Hunter
“Works for me.”
Every tough cop needs a catchphrase to regale the bad guys with,
and this was Rick Hunter’s. Taking his not-quite-by-the-book cues from
the big screen’s Dirty Harry, Hunter was a good cop…but gentle on the
perps he was not. His imposing Magnum revolver, which he nicknamed
Simon, saw the light of day quite a bit, and his long-suffering
captains were always put out by how many rules he broke. But it was all
in a day’s work for L.A.’s gruff (but nicely-tanned) finest.
Stephen Cannell, one of the godfathers of crime fightin’ TV (The Rockford Files, Dallas), it hit its stride after a move to Saturday nights.
Detective Hunter, as played by former pro football player Fred
Dryer, was the son of a mobster trying to make good on his family’s
tainted legacy. His partner was Dee Dee McCall, nicknamed the “Brass
Cupcake” and very tough herself, perhaps because she was sick of always
being hit with the undercover hooker duties. Together, Hunter and
McCall worked the streets of rough, downtown Los Angeles. Sure there
was sexual tension (as it turned out, the two had been an item a few
years prior to partnering up, police-wise), but more importantly, there
was heartfelt friendship.
For the show’s second season, the duo’s beat was a bit more uptown,
and the bad guys a bit better groomed. They got tips from Carlos, an
assistant at the morgue, and from Sporty James, a nightclub owner
played by Garrett Morris of Saturday Night Live
fame. For five years, the duo protected Los Angelenos from the dregs of
society, a nice little run that ended when actress Stepfanie Kraemer
(McCall) left the show. Her character quit the force to get married, a
decision that tugged at the macho Hunter’s heartstrings because he had
always loved his trusty partner.
After McCall’s departure, Hunter’s new right hand woman was street
cop Joanne Malinski, but Officer Malinski only lasted a few months, and
then Hunter had at the streets alone—though he had a love interest in
the form of comely sergeant Chris Novak. He was also transferred to the
L.A.P.D.’s cream of the crop Metro Division, where his cases were more
high profile than ever.
Hardworking, hard fighting, and hard talking, Hunter was good cop
with a sense of humor and a great distaste for proper procedure. But
when a copper collared as many nasties as Hunter did, rulebooks had a
way of sitting in the back seat—nice, quiet, and typically unopened.
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