I was very sorry to hear of David Soul’s passing just recently. It reminded me of back in 2020, when, halfway through watching the original (best!) James Bond movies, Sean Connery passed on. This time we were in the middle of watching the complete Starsky & Hutch series.
About that series… of course, it’s a mixed bag. It started out very, very gritty, but it seems they quickly realised with a strong younger audience they should probably dial that aspect back a bit. But never fully, which means by the third season we still get very edgy, adult episodes side-by-side with absurdly camp, jokey nonsense. At its best, Starksy & Hutch is superb—at its worst, the cheesiness is off the scale.
Regardless, due to the excellent chemisty of the four leads—as well as Soul and Paul Michael Glaser, we must not forget Bernie Hamilton and Antonio Fargas—it’s always worth watching.
Well… the season two episode where they go undercover as movie stuntmen results in such high levels of stupidity that the “watchable” theory is tested to the limit (it could’ve been quite good, if the script hadn’t been so monstrously dumb). And the two-part season three opener, a completely ridiculous voodoo concoction, might be the nadir of the whole run.
But overall, it’s fun and has a nostalgic feeling that can’t be denied.
That said, I can’t watch the bit in the opening credits where Soul lands on the roof of the car without cringing. This caused him a real injury that plagued him for the rest of his life.
I guess, though, my fave David Soul role, and maybe my fave TV horror movie, came shortly after—Salem’s Lot. Although made in 1979, for some reason we had to wait until 1981 to see it in the UK. It was a big event, and wow, did it pack a punch. There is so much to love about this movie, and I think it may be director Tobe Hooper’s finest hour too (I’m afraid I consider Texas Chainsaw Massacre massively overrated).
While it doesn’t follow the Stephen King novel (one of SK’s best efforts, from an era when he could consistently write strong, worthwhile stories) to the letter, I think it captures the spirit of the book perfectly.
Some of the differences work in its favour, too—in the novel, vampire Kurt Barlow’s henchman Straker is a giant thug, but in the movie he is played with sinister urbanity by the great James Mason. Barlow himself rightly should embody these qualities, but as played by Reggie Nalder is merely a hissing Nosferatu clone. No matter—because Mason is so excellent. I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
As the hero, Soul does a great job, too. He is earnest and intense in all the right ways.
It’s all the more shocking, I think, that after this movie, somehow, his career in the 1980s never quite hit the heights you might have expected. I think it clearly was a number of bad career decisions, such as the appallingly wrong-headed TV remake of Casablanca in 1983, coupled with personal issues and alcoholism, that thwarted him.
A great shame, because when he was good, he was really good.
So, another part of my childhood landscape gone. Inevitable, but always sad. RIP.
(PS. viewings for last quarter of 2023 coming up shortly.)
I’m not sure that I could re-watch Starsky and Hutch now, but I remember Salem’s Lot as being very good so perhaps I’ll dig that out from wherever I’ve buried it. Soul’s career turned towards pop music didn’t it? Perhaps that confused casting directors