Starsky and Hutch (TV Series) The Collector (1977) User Reviews

Bizarro world

[monomerd · 7/10 · 19 August 2016]

I have watched this episode several times now, trying to figure out how to rate it and what to even say about it. I guess the fact is, Starsky and Hutch are totally upstaged in this episode by the bizarre characters of the lady loan shark and the collector himself. Starsky and Hutch are almost the bit players in this one.

Yet, without those characters being so strange and bizarre, this wouldn't have been much of a show. So even though these people are too strange to seem real, it works out anyway, maybe because they deserve each other; it takes a crazy collector to prey upon a crazy loan shark.

Some things don't add up, though, if you start taking the story apart. Why would a person afraid of heights live in a raised structure in the first place? Why should the collector go to all the trouble to gain the woman's trust when he could just shoot her dog and her and take her money? If it wasn't played so straight by the principle actors, it wouldn't hold together at all.

I didn't even recognize Danny DeVito at first. I thought the person playing that character was doing a good job, and then it hit me. I guess I was right.

PMG and DS are actually in this episode, but it's hard to notice.

Cartoon Characters

[sambase-38773 · 5/10 · 4 April 2022]

Not a great episode by any means, but it's just barely entertaining enough in a weird kind of way to keep you watching. Most of the characters are very cartoonish and I'm not sure if that was on purpose or if it's just a bunch of bad acting. Probably the latter, but who knows for sure. We'd have to ask the director and I don't have his phone number - if he's even still alive.

Danny DeVito is in this episode and he gives the one good solid believable performance. But other than that the episode is kind of weird and creepy, at times unpleasant to watch. If you're on a quest to see every S&H episode then by all means go ahead and watch it. Other than that I wouldn't go out of my way to see it. There are much better episodes.