Die knallharten Fünf

"When you need help, you call the police. But when the police needs help, they call S.W.A.T." I vividly remember this tag used to advertise this then-new TV crime drama, which debut in 1974 when I was 13.

Having watched a number of detective and conventional police crime dramas on television, S.W.A.T. was indeed a different type a crime-drama TV series about the quasi-military arm of the Los Angeles police department, assigned to respond to extreme/emergency situations. The show became an instant hit, with its theme song even becoming one as well on many radio stations during the mid-seventies.

A strong cast lead by Steve Forrest, who plays the stern, level-headed Lt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson--and featuring Rod Perry as "Deacon" Kay, his loyal right-hand man, Marc Shera as Officer Dominic Luca, the free-spirited Italian, James Coleman as Officer T.J. MaCabe, the expert marksman, and Robert Urich, as the no-nonsense young Officer Jim Street--provides solid and intriguing drama that would hold the TV viewers' attention in almost every episode.

However, I recently viewed the series again in re-runs on TVLand, and as a middle-aged man now instead of a young teenager, I've become a bit more critical. When watching the series now, it seems quite unrealistic how in certain episodes a S.W.A.T. team member had personal connections to an individual who was involved in a particular case that the S.W.A.T. team responded to.

In one episode, T.J. reunites with his former high-school basketball teammate and introduces him to the other members of the S.W.A.T. team. Later that evening, T.J.'s buddy, who's now a pro basketball player, plays a basketball game at the local arena and thugs kidnap his team. They hold the players hostage in the locker room, and you can guess--by the strangest coincidence--what particular law enforcement unit comes to the rescue.

In another episode, a college professor of a university is also held hostage by extremists with the S.W.A.T. team responding to the emergency. Interestingly enough, the professor just happens to be Street's instructor of a course that he's is currently taking in night school at the university.

Yet in spite of these "Hollywoodish" moments, the show still holds up fairly well after 35 years. It can still captivate TV audiences with its action-packed, dramatic moments and provides sufficient entertainment to merit viewing.

This was my favorite show as a kid! It's one of the best of the '70s cop shows, and never fully got the recognition it deserved. It gave the audience a look at a police unit many didn't even know existed at the time. Aaron Spelling and Robert Hamner showed them as a group of men who had to depend on each other and work as a team in very difficult situations.

Back then, people WANTED to see action shows, but the writers still had a lot of restrictions on content and visuals. What's called `violence' in this show you can find in children's television these days. This show managed to get the violence of crime across without the gore most shows rely on today.

SWAT also had a very good ensemble cast. Steve Forrest (as Lt. Harrelson) obviously had a bit more to do, but the writers did a great job of showing the personal and professional sides of all the characters. In the '70s, these shows were truly episodic - there were no story arcs or follow-ups to an episode, unless, of course, it was a two-parter. A story began, developed, and wrapped in an hour. Yet, the writers managed to give some depth to these characters (and the actors something to work with) from time to time.

Robert Urich (Jim Street) was a good actor, and I think because he was considered the `GQ' man of the group, he was given a bit more screen time than the others. I absolutely loved him in `Vegas'. Rod Perry (`Deacon Kay'), Mark Shera (`Dominic Luca' - the object of MY personal teenage crush), and James Coleman (`T.J. McCabe') ALL gave consistently good performances and delivered in every episode.

In my opinion, SWAT is a great example of '70s police action episodic television. And personally, I'm VERY glad they've put it on DVD.

I wish that they would make shows like this today. I don't know about everyone else my age but I'm sick of these shows today like CSI, Cops, N.Y.P.D. BLUE etc. We see that on the news every night. I'm ready for shows to become fun again! And who wants to see blood and guts during dinner? But anyway S.W.A.T. has a wonderful cast, great action and is worth a look for fans of Starsky & Hutch and The Rookies.

Officer Jim Street (Robert Urich) is ambushed and his partner killed by a heavily armed gang. He is recruited to join the relatively new SWAT team in the WCPD led by Lieutenant Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson (Steve Forrest). It is a team of former soldiers trained with the latest military tactics to combat the rising violence of the urban criminal warfare.

This is a spin-off of The Rookies. It is most notable for an infectious theme song and being a part of the increasing TV violence landscape. It's a response to the rising violence out in the real streets and contributes to the militarization of the police which continues into present day TV. In the first season, they are battling leftist fake news, the crazies, the criminals, and an ungrateful public. The action is good but the stories are boring. At least, it has a point of view. The second season pulls back from the political diatribes and turns it more into a regular cop show for both good and bad. The bad guys are kept to the easy villains like racists, mobsters, thieves, and arsonists. It's interesting that most of them are white. In general, it doesn't want to dig into the more difficult social issues unless it's decrying white supremacy. One of the good episode is a two-parter called The Running Man which seems to be setting up a spin-off which never occurs. It sometimes gets ridiculous like the scuba underwater gang which is reminiscent of a serious Baywatch episode. The action is still violent. It does remind me of the 80's A-team except some of the bad guys get shot and killed. With some quicker edits and sexier visuals, this could be a present day police show. The last episode returns to treating police action with more social seriousness. The story of officer Luca killing a man is retold by the only three witnesses in a Rashomon style telling. All in all, it's violent and with more flash, it would fit into a modern cop show. Essentially, that the recent remake.

S.W.A.T. was my favorite show that came out of the 70's and I still enjoy it as much today as I did back then since it was shown on TVLand for a month and now the first season has been released on DVD. I read all these reviews saying that the show doesn't transcend to today but I think that is totally wrong. My teenage boys think the show is as cool as I did back in the 70's, I have yet to sit down and watch an episode without one of them coming in to watch with me. I only hope that the second season is also released on DVD because there are episodes in the second season that I haven't seen since the show originally aired.

I only had a few complaints with the show, one is that they would change details from one season to the next without explanation, such as in the first season TJ was engaged but in the second he was out dating again. That seemed to happen a lot on shows in the 70's.

My major complaint with the show was that it seemed to focus mainly on the character of Hondo. Each episode seemed to make him out to be the hero, instead of ever letting one of the other members of the team get any glory.

All in all I think this was a great tv show that never got the praise it deserved.