I’m not trying to make excuses, honest, but a somewhat-unexpected class change this weekend has led to much reading and not much time for anything else. This blog post may not be the most intellectually deep I’ve posted, but I needed something light.
Still, the topic is intriguing: Detective Sergeant Hutchinson’s mustache.
Some people love it; some people hate it; some people don’t seem to think it makes any difference. The question is, why did Hutch grow a mustache in (or just prior to) season 4?
There are many, many ways you could explain this. These are just my thoughts on what some of those ways could be, and what my view may be personally.
You have to take into account the blend between actor and character. Ideally it shouldn’t be there of course, but especially in a visual medium like film, it is there. It just is.
I’ve researched and researched. Originally, I could only find evidence of David Soul having a mustache as Hutch. I was hoping that he only grew it for the character—and was about to make that conclusion, when I came across this photo:
According to Alamy, the photo is from May 17, 1978.
Now, you can never put your faith in the accuracy of these things online. But I’m not inclined to doubt the information, either. That date would put the photo squarely before filming started for season 4 of Starsky and Hutch (unless I have my timeline wrong, but I don’t think I do), which implies that Soul grew the mustache either for another acting role, or just for his own enjoyment. (Why anyone would grow a mustache for his own enjoyment is beyond me, but then, I’m not a man . . .)
I can’t find any evidence that suggests Soul grew the mustache for another role. That doesn’t mean he didn’t, but for now, I’m inclined to think he grew the mustache just for kicks. From pictures I’ve seen of him later in 1979 (from Salem’s Lot, and other music-related and off-set photos), it seems he shaved the mustache soon after Starsky and Hutch ended.
So why did he grow it? I have no idea. I can’t get into the man’s head. What I know is, he grew the ‘stache.
What he must have known was that, if he was going to keep the mustache into the fall of ’78, the mustache would radically change Hutch’s image. However, so would Soul’s longer hair, back brace, and necessarily baggy, untucked shirts. These things make Hutch appear much more casual, and to some viewers, less slender.
Of course, Soul couldn’t help his back injury. Perhaps he saw himself and realized Hutch wasn’t going to look the same anymore, no doubt about it, and he thought, What the heck, let’s keep the mustache too.
From what I know of Soul, he wouldn’t have kept the mustache without taking into consideration what it would do for the character of Hutch. Soul, along with Glaser, was incredibly invested in his character and character-building (they were the two who made Starsky and Hutch are deep as they were, I believe). He had to maintain a certain continuity . . . at least in basic personality. You could argue the mustache was a fashion change, a purely external change.
Yes, but it still changed how people viewed Hutch, and Soul had to know that. He knew he was changing his character, but for some reason went ahead with it.
Why the change? And why the fourth season? Soul had gone three seasons clean-shaven, the golden boy. Now, after several years, Hutch suddenly grows a mustache. Why would he?
Some say it’s part of the overall change of the character. While Starsky changed in the fourth season, too, he didn’t change nearly as much as Hutch. Some say Hutch, in the fourth season, has become so worn and wearied by police work (which is very probable) that he starts letting things go a little. See http://fanlore.org/wiki/Hutch%27s_Mustache.
Some people say Hutch’s attitude, even his personality somewhat, changed as well in the fourth season, which I think is easily backed up (see the previous link as well as the excellent Compendium, https://archiveofourown.org/works/5815615), but that’s for another post.)
Others say he grew his mustache to assert his masculinity, citing sexual tension between him and Starsky (see above Fanlore link)—which I toss right out the window.
Or maybe Hutch just wanted to have a little fun.
I’m inclined to believe the first view, because of another factor. It’s obvious David Soul and David Starsky were both aging (as if people don’t age!); even though only four years had gone by by the end of season 4, still, four years had gone by. Both men were closer to forty than thirty.
You can see this in Soul’s face by the end of season 3. Still, there is a drastic difference in season 4. It’s true that mustaches make men look older; perhaps the mustache or ever-lengthening hairstyle contribute to this impression. But there are lines on Hutch’s face in season 4; so many lines. It’s like the man aged a million years in a few months.
(That raises another question, of course, of how much time is supposed to have passed between seasons 3 and 4—but that’s not for this post.)
He just looks older. Starsky does, too, but at times he doesn’t. Hutch, on the other hand, looks older all the time.
I have a hard time believing Soul didn’t just miss that fact. I don’t know if he and Glaser got to see film of season 4 before it aired, but I would bet they saw something of themselves. If Soul (or the director, or producer) didn’t want Hutch to look so aged, he would have done something about it. Makeup, hair change, different lighting. Something. But obviously Soul was okay with the look.
Which tells me he meant for Hutch to look older. Which meant Hutch was undergoing some serious changes, and probably some serious struggles.
Which is why I support the first opinion I listed, that the brutality of police work is finally catching up to Hutch (it did take a long time, but hey, he can be pretty idealistic underneath the surface), and as a result of the stress—and the doubts he has, perhaps, of continuing in police work (see Targets Without a Badge especially)—he looks older.
Maybe I’m making a lot of assumptions. But I have to explain that ‘stache somehow, otherwise I might just go crazy every time I see it. (If you can’t tell already, I lean more towards the camp that doesn’t like the mustache—only because I’ve seen Hutch without one for so long. But, what can you do.)
CloserThanBrothers 