Starsky And Hutch were the coolest cops of the 1970s. Now they're back with Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Steve Pratt gathers the evidence on the latest TV take off.

IT'S no shock to the original Starsky, Paul Michael Glaser, that Hollywood has turned the series into a movie 30 years after the TV show's debut. "We were surprised the series had the kind of longevity it had, after only four years of filming it. The reception among 67 countries was quite extraordinary. It eventually became a question of when they were going to make a movie," he says.

He and David Soul, alias cop partner Hutch, have cameo roles in the Starsky And Hutch film. Antonio Fargas, who was so cool as Huggy Bear, doesn't appear, but is helping the original duo promote the new movie. Clearly, all three are enjoying being back in the spotlight after differing fortunes in the intervening years.

Soul had a successful pop career as well as much-publicised personal and financial problems. Glazer has continued to act, direct and write, while suffering the death of his wife and daughter from Aids.

The unexpected success of the TV series deeply affected them. "There was not the compartmentalisation that you find in the business today," says Soul. "I started out as a folk singer, moved into theatre, the television series happened. We didn't expect it to be a success. I guess I took advantage of that to do the music. It was also an innocent time; an energetic, open, innocent time. So everything was part of the experience. It was great."

Huggy Bear is played in the movie by hip hop and rap star Snoop Dogg, who's paid tribute to Fargas by recalling him as the coolest cat around when he was growing up and saying he still regards him as "the man".

"I didn't play the role to be cool," says Fargas. "I looked at it as a man trying to survive in a hostile world, as a black man in America had to do at certain times. That was to make 'em laugh. I had to find a warmth and a rhythm to the character."

Escaping from the shadow of such successful characters as Starsky and Hutch must have been difficult. So do they regard it as a blessing or a curse? All that looking back gets you is an accident "because you're going to run into something in front of you without seeing it", Glaser points out. "Being present becomes more and more the exercise the older you get. We're working actors, and this was an opportunity that came along. Neither David or I ever thought it would be a series. We decided, once it did, to do the best we could under the circumstances, which were restrictive at the time.

"You live your life and just move on. There's no great epiphany that happens, 'oh my god, if I hadn't done that I could have sold cars or something'. You do what you do." Soul recalls once asking actress Joanne Woodward about the secret of acting. "Whatever you do, do it," she replied, quoting husband Paul Newman. "There's not enough time to consider how life could have been different. It's stupid, it's just a pointless exercise. It is what it is, do it. When you have the opportunity, take it," he says.

Glaser adds: "We were fortunate in that there was this opportunity, there was this series. We had a friendship and a chemistry and managed to hang on by our fingernails and be present for a few years within that framework."

On a lighter note, Soul reveals that Starsky's trademark jumping on to the roof of a car in the title sequence was his idea - and he regretted doing it. "It killed me, man," he says. "That was one of the stupidest decisions I ever made. It was the pilot and you try to pull out all the stops, kind of overdo things to begin with.

"I've got to run down these steps, jump off this roof, hop on to the hood of the car, then down off the roof, off the bonnet and on to the ground. So, mid-air I make this decision to do this seat drop, like I'm gonna show these guys. Did I ever!."

The film is more of a comedy than the TV series, something Glaser and Soul don't regard as a lack of respect for the original, more of a changing of the times and playing to Stiller and Wilson's strengths.

"This is 2004, not the 1970s. Then there was a totally different sensibility, not only in America but the whole world, that allowed us to break new ground as a buddy cop show. Cops were seen in a more sensitive, more multi-dimensional life. It allowed us to play in areas of tragedy and drama, comedy and farce, and to explore many, many levels," says Glaser.

"This particular film highlights Ben and Owen's strengths. They are great comedic actors with tremendous chemistry.

"I don't think doing a series or a movie today and trying to capture all the things that we got in the 1970s could come close because you're asking yourself to recreate the 1970s. In terms of the audience's sensibility, that's impossible.

"We all have a tendency to look back with a little bit of nostalgia and judgement and say, 'wasn't that great? But what if they had, or we had, what if?' The film tips its hat to many of the things that we accomplished in the series, and does with a 2004 sensibility."

As for the future, Soul and Glaser have plans to work together again. "In case you know anybody who has six or seven million dollars lying around, David and I have a project we want to do together. It's a thing we're calling Harry and Sam," says Glaser.

"It has no resemblance whatsoever to Starsky and Hutch," he adds - although the wink he gives his audience suggests otherwise.

Published: ??/??/2003