This should be the model for the American Gene Hunt
I am generally happy to watch many of the 1970s’ cop shows or even movies. It’s probably why I love Life on Mars so much.
Now, with the American version coming, I hear it’s going to be set in Los Angeles. Now, if you have seen any cop show from the 1970s, LA then kind of looks like LA now, at least to us foreigners.
Here’s my suggestion: model the American Gene Hunt on Lt Lon McQ (presumably McHugh?), John Wayne’s Irish–American character from McQ (1974) and set it in Seattle: the 1972 (the Yanks are going to set their version a year earlier) version bears little resemblance to the 2007 Microsoft-tinged one. Plenty of jokes can abound about the internet or Bill Gates, and we all know we like Bill Gates jokes (sorry, Bill). That movie had groovy music from Elmer Bernstein. It was basically a western (directed by John [Magnificent Seven] Sturges) involving cars, guns and dope.
Only one clip on YouTube, but here it is, with the Duke in all his bad-ass, junk-pusher-killing glory.
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Haaaaaa! I loved watching that! Duke was one of my favorites, but I grew up with him playing in Westerns (except for the magnificent The Quiet Man. When McQ came out, my dad and I couldn't believe it.
Speaking of car chases, possibly the greatest car chase ever here (Steve McQueen in Bullitt).
You keep talking about this Life on Mars. And they're going to make a U.S. version of it? Can you please give a brief summary of it or point the way to one? (I see you have a Technorati tag on it, but if you could just bear with me and send me straight to a brief synopsis...)
I’m just in a Life on Mars mood, which will probably be diminished when it starts here. I was always a fan and have been following it on the Torrents.
I did post a little summary in one of the comments, but basically, it’s a cross between Quantum Leap and The Sweeney (old Brit police actioner). Det Chief Insp Sam Tyler is investigating a murder in 2006 and is struck by a car. When he wakes up, it’s 1973. The title comes from the David Bowie song: he’s listening to it on his iPod when the car hits him. In 1973, it’s playing on his eight-track in his Rover P6.
Sam, now just a Detective Inspector, wonders if he’s gone mad, or if he really has time-travelled, or he’s in a coma in 2006 and he’s making it all up.
The plot sounds implausible but like a lot of Brit programmes, the acting is superb and it’s the characters you really warm to. Sam’s politically correct, CSI-informed approach contrasts with his immediate superior DCI Gene Hunt’s who prefers to beat up a suspect first and ask questions later.
It’s been such a hit in the UK that David E. Kelley, former lawyer and he of Boston Legal, is doing a pilot for ABC out in June 2007. The lead’s name has been changed, and the setting moved to Los Angeles, 1972.
Steve was the man. I have Bullitt on DVD, but thanks for the link! Always good to have it on easy access!
I was reading an article about him in Car (January 2007) and there is a theory that his cancer came from the asbestos protection he had to wear in his films. It’s the ultimate irony: for a guy who was reckless in everything else, the one thing he played safe on was the one that might have killed him.
Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it.
The plot may sound implausible but there aren't many plausible plots out there in tv land. But that's okay. If I want plausible, I watch documentaries on cable.
Kelley makes good series, so I think he'll do the original proud.
I've read about the Steve McQueen theory, and they say the cancer he had -- mesothelioma -- has not been connected with smoking. So the theory is that it might been from exposure to asbestos during his stint with the Marines and while wearing the car racing suits.