Harrelson (Steve Forrest) and Sgt. Deacon Kay (Rod Perry). With lots of hard work, he passes the test, along with Luca (Mark Shera) and McCabe (James Coleman). Together they investigate the string of police ambush-style killings that is plaguing their Southern California city. A coke-addled vet played by Geoffrey Lewis is the leader of the trio responsible for the killings. (We know he is a coke addict because he practically rubs off his nose in every scene). Annette O'Toole (Smallville) appears as the wife of one of the three killers.
Police Woman: "The End Game" is probably the episode in this set that holds up best. Still fresh and exciting after thirty years, it is also the only episode that takes itself seriously. Angie Dickinson stars as Pepper Anderson. Along with the other members of the criminal conspiracy department, Lt. Crowley (Earl Holliman), Det. Styles (Ed Bernard) and Det. Royster (Charles Dierkop), she investigates a series of armed robberies committed by a group of two women and three men. With numerous hostage situations and tense holdup scenes, this episode is so well plotted that it is easy to overlook the dated costumes and vehicles.
The Rookies: "Concrete Valley, Neon Sky" introduces us to Officers Terry Webster (Georg Stanford Brown), Willie Gillis (Michael Ontkean), and Mike Danko (Sam Melville). A pre-Angels Kate Jackson plays Mike's nurse wife, Jill. In this episode, Terry and Willie try to tame the least scary gang since West Side Story through such techniques as American Gladiator-style full contact basketball. Although constantly referred to as "juvenile delinquents" by the leads, the gang members look all of twenty minutes younger than Ontkean and Brown. Filled with "hip" talk that probably was not even hip back then, The Rookies features a winning cast (especially Ontkean's lunkheaded Gillis) surrounded by a bad show. It presents an 80-year-old's version of "youth" themes, especially in its portrayal of fully integrated gangs who only need someone to listen to and understand them in order to become well behaved citizens.
In Starsky & Hutch: "Savage Sunday" the detectives (Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul) race against the clock to solve a case with the help of informant Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas) and grumpy Captain Dobey (Bernie Hamilton). Two hoods steal a getaway car in order to commit armed robberies in support of their nasty gambling habits. Wanting as inconspicuous a vehicle as possible, they steal a clunker from an older couple at a coffee shop, not knowing that the couple has packed the trunk with fifty sticks of dynamite in a misguided attempt to draw government attention to the seedy conditions at their retirement home. With the homemade bomb set to go off in just under four hours, Starsky and Hutch desperately try to track down the stolen car and the dangerous criminals who are now driving it. This show manages to be taut even while maintaining a goofy sense of humor. Glaser and Soul have an easy camaraderie as they bicker like an old married couple. Look for Ms. ThighMaster herself, Three's Company's Suzanne Somers, in a small role as the go-go dancing ex-wife of one of the thugs.
One surprising thing about these shows is how violent they are by today's standards. In the first ten minutes of Police Woman alone there are two gunshot deaths, with quite a few more to follow. The ambush that kicks off S.W.A.T. employs endless rounds of gunfire. While the episodes do not employ realistic looking bloodshed, the death of an officer at the start of Police Woman does feature quite a bit of blood. Almost all of the series often rely on action to propel the story rather than dialogue.
Of the five series presented here, only Police Woman was not produced by Aaron Spelling. Viewed together, his shows do follow a certain formula: killer theme songs and opening credits, outrageously attractive young casts (partnered with an older, grizzled character type), and, to a certain degree, a tongue in cheek attitude. (Starsky & Hutch breaks the rule slightly with its disappointing Lalo Schifrin theme song. It is all simmer, never reaching the boiling point).
Diehard fans will notice that these are the first regular episodes of these series' first seasons. Several of the series were introduced as pilots via TV movies or as episodes of some other series. Those initial presentations are not included here.
All five episodes are included on a single DVD. The menu design is very simple. There is a play all feature, and the episodes can be viewed separately. Unfortunately, Columbia/Tri-Star has continued its trend of not providing chapter stops during the episodes. Stopping Charlie's Angels before the end of the episode may result in having to fast forward through thirty or forty minutes of the show when coming back to it later. Why not at least include chapter stops at the commercial breaks? Surely this cannot be a complicated task, but Columbia/Tri-Star continues to disappoint.
