Another season of The Streets of San Francisco and another yearly placement among the top thirty most popular shows on television. Though the audience levels slipped a little in its fourth season, the industry still considered this a quality show once again nominating it for Emmys as Best Drama, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor, among others. Looking back over these twelve episodes from the first half of Michael Douglas’ last season on the show (there is no indication from the first half season that it was anything other than business as usual), there are some occasional sloppiness and inconsistencies with the writing, but the episodes are nevertheless still entertaining and well produced.
The Streets of San Francisco: Season 4, Volume 1
Directed by William Hale et al
Studio: CBS/Paramount
Year: 1975
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 603 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: SDH
MSRP: $ 42.99
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Review Date: August 23, 2012
The Season
3.5/5
As in previous seasons, the episodes are mostly crime dramas rather than mysteries (only two of the included twelve episodes here would qualify as mystery stories), and the detectives’ knowledge of the overall crime scene in San Francisco seems to be a little too thorough for a city of its size. In any event, the unusual cases continue to impress especially a poignant tale (“No Place to Hide”) of prisoners and their families being used in drug-muling: in effect being held hostage right in front of the police. Another interesting and atypical episode finds Lieutenant Mike Stone (Karl Malden) being hit by a getaway car and losing hearing in one ear making him more of a liability than a help to partner Inspector Steve Keller (Michael Douglas). Things get even more tense as he’s stalked by the surviving wife of one of the killed bandits in one of the season’s most gripping episodes (undercut slightly by some illogical plot twists). A neighborhood under attack by greedy land developers trying to drive dwellers away by using violence is a solid story, and there’s some fun along with the drama when a loudmouth traveling salesman claims to be the witness to bank robbers who killed a policeman thus putting his own life in jeopardy. As in previous seasons, a couple of episodes revolve around neighborhood youths involved in shady dealings, and there’s even time in one episode for Mike Stone to pop the question in a proposal that comes a bit out of the blue.
Producer Quinn Martin always kept a steady stream of top notch Hollywood talent employed in guest roles in his shows. Among the guest stars in season four’s first half of episodes (some making return appearances on the show as different characters) are Clu Gullager, Mark Hamill, Tony Geary, John Karlen, Patrick O’Neal, Stefanie Powers, Chris Robinson, Paul Carr, Vera Miles, Paula Kelly, Michael Parks, Marcia Mae Jones, Maurice Evans, Geoffrey Lewis, Bernie Kopell, Ruth McDevitt, Robert Hegyes, Meredith Baxter, Gerald McRaney, Bradford Dillman, John Ritter, Meg Foster, Greg Mullavey, James Woods, Kenneth Tobey, Pat Hingle, Nancy Olson, Robert Walden, Johnny Silver, Larry Hagman, Ina Balin, Arlene Golonka, Greg Morris, Barry Miller, Diane Baker (Stone’s love interest), Mark Miller, and Barbara Babcock. Darleen Carr makes three appearances as Stone’s daughter Jeannie.
As usual with Quinn Martin productions, the episode layouts fall into a very traditional pattern: four acts and an epilog. Here is the rundown of the twelve episodes from this first half of season four:
1 – Poisoned Snow
2 – The Glass Dart Board
3 – No Place to Hide
4 – Men Will Die
5 – School of Fear (the most illogical of these episodes)
6 – Deadly Silence
7 – Murder by Proxy
8 – Trail of Terror (some obvious dialogue flubs were left in rather than reshooting)
9 – Web of Lies
10 – Dead Air (the better of the two mysteries in this group)
11 – Merchants of Death
12 – The Cat’s Paw
Video Quality
3.5/5
The episodes are framed at their original 1.33:1 television aspect ratio. The remastered episodes are generally strong in sharpness and color control though there are color anomalies in “Dead Air,” and flesh tones are good if sometimes just a bit too rosy. There are more dust specks and print damage to be seen in some of the later episodes (again, “Dead Air” shows these) than have been in other series sets. Blacks can be strong, but there are some problematic shots with moiré and aliasing on occasion. Each episode has been divided into 7 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. Though dialog is clear, occasionally high pitched voices and other sound effects do exhibit some distortion, and ADR is often glaringly obvious. However, despite a lack of bass in the music and sound effects, it’s a reasonably effective and quite typical mono encode from its era.
Special Features
0/5
Apart from previews of other Paramount TV releases such as Perry Mason - 50th Anniversary Edition, Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, The Streets of San Francisco, and The Untouchables, there are no bonuses with the set.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
With only eleven episodes left to go for series co-star Michael Douglas, he certainly can’t be accused of dogging it during the first half of his last season on The Streets of San Francisco. (He’s particularly put through the ringer in “Trail of Terror.”) These twelve episodes make for an entertaining set of crime dramas even with their occasional misfires and weak links.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
