The Streets of San Francisco: Season 1, Volume 2

The 13 episodes compiled here completed the launch of one of the 1970s' most arresting cop shows: in fact, the 1972-73 first season of The Streets of San Francisco was nominated for an Emmy for Best Drama Series and its stars—Karl Malden and Michael Douglas—were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. But as this inaugural season unfolded, the veteran/rookie dynamic that charged the first 14 episodes matured into a more paternal mentor/student relationship (Malden's Mike Stone refers to Douglas's Steve Keller throughout as “the boy” and “buddy-boy”). These episodes provide Malden with some of his finest prime time hours. In “Trail of the Serpent,” a street gang bent on freeing their captured leader takes Stone hostage, but while Stone plays it cool—appealing to the humanity of one of the more sensitive gang members—the more hotheaded Keller almost jeopardizes the rescue. In “Legion of the Lost,” Stone goes undercover on skid row to investigate the murders of three homeless men. In “Deadline,” a newspaper editor tries to cover up the murder of his mistress, and in the process, unwittingly implicates his own son, who was also the victim's lover. In “Shattered Image,” a woman from Stone's old neighborhood is now the socialite wife of a murdered senatorial candidate. “Beyond Vengeance” echoes Cape Fear as a vengeful sociopath, freed on parole, seems to be stalking Stone's daughter. Malden and Douglas are a terrific team, and they are aided and abetted by literate scripts (“Room with a View” alludes to Hemingway's story The Killers) with clever twists. In “The Albatross,” for example, a killer is freed when it turns out he wasn't wearing his hearing aid and therefore did not hear Keller read him his rights, and in the Emmy-nominated “The House on Hyde Street,” an elderly recluse becomes the prime neighborhood suspect in the death of a young boy. Guest stars in these episodes read like a Hollywood's Most Wanted List, and include veteran character actors (Joseph Cotten, Jack Albertson, Leslie Nielsen, Barbara Rush) and future TV Land favorites (Victor French from Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, a pre-Cheers Nicholas “Coach” Colasanto, Jamie Farr, and Clint Howard). Of course, the real star is San Francisco, an intriguing backdrop with its roller coaster hills and funky neighborhoods. For series fans who left their hearts here, The Streets of San Francisco still beckon. Recommended. (D. Liebenson)