Starsky & Hutch reinvented as comedy angers 1970s star Soul

HOLLYWOOD is "cheating" millions of television fans who grew up with Starsky & Hutch by making a big-budget film of the 1970s television series with contemporary comedy stars, according to David Soul, who played the blond detective in the original show.

Warner Brothers is to film a £60m "comedy adventure" next year with Ben Stiller as Dave Starsky and Owen Wilson as Soul's character, Ken Hutchinson. The project seems to have put paid to attempts by Soul and Paul Michael Glaser, the original Starsky, to be reunited on
screen in their own film after more than two decades.

Soul, 59, acknowledged last week that Stiller and Wilson were fine actors. "But they ain't Starsky or Hutch, and to cast them as such cheats a huge audience who grew up with Glaser and Soul in the roles," he said.

"Their decision to make this kind of picture is an insult to the intelligence of the audience and the real warm feelings that S&H still engenders in the collective memory of millions of viewers."

The original Starsky & Hutch, which ran for 88 episodes between 1975 and 1979, broke fresh ground with its frank depiction of pimps, drug dealers and the close friendship between the two detectives.

The series ended abruptly when the characters were apparently sacked for messing up a sting operation. It has enjoyed a cult following since: there are dozens of internet sites dedicated to Starsky's cardigans, Hutch's athletic leaps into their red Ford Torino - as a result of which Soul later required back surgery - and their relationships with glamorous women and Huggy Bear, their underground informant.

The film has been planned for two years. The original script included a dramatic confrontation with terrorists, but the latest draft, showing how the two cops became friends, plays it more for laughs.

Soul, who now lives in north London, said he and Glaser, 59, spent many years trying to get away from their alter egos before realising that people still loved the characters. They had started pulling together a script for a "final chapter" reuniting the pair.

Blocked by Warner's financial interest in the series, they considered naming their film S&H and calling themselves Sam and Harry to avoid copyright problems, but were warned by lawyers that they would be open to legal action anyway. Warner Brothers declined to comment.

Soul said he was not bitter about Warner's plans, but had seen a script for the film and was not impressed. The studio intended to "create another one of those big, bad, glitzy action pieces, like Charlie's Angels", he claimed.

The Chicago-born actor said his unease about the remake reflected broader concerns about today's film and television makers who, he felt, lacked a moral code.

Some fans may feel the lives of Soul and Glaser might make more interesting material than anything in Starsky & Hutch. The son of an American Lutheran pastor who aided refugees in Germany after the second world war, Soul broke into American television in the 1960s as the Mystery Singer who performed while wearing a mask.

Between 1977 and 1982 he recorded four albums, becoming a teenage heart-throb with hits such as Don't Give Up On Us Baby. His career hit a low in the 1980s when his wife Patti accused him of assault and he was treated for alcoholism. Since moving to London, he has worked in theatre.

Glaser enjoyed a bachelor lifestyle similar to that of his fictional character until he married a woman he met when they were both gunning their engines at traffic lights. The idyll ended in 1981 when Elizabeth Glaser contracted HIV in a blood transfusion as she gave birth to their daughter. She died after passing the virus on to their two children. Their daughter, Ariel, died aged seven, while their son Jake, although HIV-positive, is a relatively healthy teenager.

Though Soul seems unlikely to appear again with Glaser on film, he said they remained close off-screen. "People often ask me do we stay in touch, and the answer is yes," said Soul. "He is my best friend."