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DVD The Greatest '70s Cop Shows (Charlie's Angels / Starsky and Hutch / S.W.A.T. / Police Woman / The Rookies)
It may sound like a gimmick--The Greatest '70s Cop Shows is a compilation of first episodes from Starsky and Hutch, Police Woman, S.W.A.T., The Rookies, and Charlie's Angels--but this DVD anthology really opens one's eyes to the look and feel of dramatic television during the so-called Me Decade. Except for Angels, which never wavered from its self-mocking, glossy action/stiff exposition playbook, these cop-program debuts (four of them from Aaron Spelling) import much of their fluid camera movement, multiple points-of-view, and dynamic, often wordless storytelling from the era's rough-and-tumble action movies (e.g., The French Connection). Which is to say these shows may be dumb but not necessarily cheesy (except Angels' post-modern cheese). There is a lot to admire about the opening ambush in S.W.A.T.'s "The Killing Ground," the hard-boiled camaraderie of Police Woman's "The End Game," and especially the reckless physicality and ironic jokes of Starsky and Hutch's "Savage Sunday." --Tom Keogh
Review(s): DVD The Greatest '70s Cop Shows (Charlie's Angels / Starsky and Hutch / S.W.A.T. / Police Woman / The Rookies)
A Starsky and Hutch Fan
I love the fact that they are putting out DVD's like this I grew up with all these shows and I love all of them and seeing David Soul (Hutch from Starsky and Hutch, He is Hot !!!!) in it is a plus also !!!!! Starsky and Hutch was my favorite show as a kid and I still love watching it. It is worth the money to buy it with all 5 shows they were some of the best shows on TV in the 70's.
3 stars if you didn't grow up with these shows
I was a child of the 70s and remembered these shows fondly. I took them VERY seriously at the time. Now they are instant nostalgia and a hoot. I love the bland studio bars and apartments, the lack of much blood after some serious gun fights, the friendly neo-fascist cops who do their duty & then go party. These are the "first" episodes of each show but that is misleading. Most started as 2 hour movies of the week. These are the first of the on going episodes but in most cases the viewer's second helping.
The Rookies-the most social conscious of the group. The street wise cop who grew up in the 'hood with the very naive suburban kid. Nice sentiments here about getting through to gang members excpet that these guys are psuhing 40 when they should be teens & the slum is obviously a Hollywood backlot with lots of newspapers thrown all over it.
Police Woman-good drama, Angie does some nice touches. The show isn't just about her though, a whole unit so it's kinda misleading. That hippuie undercover has on of the oddest faces to grace a TV screen. And I loved the casual traffic driving past a desperate shoot out early on.
SWAT-Now this felt like a pilot. Like most of SWAT's villains, total psychos. Although no one mentions it, they are sniffing alot during the episode so grown up viewers will know that they are all coked up.
Starsky & Hutch-lame plot but good commadarie. Watch for a sexy cameo but Suzanne Sommers. This show was a little more into innuendo but then came...
Charlie's Angels-not a cop show! This one actually isz the first time we'd seen the Angels. Not bad but the whole Doyle as a preacher bit was grating. I remeber them calling this a "jiggle show" but note the lack of the extra large busts we've come to expect nowadays.
I wish they'd have released the "best" ep of each show rather than the "first", now that would be a 5 star DVD!
Maybe!
I captioned this as maybe , because I Love everyone of these shows , and the individual programs chosen for this Collection , but having purchased this , and having watched it . It is great for those last two reason , but let me tell you were the problem lies . Copying these from whatever , or however , from the very first show on the collection you run into the problem that the sound does not match the picure . The words are heard bfore the Lips even move . Now this is regular on the Charlie's Angels show , and sparadically on the others , but I still enjoyed the Collection Purchase very much .
Related DVD's The Greatest '70s Cop Shows (Charlie's Angels / Starsky and Hutch / S.W.A.T. / Police Woman / The Rookies)
Tough but not swaggering, serious but not solemn, S.W.A.T. won over its 1970s television audience with several unexpectedly interesting elements: A degree of storytelling sophistication; visually exciting, guerrilla-like street violence; and a subtle but determined fascination with the psyches of the show's five principal characters. To a non-viewer, S.W.A.T. looked like a fatuously reassuring, law-and-order shill in the aftermath of the Vietnam war and Watergate. In reality, creator-producer Robert Hammer (a Peabody Award winner for the 1979 POW TV drama, When Hell Was in Session) managed to make an ideal, mid-'70s Aaron Spelling cop show with an extra emphasis on the human factor in peacekeeping.
Spun off from an earlier Spelling series, The Rookies,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Steve Forrest DVD Release Date: Released the 03 June 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It is a sordid fact of life that were it not for Robert Blake's newfound infamy as an accused wife murderer, Baretta, which lasted three seasons beginning in 1975, might have been relegated to late nights in TV land. But as they say in Hollywood, there's no such thing as bad publicity. So for those who do not want to invest in the Season One boxed set, here are three episodes from this offbeat cop series' first season, including the atypically gritty and brutal pilot, in which funky undercover cop Anthony Baretta goes after his girlfriend's killer, and speaks those grimly prophetic words: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." As these episodes testify, Baretta is more than a newly minted sick joke. The randy, rule-bending Baretta was a cop like no other on... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Blake Director(s): Don Medford - Robert Douglas - Alex March - Robert Blake - Ted Post DVD Release Date: Released the 29 October 2002 Usually ships within 2 to 3 days
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Starsky & Hutch: The Complete Second Season proves the 1970s ABC 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 season 2. 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... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): David Soul DVD Release Date: Released the 20 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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On the timeline of successful TV cop dramas, Kojak offered bold authenticity and paved the way for NYPD Blue. As immortalized by Telly Savalas, veteran detective Theo Kojak was introduced in the 1973 TV movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders (not included in this 3-disc set), a ratings hit that encouraged CBS and writer-producer Abby Mann to create a trend-setting series (based on a book by Selwyn Raab) that premiered on October 24 of that year. The Greek, bald-headed, snappily attired Kojak brought no-nonsense bravado to homicide cases in South Manhattan--a setting that lent a gritty, urban edge to intelligent plots that won the respect of real cops with an emphasis on diligent police work instead of overblown action and phony glamour. While working cases with his captain... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Telly Savalas DVD Release Date: Released the 22 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Dragnet creator-star Jack Webb's imprimatur is all over this first full season (1968) of Adam-12, a consistently entertaining look at the on-the-job lives of a couple of Los Angeles patrol officers. No surprise there: Webb co-created and produced Adam-12 as well (he also directed the first episode) and his sensibility--square, old-fashioned, low on frills-- imbues the 26 episodes included in this set.
Martin Milner stars as Pete Malloy, a veteran cop whose new partner (following the death of the previous one) is Jim Reed (Kent McCord), a rookie who's more than a little wet behind the ears. The show follows them as they make the rounds in their police black & white, dealing with all manner of circumstances, from the mundane (traffic violations, petty domestic... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Harry Morgan - Robert Douglas - James Neilson - Jack Webb - Leo Gordon DVD Release Date: Released the 23 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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