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Airwolf review from March 1984
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By Robert MacKenzie
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This CBS series is named after its central character—a helicopter. Airwolf is an experimental machine that flies at supersonic speeds, fires heat-seeking missiles, foils radar and generally does everything but dice carrots. If you saw the movie "Blue Thunder," you get the idea.
The Government thinks it owns the helicopter, but its pilot, one Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent), has it and won't give it back until the Feds find his brother, who's listed as MIA. Instead of simply shooting him and taking the copter back, the Government has made a deal: Stringfellow and his pal Dominic (Ernest Borgnine) will fly high-risk missions in the machine.
Sometimes I have the opposite reaction to a series than the one intended. The A Team, which is supposed to be happy, he-man fun, just depresses me. Whereas Airwolf (currently shown Saturdays at 9 P.M. [ET] is such a solemn crock that it makes me smile. Our hero, Stringfellow, is a tight-lipped loner who lives in a secluded mountain cabin with its own private lake, where he keeps a collection of priceless impressionist paintings, plays classical cello like a young Casals and communes with eagles. He is rude to women, which fascinates them, of course, and he likes to stand around brooding when he is not bombing the bejabbers out of something.
Jan-Michael Vincent didn't write any of this, so I can't hold him responsible. Vincent has a certain glum magnetism and can carry a scene, though he shares a quality with the late Steve McQueen:the less he has to say, the better he is. He is quite closemouthed here, and viewers who can swallow this Stringfellow character may enjoy his work.
Stringfellow gets his assignments from Michael Archangel (Alex Cord), a CIA-type. Archangel clumps around on a cane and wears a darkened eyepiece, signifying the injuries he suffered in the pilot episode, when the engineer who developed Airwolf stole the chopper, blew up the lab and flew to Libya. Archangel and a young woman agent, Gabrielle (Belinda Bauer), called on Stringfellow at his mountain retreat, admired his sullen manners and persuaded him to go after the helicopter. Gabrielle also smuggled herself into Libya, posing as a belly dancer.
Stringfellow and Dominic also do stunt helicopter work for movies. In one story, they came into conflict over who would fly a dangerous stunt for a film, which turned out to be a cover for a heist; this involved landing a chopper on a moving van carrying gold shipments.
Machinery fans will find happiness with the helicopter, which is quite a snappy piece of gear. It has sleek lines and a raft of technological toys—computerized search devices, video readouts, digital ding-dongs and "awesome firepower." The air maneuvers and battles are often spectacular, though the machine never looks to be moving as fast as they say it is. I guess there aren't any supersonic helicopters.
Borgnine is acting loudly and vigorously, as he always has. You have to admire the man's energy. You have to admire something here.
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