|  | Actors: Anne Francis, John Ericson, Bruce the Ocelot
Studio: Vci Entertainment
List Price: $39.99
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Rating:  72 reviews
Sales Rank: 11783
Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 4
Running Time: 900 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 8515
UPC: 089859851520
EAN: 0089859851520
ASIN: B001B0H7DG
Release Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Five Star Seller!!! New, factory sealed US Region 1 DVD. Item is 100% guaranteed not to be a bootleg or import. Item is shipped directly from our warehouse. Easy exchange if item defective or damaged in shipped.
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Showing reviews 21-25 of 72
See early Spelling develop his trademark formula - girls & guns! October 21, 2008
Brett D. Cullum (Houston, TX United States)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
HONEY WEST was a series starring Anne Francis that was a somewhat successful spin-off from another series called BURKE'S LAW. It premiered in 1965, and ran for one full season. On this DVD set we get all the episodes of HONEY's short run. Originally the show was designed for Honor Blackman, but she declined to do the Bond film GOLDFINGER. Anne Francis was cast, and the show broke ground for displaying the first female action star to hit the air. It was a formula Spelling would resurrect many times throughout his career, most notably in CHARLIE'S ANGELS. HONEY WEST only ran one year because ABC was planning on doing THE AVENGERS, and they worried only one female action star could be on their network at once. What a pity!
In this set from VCI we get 30 black and white episodes. The transfers are okay, but we do see some edge enhancement and pixelation now and then. As for extras we get two photo galleries set to music, vintage commercials, and promotional spots for the show. There could have been more, but amazing we get all of this in one package in the first place.
Sexy and funny, HONEY WEST is certainly one fans of empowered females will find irresistable. It's a kick!
The forerunner of so many TV shows, this series deserves more attention October 16, 2008
Gregory Ehrbar (Orlando, FL)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
This 1965 series is noted as groundbreaking in pop culture history because it was the first to feature a female private detective (or as the Ideal board game called her, a "girl private eye"). Tough and independent yet sultry and willowy, Honey apparently inherited her father's detective agency, has a pet ocelot named Bruce and works with a hunky partner, Sam Bolt, whom I surmise from the dialogue in one episode was a marine and from a ridiculous robe he wears in another, a boxer.
Sam's character is standard rough-and-tumble ladies' man issue for the genre and is frequently irritated by Honey's more impulsive decisions. Of course, they have a bickering yet cute relationship that bubbles with over and undertones.
The stories themselves are also garden variety for the period, but nicely written (some by "Columbo" creators Richard Levinson and William Link) and well paced within a tidy 30 minutes that never gets padded nor rushed. It's too bad that TV drama no longer seems to utilize that time frame.
Producer Aaron Spelling reportedly launched Honey West in response to seeing The Avengers before it was imported to the U.S. with its iconic Emma Peel character, which ultimately eclipsed this series. The idea of a beautiful, strong female lead who does karate and has some cat suits in her wardrobe is the main similarity, though. Honey's show does not have the surreal, sometimes fantastic approach of the British series, nor does it have the unflappable, relentlessly affable John Steed.
What it does have is the extraordinarily comely Anne Francis, still every bit as memorable as she was in that classic Twilight Zone episode, "The After Hours." She is an excellent choice for a TV character that must have been a bit of a jolt to some viewers in 1965 who were used to Jane Wyatt and Donna Reed. Francis straddles the then-precarious line of being emancipated and in control and yet approachable and disarming. John Ericson, who Disney fans might recognize as the German colonel in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" or Barbara Eden's love interest in "The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao," is suitably granite-jawed as Bolt, the kind of private eye that might have stepped off a paperback novel cover.
The lead actors seem to have the most fun playing undercover characters. Honey occasionally is "forced for investigative reasons" to don skimpy outfits - a standout being a tigerish car hop. Some of her outfits seem sexist by today's standards, but it's interesting to note that, in the somewhat more enlightened 1970s, Sgt. Pepper Anderson frequently posed as a hooker on "Police Woman" as a way to get Angie Dickinson into tight fits. It's TV, I guess.
Baby boomers like me will love spotting actors in guest roles throughout the series, many of whom went on to more prominence, including soon-to-be teen idol Bobby Sherman (who sings "Walking with My Baby"), pre-Marcia Marcia Marcia Maureen McCormick, "Hill Street Blues'" James B. Sikking, Miss America host Bert Parks, Joe Don "Walking Tall" Baker, Wayne "M*A*S*H" Rogers and Dick Clark.
It's also a treasure trove of great character actors, like Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber of "The Andy Griffith Show), Eleanor Audley (of "Green Acres," "Sleeping Beauty," "Cinderella" and The Haunted Mansion) and Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone).
And speaking of "The Flintstones," you can hear Anne Francis herself promote that show in a promo on disc four in which she hawks the ABC lineup for Dallas/Fort Worth Channel 8. It's one of a collection of commercials included on each disc that really sets the tone of the period, with excellent prints of spots for everything from Sweeta, Dippity-Do and Seven Seas dressings to High Sierra After Shave and White Rain hairspray, plus stars like George Burns for El Producto cigars and Edie Adams for Muriel cigars.
Another trivia note for animation fans: the "Honey West" theme title sequence, a still photo montage with groovy graphics, was produced by Format Productions, the company that also produced 1961's "The Alvin Show."
There is also a nice little set of photo galleries, but sadly, no commentaries. That would make this set totally perfect, but other than that, it's the cat's meow.
A Honey of a set! October 16, 2008
the masked reviewer
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
From producer Aaron Spelling, this highly enjoyable series came out just as the TV landscape was heading into a more fantasy-based type of series (BATMAN, BEWITCHED, etc) and consequently didn't last more than a season. That's a shame because it is incredibly enjoyable. There's a decided camp appeal to the proceedings and Anne Francis, (you may remember her as Georgia in FUNNY GIRL), as the delightful title character is a joy to watch.
The packaging for this four disc set is attractive and the bonus features even offer us vintage commercials from the period.
If you enjoy Emma Peel you should definetly check out HONEY WEST!
Honey honey October 16, 2008
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
Every time a semi-intelligent, capable heroine appears on a hit TV show, we're told that now all those old cliched women's roles are passe, compared to Heroine X.
But Honey West was truly one of the groundbreaking TV heroines, way back in the mid 1960s when women were still classified either as housewives or girlfriends, and a sexy woman was usually an evil one. "Honey West: The Complete Series" ended up being a pretty solid, unique detective show, with a heroine who definitely broke the mold -- both back in the sixties, and in the current day.
Honey West (Anne Francis) inherited a detective agency from her father, and instead of living off other people's work she dove into it, along with her long-suffering (and very hot) partner Sam Bolt (John Ericson).
As the series opens, Honey attempts to nab a criminal for a client -- the baddies get lonely, wealthy widows and wives into sexual situations, photograph them, and then blackmail them for ridiculous amounts of money. To make herself a target, Honey stays at a luxurious resort and pretends to be the neglected wife of a senator... while Sam pretends to join the blackmailing gang. Of course, it doesn't take long for the bad guys to start catching onto them.
And as the series goes on, Honey and Sam have some interesting problems to deal with, both for themselves and for law and justice and all that -- firebugs, kidnapped pop singers, stolen designer dresses, a horrendously spoiled little girl, a jade owl, jewel thieves, gypsies, a mobster's ex, an amnesiac with way too much money, loads of counterfeiting, psychics, embezzlement, and lots and lots of assorted thieves. There's even one thief who impersonates the one and only Honey West. Now that's personal.
In many ways, Honey West was a heroine ahead of her time -- she was a smart, self-sufficient heroine who was perfectly okay with being feminine, rather than having to be one of the boys. She did martial arts (we even see her practicing at home), wore glamorous gowns, took professional calls from the tub, had a pet ocelot, and had a vaguely James-Bondian array of magical technology (like a garter that turns into a gas mask, or a watch that served as a microphone). Oh, and her partner happened to be not only a technical wiz, but also quite tough and handsome.
It's a testament to Anne Francis that she can make this character seem semi-realistic and likable (although Honey's rotten money sense helps) rather than utterly nauseating. Francis -- best known as the daughter from "Forbidden Planet" -- brings a jaunty, sharp-edged energy to Honey, and handles her groundbreaking character without any visible strain. Though Ericson is technically the sidekick, he's more of an equal partner -- handsome, capable, and with a sharp tongue whenever Honey enmeshes them in another weird problem.
The mysteries themselves are pretty solid, classic material -- blackmail, theft, kidnapping and drug-running are the major culprits, although occasionally they become a little too wacky to be believed. They're handled with a deft mingling of the gritty (car chases, truckstop brawls) and the refined (Honey's luxurious apartment), and the mysteries take us to lots of mansions, ransacked offices, museums, boats, woodland cabins and occasionally a catwalk. And of course, lots of disguises and fun gadgets too.
And it's peppered with lots of intriguing twists in the detective work, clashes with the Californian cops, mild comic relief ("Finders keepers?" Honey muses after rescuing stolen designer dresses), and plenty of table-busting action. Ericson does most of the punching and wrestling, but Honey gets her fair share also (not always convincingly), and she adds some clever twists during the action scenes. For example, one episode has two attack dogs homing in on Honey's distinctive perfume -- until she splashes the bottle all over their master. Guess what happens.
"Honey West: The Complete Series" has aged quite well since the 1960s -- it may be in black and white, but the solid mysteries and excellent heroine keep it fresh. Nice vintage crime series.
honey west the complete series ( 4 pc) (full B&W) October 16, 2008
Javier Erazo
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
excellent quality, fully restore, Anne Francis at her best,and Amazon delivery on time...... thanks you
Showing reviews 21-25 of 72
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