Know Your LGBT History - Starsky and Hutch

An announcement - In celebration of the fifth anniversary of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, I will be having a Know Your LGBT History marathon of six posts on a Saturday in September. These posts will feature the good, bad, and ugly portrayals of the gay community in movies and television. Some will piss you off, others will make you cheer. But they will all be new entries. More info later. For now, tell me what you think of the idea.

Starsky and Hutch was a popular cop drama in the 1970s starring David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser as two unorthodox policemen fighting crime in California. Antonio Fargas also starred and stole the show a lot of times with his character of HuggyBear.

I think it's safe to say that Starsky and Hutch, while popular during the four seasons it was on (1975-1979) wasn't necessarily groundbreaking.

However, the action was awesome, the chemistry between Soul and Glaser was tight, and the plots were original.

Such as the plot to the episode Death in a Different Place. In this episode, a policeman an old friend of Starsky's is found murdered in a sleazy motel. As they investigate the crime, Starsky and Hutch find out that the man was involved in gay relationships. And the question has to be did that have anything to do with his murder?

Careful about what you think so far. The episodes takes many twists and terms, showing both infuriating ignorance about the gay community and some of the characters are sleazy as hell. However the episode does show a bit of sensitivity - particularly with the murdered man's wife who knew of his encounters but loved him anyway.

So was Starky's friend murdered because he was gay? Find out for yourself via this mini version of the episode. And just in case you are wondering, yes that is legendary drag queen Charles Pierce featured in this episode:

From Crackle: Death In a Different Place

Past Know Your LGBT Posts:

Know Your LGBT History - The Naked Civil Servant

 Know your LGBT History - Partners

 Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family: Cousin Liz

Know Your LGBT History - Rebecca

Know Your LGBT History - urban African-American movies

Know Your LGBT History - Charles Pierce

 Know Your LGBT History - Torch Song Trilogy

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Know Your LGBT History - Masters of Horror - Sick Girl

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Know Your LGBT History - Not Another Gay Movie

Know Your LGBT History - My Beautiful Laundrette

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The Jeffersons and the transgender community