Gotta admit that 77 SUNSET STRIP's one program that I sure wish woulda permeated the rerun screens of the seventies because hey, this is one series that I coulda really sunk my teenbo mindset into! In an age of emasculated sensitivity and BLESS THE BEASTS AND BOOBIES some tuff stuff private eye slam 'n dunk woulda suited my oft sodomized psyche rather well. And, come to think of it, I sure coulda used a few ishes of the 77 SUNSET STRIP comic book given the at-times sappiness of what some of those ultra-preachy DC comics were spewin' out with alla the subtlety of a sledgehammer aimed right at my gosh-it-all skull.
OK the stories aren't exactly up to tee-vee standards and the art is typical Dell you can't tell the characters apart crankout, but this still fills somewhat of a comic book bill what with the standard if convolutedness of it all. Two sagas here, the first featuring Jedd Spencer and Kookie (now graduated to full-fledged PI thus making the cover shot showing him in his car parking gear quite outta date) on the run tryin' to make a deadline for an important meeting getting roadblocked in their attempt to make that rendezvous regarding the heir to a lumber mill fortune. The second one's more Stuart Bailey's affair as he attempts to save the brother of a friend from some mighty hefty capital punishment with the only real clue on hand being a trident watch fob of some sort. Of course even with such a flimsy clue to go on Bailey and Spencer manage to get to the truth of the matter even if you kinda get the idea that by the time the two do come to the right and proper conclusion the brother woulda long been one crispy critter.
Yeah the slam-band violence of not only 77 SUNSET STRIP but the rest of the Warner Brothers detective shows that spun off from it just doesn't translate to the comic pages but the stories do come through somewhat. And if you didn't have access to a boob tube way back when these still delivers on the comic thrill goods rather swell when you're in a pinch for some actual entertainment Entertainment that actually works as such and not some flimsy excuse to preach the same phony moralities of the past four decades which nobody other'n a few Hollywood perverts really cared about anyway.
I recommend the soundtrack too. If your thrift store doesnt carry it try collectors choice. Besides the snappy title theme to the t.v. show you get toe tappers like 77 sunset strip cha cha. Early 60s culture is as essential as your daily chocks vitamin!
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I hate that show. I watched it a bunch of times and never ONCE did I see anyone strip. What a ripoff.
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