Starsky and Hutch Movie

^{Review by Sunday Simmons}

Another 70’ cop show, another memorable car. Where the UK had The Professionals ‘Bodie and Doyle’, the US had Starsky and Hutch. First airing in 1975 and running until 1979, this action packed show featured David Soul (Salem’s Lot) as sensitive, intellectual Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, and Paul Michael Glaser as street smart, wise cracking David Starsky – who had a penchant for sliding across the hood of his bright red Ford Gran Torino. Iconic. With a supporting cast of typical 70s characters, including the irrepressibly flamboyant Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas), and the suitably stern Captain Dobey, played by Bernard Hamilton, Starsky and Hutch is arguably one of the best cop shows of the era. So much so, it was deserving of a spin off movie.

The early 2000s was rife with spin off movies of some of the most beloved retro series’, notably Charlie’s Angels, and The Dukes of Hazzard. In 2004, the ‘Zoolander’ pairing of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson was a no brainer for the roles of Ken Hutchinson and David Starsky. It was also the era of the Frat Pack – a group of popular comedic actors who seemed to be in just about everything. Amongst the ranks of Stiller and Owen, we also had Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Vince Vaughn, Paul Rudd… You get the gist. These guys were EVERYWHERE, often appearing together and bouncing off each other to create some of the highest grossing comedies to hit our screens -  Dodgeball, Zoolander, 40 Year Old Virgin, Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, and of course Starsky and Hutch.

Stiller and Owen were made for these roles, and casting Snoop Dogg as informant and nightclub owner Huggy Bear is the perfect cherry on top of this campy cop comedy. The plot is everything you would imagine from a movie set in the 70s, and harks back to when the pair first teamed up rather than carrying on from where the series left off. We have a drug Kingpin, a new kind of cocaine on the street, cheerleaders, and a dead body. A standard week in the fictitious Bay City area of LA.

For me, this is a laugh out loud movie, in many ways simply because it’s just THAT silly, but that’s also what makes it work, and I’m glad they chose to play it for laughs. Hutch serenading cheerleaders Stacey and Holly with David Soul’s hit ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’, a drug addled Starsky losing a dance off at a disco, and the pair turning up as mimes at a Bar Mitvzah are just snapshots of this films outrageous humour. Apparently, critics didn’t massively enjoy it, but I loved its sense of fun, and it did pretty well at the box office, so…

Boasting a brilliant supporting cast, including Jason Bateman, Vince Vaughn, an uncredited Will Ferrell, and a nice little cameo from David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser, the Starsky and Hutch spin off movie is definitely worth adding to your watch list if you’ve either never seen it or forgotten its existence. And this feel good buddy cop movie with its tongue firmly placed in its cheek is available on Amazon Video, and Paramount+ now.