I've had little time to do much blogging this week, but I have to acknowledge today's passing of actor Karl Malden, who made it to age 97. The list of film directors Malden worked with in his extraordinary career as a character actor is incredible: Hitchcock, Kazan, Ford, Henry Hathaway, Marlon Brando, Norman Jewison, Ken Russell, Frankenheimer, Schaffner, Blake Edwards, Martin Ritt, even Dario Argento. Malden also directed a film of his own, the suspenseful courtroom drama TIME LIMIT, which only recently made it to DVD, and I'm glad Malden lived to see it released.
However, he's best known (and it's what most of his obits are leading with) as the star of THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, an above-average Quinn Martin crime drama that was a hit for five seasons on ABC from 1972 to 1977. Sharp writing, high production values, location shooting in San Francisco, and a warm, realistic relationship between Malden and the young actor playing his cop partner--Michael Douglas--made the show a success. The first two seasons are available on DVD, and I advise you to sample some episodes.
Here's a video I posted to YouTube. It's the opening titles to the Season 4 episode "Murder By Proxy," guest-starring John Ritter, Bradford Dillman, and other recognizable faces.
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It's too bad Retro dropped "Streets" last year, and no other cable net I know of has it, otherwise there'd have been a "Streets" marathon done in Karl Malden's memory. They just don't make 'em like they used to.
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