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Topic: RSS FeedVintage cop shows: Baretta vs. S.W.A.T
Men's Fitness, Oct, 2003
Vintage Cop Shows:
Baretta vs. S.W.AT.
The '70s are back--in fashion, music and movies, and increasingly
on DVD. Two stone-cold cop-show classics are now ready to do
duty in your progressive-scan player. Hit the streets.
THE SHOWS BARETTA S.W.A.T.
WHAT IT IS An unconventional undercover An elite crime-fighting
cop lives with a pet bird unit takes back the
and busts bad guys while streets of L.A. from a
playing by his own set of seemingly unlimited supply
rules. Gritty atmosphere, of psychotic, cop-hating
hard action, lots of one- freaks. Paranoid
liners. atmosphere, kick-ass
action, lots of jingoistic
speeches.
WHO'S THE Tony Baretta, streetwise, S.W.A.T. team leader Dan
MAN? crackin'-wise master of dis- "Hondo" Harrelson, played
guise who keeps his eye on with stiff-necked, square-
the sparrow when the going jawed, tight-lipped
gets narrow. Robert Blake is intensity by Steve
gold in the role of his Forrest. So right-wing he
lifetime. makes Joe Friday seem like
a communist.
AIDING AND Rooster: a mack-daddy-dress- The S.W.A.T. van:
ABETTING ing street informant. Capt. Affectionally dubbed the
Shiller: Baretta's uptight, "war wagon," this mean ma-
by-the-book boss. Fred: the chine exhibits more perso-
most famous cockatoo in nality than most of
history. Hondo's squad members.
TALKIN' Bad ass: "You know Hondo describes a band of
SMACK somethin', Mr. Baretta, you counterculture killers who
got a biiiiiiiiig mouth!" inhabit "a mind-bending
Baretta: "Yeah, that's one netherworld of group acid
of my better qualities." trips, witchcraft, psyche-
Fred the cockatoo: "Freeze!" delic satanism and reverse
exorcism." Yeah, baby!
POLITICALLY All of Rooster's Busting heads without due
INCORRECT appearances; Baretta's jaw- process, breaking down
MOMENTS dropping undercover guise as doors without warrants,
a gay interior designer; and and using excessive force
many more. in each and every episode.
Probably ex-L.A. Police
Chief Darryl Gates'
favorite program.
FLY FASHION Baretta goes undercover in Er, the S.W.A.T. team is
flower-patterned bell- smartly accoutered in
bottoms, a huge ankh neck- dark-blue unis and dope
lace and platform heels. flak jackets, accessorized
Don't watch this alone. with stylish M-16 rifles.
PLAY THAT Dave Grusin wrote it, Sammy Wicked wah-wah guitar and
FUNKY MUSIC Davis Jr. sang it. Maybe the blazing horn riffs made
coolest theme tune ever. the S.W.A.T. theme a
top-10 hit in 1975.
JUDGE'S Watching Blake deliver lines Laughably bad dialogue,
VERDICT like "If you can't do the wooden acting, one-
time, don't do the crime" dimensional villains and
holds a morbid fascination buckets of gratuitous
given his recent legal violence. Yet that's what
history, yet Baretta stands made it great. Crack for
on its merits as one of the the TV junkie.
best cop shows ever. And you
can take that to the bank.
JUST THE Universal Home Video; Columbia TriStar Home
FACTS $39.98; 3-disc set; Entertainment; $29.98;
available at Suncoast Video 3-disc set; available at
and Best Buy. Suncoast Video and Best
Buy.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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