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It’s amaz­ing that it has taken this long for Police Story to make it onto DVD.  Vintage cop shows are amongst the pop­u­lar titles in the world of television-on-disc and Police Story is renowned amongst genre afi­ciona­dos for being one of the all-time great­est exam­ples of the form.  Whatever the rea­sons for the delay, fans can take com­fort in the fact that the show’s first sea­son has finally made it debut on the for­mat thanks to Shout! Factory and the results do well by this beloved show.

Police Story: Season One is a six-disc set that includes the pilot film “Slow Boy” and all the offi­cial episodes of the debut sea­son, includ­ing the Movie Of The Week episode “Big John Morrison.”  The full-frame trans­fers are gen­er­ally crisp and col­or­ful.  “Big John Morrison” is the only episode that looks notice­ably dif­fer­ent from the rest, being slightly darker than the other episodes, but it remains watch­able and is much bet­ter than the recorded-from-t.v. dupes of this show that have made the rounds in col­lec­tors’ cir­cles.  The orig­i­nal mono sound mixes are used and they sound con­sis­tently good.

In terms of extras, there is only one but it is well worth the time: “Cop Talk” is a twenty-minute fea­turette built around an inter­view with show cre­ator Joseph Wambaugh.  He lays out the story behind the show in broad strokes, describes the some­times amus­ing inter­ac­tion between cops and film­mak­ers dur­ing its pro­duc­tion and tells a fas­ci­nat­ing tale about how the “Wyatt Earp Syndrome” episode orig­i­nally had a dif­fer­ent title.  Placed on the final disc, it makes an excel­lent cap­per to the set.

To sum up, Shout! Factory has rewarded the patience of Police Story fans with a solid debut set.  The episodes look good, the bonus fea­turette is worth­while and 19 and a half hours of tele­vi­sion for a retail price of $40 is a good deal.  Whether you’re a fan or a neo­phyte, this is a worth­while invest­ment.  Overall, this maiden dig­i­tal foray into Police Story makes Your Humble Reviewer hope that Shout! Factory will con­tinue to roll this series out on DVD — and that they’ll also main­tain these stan­dards of qual­ity and value-for-money.

For Schlockmania’s fea­ture review of Police Story, Season 1 — click here.

For Schlockmania’s look at 7 Great Episodes of Police Story, Season 1 — click here.

Police Story: Season 1

Police Story: Season 1

Created by ex-cop-turned-author Joseph Wambaugh (The Onion Field), Police Story is an anthol­ogy series detail­ing the lives of LAPD offi­cers in a col­lec­tion of real­is­tic and gritty accounts of what it meant to be a cop in 1970s Los Angeles. The series became the arche­type for many crit­i­cally acclaimed shows that fol­lowed, includ­ing Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life On The Street. The series dis­tin­guished itself from its pre­de­ces­sors by a mul­ti­di­men­sional por­trayal of its pro­tag­o­nists — these cops were flawed, not car­toon­like heroes. From week to week, grip­ping episodes addressed dif­fi­cult issues such as police cor­rup­tion and the stresses and hell that can come with lead­ing a cop’s life. With no reg­u­lar cast, the show fea­tured dif­fer­ent stars each week, as well as a rotat­ing act­ing ensem­ble includ­ing James Farentino (Jesus Of Nazareth), Tony Lo Bianco (The French Connection), Don Meredith (NFL Monday Night Football), Laraine Stephens (Matt Helm) and Vic Morrow (Combat!). Season One stars included Ed Asner, Lloyd Bridges, Angie Dickinson, Dean Stockwell and Kurt Russell.