Starsky and Hutch (TV Series) Little Girl Lost (1976) User Reviews

Kristy McNichol co-stars in this, probably one of her finest early TV roles

[jwilson09 · 9/10 · 13 June 2006]

Molly "Pete" Edwards (Kristy McNichol) is a young girl living on her own on the mean streets of the city, she is a tough little kid that is used to taking care of herself. She does have a father (King Moody) but as he has spent a lot of time in jail and the rest of his time drinking he isn't much of a father to her. Starsky and Hutch run into "Pete" at a local grocery stealing food and try to help her. Her father has some problems of his own. Before he went to jail the last time he and his buddies pulled off a diamond robbery and he ended up with the loot. Now that he is out again his friends want their cut of the money no matter what they have to do to get it. They accidentally kill him while he is trying to get away and now they begin searching for his daughter, the only person alive that might know where the diamonds are. Meanwhile Hutch has decided to try to help Molly and she moves in with him, at least until other arrangements can be made. The killers, having finally tracked her down kidnap her but she somehow manages to escape. Molly then decides to use herself as bait for a trap to capture the men that killed her father, but it is a dangerous game she is playing, a game that could get her killed.

This was Kristy McNichol's second appearance on this series and also her best. Her role here is much more developed than on the other two episodes in which she appeared. She is also given more time to develop her character and to fully display her acting abilities. She has several touching and memorable scenes and her character is completely essential to the story, in the case of this particular episode probably even more so than the show's stars.

White knights

[monomerd · 7/10 · 26 August 2016]

Season 2 seems to give Starsky and Hutch a lot of opportunities to be caring and nurturing, in between moments of chasing down the bad guys. This is not necessarily bad, but it does start to put them in the position of being perfect, and of having to save the world. Starsky and Hutch as super heroes.

So this episode turns out to be okay. DS gives Hutch the right amount of caring and concern for the newly-orphaned Molly. It doesn't drop into maudlin territory, which it could easily have done. (With Earl Bellamy directing, we seem to be pretty safe from disaster.) Starsky and Hutch still have a case to handle in trying to track down who killed Molly's father and why. Fortunately the criminals are pretty stupid, since Molly can escape their clutches not once but twice by biting the guy's hand. Starsky and Hutch will get them in the end, with some help from Molly and ball glove

Some of the scenes and dialog are quite contrived - Starsky and Hutch surveying Molly's neglected home, Molly acting like a tough tom-boy type who doesn't need anyone, Starsky trying to make friends with a belligerent Molly by talking baseball. I've seen this story before and I'll probably see it again. Even so, David Soul has some nice scenes being a kind father-figure to Molly; Hutch is natural-born nurturer. But I almost like it best in the scene where he is listening to her cry in the other room and just doesn't know what to do. He really can't save the world or fix every problem, and that's okay, too.