33 replies to this topic

[TheSaint]

Universal will finally release The Equalizer Season 1 on dvd February 12th. All pertinent information can be found here...
TVShowsOnDvd

[killkenny kid]

Thanks for the heads up, about time indeed.

[jaguar007]

FINALLY my favorite 80s TV show is making its way to DVD - The Equalizer starring Edward Woodward as a retired secret agent will be released February 12th.

http://www.amazon.co...e...4585&sr=8-1

[TheSaint]

Topics merged.

[TheSaint]

I was able to score a review copy from my job. I watched the pilot. I can't swear to this, and am awaiting confirmation but, I remember the pilot being 90 minutes, not 60. Unfortunately, I didn't start taping episodes until the summer of 1986, when I bought my first vcr, so I don't have any proof. Only my memory, but we're talking 22 years ago.

[jaguar007]

I was able to score a review copy from my job. I watched the pilot. I can't swear to this, and am awaiting confirmation but, I remember the pilot being 90 minutes, not 60. Unfortunately, I didn't start taping episodes until the summer of 1986, when I bought my first vcr, so I don't have any proof. Only my memory, but we're talking 22 years ago.

No, the pilot was 60 minutes. I remember it well (and still have an old VHS of it from CBS around here somewhere).

BTW, How is the quality of the DVD? Any extras? I have the first two seasons that I recorded on DVD from Satellite reruns within the last year so I'm debating if I'm going to buy them or not.

[TheSaint]

Not the confirmation I was waiting for but, it may do the trick. Did you tape the pilot when it aired on September 18, 1985 on CBS?

The pilot, cut or not, features commentary from Michael Sloan, and the set has an episode from the 2nd Season as a bonus.

[Professor Dent]

Very nice. I haven't seen these shows in ages so it will be nice to check them out again.

[jaguar007]

Not the confirmation I was waiting for but, it may do the trick. Did you tape the pilot when it aired on September 18, 1985 on CBS?

The pilot, cut or not, features commentary from Michael Sloan, and the set has an episode from the 2nd Season as a bonus.

I did (not that I could find it right now) but have watched it several times over the years. I also have the Columbia House VHS series and it was 60 min (or 50 something)on that as well.

[TheSaint]

That does it then. If you taped it when it aired, and it was 60 minutes(47+ without commercials), then somewhere along the line I confused this pilot with one that ran 90 minutes. That's a relief!

[Tarl_Cabot]

Holy Crap! I musta missed this news...woo hoo!

[dodge]

Can any of you good folks assist me with a question? Did McCall generally charge for his services? And what was his fee? Darned if I can remember him ever actually charging. This info is important for a project I'm working on, so I'll be most grateful.

[jaguar007]

Can any of you good folks assist me with a question? Did McCall generally charge for his services? And what was his fee? Darned if I can remember him ever actually charging. This info is important for a project I'm working on, so I'll be most grateful.

In the pilot episode his fee was $100.00 to a charity of their choice. After the pilot a fee was never mentioned again. McCall made plenty of many from his "past life" so there was no need to charge for his services.

[TheSaint]

2 years later and no sign of Season 2. At least I've got Callan for my Edward Woodward fix.

[dodge]

Can any of you good folks assist me with a question? Did McCall generally charge for his services? And what was his fee? Darned if I can remember him ever actually charging. This info is important for a project I'm working on, so I'll be most grateful.

In the pilot episode his fee was $100.00 to a charity of their choice. After the pilot a fee was never mentioned again. McCall made plenty of many from his "past life" so there was no need to charge for his services.

Much obliged, Jag. I'll put the info to good use and am looking forward to ordering the first season, the only one available at this time.

[Brian Flagg]

Despite having been in high school during The Equalizer's heyday, I've never seen a single episode. The opening credits reek of the mid-1980s and on that basis alone it should be interesting. I recall CBS promoting the show quite heavily, including a scene in a phonebooth with Wooward throttling some punk and saying "Leave the lady alone!" It must've been on opposite something else I watched in '85 but then shortly afterwards I stopped watching primetime TV altogether.

I'm going to give The Equalizer a look. I'm only twenty-five years late.

[Safari Suit]

I wasn't alive or was too busy crying and sleeping when this was on but I got the First Series for Xmas. I've seen the first few episodes and my impression from those is that it is decent but not particularly special, Woodward and theme music aside. I think the main appeal of it would have been that it was like seeing a Eastwood/Bronson/Hackman/Scheider etc. movie every week, and for free! While that's still cool, it doesn't really hold up when you could spend the time it took to watch two episodes on one of those movies with about the same effort. There has been a bit of talk about there being a feature-length remake over the years, I don't think it would really work; like the A-Team it's one of those things that's a good concept for a weekly TV series, but becomes a bit generic when turned into a film (which could have been some people's problem with Miami Vice I suppose)

[Brian Flagg]

I wasn't alive or was too busy crying and sleeping when this was on but I got the First Series for Xmas. I've seen the first few episodes and my impression from those is that it is decent but not particularly special, Woodward and theme music aside. I think the main appeal of it would have been that it was like seeing a Eastwood/Bronson/Hackman/Scheider etc. movie every week, and for free! While that's still cool, it doesn't really hold up when you could spend the time it took to watch two episodes on one of those movies with about the same effort. There has been a bit of talk about there being a feature-length remake over the years, I don't think it would really work; like the A-Team it's one of those things that's a good concept for a weekly TV series, but becomes a bit generic when turned into a film (which could have been some people's problem with Miami Vice I suppose)

Safari Suit, you've often exhibited impeccible taste--hence your classy moniker--and I appreciate that you appreciate "dated" programs. I myself love most anything of a "dated" nature, but considering the fact that I came of age in the 1980s, I'm still taken aback by how...dated..things from that decade are!

I see that William "Karate Kid Villain" Zabka plays Woodward's son in a few episodes. That alone consigns The Equalizer to 1980s purgatory. Still, it'll be interesting to see how I take to this program.

[Bill]

Safari Suit:

Watch the whole season. While the program never had season long story arcs, there are characters and situations that appear throughout the show.

For example, there are several episodes which deal with McCall still going after enemy spies. The Russians were still the bad guys back then. Also, McCall's reasons for leaving The Company, which is the term that the writers seemed to settle on after different names (the CIA was never specifically named as the Agency he left, but there is one episode where the symbol can be seen, out of focus, mind you, on the wall of his old headquarters) are also hinted at throughout the show. While he definitely left, McCall never doubts the principles that The Company stood for, as well as those of the US (it is explained later on that he had a British father and American mother, hence his accent) and remains true to them throughout his retirement. His commitment to liberty never wanes. Just watch the episode Prelude when he explains to his son the need for engaging in some of the more unsavory aspects of his profession in order to keep the whole world from succumbing to communism.

Speaking of his son, there is definite character development with William Zabka's Scott, who goes from being a whiny complaining kid to a real man over the four seasons. Indeed, the whole supporting cast is exceptional. Keith Szarabajka is excellent as Mickey Kostmayer, as is Robert Lansing as Control, and so are the various other supporting CIA agents and NYPD officers who help McCall from time to time. Future LTK stars Robert Davi and Anthony Zerbe both put in very memorable performances. Indeed, the show is full of actors who would go on to greater fame in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Through it all is Edward Woodward. While his heart attack put him out of commission for half of the third season, the show was still able to cope with his absence. Indeed, the third season two parter which was written to deliberately deal with his absence--Mission McCall--where he is kidnapped is a brilliant use of the the supporting cast, with the added presence of Robert Mitchum coming in to help find him. The opening two hour episode that third season (filmed before the heart attack)--Blood and Wine with Blofeld himself, Telly Savalas--and the two parter near the end of the season when Woodward was back fully functional, The Mystery of Manon, are sensational. The program remained strong in its fourth season as well. Woodward strikes a pose throughout as a well dressed Englishman with a Walther PPK, but he is no Bond clone. Robert McCall is a totally different character, with a family, albeit dysfunctional. Woodward is superb, a truly great actor and commanding presence. His death last year was a real loss.

So, to Safari Suit (love that screen name) and any one else who has not seen the show, give Season One on DVD a chance. Watch it from the beginning, and you will enjoy it--one of the best shows of the 1980s and a real treat for Bond fans.

Here's hoping the last three seasons are released soon!

Bill

Edited by Bill, 28 April 2010 - 04:19 PM.

[Safari Suit]

Oh I do plan to watch the rest in the fullness of time, it's just a question of when that will be, I have so many things to watch I'll try and give the next episode a spin over the next couple of days though. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy the episodes I saw as I love the vigilante/revenge theme, it just didn't yet grab as anything particularly unique or special. There have certainly been some cool moments though, I particularly liked McCall editing together a tape to trap a Triad member in the second(?) episode

Incidentally, which episode has the famous "I do not forgive!" echo scene?
Edit: Just read in another thread it was the fifth episode Lady Cop
I also see there's an episode from the first season with Robert Davi as a villain

[Bill]

Davi is indeed in Season One. Zerbe is in Season One and Two.

Another great speech from McCall, or rather an outburst to a villain, is in Season Two's episode, A Place to Stay, when McCall really gives it to some creep who is running a kiddie pørn ring.

Hope you enjoy the rest of Season One!

[jaguar007]

Perhaps the most influential TV show ever for me (it was watching the Equalizer in the 80s when I fell in love with Jaguars, I now own 4).

Some of the episodes don't hold up that well over time, but Woodward consistently proves he is one of the best actors ever to grace TV (every year during the mid-late 80s it was always a contest between Woodward and Daniel j. Travanti for the Best Actor Emmy).

[TheSaint]

While his heart attack put him out of commission for half of the third season, the show was still able to cope with his absence. Indeed, the third season two parter which was written to deliberately deal with his absence--Mission McCall--where he is kidnapped is a brilliant use of the the supporting cast, with the added presence of Robert Mitchum coming in to help find him.

Imagine how much better that episode would be had the original choice for the character Mitchum played, Roger Moore, said yes to the offer.

[dodge]

Another question, while I wait for season one, which I plan to order tomorrow:

Can anyone remember the exact wording of McCall's ad? Reports on line vary a little:

Wikipedia quotes "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer." But I've also read a quote or two inserting "Need help?" into the ad.

As always, your help is much appreciated.

[jaguar007]

http://www.empireonl...y.asp?NID=28139


16 June 2010
Russell Crowe Wants To Be The Equalizer
He’s attached to the telly adaptation
Source: LA Times
Russell Crowe Wants To Be The Equalizer

Russell Crowe is not the late, great Edward Woodward, the man once and forever fondly known around Empire Towers as E-wa Woo-wa. But he wants to be: Crowe has attached himself to the long-gestating film version of The Equalizer.

While the ‘80s are well and truly back after the success of this past weekend’s nostalgia trip (with new takes on The Karate Kid and The A-Team doing solid business), a film of The Equalizer is a project that has been walking the mean streets of Development Hell since at least 2005.

Back then, Harvey Weinstein got his hefty paws on the title, referencing his love for the series and putting in place a process that would eventually draw in Lucky Number Slevin director Paul McGuigan and writers Terrill Lee Lankford and Michael Connelly.

But the long-drawn out march to the screen has taken its toll and now it would seem that most of the talent has peeled away, leaving only producer Mace Neufeld. He’s joined forces with production company Escape Artists (which helped get the Taking Of Pelham 123 remake on screen) to start shopping it round the studios, since The Weinstein Company seems to be too busy trying to buy back the Miramax library to worry about putting movies out at the moment.

The show, in case you weren’t aware (check out the synth-tastic opening credits here, which truly are a throwback to a time when the creative team put out art instead of a basic introduction to the main cast), followed hard-bitten former government agent Robert McCall (Woo-wa), who decided that his days of doing terrible things in the service of his country were over and that he'd spend his days – and nights – helping people who couldn’t turn to the police. Despite his redemption-minded quest, he usually ended up getting violent. But we loved him for it.

A darker-edged type could be just what Crowe needs, even if the last time he played a character based on a British series, in State Of Play, the crowds didn’t exactly flock to the multiplex. Still, The Equalizer has more of a gritty, action edge to it, which might make it an easier sell.

Sadly, there's now no chance of a proper Woodward cameo now, at least not without a ouija board.
James White

Personally I can't see it.

[TheSaint]

Please no.

[Brisco]

Crow's been unofficially attached to this for a long time, since the project was with Weinstein. And he's still not old enough!

[Royal Dalton]

Well, this is just wrong, isn't it.

[zencat]

I spent a good part of last year developing and pitching this movie with a major director. Even worked with the show creator, who is a great guy and told fantastic stories about the show and the world of TV at that time. Final pitch to the Weinstein Co. and Mace Neufeld (whom I endlessly respect) went VERY well. Then the Weinstein Co went into a financial tailspin and wouldn't make a decision. To this day we've not heard a yes or no. Director went off to another project and I'm tapping away on CBn. As to Crowe, he never came up.

[Royal Dalton]

Interesting, Zen. Did they have an actor in mind for the role back then do you know?

I would have thought somebody like Brozza would have been a better fit for it than Crowe.