Main Cast: Robert Blake, Dana Elcar, Tom Ewell, Michael D. Roberts, Chino "Fats" Williams
Release Year: 1975
Country: US
Run Time: 60 minutes
Plot
Created by Stephen J. Cannell, the weekly, hour-long crime series Baretta rose from the ashes of 1973's Toma, a short-lived weekly based on the exploits of David Toma, a real-life undercover cop with a penchant for elaborate disguises. For the "new" series, only two vestiges of the original Toma remained: Lead character Tony Baretta was an undercover detective, and he revelled in adopting bizarre costumes and eccentric "alternate" personalities. Otherwise, the two characters could not have been further apart. Remaining faithful to its source, Toma featured a tough but compassionate New Jersey cop who, though he preferred to buck the system and argue with his superior officers when pursuing a case, generally played by the rules; he also had a loving wife and two darling children, and lived in a modest but comfortable and well-appointed home. Conversely, Tony Baretta was a logical extension of Robert Blake, the bantam-cock actor who played the role. Like Blake, the streewise Baretta was fiercely, almost violently independent, bending and breaking the rules whenever possible and making no secret of his disdain for the by-the-book instincts of his superiors. And if Toma was diligent in his pursuit of lawbreakers, Baretta was downright savage; one suspects that he would have blown them to bits had he possessed the appropriate hardware. Also, unlike family man Toma, Baretta was single and a loner, his one bid for domestic bliss having been destroyed when his erstwhile fiancée was killed in the very first episode. Almost as if he was doing penance for allowing himself to be happy, Baretta lived in a rundown flophouse, managed by disheveled former cop Billy Truman. Outside of Billy and his pet cockatoo Fred, Baretta had no close friends: Certainly there was no love lost between himself and his commanding officer Insp. Shiller (Dana Elcar), while Tony's favorite street informant Rooster (Michael D. Roberts) was not exactly the sort of fellow one could call a bosom companion. Baretta was unceremoniously tossed into ABC's Friday-night schedule beginning January 17, 1975, as a midseason replacement for the canceled Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Clearly, the network felt that the series was expendable, inasmuch as it was slated opposite NBC's ratings magnet Police Woman. Within a few weeks, however, Baretta developed a respectable following, most of which was engendered by press reports of star Robert Blake's tiltings with the "suits" (his word for network executives) over the series' violence quotient and overall authenticity. By the time the series had completed its inaugural 12-episode run, Baretta was a shoo-in for renewal -- and Robert Blake had earned enough clout to start calling the shots so far as program content and casting choices were concerned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Roy Huggins - Executive Producer, Bernard Kowalski - Executive Producer, Leigh Vance - Executive Producer, Anthony Spinner - Executive Producer, Jo Swerling, Jr. - Executive Producer, Dave Grusin - Composer (Music Score), Tom Scott - Composer (Music Score), Sherman Kunkel - Cinematographer, Alan Godfrey - Producer, Charles Dismukes - Producer, Sammy Davis, Jr. - Singer
Episodes
Baretta: A Bite of the Apple Baretta: Aggie Baretta: All That Shatters Baretta: And Down Will Come Baby Baretta: Barney Baretta: Big, Bad Charlie Baretta: Buddy Baretta: Can't Win for Losin'... Baretta: Carla Baretta: Count the Days I'm Gone Baretta: Crazy Annie Baretta: Dead Man Out Baretta: Dear Tony Baretta: Death on the Run Baretta: Don't Kill the Sparrows Baretta: Double Image Baretta: Everybody Pays the Fare Baretta: Guns and Brothers Baretta: Half-a-Million Dollar Baby Baretta: He'll Never See Daylight Again Baretta: Hot Horse Baretta: I'll Take You to Lunch Baretta: If You Can't Pay the Price Baretta: It Goes with the Job Baretta: It's a Boy Baretta: It's Hard But It's Fair Baretta: Just for Laughs Baretta: Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow Baretta: Look Back in Terror Baretta: Lyman P. Dokker, Fed. Baretta: Murder for Me Baretta: New Girl in Town Baretta: Nobody in a Nothing Place Baretta: Not on Our Block Baretta: Nothin' for Nothin' Baretta: On the Road Baretta: Open Season Baretta: Pay or Die Baretta: Photography by John Doe Baretta: Playin' Police Baretta: Por Nada Baretta: Ragtime Billy Peaches Baretta: Runaway Cowboy Baretta: Season 01 Baretta: Season 02 Baretta: Season 03 Baretta: Season 04 Baretta: Set-Up City Baretta: Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth Baretta: Shoes Baretta: Soldier in the Jungle Baretta: Street Edition Baretta: That Sister Ain't No Cousin Baretta: The Appointment Baretta: The Big Hand's on Trouble Baretta: The Blood Bond Baretta: The Bundle Baretta: The Coppelli Oath Baretta: The Dippers Baretta: The Dream Baretta: The Fire Man Baretta: The Five and a Half Pound Junkie Baretta: The Gadjo Baretta: The Glory Game Baretta: The Good-Bye Orphan Annie Blues Baretta: The Left Hand of the Devil Baretta: The Mansion Baretta: The Marker Baretta: The Ninja Baretta: The Reunion Baretta: The Runaways Baretta: The Secret of Terry Lake Baretta: The Sky is Falling Baretta: The Snake Chaser Baretta: The Stone Conspiracy Baretta: They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To Baretta: Think Mink Baretta: This Ain't My Bag Baretta: Under the City Baretta: Walk Like You Talk Baretta: When Dues Come Down Baretta: Who Can Make the Sun Shine? Baretta: Why Me? Baretta: Woman in the Harbor Baretta: Woman Trouble
Baretta is a Americandetectivetelevision series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jerseypolice officer David Toma. While popular, Toma received intense criticism at the time for its realistic and frequent depiction of police and criminal violence. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.
Synopsis
Detective Anthony Vincenzo "Tony" Baretta is an unorthodox plainclothes cop (badge #609) with the 53rd precinct, who lives with Fred, his pet cockatoo, in apartment 2C at the run-down King Edward Hotel in an unnamed Eastern city (presumably Newark, New Jersey).
Supporting characters include:
Billy Truman (Tom Ewell), the elderly hotel manager/house detective, who used to work with Tony’s father Louie at the 53rd Precinct.
Tony's supervisors Inspector Shiller (Dana Elcar) and Lieutenant Hal Brubaker (Edward Grover).
Detective Foley (John Ward), an irritating stick-in-the-mud.
"Fats" (Chino Williams), a gravelly-voiced black detective who goes on stakeouts with Tony.
Detective Nopke (Ron Thompson), a rookie who admires Baretta‘s street smarts.
Little Moe (Angelo Rossitto), a midget shoeshine guy and informant.
Mr. Nicholas (Titos Vandis), a mob boss.
Mr. Muncie (Paul Lichtman), the owner of a liquor store at 52nd and Main.
Like his model David Toma, Tony Baretta wore many disguises on the job. When not in disguise, Baretta wore a T-shirt, jeans and a soft cap. He often carried an unlit cigarette in his lips or behind his ear. His catchphrases included "You can take dat to the bank" and "And that‘s the name of dat tune." When exasperated he would occasionally speak in asides to his late father Louie Baretta.
Tony drove a rusted-out 1966 Chevy 4-door Impala sedan nicknamed "The Blue Ghost" (license plate 532 BEN). He hung out at Ross’s Billiard Academy and referred to his numerous girlfriends as his "cousins."
The theme song, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow", was written by Dave Grusin and M. Ames; initially an instrumental, lyrics were added in later seasons that were sung by Sammy Davis Jr.. Every episode of Baretta began with the song, which contained the motto, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
