Kojak’s got style, baby

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34146, 6 May 1976, Page 4

Kojak’s got style, baby

(By

KEN COATES)

Telly. short for Aristoteles. Savalas impressively took charge) last night and on Tues-j jday in a two-part introduction to a new series of “Kojack,” the supercop. The publicity blurbs all say that Savalas is not a super-cop, but he keeps; ) coming to light with light- j Ining hunches, solving crimes) |with his head like a Mong-) loiian Sherlock Holmes (he’s) )Greek in origin actually), i To me, his extraordinary) (expertise in comprehending; ) instantly the intricacies of ) Mafia genealogy and bandlying the jargon is impres-) isive enough for the “super-: cop” tag. I was even per-) Isuaded to switch from) ) watching “Moynihan” halfway through on TVI. But it is the soft touches which really make “Kojak”) convincing and at times i even likable. There was in the first part of “The Chinatown Murders" his inter-) views with the mobster’s’ wife, whom he knew was ’ not telling anything re-) ! motely like the truth, and’ 'the fringe gambling syndi-) 1 cate man in the telephone; box from whom he extracted; ; information. ) Savalas himself contrib- j ) uted many of the touches to ‘ “Kojak’s” character — it) ) was his idea to suck on 101-) j lipops while giving up cigars ) land offer them around. Savalas claims that men )watch "Kojak” because they]

.see “a guy they would like; Ito be; and women see a guy; ) who is strong but still) |wounded a little bit, tough) but not too tough, full of’ ; compassion.” Incidentally, Savalas ) shaves his bald head twice a ’ day for that smooth, egg-like) appearance. ! The introduction to the) series had a strong story-1 line — a Chinese gang’ emerges from the ghetto; j determined to wrest some of ’the spoils from the Mafia. One of the best scenes ’was of the ageing gang boss ) organising and agonising on )his bed. And Telly’s rapid-fire descriptions are always entertaining — "he spends words ‘like they were 10 bucks a and he doesn’t say much,” or “your solution is simple — get thee to a convent; pax vobiscum, baby.” ® St :S L Television Two’s “News at) ’Ten” has reportedly been; gaining an increased follow-’ )ing, but Tuesday night’s: ) main story, with Karen Sims |on Italy and the Communist ’Party seemed a strange ’choice for the bulletin’s top iitem. .) To be sure, the outcome i)of the coming election in Italy could affect the future {course of history in Western (Europe, but “News at Ten’s” 1 run-down was more a magaizine item than top story for ’the night. i Readers of “Newsweek”) ) and daily newspapers would j lhave been more than famil-!

;iar with the content of the litem. There was not even an ) informative speculation piece as to the chances of! the Communists gaining) power in Italy, and if they! did, what some of the re- ) ’suits could be. “Tandarra,” from TV2, is ,’very much a follow-orj from {“Cash and Co.” The pro- ’ gramme suffers, however,

I from a transparent story-line land an over-emphasis of the ■great Australian Outback. !Once you have seen one | shot of lone horsemen against the horizon and a I gum tree in the middle distance, you have seen them all.