Street Hawk

Your read correctly. The Eighties were awesome. Knight Rider,The A-team,Miami Vice,Stingray,Airwolf,and much much more and then there was Street Hawk. It was great being a kid back then. Fantastic looking super vehicles that could do these amazing stunts,what is not to love about it. So yes of course this is pure nostalgia. Still,shows like these were proof that they were far more creative than they are in current days. Now I must admit that if you take out the eighties and purely look it as an action show then you will find it a bit bland. The stunts are not that impressive. But what wins you over right from the bat and what actually is one of the reasons the show has any kind of popularity is the soundtrack. Tangerine Dream simply makes this bland show in a ultra cool one. The best scenes are the scenes where the main character is cruising around or dealing with the bad guys while the theme is playing in the background. So don't go expecting something spectacular. But as lightweight crime shows goes this one has likable characters and just enough action to keep you entertained.

Along with most other comments in here, i was a kid of the 80's who watched all of the super-vehicle shows..

"Street Hawk" was definitely up there among the best of the lot, with, as most people have pointed out, a terrific soundtrack. TO THIS DAY i can still hum the theme song in it's entirety. Didn't realize at the time that that was Tangerine Dream!

I still refer to Joe Regalbuto (aka FRANK FONTANA from "Murphy Brown") as "NORMAN from STREET HAWK" whenever i see him in anything.....

Really wish the show would have lasted longer.

Would kill for a DVD release!

For a youngster in the early-and-mid-eighties, this light-hearted piece of renegade cop force fluff was "too rad!" Rex Smith, prettier than any law enforcement officer has a right to be, had all the toys: A motorcycle that would go, like, 180 mph in traffic while firing small rockets, total video uplink to the master crime lab in his helmet, and a racing suit form-fitted to his body by immersing him in a vat of high-tech foam! Silly, but certainly no worse than, say, "Team Knight Rider."

Yeah well, KNIGHT RIDER made it because a 4 wheel crime-buster was always going to win out over a two-wheeled vigilantemobile! Street Hawk's "Harley with attitude" might have had a 200 mph speed capability and a $3 million price tag (bit suss, that one!) but when all was said and done, Rex Smith was no Steve McQueen! More like crime-fighter Disney style.

Best of the offerings, the actual Pilot telemovie entitled STREET HAWK. It ran for 75 minutes and was released in many countries as a one-off video. (I have a copy!) Besides some skimpy background to Street Hawk's existence - The rookie cop, consigned to Public Relations, mega-bike wages war against the local "Mr Big" (Christopher Lloyd in a most un-Disney role). Not only does Jess Mach (Smith) take out Lloyd's cronies, he performs an aerial ballet that sees Lloyd and his 4 Wheel drive nose dive DUEL style off a desert cliff!

Music by Tangerine Dream was certainly a plus, although suspiciously ripped off from the NZ scifi actioner BATTLETRUCK, which coincidentally features a hero riding a superbike!

Back in the "super vehicle boom" with Airwolf, Knight Rider, The Highwayman and this show, teenagers everywhere watched week after week with anticipation for the next episode.

While Airwolf was the only adult show of the whole lot (and my personal all-time favourite series), Knight Rider the most family orientated, Street Hawk was aimed at a teenage demographic. Why it failed is anybody's guess (probably time-slot or competition on the other channels at the time), but while Airwolf and Knight Rider both made 4 successful seasons each (and now run in syndication today), Street Hawk was cancelled after a half season of 13 episodes - which was a real shame.

The action, the bike, the music... especially the music by Tangerine Dream (they actually did 3.5 hours of a musical suite for the show which was then split up for each individual episode - a well overdue soundtrack release would be appreciated!) added to the high-tech production values of this comic-book type show. It never got a chance.