"Starsky and Hutch" (1975) TV series 1975-1979

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Creator:

William Blinn

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

10 September 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Two streetwise cops bust criminals in their red-and-white Ford Torino with the help of police snitch called Huggy Bear.

Plot Keywords:

Automobile | Chase | Detective | Police | Cult TV

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Paul Michael Glaser	...	Det. Dave Starsky (72 episodes, 1975-1979)
David Soul	...	Det. Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson / ... (72 episodes, 1975-1979)
Bernie Hamilton	...	Capt. Harold Dobey (68 episodes, 1975-1979)
Antonio Fargas	...	Huggy Bear (66 episodes, 1975-1979)

Also Known As:

Starsky & Hutch (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

60 min (88 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | UK:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Spelling-Goldberg Productions

Trivia:

Inspired by the same two undercover NYC detectives that also inspired the film The Super Cops (1974).

Goofs:

Continuity: In The pilot episode, both Starsky and Hutch jump/fall into a swimming pool. A close-up of Starsky in the water shows him in his blue shirt without his sweater, and his gun in his right hand. But the next cut to him shows him standing up out of the water with his sweater back on, and his gun in his left hand.

Quotes:

Huggy Bear: [Hutch, Capt. Dobey, and Huggy Bear are deciphering the message from Hutch's abductors] The zoo!
Capt. Harold Dobey: Which is where *you* belong!
Det. Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson: [a little more deciphering] Starsky is being held at the LA Zoo!
[Hutch & Capt. Dobey rush out]
Huggy Bear: Don't thank me...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Master Ninja II (#4.24)" (1992)

With a makeup artist called Shotgun Britton, how could it fail?

The best cop show of the 70's and, with the exception of Kojak and the Rockford Files, a jewel in a sea of studio-cloned crap. First with the much-copied clichés of gruff captain and streetwise, all-knowing snitch, it had pace, pathos and, of course, the Striped Tomato.

Until the Hill Street Blues ushered in a new style of cop show for the eighties, Starsky and Hutch was the defining show of my teens and a rollicking, unashamed express-ride through the polyestered, bell-bottomed decade with two likable cops who are also best friends and plenty of short-skirted, tight-jeaned girls. It also had the great sense not to outlive its popularity.

We all had favourites (mine was Starsky) and we all tried to be as cool as Huggy Bear (brilliantly played by Antonio Fargas)...and failed miserably.

It has definitely dated down the years, but I have a copy on DVD and still take it out now and again for a chuckle at what we used to look like.