Customer Reviews

Spenser For Hire - the Movie Collection

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Perhaps the signature role in Robert Urich's too short career. Spenser, with an 's' like the poet, was a tough talking Private Eye in Boston. He likes to cook, and he loves Susan Silverman. He garners help on a regular basis from Hawk, a former mob enforcer who respects what Spenser stands for.

The first two of these movies are decent enough. They capture some of the flavor of the TV show. Although the production moved from Boston to Toronto to cut costs. Also in a cost-cutting measure, they replaced the series' Susan (Barbara Stock) with Barbara Williams and later Wendy Crewson. (A move that Urich admitted was a bad one.) ABC produced the first two movies after cancelling the series. The latter two were produced for Lifetime Television.

Robert B. Parker, who penned the novels on which the series was based, co-wrote the first two of these movies with his wife. The quality of the first two scripts notwithstanding, the productions suffered from the move to Toronto. While it is a beautiful city, it doesn't have the same feel as Beantown.

The latter two cable movies are a hollow shell of what made the show great. It's basically a cut-and-paste job.

That having been said, I would guess that Warner Bros. is keeping a close eye on the sales of this set to decide if they'll release the great series on DVD. So, if you want to see the real "Spenser: For Hire" you'll have to go through here to get it.

They say Robert Parker grew unhappy with the network interpretation of Spenser. they even say he objected to Urich in the role. But Parker probably owes a lot more book sales to Urich's signature role as the smart and philosophical PI in boston.
I loved this show when it aired, even though I was only 14 at the time.
Avery Brooks was exceptional as Hawk. So much so, they spun him into a solo series that ultimately failed. It failed because whoever was in charge forgot what made Hawk so popular - his wiseass, tough guy personality. All those Hawk-eque qualities got down played in the Hawk series. So it was nice to see him return to the 4 movies in the early 90s. (His Hawk was so good, that Deep Space 9 eventually had him Hawk-ify his Commander role on that show).
The lack of a regular Susan (or the return of the original) hurts these movies only slightly.
And this time Parker took the reigns and adapted them from his books. Eventually, he adapted one or two more with Joe Mantagna as Spenser, but it never worked as well and the series of movies ceased. Parker has now moved on to Jesse Stone, his newest novel character and Tom Selleck has made one TV movie that is also excellent.
Missing also here are original Belson actor and Lt Quark. But they play only minor roles.
Unlike a TV episode, these are fully contained stories told over a larger canvas that takes more time and a more film like pace. Also missing is Boston as the city they film in - very noticable and saddening. Spenser drives a Ford Probe rather than the classic Mustang, which is also a let down. But those are only asthetic items.
Let's hope that fans scoop these movies on DVD up, since word is that these are tests to see if the regular series 3 seasons are worth the time and effort to release. Let's show them that they are, and buy these when they come out.

Having been a fan of the series, and the books, each in their own way, finding these movies as a box set was a rare treat. I had only seen parts of these movies during their first-run, so to me they were new. Robert Urich IS Spenser, and the book scripts suit him even better than the TV shows did. He really brings the wise-cracks to life and delivers them so well, and fast, that you want to jump back a few seconds to hear the delivery again.

Several of the reviewers mentioned that the voice-overs were no longer an element of the new movies. While I still have one of the films to watch, all of the other 3 had a good bit of voice-overs in them, so I don't really understand what they are getting at. The replacement of Susan, repeatly, doesn't seem to make much sense... though I will say that I though Barbara Williams was closer to the book version of Susan than the others. I have seen one of the new Spenser films... and while Joe Mantegna is lacking as Spenser... the HAWKS are horrible. Avery IS Hawk... end of story. Here's to the series on DVD, may it come soon....

There are so very many of us who dearly loved the Spenser For Hire series. What will it take to release this beloved series on DVD? A Promise? OK ~ I promise to buy ALL of them. He is dearly missed.

When are the 'people' at Warner (who I believe own distribution rights) ever going to wake up and release Spenser: For Hire the complete series? It makes no sense. Then, they throw this wish-wash at us. Sorry, I'm not buying it simply to push along the Warner executives to release the REAL Spenser! If you want my money TED, give me want I want.

"Spenser: For Hire" these four Lifetime telefilms are not (consider your purchase of this collection a vote for the release of the original series), but they sure are fun on a Sunday afternoon when I'm in between Parker novels.

Despite the author's feelings to the contrary, Urich as our hero has been dead-on in my mind's eye. Yes, Avery Brooks as Hawk was simply inspired. Their chemistry remaining intact in this collection of movies is what preserves their watchability.

A hidden treat inside each DVD case is four short Spenser essays - each detailing the production of the films, as well as some background on the original series and opinion from Parker about the television Spenser. Each treatise is well-written and enjoyable.

So along with the collection of books I've amassed, I look forward to the day I can share my love of Hawk, Susan and the cocky, cool PI from Boston with my son - whom we named "Spenser."

I didn't know that ABC cable produced the 2 first movies(the best) of these 4 included in this boxset because it wasn't aired in my country.I followed the original Tv Series which was aired in Spain and I loved them.Urich perfomance was crisp and even funnier as a P.I in Boston who likes to cook,play football and likes nice women.Also was the Hawk character well played by Avery Brooks as the tough guy and associate of Spenser.Susan Siverman also helps as the friend of the P.I. and who presents all cases to him.

In the movies of these set they moved from Boston to Toronto which is noticed in the last movies due to budget limits.Spenser drives a Ford Probe which I own and was good to see despite his legendary Mustang for publicity reasons.In the last films he drove again a Mustang painted in a different color than the series.Susan character is replaced by an Canadian actress Barbara Williams in the 2 first films who does good as original Barbara Stock did.Then without reason is replaced by Wendy Crewson(Air Force One) who doesn't act as good as the first.

The only good thing to see is Avery Brooks in the 4 movies I can't imagine been replaced by another one.

Hope soon the studio answers the petitions of readers here and releases the original Tv Series which was aired from 85 to 88 and was cancelled by surprise by ABC.

PLEASE RELEASE THE TV SERIES!!!!!!!!

We miss-ya Bob!

come on warner bros. wake up!!!!!! release the spenser for hire series right now and i mean now!!!!!!! with all the useless garbage that gets released in the dvd format it amazes me that i can't get spenser for hire. who's in charge there. charles in charge is available for crying out loud. that company is having a contest, first place is a copy of the charles series and second place is two copies. seriously though warner execs. pull your head out of your butts, please!!!!!!

For me, these "made for TV" movies do not capture the spirit of the original series. Having read all the books also you can tell that it is more true to Parker's Spenser (extra time helps). However the vitality that Urich/Brooks (and Boston as a backdrop) originally brought to the series is missing (and later efforts with Joe Mantegna do nothing to capture this). "Ceremony" did the best job of recapturing the feeling, but it just had that "Return to -your favorite series-" feel. As others have said here, release the series on DVD.