Starsky and Hutch

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Starsky and Hutch's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Starsky and Hutch completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 5 April 2004.

Overall comments and recommendations

The Starsky and Hutch movie is probably more relevant to the over forties age group, who grew up watching the TV series. Much of the humour requires the viewer to make connections with the TV series or films made in the sixties and seventies, and as such it may be difficult for younger viewers to make the cultural references needed to gain the laughs. However there are some very funny moments depending on your sense of humour.

The plot suffers, and is very obvious with no surprises.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Starsky and Hutch contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Starsky and Hutch is based upon the 1970s TV series of the same name. The film stars Ben Stiller as David Starsky and Owen Wilson as Ken Hutchinson (Hutch), with supporting actors Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear, Hutch’s underworld informant, and Vince Vaughn as Reese, bad guy and drug dealer.

The film follows the exploits of Starsky and Hutch to uncover a cocaine operation run by bad guy / drug dealer Reese, who, in the opening scenes of the film, viciously kills one of his employees. The start of the film shows how the dynamic duo become partners and their discovery of a “floater” (man shot by Reese at the start of the film), which gives the duo their first case to solve. In an attempt to gain some insight into the murder, the duo enlists the assistance of Huggy Bear who points the pair in the direction of bad guy Reese.

Reese arranges to have the pair murdered, but Starsky manages to survive gun fire and Hutch survives his house being blown sky high. The pair, now convinced that Reese is a major drug dealer bungle their next attempt to expose Reese, and as a result are suspended from the police force. Undeterred by their suspension, Starsky and Hutch persist with their surveillance of Reese eventually catching Reese red handed raffling sports cars loaded with cocaine.

The final stages of the film revolve around a car chase between the two crime fighters and Reese.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

The violence displayed in Starsky and Hutch was presented as a part of the everyday life of both crime fighter and villain. The violence was mainly unsuccessful with few real life consequences, and was mostly performed by adult male characters.

Violent scenes included:

• in the opening moments of the film Reese cold bloodedly shoots one of his own employees over a bungled job
• assassins trying to kill Starsky. They fire dozens of shots, all of which miss Starsky, hitting his car instead. Starsky finds the destruction of his car more upsetting than the fact that he was the target of assassins.
• Hutch’s house being totally destroyed by a bomb (He manages to walk away without any injury.)
• a confrontation between Starsky and another male, during a night club scene, resulting in a dance off rather than a fist fight
• Starsky opening fire in Huggy Bear’s office, firing his gun wildly in all directions, his actions resulting in the tail of Huggy Bear’s lizard being shot off
• a boy of about ten years of age sticks a kitchen knife in both Starsky and Hutch. (They pull them out with only minor discomfort.)

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Images that may scare children under the age of eight years include:

• the cold blooded killing (shooting) of a man
• the tail of a lizard being shot off
• a bar room brawl
• Hutch’s house being destroyed by a bomb
• loud gun fire and explosions
• car crashes.

Over the age of eight

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Most children over the age of eight would be able to recognise the comical nature of the violence presented in Starsky and Hutch and as a result not be frightened or threatened.

Sexual references

Most of the sexual references presented throughout the film were presented in a comical context, implicitly rather than explicitly, leaving interpretation to the viewer.

Examples of sexual references were:

• a cheerleader, after being interviewed by Starsky and Hutch, gives Hutch her phone number and says, “here’s my number in case you need any more…questioning”
• Hutch kisses two cheerleaders and the cheerleaders kiss each other. The scene ends at this point leaving the viewer to infer that the three later engaged in sexual activity.
• at one stage a prison inmate provides Starsky and Hutch with information in exchange for Hutch stripping to the waist and imitating a dragon. There could be sexual implications in this scene depending on the viewer’s imagination.
• sexual references were made in heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual contexts.

Nudity and sexual activity

There was one scene with partial nudity. When Starsky and Hutch interview the cheerleader in the change rooms, she removes her top while responding to interview questions. While her back faces the camera for the entire interview, it is implied that her chest is fully exposed to Starsky and Hutch, causing them to continually trip over their tongues.

Use of substances

Reference is made to cocaine throughout the film in terms of its manufacture, sale, and use. At one point Starsky mistakenly adds some cocaine to his coffee resulting in cocaine narcosis and shooting up a nightclub. The inference is made that Hutch and two cheerleaders were deliberately consuming some of the same cocaine in an effort to determine its authenticity.

At one point Starsky finds Hutch drunk in a bar.

Coarse language

The most strong language used during the film was one instance of “what the fuck”.

Other coarse language included:

• Jesus
• dickweed
• ass
• tits.

The movie's message

Other than loyalty to one’s friends and the obvious and very predictable “crime doesn’t pay” theme, it was difficult to find any seriously positive take home messages for young adolescents, mainly due to the context and comical nature of the film.

However there were a number of negative values that parents may wish to discourage in young adolescents. For example, no female character was presented as having either equal or greater intelligence than their male counterpart, or placed in a position of higher authority. And while presented in a comical manner this may send the message, to the younger viewer, that women maintain a lower status than men and are of less worth. The film also presented women as sexual objects or possession.

The use of cocaine by Hutch and his cheerleader companions may also send then message that cocaine is an acceptable recreational drug.