Police Story is the fondly-remembered police procedural TV series created by author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh(The New Centurions, The Onion Field). Police Story was an anthology of sorts in that different police officers were featured in each episode, although many actors played recurring roles as their characters returned periodically. The stories were all set within the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Police Department so it was not surprising to see the characters in new stories interacting with officers who had featured in prior episodes.
POLICE STORY Season One DVD
Studio: Shout Factory
Year: 1973-1974
Rated: Unrated
Film Length: 19 hours, 30 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Subtitles: None
Release Date: September 6, 2011
The Series
Police Story premiered on March 20, 1973, with the pilot episode Stakeout, also known as "Slow Boy." The series returned to the schedule on the NBC network in the fall of 1973 and aired regularly on the network until 1978. Following its cancellation, Police Story continued as a series of 3 TV specials that aired between 1979 and 1987, and had a brief return as a regular series on ABC-TV in 1988. Police Story was successful enough to develop 3 different spinoff series during its run, the most notable one being Police Woman(1974-1978) starring Angie Dickinson and Earl Holliman. The Police Story episode that first featured Dickinson’s officer Lisa Beaumont, The Gamble, aired originally on March 26, 1974, and is included in this season one set. Other spinoffs from Police Story included Joe Forrester(1975-1976) starring Lloyd Bridges and David Cassidy - Man Undercover (1978-1979).
Police Story had an element of originality lacking in other police procedurals of the 1970s in that the officers were portrayed as real human beings who sometimes made mistakes rather than infallible supermen (and superwomen). This tone was set early on in the pilot episode with the focus on Vic Morrow’s Joe LaFrieda who is divorced with a young daughter because the demands and stresses of his job created emotional distance between him and his first wife. The studio’s press release touts Police Story as an archetype for shows that followed like Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, and this seems to be an accurate observation. Police Story was certainly a well-written series; as one example, Requiem For An Informer written by Sy Salkowitz received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in the category of Best Episode in a Television series. That episode is included in this set.
Police Story also benefitted from the great actors who appeared as officers or criminals. The pilot episode alone included Chuck Connors, Vic Morrow, Ed Asner, and Harry Guardino. Other actors appearing in this first season included Angie Dickinson, James Farentino, Fred Williamson, Tony Lo Bianco, Paul Burke, Claude Akins, Pedro Armendariz, Jr., Hugh O’Brian, John Saxon, Don Murray, Jan-Michael Vincent, Alex Cord, Stuart Whitman, Darren McGavin, Kurt Russell, Frankie Avalon, Sal Mineo, and Earl Holliman.
This set consists of 21 episodes plus the 2 hour pilot episode on 6 discs, with the special features located on disc 6. The packaging includes an illustrated booklet with episode titles, summaries, and airdates. The episodes included are as follows:
Stakeout aka Slow Boy(1:36:29)
Dangerous Games(50:42)
Requiem For An Informer(50:41)
The Ten-Year Honeymoon(49:42)
The Violent Homecoming(50:37)
The Ho Chi Minh Trail(50:37)
Collision Course(49:50)
Death On Credit(49:50)
The Big Walk(50:43)
Man On A Rack(50:46)
Line Of Fire(50:44)
Chain Of Command(50:48)
Countdown Part I(50:40)
Countdown Part II(50:48)
Cop In The Middle(50:48)
The Ripper(50:49)
Country Boy(49:46)
Big John Morrison(1:14:29)
Wyatt Earp Syndrome(50:46)
Fingerprint(50:49)
Chief(50:44)
The Gamble(50:43)
Video
The series and special features are displayed in a 1:33:1 screen ratio. The video quality on the individual episodes is surprisingly good for a series from the early to mid-1970s. Shadow detail is poor in a few scenes and some black crush is evident but compression artifacts are minimal. Some very minor dirt and debris is apparent periodically but this first season looks very nice overall. The opening credit sequences fare the worst, since the film elements were several generations further removed from the original negatives.
The extended "Movie of the Week" episode Big John Morrison has a brief opening portion, approximately 10 seconds, for which I believe the original elements may have been damaged. The initial part of the episode has still photos with credit superimposed with original audio of the characters running, after which the remainder of the opening credits has the same characters in motion as the audio flows into the episode. It may be that the episode aired this way originally, but it is not characteristic of the credits for the other episodes. If, in fact, these film elements were damaged, the fix is nicely executed, and those few seconds of film are not essential at all to the story.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track is not exceptional by modern standards but accurately reproduces the audio, probably with improvements, of the original broadcasts. The sound mix is excellent with dialogue always appropriately audible over sound effects and music. There is no crackle, hiss, or fluctuation in sound level that we sometimes expect from TV series of the 1970s.
Special Features
Disc 6 contains the only special feature, which is an interesting and informative interview with author and series creator Joseph Wambaugh(22:00).
Disc 1 has promos for Dragnet 1967 and Adam-12 running 1:44 which plays automatically prior to the main menu.
Conclusion
Police Story stands up remarkably well nearly 40 years after these episodes aired originally. The writing, acting, and production values really lend an adult tone to this series when many other police procedurals may seem juvenile by comparison. Given the fact that Police Story did not push the envelope on language and nudity the way later series like NYPD Blue did, it is even more remarkable that Police Story stands the test of time so well. The special features are minimal, limited to the interview with Joseph Wambaugh, but very interesting to anyone who enjoys the series. Police Story Season 1 on DVD set comes recommended to anyone who enjoys a good police procedural drama. I know I will be looking forward to Season 2.
