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Hart to Hart - The Complete
First Season (1979)
Amazon.com
DVD Review - Created by Sidney Sheldon (I Dream of
Jeannie), Hart to Hart was a Thin Man for the 1980s.
Self-made millionaire Jonathan (Robert Wagner, It
Takes a Thief) and part-time journalist Jennifer
Hart (Stefanie Powers, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.)
even had their own Asta-like pooch, Freeway. Unlike
Nick and Nora Charles, however, children weren't
part of their globe trotting, crime solving plan.
Fortunately, they had trusty butler/Bentley driver
Max (Golden Globe winner Lionel Stander) to keep
them company.
Mr. And Mrs. H., as Max referred to them, were
introduced by 1979's two-part pilot ("Hart to
Hart"), which features Roddy McDowall and Stella
Stevens as devious doctors and Wagner's future wife,
Jill St. John (Diamonds are Forever), as a wealthy
patient. Natalie Wood, his wife at the time, also
has a cameo (under the name Natasha Gurdin). Other
highlights of the first year of the Hart to Hart TV
show include "Jonathan Hart,
Jr.," in which a stranger (Dee Wallace-Stone, E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial) claims Jonathan is her son's
father, and "You Made Me Kill You," in which an
obsessed Jonathan fan (Kathleen Lloyd, Magnum P.I.)
plans to eliminate the competition--Jennifer Hart.
Other notable guests include Markie Post (Night
Court), Daniel J. Travanti (Hill Street Blues), René
Auberjonois (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Juliet
Mills (Nanny and the Professor), and Eve Arden (Our
Miss Brooks).
Hart to Hart ran on ABC for five seasons and went on
to inspire such popular detective dramas as
Remington Steele and Moonlighting. After a move to
NBC, it was followed by eight made-for-TV movies.
Sadly, Stander passed away shortly after filming
1994's Secrets of the Hart. Three years later,
Wagner gained a new generation of fans by spoofing
the urbane manner that helped make Hart to Hart such
a hit in the Austin Powers trilogy. --Kathleen C.
Fennessy |