| Baretta - Season One (1975)
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| Front Cover |
Actor |
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| Movie Details |
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| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
NR (Not Rated) |
| Running Time |
60 mins |
| Country |
USA |
| Color |
Color |
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| Plot |
| 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 from 1975 to 1978, 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 here is this three-disc set containing all 12 episodes of the offbeat cop series' first season. Created by Stephen A. Cannell (whose eclectic credits range from The A-Team and The Great American Hero to The Rockford Files and Wiseguy), Baretta was a tailor-made star vehicle for the pugnacious Blake. In light of his later situation, lines such as "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime," "You just pull the trigger and somebody dies," and "Husbands have been known to sometimes kill their wives for money" take on a grimly prophetic resonance. But as these episodes testify, Baretta is more than a newly minted sick joke. Baretta is an undercover cop in the Serpico mode. Like your standard TV-issue rule-bending loner cop, he butts heads with his excitable superior (veteran character actor Dana Elcar of MacGuyver and Baa Baa Black Sheep fame). He lives in the run-down King Edwards Motel with his scene-stealing pet cockatoo. He adopts a variety of guises (including in one episode, an elderly woman who looks like Tweety's keeper, Granny, and whose voiced was dubbed by Granny herself, June Foray!). But he is much randier than your average Joe Friday. In one episode, he tries to convince his date to go back to his apartment so she can give him his "birthday present." She tells him "that will take until 4 in the morning." With its ersatz funky score, Baretta is time-capsule '70s television. And, as Baretta was fond of saying, you can take that to the bank. --Donald Liebenson |
| Personal Details |
| Seen It |
Yes |
| Index |
6 |
| In Collection |
Yes |
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| Product Details |
| Format |
DVD |
| Region |
Region 1 |
| Release Date |
10/29/2002 |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
3 |
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Notes
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| Although Robert Blake gave the impression he hated his own show by the time the third season came about, he will always be remembered for his finest role in television history. Baretta appeared on television after Tony Musante refused to continue it's predecessor "Toma"(1973-1974), based on the true life exploits of Dave Toma (another excellent gritty cop show, but short lived). Unlike "Starsky & Hutch," Blake carried the show as a single force out the clean up the streets. It was a tough act, but he carried it out with excellent results, with the back up of Billy (Tom Ewell), his old and faithful buddy, and "Rooster" (Michael D.Roberts) his imformant, and the scene stealer; his pet cockatoo bird. The series premiered "Jan 17th, 1975, the same year as Starsky & Hutch. By just the second episode (on this DVD set) "The Five-And-A-Half-Pound Junkie" concerning a young girl addict ready to have a baby, you knew by watching the acting, that this series was going to be a hit, and it was. The first season has 12 episodes, and it is a very enjoyable DVD set, with attactive case and sleeve insert. It's on 3 DVD's. The only drawback is that Universal released this set in 2002, with no word on future releases of series 2 and 3, I would be leary on purchasing other box sets they come out with in the future, until they verify they will release the full series. |
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Extra Features
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| Color Closed-captioned Box set |
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