The Streets of San Francisco (1972–1977) User Reviews

The obligatory fedora

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 5 May 2015]

It was not only that Karl Malden and Michael Douglas had good chemistry for four out of five seasons, they did. But it was a friendly generational rivalry in looks and style.

Back in the 40s and 50s on the big screen and small detectives all looked like Karl Malden with the button down shirts and the obligatory fedora. But in 1972 when The Streets Of San Francisco made its debut Malden was dinosaur from another era. So without one big of dialog set you had a generation gap the second Michael Douglas in a hip outfit for the Seventies or as hip as a police force allows you to be.

But there was no conflict, an occasional disagreement as the older cop taught the younger one. But it wasn't that Malden was always right. Occasionally Douglas taught Malden a thing or two about reaching the younger generation when it was necessary to solve a case.

Douglas left the show in 1976 and Richard Hatch became Malden's new partner. But they never quite got it together as a team the way Malden did with Douglas.

I liked the show, I liked the stories. But most of all Malden and Douglas were a joy to watch.

An OK crime drama with some great qualities.

[GMJames · 7/10 · 5 September 2006]

The Streets of San Francisco, as with most Quinn Martin series, is a standard crime drama. What makes the show better than most crime dramas is the father/son chemistry between Karl Malden as veteran Detective Lt. Mike Stone and Michael Douglas as the younger partner Inspector Steve Keller, the 70's, R&B-style theme music by Patrick Williams and the cool, pre-MTV opening credits.

What really made this show better than most is the fact that Quinn Martin did spend the extra money and filmed the show entirely in San Francisco. In the 70s, most prime time TV shows were filmed in Los Angeles. I believe Hawaii Five-O was one of only a few prime-time dramas from the early 70s that was filmed on location.

When Douglas left the series and Richard Hatch (from the original Battlestar Galactica, not the Richard Hatch from the first Survivor) replaced him, I quickly lost interest in the show. The chemistry between Malden and Douglas was very important to the show and Hatch had the thankless task of creating a character that in the long run was bland.

Despite the show's final season, I'm certain that if I had the TV on and heard the drum beats of The Streets of San Francisco theme, I am very sure that I will probably spend the rest of the hour watching the show.

Oh, if only...

[rickr442 · 8/10 · 29 November 2020]

San Francisco was still like THIS! Karl Malden dispensing wisdom, Michael Douglas dispensing testosterone, new Fords as far as the eye can see, and only a hint of the depravity that the city exudes. Good stories, well directed, thoughtful in short doses. Worth your time until Douglas exits, then it fades to black.

The Show That Made Michael Douglas a Star

[Sargebri · 2 October 2003]

This was definitely a good show and it really fed off the dynamic of the older cop (Malden) and the younger cop (Douglas). The chemistry between the two was what made the show great and it would eventually be the springboard to the later success that Michael Douglas would have in later years. Also, this show is definitely overlooked when it comes to classic police dramas. Too bad it had to come out in an era when the super cop shows dominated the television landscape.

Still a Good One

[Tweetienator · 7/10 · 26 October 2021]

I like those crime shows of gone times, as crime shows and movies where about crime and not about personal drama of the detectives or suspects. The show now lives mainly from the great chemistry between Karl Malden and Michael Douglas and the fine 70s flair in Frisco. The stories may look from today's perspective to some rather simple and standard but remember this show was aired first in the 70s, so this is not the copy but the original. Still good + refined by nostalgia.

A Plea to bring Streets of San Francisco back to viewers

[deefee · 10/10 · 19 August 2006]

Please make a DVD package available for Streets of San Francisco!! This series was one that our family dropped everything to sit and watch together. Drama, suspense, great characters and plot lines and clean language all wrapped up in a 1-hour weekly show. How could you miss having a faithful audience? In 1973 my infant daughter became a (family) star on the episode titled "Most Feared in the Jungle." How many moms can say that they met Karl Malden and Michael Douglas, who commented on how cute the baby is?? I would LOVE to have a copy of it, along with the rest of the series.

To whatever powers that be, I sincerely request that Streets be put on DVD. Thanks for listening!

Nostalgic, if standard

[captgage-1 · 7/10 · 11 December 2014]

I remember occasionally watching this show with my parents back in the day. I lived in San Jose at the time, and we loved going on day trips to San Francisco. I often still was nostalgic about the Bay Area, and when I've caught this show in reruns over the years, and the San Francisco scenery brings back memories. Just being in The City has always been a high for me. It may be stressful living there, but visiting is at once exciting and relaxing.

I remember bits and pieces from the show's first-run days. I believe it was the episode "Letters From (Beyond?) The Grave," which began with a skeleton being dug up at Alcatraz. My sister was like, "Oh, my god." I believe it was another episode of the same series when the cops confronted a woman who took off all her makeup and turned out to be ugly. "She's gross!" my sister said. The woman started yelling at the mirror, "I killed you!" I think it was when I caught some reruns in the '80s that a suspect smiled and said he was at a local porno house a the time the cops said there was a crime they were investigating. They found out otherwise and just laughed at the suspect LOL.

Last Sunday I caught an episode on MeTV that was a not-bad morality tale involving a murder suspect, his employer, and the employer's son, who didn't get to spend much time with his dad. There was a lot of love among them, and the cops justly investigated. Kind of touching how all of the above characters went to bat for him.

I'll be watching some more reruns, including the pilot movie, be it on You Tube or MeTV. The chemistry between Michael Douglas and veteran actor Karl Malden was a fond memory of '70s TV.

Look for a guest appearance by a pre-Miami Vice Don Johnson as the title character of the episode "Hot Dog."

Time to bring back a classic

[benniesmovies · 10/10 · 8 October 2020]

I wish Netflix, or Prime would bring this series back to life. Someone somewhere bring this to their attention!! Thanks

Like a Dirty Harry weekly series

[bac-96806 · 10/10 · 3 March 2019]

The San Francisco locations, the action, the music, the photography, the same early 70s setting, even tough Karl Malden, all looks to me like it could be like watching the Dirty Harry movies in a weekly manner. That's what makes it so entertaining.

A Progressive Detective Show

[nafps · 8/10 · 15 December 2022]

Just the opposite of Dirty Harry. Where Eastwood spent his time ranting against and beating up, shooting, or threatening hippies, women, and Blacks, these were San Francisco detectives in a show with a social conscience even while they tried to catch criminals.

Gays are depicted positively. Blacks shown sympathetically, even if guilty of crimes. Outcasts of all kinds are shown as victims of circumstances.

Probably the height of its progressive sensitivity was an episode with one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's first roles. He plays a bodybuilder who accidentally kills a woman who mocked his muscle flexing. Surprisingly, his acting was better than in most of his films.

Not the best show ever

[searchanddestroy-1 · 3/10 · 3 February 2020]

The only genuine thing about this series, is that it takes place not in L.A but in Frisco. That's all. The stories here are son predictable, so run on the mill schemes, with foreseeable and cheesy endings, for the whole family. I watch it again ONLY to see supporting characters who will be famous later. It is sooo boring. That's my own opinion. But as far as I love seventies atmospheres and settings, that's why I proceed in that comfortable torture.

Republic Pictures Home Video Releases

[imdb-99 · 18 April 2001]

Republic Pictures' five released VHS videos which represent eight different episodes are, I hope, the first of a complete series release. In recent years, "Streets" has been relegated to the pre-dawn graveyard of Indie and cable television stations, edited down to allow for more ghastly, no-budget local ads (trade schools, lawyers, and the like). Nowadays, low self-esteem broadcasters plaster their logos and moving promo messages along the bottom of the as if the program is an interruption of their commercials. So, what a treat to see these classic episodes without all of these distractions.

Although popular enough to run for five seasons, it never received the credit it deserved -- none of the hype of a "Charlie's Angels," for example. It's too bad that Michael Douglas didn't stick with the show. His performances in "Streets" and "The China Syndrome" are among his best. I'm crossing my fingers that he'll consider returning to a follow-up "Streets" later in his career, taking the senior detective's role that Malden held in the original.

"Streets" always had tight scripts, good plotting, and interesting characters -- even if they pandered to stereotypes a little. Way ahead of its time, gay themes are treated with surprising tact and good taste. In the episode "Harem," guest star Rick Nelson plays a gay pimp for female prostitutes (a novel idea in and of itself). The word "gay" is never used, but Steve (Douglas) simply tells Mike (Malden) that, "he's not exactly what you'd call a ladies man."

The two-hour special "Thrill Killers," is perhaps the most interesting release. Patty Duke Astin plays a not-too-thinly disguised Patty Hearst (a headline story at that time) who takes a whole jury hostage and begins killing them one by one. It's a relief not to have to wait a week to see part two.

The least interesting of these releases is "Dead Air," starring Larry Hagman as a radio talk show host (reminiscent of Bill Balance's Feminine Forum, an innovative show at the time). The studio scenes are completely unrealistic and the killer can be guessed before the end of Act 1.

Unfortunately, none of these eight releases includes an episode from "Streets" most famous director, Richard Donner ("The Omen" and "Lethal Weapon" series.) Maybe they'll release some of his episodes on DVD with a director's commentary? Also missing is what I consider to be the best episode of the series, "Mask of Death," which has an amazing performance by John Davidson as a female impersonator.

Great police action series

[gregorycanfield · 10/10 · 29 March 2021]

This show has one of the greatest opening credits and theme music. The chemistry between Karl Malden and Michael Douglas resonates immediately. Watching the pilot episode, the characters come across as if everything is already established. There is no sense of the show "starting out," which tends to be the case in most other shows. The stories are gritty and realistically presented, in great 1970s style. It is great to be able to revisit this show on DVD.

Did you see Michael Douglas' hair in the pilot?

[qormi · 9/10 · 18 April 2019]

In the pilot, inspector Keller's hair was too foo-foo to be believed! 🤣They toned it down after that.

Superb

[safenoe · 10/10 · 20 October 2021]

I remember the Streets of San Francisco all those years ago, and really the star of the series was San Francisco for sure. Michael Douglas was still finding his feet, and Karl Malden had yet to exhort viewers to "Don't leave home without it".

One rumour was that a teenage Sharon Stone was an uncredited guest star in an episode, where she shared a scene with Michael Douglas. They would star together in Basic Instinct many years later, which was filmed in San Francisco ironically.

Stone and Keller forever.

[Dr_Coulardeau · 9/10 · 19 August 2009]

This couple of cops are mythic, Detective Lieutenant Mike Stone and his partner Inspector Steve Keller are not walking but rolling the streets of San Francisco chasing not petticoats or petty criminals but real hard core criminals who are ready to kill anyone, including their husbands or friends, though essentially weaker people, for a handful of dollars, for sums that today sound small but in those days sounded great like a few hundred thousand dollars or half a million dollars. It seems with these criminals the risk they take is more important than the profit they make. Yet they make that profit, or at least try to, they run their risks and they get caught by the "villainous" cops who are only there to get their heads, or at least their mugs, on their walls over their fireplaces, if they have a fireplace, because what's more these cops are poor and badly paid. Why on earth do they track boys and girls who make more money in one month than they do in a couple of decades? Because these cops are perverts and that is obvious from the very start. You have to be a pervert to arrest a criminal and find pleasure, pride and even fame in doing that. But these cops are bringing to the profession another dimension, a human and even humane dimension. They are moved into action by the suffering of the people, by the social dimension of their cases, by the emotional and even sentimental sides of their situations. There is always a lot of love lost somewhere that is found again, or a lot of love that could have been lost and is retained. There is also a lesson about Pearl Harbor and about all kinds of jingoism or sectarianism or segregation or racism, or whatever that makes life and humanity dirty looking and mean sounding. Those two cops seem to be trying to create harmony, to be scoring some music and tuning all the voices of the big social choir to the one single pitch that could please human ears and from time to time divine ears, but not too much nor too many. The 50 odd minute episodes are not too long but are short enough to be packed and dense and that is an advantage, a good asset. The structure in four acts and one epilog is also rather nice though of course the format is becoming a limitation little by little. Some more complex cases cannot be solved in four little acts and one short epilog and fifty minutes is rather short on TV. But that was the format on TV in these late 60s and early 70s when color TV became popular. My first color TV in 1969 with Bonanza, Mission Impossible, Love American Style and so many other programs. That sure was another time and television was not an isolating tool yet but rather a machine around which people gathered and enjoyed some time together every night. A tremendous leap forward toward a culture for all and a social reflection for everybody and with everybody. So these programs had to be popular and police drama had to be close to people, close with a city like San Francisco that has always had a reputation to be friendly and easy going, with simple people who are severely hurt and maimed by crime and with some other people who suffer tremendously because of the consequences of the actions of criminals. That reveals though another type of courage, the courage to suffer in order to bring about justice and simple people who are the victims of such crimes are often willing to help justice rather than to get a vengeance. And Bonanza was the same and Mission Impossible was the same and Clint Eastwood and his spaghetti westerns were the same. It is not so much the cops themselves that bring peace to the community but the victims of crime that do and when one becomes a stray cat of justice and wants to be a vigilante or a pistolero or a gunslinger, then the whole universe reacts and brings that lost sheep back into the corral. OK Corral of course and more than Dead or Alive we want the criminals alive for the court and the judge and the jury. This series is still quite viewable and decent, and even emotional and at times slightly poignant. Quite different from the police dramas of today that are even shorter and definitely a lot gorier.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID

Maybe it got better....I just knew after a few episodes that it wasn't for me.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 18 September 2013]

My family used to love detective shows when I was a kid and we watched them all the time. Recently, I decided to try watching a few of these series and found I really liked many of them still. Sadly, "The Streets of San Francisco" wasn't one of them. After watching the first two discs of Season One from Netflix, I found that the writing was a serious problem. Too many plot holes and way too many weird plot elements made this show hard to stick with for long. For instance? In the pilot, the killer turns out to be an old-time actor who dresses like Anton LaVey and has built a dungeon where he can torment his victims!! In the second episode, you have a Jack the Ripper-like guy hacking up prostitutes! In the next episode, you have a crazed kidnapper and ultra-violent guy talked out of crime after conversing with the Detective! In the one after that, a guy who recreates women to look like a woman he murdered--so he can then murder them!! All of these crimes are insanely bizarre--too bizarre to be believed. And, the plot holes...the many plot holes didn't make things any better.

Perhaps the show did get better after the first six episodes. I just know that there are better things I can do with my time than watch a series that seems so incredibly poorly written and ridiculous.

Great Detective Team and Great City

[aimless-46 · 1 April 2008]

The 119 hour-long episodes of this police drama were originally broadcast on ABC from 1972 to 1977. This DVD contains 12 episodes (570 minutes) of the 23 episodes from the second season. All the second season episode titles and their original air-dates are detailed below.

Quinn Martin ("The Fugitive" and "The F.B.I.") stayed with his favorite genre and enhanced it by using the city made famous for its crime by "Bullet" and "Dirty Harry". The production is classy but the stories are not particularly interesting or original.

The show's real claim to fame is as the best ever pairing of a veteran cop with a young hunk rookie. While this is an overused concept it works particularly well in this series because the actors (Karl Malden as Mike Stone and Michael Douglas as Steve Keller) shared much the same career dynamic as their on-screen characters. Veteran actor Malden ("On the Waterfront" etc.) plays a blue-collar 23-year veteran of the force and acting novice Douglas a college-educated newcomer interested in new methods of crime solving.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Don't believe what they say about the final season !!!

[bac-96806 · 10/10 · 17 April 2019]

The final season was much more intricate, intelligent and entertaining than the first four seasons. Plus Richard Hatch made a much better subdued partner for Stone, unlike that ham Michael Douglas who I never believed as a cop. Just watch how he falls when shot. Who does he think he is, Kirk Douglas, the biggest ham of all ?????

Quality drama

[drthorstenkrings · 10/10 · 20 February 2024]

I recently rewatched The Streets of San Francisco and was amazed at how good it was. There certainly is great chemistry between Malden and Douglas. Also the juxtaposition of seasoned veteran vs. Rookie works really well. The story writing generally has a very high standard and they tackle some really progressive issues. I find two things amazing becuase they add to the athenticity of the show: as opposed to many other shows TSOSF was actually mostly shot on location and they used direct sound, meaning it was not dubbed later. That reaklly lends a qualuity and authenticity to the show that very few had and have.

A great pleasure to view again and again!

[NashBridges · 9 February 2001]

The headline says all I think about "The Streets of San Francisco". Great scene, great screenplays, great actors, great atmosphere. Michael Douglas shouldn't have left 1976... I would have loved to see two or three more seasons with the Stone/Keller team. SIMPLY THE BEST in any way! There have been only few "great" TV crime shows during the past 30 years; I would place Streets of San Francisco on top, followed by (in no particular order) Cannon, Petrocelli, Vega$, Magnum, Miami Vice, Jack and The Fatman, and Nash Bridges. These make watching TV a real pleasure.

Interesting,well made TV show

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 4 June 2003]

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

This is a worthwhile enough TV series that never really became a major hit but,ironically enough,most probably played a part in setting Michael Douglas on the road to superstardom.Karl Malden is a fairly effective leading man,he overacts a little a few times but he provides a solid basis for the rest of the cast to work from.Douglas himself comes across as very eager to please,apparently determined to prove he could make it on his own as a credible actor and not just go into the big time on the basis of being his father's son.As an on screen pair,Malden and Douglas seem to lack much witty banter and effective rapport,preferring instead to heavy handedly solve cases,which probably explains why the show was never as big a hit as,say,Starsky and Hutch or Charlie's Angels.But great competence has obviously been put into making it,and it does,in turn,come off as very professionally made.One would wonder whether the San Francisco setting could be attributable to the success of the film Dirty Harry at around the time of it's release as well.***

special

[Kirpianuscus · 14 June 2017]

the word is not exactly fair. but useful. because, for a part of its audience, it was the first step for discover Michael Douglas. not exactly as star but as ideal partner of Karl Malden . and this detail remains, after decades, significant. because it is the source of realism, humor and tension of a series who remains ... different, respecting the rules of crime genre but giving an original flavor. the music. and the performances. and the science to propose a sigh who defines it among the series from the same genre. so, "T Streets of San Francisco".

Is that really him?

[MovieAddict2016 · 12 January 2004]

Yes, it's Michael Douglas. He played a role in this TV show from 1972 - 1976, and he was also joined by James Woods in one episode that was just on TV today! This show wouldn't so good if it didn't star an early Michael Douglas--it is what makes it interesting.