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Honey West
Aug. 20th, 2014 10:41 pmHoney West is a half-hour serial that ran for 30 episodes from 1965-1966. Starring Anne Francis, it's the first mystery TV series to b named after a female detective (if not the first mystery series to have a female protagonist, that one I'm actually not sure about).
Based on a series of books that I haven't read, Honey inherits her father's detective agency, along with his junior partner, Sam, a former marine. Rounding out the agency is Honey's aunt, Meg, who largely functions as secretary and confidant. Honey and Sam both know Judo and use a variety of James Bond-like devices while on cases. On a typical case, Sam does surveillance in the van while Honey does most of the hands-on work.
I tend to automatically adjust my expectations to a degree when watching older shows/movies, but even so, I think this holds up pretty well. While some characters may question Honey's competence as a detective, the narrative itself never really does, and Honey has one or more fight scene in almost every episode. The fight scenes are actually better than those in most 60s movies that I've seen, as someone apparently bothered to teach Anne Francis and John Ericson at least the basics of Judo. Most Hollywood action scenes from the period that I've seen involve the fake "pow!" punch and people throwing other people. Honey punches, kicks, throws people over her shoulder and smashes things over their heads regularly, and has the same happen to her. While there are a number of times that Sam dashes in to the rescue, this mostly only occurs either because he's learned they were wrong about who/what she'd be facing, or because something has gone wrong on a case. There's never a real "well, Honey's a girl so she can't take care of herself" subtext to the show, and Honey tends to come to Sam's rescue as often as not. The series also came about before the memo that if you have a crime solving duo, one HAS to be orderly and by-the-books, and the other HAS to always come up with "harebrained" schemes and charge off on what should be illogical tracks that pay off, and that if it's a male/female pair, the conservative one HAS to be the female and the one who thinks outside the box which always pays off) has to be the male, especially if there's any will hey/won't they going on, because it's pretty much the opposite here. Honey also apparently has a pretty healthy sex (or at least, social with plenty of first base) life, which there isn't any judgement of.
It's far from perfect. The resolution of most cases is pretty obvious early on, and there's a good bit of casual sexism, though it's better there than many other things from the period. (And, sadly, better than some today.) The few times POC appear are also...really best not discussed. Just assume you'll be cringing a fair bit on those rare occasions. But it's still a fun series and, IMO, worth watching.
Based on a series of books that I haven't read, Honey inherits her father's detective agency, along with his junior partner, Sam, a former marine. Rounding out the agency is Honey's aunt, Meg, who largely functions as secretary and confidant. Honey and Sam both know Judo and use a variety of James Bond-like devices while on cases. On a typical case, Sam does surveillance in the van while Honey does most of the hands-on work.
I tend to automatically adjust my expectations to a degree when watching older shows/movies, but even so, I think this holds up pretty well. While some characters may question Honey's competence as a detective, the narrative itself never really does, and Honey has one or more fight scene in almost every episode. The fight scenes are actually better than those in most 60s movies that I've seen, as someone apparently bothered to teach Anne Francis and John Ericson at least the basics of Judo. Most Hollywood action scenes from the period that I've seen involve the fake "pow!" punch and people throwing other people. Honey punches, kicks, throws people over her shoulder and smashes things over their heads regularly, and has the same happen to her. While there are a number of times that Sam dashes in to the rescue, this mostly only occurs either because he's learned they were wrong about who/what she'd be facing, or because something has gone wrong on a case. There's never a real "well, Honey's a girl so she can't take care of herself" subtext to the show, and Honey tends to come to Sam's rescue as often as not. The series also came about before the memo that if you have a crime solving duo, one HAS to be orderly and by-the-books, and the other HAS to always come up with "harebrained" schemes and charge off on what should be illogical tracks that pay off, and that if it's a male/female pair, the conservative one HAS to be the female and the one who thinks outside the box which always pays off) has to be the male, especially if there's any will hey/won't they going on, because it's pretty much the opposite here. Honey also apparently has a pretty healthy sex (or at least, social with plenty of first base) life, which there isn't any judgement of.
It's far from perfect. The resolution of most cases is pretty obvious early on, and there's a good bit of casual sexism, though it's better there than many other things from the period. (And, sadly, better than some today.) The few times POC appear are also...really best not discussed. Just assume you'll be cringing a fair bit on those rare occasions. But it's still a fun series and, IMO, worth watching.
