The brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh, the 1973 debut of Police Story represented a major step forward in the more realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV. Though still a Detective Sergeant when the series debuted in September of 1973, Wambaugh served as a consultant to ensure its authenticity.
Police Story was an anthology series, similar to the Twilight Zone in which every episode tells a story of an LAPD officer on the job. While the series had its share of car chases and crazed killers, Wambaugh and producers David Gerber and Mel Swope primary focus was showing the human side of police officers. Undercover detectives spend much of their time on stakeouts, and rookie cops face tough street educations. Cops aren’t infallible goody-goodies—racism and corruption exist on the police force.
The true beauty of the anthology format is the creative freedom afforded to those involved. In some episodes, the bad guys get away, just like in real life. In some episodes, the protagonist dies, just like in real life. In some episodes, the cop makes a critical mistake and ends up losing badly, just like in real life. On other cop shows of the era, cops were portrayed as flawless heroes. Here, they lose their tempers, step over the line and even struggle with their superiors. Since there are no recurring storylines, characters can be as imperfect and complex as they need to be. These are not characters that will be back next week.
Season One’s episodes present a variety of situations. In “Violent Homecoming,” The murder of a 14-year-old boy threatens to touch off a teenage gang war. In an attempt to bring realism to the episode, Actual gang members were cast to play supporting roles in the episode, which was filmed in an East Los Angeles barrio. “The Ten Year Honeymoon” begins as a typical mismatched buddy cop story, and then veers into highly emotional territory as one of them starts acting highly irrational. In the end, his actions uncover a tragedy. “The Ho Chi Minh Trail” is a gripping thriller in which a rookie fresh out of the academy is sent undercover with one of the most dangerous drug kingpins in L.A. and is forced to think fast on his feet. In “The Ripper,” one cop is forced to put aside his own personal bias’ as he and is partner track down a suspect who appears to be killing homosexuals. It’s this kind of variety that makes Police Story work so well; while all the stories address similar themes in some way, the differences in tone and style are such that they never feel predictable. No matter how many episodes you watch, there’s always an unexpected twist. It’s easy to see how the episodes that served as pilots for other police shows, such as Joe Forrester, David Cassidy: Man Undercover, and Police Woman (this season’s “The Gamble”) all aired on Police Story.
Police Story: Season One contains The Pilot film, and all Season One episodes, including “Big John Morrison” which aired as a Movie of the Week. The guest stars involved in Police Story: Season One reads like a who’s who of 1970’s entertainment. They include: Vic Morrow, Edward Asner, David Doyle, Diane Baker, Harry Guardino, Chuck Connors, James Farentino, Fred Williamson, Elizabeth Ashley, Michael Ansara, John Larch, Don Meredith, Tony Lo Bianco, Verna Bloom, Claude Akins, George Maharis, Herbert Edelman, Antonio Fargas, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sue Anne Langdon, Dean Stockwell, Murray Hamilton, Hugh O’Brian, Tina Louise, Lloyd Bridges, David Janssen, Larry Wilcox, Lynda Day George, Kim Hunter, Martin Balsam and many more!
The six disc set sports a full screen transfer and stereo sound mix that are pretty good considering the materials age. There is some damage and dirt here and there, but Shout Factory obviously took the time to clean things up quite a bit. Really, this looks and sounds as good as could be expected.
The special features include “Slow Boy,” a 96-minute TV film that served as the pilot for the series and “Cop Talk: Joseph Wambaugh” (22:00), an interview with Wambaugh in which he explains his concept for the series and how he made it work.
