Episode 64: Foxy Lady

Flighty murder witness Lisa Kendrick tries to outwit both gangsters and Starsky and Hutch to keep some stolen cash.

Lisa Kendrick: Priscilla Barnes, Clay Zachary: Morgan Woodward, Grover: John J Fox, John Carelli: Mark Gordon, Kevin Mackey: Chris Lofton, Stu Basset: Darryl Zwerling, Maggie: Maida Severn, Mr. Cavanaugh: Ed Vasgersian, Cabbie: Jaime Tirelli. Written By: Robert Swanson, Directed By: Nicholas Sgarro.

QUESTIONS AND NOTES:

Sometimes (all right, most times) I would dearly love to whisk back in time and sit in on those writers meetings in which the various pros and cons of a shooting script are discussed. In this case, I would like to know what the “pros” can possibly be. There are many times during the run of the series in which Starsky and Hutch are not at their best; often they misunderstand or misread a situation, and can be guilty of procedural or even moral lapses. But very rarely are they made to look deliberately ridiculous from a policing standpoint. They are here. (An exception is “Dandruff”, but that episode is in a separate category, a flat-out farcical caper with nothing really do with detective work, and yes there are plenty of times when both detectives aren’t at their best when judged from the ruthlessly acute lens of today.) It’s enough to wonder whether there was passive-aggression at work here, Mr. Swanson lashing out at the show’s fan base, at the idea of heroism, or at the dignity of the stars themselves. Whatever happened, I want to witness to the moment when the cast and crew said, “this is great! Let’s do it,” if only to cry out, spectre-like, “this is the voice from the twenty-first century. Don’t do it.”

The victim of the shooting lies brutally murdered on the sidewalk, not yet covered by a sheet and so is visible to every passerby, which seems awfully cavalier to me.

When they guys roust the sleazy crime reporter (our old friend Darryl Zwerling, late of “The Set-Up” and “Huggy Bear and the Turkey”), don’t you think they’re wishing they could do that to the paparazzi, who more than likely made their lives a misery in real life? Later, in what seems to be a bit risqué for the time, Starsky calls him “that bastard.”

Notice that the initial lengthy scene in the squad room is notable for the amount of whispering. Starsky, Hutch and Dobey are all speaking in remarkably muted tones. I know they’re trying to shield their witness from much of the content of their conversation, but still the hush seems remarkable. Another television show is being filmed next door? A crew member has brought a newborn baby to set? What?

Hutch goes to the water, leans down to get a cup. When he stands to answer Dobey’s question, he’s wearing an entirely different jacket. Originally it’s his usual green leather, but now it’s a brown leather jacket with faux fur collar. Now, normally errors in clothing aren’t really my main focus. I’m much more interested in content critique, but here it’s so blatant it bears mentioning. Continuity person, where are you?

Hutch wears his bathrobe even though he has yet to take a shower. Theoretically he’s just gotten off work, and is about to take a shower. Most people would wear their clothes, ditch them for a shower, then get into a bathrobe for the rest of the night. Why the extra step? Does he just really, really like his bathrobe?

How does Lisa know Hutch’s address? How do Zachary and Carelli know it?

Fun to hear the typically 70s fat, sexy saxophone start burbling when Hutch opens the door to the beautiful Lisa.

I know the guys act like idiots around gorgeous women. We all know it. It’s a comedic mainstay of the series and one of the most enduring charming/irritating aspects of the show. But one is still compelled to ask the question. Why would a professional, seasoned detective like Hutch not ask himself why Lisa appears out of the blue to ask to stay at his apartment? Doesn’t he wonder about her nefarious ways of getting information? He’s already suffered the indignity of his ex-wife using the same ruse, with disastrous results. He should have been on his guard. He should have known.

You’d think the guys would do better than to leave their keys on the door frame, especially since Hutch, at least, has been broken into numerous times.

It’s amusing that Hutch says he has pizza to offer Lisa, but it’s only one stale piece, and it’s the piece he just dropped onto the floor.

Starsky and Hutch both have “a bottle of Chianti here someplace” and locate an unopened one under the sink. They have other similar aspects to their apartments lots of plants, lots of art, a vaguely southwestern flair. Both like pillows and Mexican blankets. Both have sports posters on their wall. Both have wood paneling and ceramics. Starsky has cool modernist touches Hutch doesn’t have, like the orange lamp and Nixie clock, and Hutch has a more southwest or tribal look, with extra blankets and driftwood.

First sign Lisa isn’t all she claims to be: she says she “didn’t hear” Starsky come in and yet they’re talking right in front of the bathroom door, having a spirited argument about pizza not ten steps from her.

That is an extraordinarily presumptuous teeny tiny teddy Lisa slips into. I realize Hutch makes no move to change from his bathrobe when she arrives – signaling possible intimacy – but still. Like Diana from “Fatal Charm”, Lisa seems to think Hutch is easy.

Denying Starsky to use the bathroom when he’s in obvious pain shows Hutch at his meanest. “I’ll be about ten minutes” he sneers at his poor partner. Even though he’s obviously in the wrong, having an important witness in his apartment during a case, Hutch seems unable to admit his culpability. As usual, he takes it out on Starsky.

When Starsky is doing his flirtatious best to lure Lisa from Hutch’s apartment, Hutch is ostensibly taking a shower. And yet you can see him very clearly watching from the open door of the bathroom. In my opinion this is a staging error and a wonderfully unguarded moment for the two actors. I say this because there is no way Hutch would allow Starsky to seduce Lisa into going to his place. He’d intervene, cause a scene. He hates to lose. The fact that Starsky and Lisa are able to walk out like that shows that Hutch, all along, is supposed to have been unaware of the events. Plus he’s an awfully subtle background blur, a no-no in a show that could never be accused of subtlety.

Interesting to note also, the only actual mention of Hutch’s bad back, a given in fandom, although nutty Melinda notes a scar there in “The Groupie”.

It’s a great fight for the door at Starsky’s place, both glaring at each other, fighting for the note; and another instance of Starsky cramming something in Hutch’s mouth.

Why didn’t Starsky and Hutch notice they were being tailed to Lisa’s hotel hideaway? They must be vigilant knowing she’s an important witness, and that’s a particularly big black car right behind them.

There is a nicely choreographed phone scene, in which both Starsky and Hutch find information about the crime simultaneously, and come to the same unnerving conclusion.

What do you suppose Dobey got his trophies for? He has two large ones in his office.

The joy of tiny moments: Hutch, arriving home and unaware of two thugs in his apartment, looks into his bag of groceries and says with undisguised disappointment, “no carrots!”

This is the worst case of “I’m Hutch, he’s Starsky” in the whole series. And nobody does outrage better than Soul does. Tied to his rolling office chair, Hutch’s disgust and embarrassment when he’s not only kidnapped but mistaken for Starsky is so pungent it’s comical. As usual David Soul takes a negative and turns it into a positive, something he has done throughout the series, crushing the black carbons of anger, jealousy, irritation and outrage into sparkling and precious moments.

Hutch really wants to say something when Lisa talks about the money in Starsky’s laundry basket – raise an objection, maybe clarify – but he’s not allowed to.

It’s easier, says Zachary, to “use the telephone”? Lisa has apparently hidden the loot in Starsky’s closet. They have an exact location, and since they found Hutch’s place pretty easily, chances are they know where Starsky lives too. They had no compunction about tearing up the Venice Place apartment in pursuit of something hidden there, so why not break into Starsky’s place and grab the bag they know is there? It would take only a few seconds. It’s definitely not easier to organize a dangerous, complicated hostage situation. Somehow I wonder if this means Zachary has a death wish, because he’s a little too excited about this cat-and-mouse game. Is he bored into taking insane risks? Money not working any more as an aphrodisiac? He wants to see how much he can get away with? Is this suicide-by-cop he’s contemplating?

I like how Starsky says “(they’ve got) Hutch and the girl”. She’s been relegated to nameless status in the intensity of the situation. It’s almost as if he can’t, in that moment, remember her name.

What is Starsky doing with Hutch’s handcuffs? Is it a ploy to make John Carelli get him closer to Hutch and Lisa? Or something else?

It is a pretty smart move by Lisa to go to the bank’s insurance company and return the money for the reward, thereby laundering her take very nicely. This proves she’s no dummy, even though she has the dummy act down pat. I wonder, though, how she had the nerve to lie about hiding the money at Starsky’s place. Playing that game with Zachary seems like a really crazy thing to do. She’s lying to him about where the money is, fully intending to steal it herself, even though she’s already seen Mackey gunned down right in front of her. She couldn’t be sure the police would cover for her, with Starsky showing up to the hostage scene with his own dirty laundry in the suitcase. Maybe that’s what Hutch was trying to say when tied to a chair: “Starsky doesn’t have a laundry basket!”.

Why is Lisa still going to Algiers when she doesn’t have to? She has legitimate money on her now, there’s no need to go to a place with no extradition, except if she’s planning never to come back and worries she may be compelled to. “See you at the trial,” she says cheerfully, but of course that’s not going to happen. Still, though, she might as well fly somewhere like Paris or New York, rather than north Africa, and disappear from there. An explanation could be that she’s so cheap she’s going to use that previously-purchased, non-refundable ticket, come hell or high water.

More laundry images as the guys root through her lingerie. There was a time in the past when just seeing a brassiere was naughty, and the one hanging around Hutch’s neck would have prompted audience laughter.

“Now you wouldn’t want me to tell all a girl’s secrets now, would you?” Lisa says sweetly when Starsky asks where she hid the money. This brings up a problem I frankly have no answer or explanation for, namely the idea that feminine creativity (and Lisa is extraordinarily “feminine” in every cliched sense of the word) is the only thing that can regularly trump Male Logic. This sets up an us-and-them dichotomy that is one of the most common (one might say well-worn) and frustrating narrative devices in the history of storytelling. Ostensibly this is a female triumph. Lisa wins, doesn’t she? Isn’t that a good thing? Well, no, not really. It only means Lisa is able to trick Starsky and Hutch because is she unpredictable and devious. This is success through manipulation rather than intelligence. Women, therefore, are “other”, strange creatures men will always be troubled and irked by. Since Starsky and Hutch are the heroes here, and Lisa is the not-quite-but-close-enough villain, the feminine is therefore troubling, maddening, obstructive, irksome and counterproductive. There are strong parallels to “The Heroes” (note the title) in which similarly ultra-feminine Christine is doubly troublesome because she is both creative and powerful – she can literally humiliate them both publicly and personally. Lisa’s actions are figuratively emasculating, as she leaves them draped in her underthings, but it’s the same thing: it feels uneasy, unethical, and cheap. However, Starsky and Hutch are able to reclaim their power in “The Heroes” by persevering to victory and here they are robbed of that possibility, as Lisa merely laughs and walks away.

Clothing notes: Both Hutch and Starsky wear wonderful leather jackets. Starsky also wears a nice pair of knit boxers. Both have hair that is extra long and curly. Hutch wears his green leather jacket and an expensive-looking pair of teal cords with extras, like leather belt loops. He wears his iconic orange velveteen bathrobe. Starsky wears an unusual striped turtleneck and a suede jacket we never see again.

Tags: Bernie Hamilton, David Soul, Morgan Woodward, Paul Michael Glaser, Priscilla Barnes, Robert Swanson