646f9e108c A retired judge and his last defendant follow up on cases that were dismissed due to technicalities. Milton C. Hardcastle is a tough but honest judge. Over the years, he has had to dismiss nearly 200 cases due to legal technicalities on individuals who were guilty. Now that he&#39;s retired, he plans to spend his time hounding them and if they break the law Hardcastle&#39;s going to bust them and make sure that it&#39;s done right. Now he needs someone to watch his back and the man he has &quot;chosen&quot; is Mark McCormick, a car thief whom Hardcastle once sent to prison, and who is now an aspiring race car driver. McCormick was arrested and brought before Hardcastle. Normally, Hardcastle tells McCormick that in addition to breaking the law, he violated his parole, he would be sent back to prison and this being his third conviction would make him a three time loser. However, Hardcastle tells McCormick of his plans for his retirement, and that he would like McCormick to be his partner. McCormick begrudgingly accepts but if they will make remains to be seen cause McCormick doesn&#39;t think that Hardcastle was fair when he sentenced him and he thinks Hardcastle is a royal pain. I grew up in the &#39;80s watching many of Stephen J. Cannell&#39;s programs, and still consider Hardcastle and McCormick to be one of the best of its genre. The episodes were fun to watchmost were an equal blend of action, drama, and humor. Brian Keith (as retired judge Milton C. Hardcastle) and Daniel Hugh Kelly (as ex-con Mark McCormick) played to each other&#39;s acting strengths, and their on-screen chemistry was one of the main things that elevated this series. The dialogue was crisp, and the two tough-yet-intelligent lead characters were well-defined, once the writers settled on their backgrounds (Hardcastle&#39;s home state was changed in the first season from Kansas to Arkansas, and Mark claimed to be from both Florida and New Jersey, although that could have been in keeping with his character&#39;s lack of stability). In addition, the judge&#39;s age and his length of time on the bench seemed to change each season. It also appeared that Mark spent his two years of incarceration in every prison in southern California, although San Quentin was the location first mentioned in the pilot episode, and the one most frequently referenced. The men&#39;s constant (although often good- natured) bickering and competition seemed to be the foundation of their friendship, which was regularly mentioned lightly and sometimes showed in grander gestures, suchin the episode where McCormick sells his beloved race car in order to raise enough bail money to get a framed Hardcastle out of jail, or the one where Hardcastle risks his prestigious law career by assisting Mark&#39;s dead-beat dad in stealing some wire-tap tapes from a government safe to bargain for the release of a kidnapped McCormick.<br/><br/>The series had its flaws,did most of the macho, shoot-em-up, action shows of the time period, but what it lacked in realism and consistency it made up for in originality and heart. This series is a great addition to the other classic television shows now available on DVD, suchThe Greatest American Hero and Starsky and Hutch. I took a chance on &quot;Hardcastle and McCormick&quot; by purchasing the first season&#39;s worth (Canadian release) from Amazon. When I got it, I started with the pilot, and I was instantly hooked after that. I rated it 5 stars on Amazon, and I am rating it 10 stars here. It is just that good. What I liked about it were the opening and closing themes, and of course Stephen J. Cannell&#39;s logo at the end of each episode, but most of all, the relationship between the Judge and Markthey worked together to crack each case. I was so hooked that I also purchased the second seasona companion, and I enjoyed it equally. If you do not have this excellent series on disc, I believe that you should purchase it and put it in your collection.
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