Good concept, poorly executed.
... View MoreThere are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
... View MoreIt's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
... View MoreGreat example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
... View MoreAs a kid growing up in the seventies, I just couldn't wait for the next episode of swat. Came on after the Bay City Rollers. I know the younger folks probably think of this show as kind of goofy or something, but I believe its better than some of the cop shows we have today. Todays shows are very much more violent and I wouldn't let children watch them. Great theme song, M-16s and a big blue van. Wow!! These guys always got their man, and the issues they handled sometimes went with the time which the show ran. Steve Forrest was great, as was the rest of the team. I have the first season DVD set and hope they produce the second season. I hope TV Land brings this series back soon.
... View MoreThis 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.
... View MoreIf it weren't for the theme song being a disco hit and the level of violence (relative to the time), this show would largely be forgotten. The stories were mundane and the characters one dimensional. We had the tough-as-nails commander, the level-headed second-in-command, the ladies man, the kid, and the poor boy hunter turned marksman. Each week we were treated to some violent criminal with an automatic weapon and, "cue the music", off the guys go, leaping into their UPS truck; one shoot-out after another. Now, when I was 9 years old, I thought that was cool; but, quite frankly, the pilot was the only really interesting episode that I can recall. There were far better police shows in that era: The Rookies, Police Story, Adam 12.The lone standout in the cast was Robert Urich. He had some charisma and was able to parlay it with his own series. The rest are pretty well forgotten.I'm amazed that the first season is now available on dvd (due to the Samuel Jackson movie) when more deserving shows are nowhere to be seen. How about Police Story, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Wild, Wild West, Barney Miller, Miami Vice, Batman? The list goes on and on. If you want a shoot-em-up, watch a war film or a Die Hard movie. At least they are entertaining.
... View MoreS.W.A.T was a spin-off off the other great police drama of the 1970s - "The Rookies" SWAT told the stories of an elite police unit called Special Weapons and Tactics Unit or S.W.A.T for short.They handled situations to dangerous for the regular police.The show was very violent for the time and the SWAT officers were more violent than the criminals they were going against.What was cool about this show was the title music which hit the TOP 10 in 1975 and the team scrambling into their truck, speeding to a scene, and then rushing into action. They did it without the body armor and helmets we see such officers wear today.When I kid, my friends and I would play SWAT and today I wish I could watch the repeats.Without the theme music and action it would be a run of the mill police show.
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