Product Description

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17116 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2008-11-11
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 621 minutes

Amazon.com
By the end of The Streets of San Francisco’s sophomore season, the relationship between veteran cop Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and hotshot rookie Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) has deepened, with none of the generational tension that underscored Season One. They are partners and genuine friends (Stone still calls Keller "buddy boy," and Keller needles Mike about only reading the sports pages), but Stone still has much to teach him. In the episode, "Rampage," Keller discovers that a former Berkley classmate might by one of a group of neighborhood vigilantes. He may have mellowed towards Keller, but he’s still the old hardnosed Mike Stone while questioning suspects. In "Death and the Favored Few," he stands up to a socially connected blue blood who knows more than she’s telling about a sleazy, scandal sheet publisher’s murder. In "A String of Puppets" (one of two episodes directed by Richard Donner), Stone suspects that the best parole officer in the whole department is the ringleader of a gang of thieves. "You’re way off on this one," a colleague protests. (He's not.) Streets is a by the book police procedural; nothing flashy. Some cases unfold like mysteries, others clue viewers in as to who the culprit is, and still others hit close to home, as witness "Commitment," in which Stone is framed for the murder of an undercover cop. A fortuitous partering of old and new Hollywood, Malden and Douglas are able to carry this series without backup, although some stellar guest stars work the Streets in these episodes, including Nick Nolte, Leslie Nielsen, Charles Martin Smith (Toad in American Graffiti), Claude Akins, and dynamite entertainer Lola Falana. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Great series
During the second act of the first episode it happens...that 2-minute or more long tracking shot of the partners striding through headquarters shot from the waist up with no cuts, both men acting with their posture, their arms, their stride, their faces, their voices--the whole thing. It's my favorite thing about this old show. There are enough interesting angles and shots to make the direction interesting much of the time, and then there's a scene like this in almost every episode where the actors spout a few pages of dialog and just act for all they are worth with no close-ups or pauses or quick cuts. It's such a refreshing change from modern shows. San Francisco is a glorious backdrop, and Malden and Douglas are great together. The stories are 50 minutes long and develop slowly. What wonderful change of pace!

Here are the episodes with a few guest stars and directors noted:
The Runaways--3 kids trying to stay together (Larry Wilcox, Jeanette Nolan)
Winterkill--bombs and blackmail
Most Feared in the Jungle--woman doesn't believe baby was stillborn
Commitment--Stone's daughter visits, always a good ep (Tyne Daly)
Chapel of the Damned--kidnapping and psychics
Blockade--rape and murder (Cheryl Ladd, Ida Lupino, Charles Martin Smith)
Crossfire--a sniper (Nick Nolte)
A String of Puppets--Steve goes undercover (dir by Richard Donner)
Inferno--arson, of course!
The Hard Breed--rodeo murder (Harry Carey, Jr.)
Rampage--vigilantes, always a 70s favorite! (Ron Glass)
Death and the Favored Few--blackmail

The 70s Nash Bridges
I like this show alot and I never tire of watching it. Karl Malden and Michael Douglas were a great team on this show like Don Johnson and Cheech Marin were on Nash Bridges but I personally think The Streets Of San Francisco is way better than Nash Bridges. How often do you hear comments like Buddy boy and Hotshot on cop shows these days not too mention see the father/son like chemistry Karl Malden and Michael Douglas had? Not very often or not at all. I can't wait to get Volumne 2 of Season 2 in a couple weeks and get the remaining seasons. This show and EMERGENCY! are #1 in my book and I never tire of watching them.

Solid Police Procedural Series
The Streets of San Francisco is part of the legacy of Quinn Martin, who was one of television's alltime most successful producers, responsible for some of television's most popular action/adventure series. Martin was the producer for such popular series as The Untouchables, The FBI, Cannon, and Barnaby Jones.

The Streets of San Francisco followed the pattern of most of Martin's shows. There were divided into three acts and an epilogue, and the guest stars were introduced at the beginning of each episode. The show feature veteran, Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden (who during this time starred in a series of popular commercials for American Express credit cards) and Michael Douglas, son of Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas.

Malden played veteran SF homicide cop Mike Stone, who was newly paired with rookie detective Steven Keller, played by Douglas. Following the Naked City model of police dramas, Stone showed the green Keller the ropes of policing the city while Keller used his criminology decree and understanding of modern technology to balance the equation. Darleen Carr has an occasional role as Stone daughter and Keller's eventual love interest.

This was a solid, enjoyable series and the teaming of Malden and Douglas was an excellent one. This show is one that is still entertaining almost forty years later.