Le Juge et le pilote

Hardcastle And Mcormick is of the forgotten shows of the 80's, and while The A Team, Knight Rider and Airwolf are more remembered Hardcastle and Mcormick had it all great story lines, two great leading characters, a awesome car and a catchy theme tune. I'ts the story of a retired judge who teams up with ex con to go after the criminals who got away when he was a judge, its a typical 80's style action series that I enjoyed and grew up with. Along with the actors though the car was definitely the star of the show, OK maybe it didn't talk like kitt but the red coyote was one hot car. I would really like to see one of the TV channels repeat this great show as most other 80's shows have been constantly repeated.

Along the same lines of wacky 80s shows like A-team and Dukes of Hazard, this was one of the funnest (albeit not very realistic) shows of the decade! Comedy and action ensue as retired Judge Hardcastle (Brian Keith) and semi-retired convict Mccormick (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) solve cases in the same buddy style as 48 Hours and Lethal Weapon. This show is great for both kids and adults; there is some violence, but it is unrealistic violence, such as car explosions. I don't think anyone ever gets shot or killed. They just don't make great shows like this anymore!

The 'Coyote' was a kit-car for the pilot and first two seasons. It was in actuality a 'Manta Montage', a fairly popular kit car available at the time. There were a couple of minor body modifications to disguise it, but it is plain to see what it really is.

It was powered by the new-at-the-time Chevy 2.8L V-6, which was a fairly sophisticated engine for it's time. This is the same engine that came in the Chevy Citation X-11.

Brian Kieth, being as overweight as he was, clearly found it next to impossible to climb in and out of the Coyote easily and the scenes were filmed in such a way that this was not emphasized.

The last season of the show, a 'DeLorean' DMC-12, the infamous stainless-steel, gull-winged sports car from John DeLorean was heavily modified to resemble the original coyote as close as possible. The heavy gull-wing doors were removed completely, and lots of fiberglass bodywork was created to disguise the fact that this was a completely different, much larger car. Mr. Kieth could more easily get in and out of it, so that was one big reason they switched.

Side by Side, the differences between the original 'Coyote' and the DeLorean-based model were clearly obvious, and when the show used existing footage of the original Coyote interspersed with newer footage of the DeLorean-based model, the continuity of the episode was shot all to hell!

The poster above mentioned that he thought the car was really a Porsche 917 race car. Not quite, but on the right track: The original car used for the Coyote, a 'Manta Montage' was a replica of sorts of the Porsche 917, although nowhere even close to the Porsche in terms of performance.

I grew up in the '80s watching many of Stephen J. Cannell's programs, and still consider Hardcastle and McCormick to be one of the best of its genre. The episodes were fun to watch as most were an equal blend of action, drama, and humor. Brian Keith (as retired judge Milton C. Hardcastle) and Daniel Hugh Kelly (as ex-con Mark McCormick) played to each other's acting strengths, and their on-screen chemistry was one of the main things that elevated this series. The dialogue was crisp, and the two tough-yet-intelligent lead characters were well-defined, once the writers settled on their backgrounds (Hardcastle's home state was changed in the first season from Kansas to Arkansas, and Mark claimed to be from both Florida and New Jersey, although that could have been in keeping with his character's lack of stability). In addition, the judge's age and his length of time on the bench seemed to change each season. It also appeared that Mark spent his two years of incarceration in every prison in southern California, although San Quentin was the location first mentioned in the pilot episode, and the one most frequently referenced. The men's constant (although often good- natured) bickering and competition seemed to be the foundation of their friendship, which was regularly mentioned lightly and sometimes showed in grander gestures, such as in the episode where McCormick sells his beloved race car in order to raise enough bail money to get a framed Hardcastle out of jail, or the one where Hardcastle risks his prestigious law career by assisting Mark's dead-beat dad in stealing some wire-tap tapes from a government safe to bargain for the release of a kidnapped McCormick.

The series had its flaws, as did most of the macho, shoot-em-up, action shows of the time period, but what it lacked in realism and consistency it made up for in originality and heart. This series is a great addition to the other classic television shows now available on DVD, such as The Greatest American Hero and Starsky and Hutch.

This show pretty much was an update on classic legends like the Lone Ranger and the Cisco Kid with a little bit of Dirty Harry thrown in. This also came out at a time when shows like "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Knight Rider", which featured good looking young men with fast cars were all the rage. Brian Keith pretty much buried his old character of "Uncle Bill" with his wild characterization of Milton Hardcastle. He made this show fun to watch and it was one of those shows from the mind of Stephen J. Cannell that had lots of action but really didn't take itself too seriously. Also, Daniel Hugh Kelly provided enough beefcake to keep the ladies interested. This was definitely one of the wildest shows of the 1980's.