S.W.A.T.: THE KILLING GROUND {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first in this action drama series about the elite Olympic Division Special Weapons and Tactics unit operating out of a California city. In this episode, Officer Jim Street and his partner Rob Duran respond to a call and are immediately ambushed by snipers. They return fire, but Duran is hit. At the hospital, the doctors work on him, but he soon dies, and Street is distraught. Lieutenant Harrelson breaks the news to Duran’s wife and attempts to comfort her. Street is treated for minor injuries and the other cops discuss similar attacks on policemen by the same group, stating that this time, a woman was involved when she made the phony call. Harrelson introduces himself to Street, and Street reflects on how quickly everything happened and requests to wear Duran’s badge. Harrelson says he is assembling a new S.W.A.T. team, and Street asks to be included. At a bar, the shooters watch the news report, and the woman who made the phone call, Rita, talks to her husband Ray and asks him to stop participating in the killings, but he says that his family is exacting revenge on the police and he has to assist them. Their leader, Dallas, declares his intention to keep executing cops.
An undercover narcotics policeman, Luca, arrives at the station and joins Harrelson’s meeting about the new S.W.A.T. team. Harrelson explains his plans for the group and says he will take only the three best men and will train them vigorously. He introduces his second-in-command, David “Deacon” Kay, and shows them the arsenal of weapons that they will use in missions. Street meets Luca and another cop named McCabe, and when they practice at a target range, McCabe is selected to be the team marksman because of his exceptional aim. While Harrelson shows the group the vehicle that they will use with its many advanced features, Dallas and the other criminals make plans to go “pig-hunting” that night. McCabe, Luca and Street are congratulated on making the team, and they have a “boys’ night out” at a bar with Kay, who explains that he originally trained to be a priest before becoming a cop. He assures them that Harrelson, nicknamed “Hondo,” is not as bad as he seems. Harrelson soon arrives and Street admits that he has doubts about the new team, although he wants to do something to honor Duran, and Harrelson encourages him to be brave. He soon receives a call about another ambush on cops, saying that one is dead and another critically injured, adding that the criminals were seen celebrating over their bodies.
Dallas and the others reconvene and Rita questions Ray about his active role in the shootings. He claims that cops murdered his uncle, and Dallas says they will kill one more policeman before leaving town. He orders Rita to make a call about a lost child on an abandoned college campus. At the station, Harrelson tells Street that he may relieve him from his duties, as he is too emotionally close to the case, but they are interrupted by Rita’s fake call. Suspecting foul play, the S.W.A.T. team goes to the location and surrounds the campus, searching for the suspects. Dallas senses that something has gone wrong and sends Ray to bring the getaway car around, but Ray is captured by the police. A gunfight breaks out, and Harrelson and Street take advantage of the criminals’ distraction to sneak up on them from behind. They take down the killers, and Street grimly admits that it did not give him the happiness he thought it would. Later, Ray tries to defend his actions by explaining about his uncle, but Harrelson reveals that Dallas lied to him and that his uncle killed himself while surrounded by police, and Ray is stunned to have been so manipulated. Street laments that Duran died for nothing, and Harrelson muses that that is too often true. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: February 24, 1975 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:45:43
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:57356
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Drama, action/adventure; Special Weapons and Tactics unit
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1975-1976
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Aaron Spelling … Executive Producer
- Leonard Goldberg … Executive Producer
- Rick Husky … Producer, Developed by, Writer
- Shelley Hull … Associate Producer
- Robert Hammer … Created by
- Harry Falk … Director
- Barry de Vorzon … Music by
- Steve Forrest … Cast, Lieutenant Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson
- Robert Urich … Cast, Officer Jim Street
- Rod Perry … Cast, Sergeant David 'Deacon' Kay
- Mark Shera … Cast, Officer Dominic Luca
- James Coleman … Cast, Officer T.J. McCabe
- Geoffrey Lewis … Cast, Jack Bonelli
- Jesse Vint … Cast, Dallas
- Bill Lucking … Cast, Ray West
- Annette O'Toole … Cast, Rita Bonelli
- Taylor Lacher … Cast, Rob Duran
- Mel Scott … Cast, Sam Hanks
- Kenneth Toby … Cast, Sergeant
- Terry Lumley … Cast, Mary Duran
- Keith Walker … Cast, T.V. Announcer
- Stephen Coit … Cast, Doctor
- Pat Patterson … Cast, Bartender