DVD Review: Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season

03/08/04

There?s a reason ?Starsky & Hutch? got a 2004 movie remake: the classic TV series just exudes personality. Apparently a lot of you agree with that statement, given the movie?s second-place opening this weekend. Whenever two hip, 70s-era cops rank second only to Jesus, you know they?ve got something going for them. Or at least their movie does. Given the success of the film, not to mention a widespread renewed interest in all things 1970s (seet ?Austin Powers? and ?That 70s Show?), it goes without saying that a lot of you will want to check out ?Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season.? Columbia/Tri-Star recently released this five-disk set on DVD, and it provides not only a faithful reproduction of the entire first season, but also 23 fantastic hours for those of us craving a good blast from the past. For four seasons in the late 70s (1975-79), Starsky and Hutch ruled the small screen, the original ?buddy cops.? Ponch and John may have had success on their 1980s-issue CHIPs motorcycles, but it was Starsky and Hutch who kick-started the action-comedy buddy-cop genre in their stylish Gran Torino. And with Huggy Bear by their side, of course. As is to be expected for a DVD set with 1970s broadcasts as its source material, the sound and video is far from HDTV and 5.1 surround-sound quality, but the audiovisual aspects have certainly held up very well for the past quarter century. The A/V isn?t what will really entice you to watch the shows, though. Nope, that?s the episodes? job. And as well as the sound and video have held up, the show?s charm has aged even more gracefully. Yes the characters still wear tight jeans. Yes they still have big hair. Yes the chest hair, it does a-floweth. But more important, yes, this duo can still entertain for hours on end. Good cop action/comedies can stand the test of time, ?cheese factor? or not, and ?Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season? definitely stands tall among them. The five-disk set is more than just shows and pilot episode, though. It?s also got a handful of extras, one of which is the requisite movie-related tie-in. One of the most amusing bonus features is a short featurette called ?It?s Harder Than It Looks.? This six-minute production covers two aspects that were harder than they looked: producing TV?s first buddy-cop show (read: a blooper reel), and acting as a guest star before ever making it in Hollywood. The latter aspect of the featurette is particularly fun, especially if you?re a fan of looking back at the appearances of famous actors before they became household names. The second most-interesting extra, called ?The Third Star,? focuses on the duo?s Ford Gran Torino, which was (and is) at least as iconic as Starsky and Hutch themselves, if not more so. (After all, the DVDs resemble wheels from the car, not hairdos from the cops.) This feature is led by a car collector who discusses the famous automobile and the work it took the production team to make sure the sweet ride kept its cool throughout the series? four-year run. You consistently hear about the multiple General Lee?s and KITT cars, but it?s not that often that you get an inside look at the work that went into keeping the Gran Torinos up and running. The final bonus worth mentioning, a sneak peek at ?Starsky & Hutch: The Movie,? is notable primarily because it shows you why this DVD set was timed to release when it was: it?s a good movie tie-in. This behind-the-scenes peek includes some still photos from the set and a three-minute ?documentary,? but in the end, it amounts to little more than a promotional video for the film. Yet those who would argue that ?Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season? on the whole is little more than a marketing tie-in couldn?t me more wrong. Granted, you can?t deny that it?s a useful marketing tool, but the movie is doing just fine on its own. Instead, some consumers will find that this DVD set is a fun and stylish trip down memory lane, while others will discover a kitschy yet entertaining introduction to the forefathers of the buddy-cop genre. If you?ve got an action-comedy bone in your body, or you just have a thing for 1970s culture, ?Starsky & Hutch: The Complete First Season? is one collection you?ll not want to miss.
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