Outré Intro: The Equalizer (1985 - 1989)

The first trailer for the new Denzel Washington film, The Equalizer (2014) was released recently, and it brought back a lot of great memories.  

I was a devoted viewer of the original CBS TV series, The Equalizer (1985 – 1989), which starred the great Edward Woodward as an ex-spy, Robert McCall, helping out ordinary -- but desperate -- people, in the crime-ridden Reagan Era New York City.

McCall was a hero unlike virtually any other on TV at the time. Although he was an older man (in his sixties, perhaps), he was an absolute bad-ass. McCall didn’t tote big guns like Rambo and he wasn’t physically intimidating, either.  Instead, he had presence...and cunning.  He was sharp like a knife, and could out-wit -- as well as outfight -- any opponent.  I loved watching Woodward in his role on The Equalizer, and was sorry to see the series end after four seasons.

The introduction to The Equalizer is a great artifact of its age: the mid-to-late 1980s. 

It features a barrage of music-video jump cuts, a pounding, staccato theme song and it is all about one thing: the extreme danger of the “urban” jungle.  

The series was broadcast during a time when the crime rate in New York was through the roof. The Equalizer started airing not long after the Bernhard Goetz subway incident (December 22, 1984), and was on the airwaves for both the Jennifer Levin/Robert Chambes “Preppie Killer” case, and the Central Park jogger/wilding case.

The idea of New York City as a concrete jungle is played out visually in the series’ introduction.  

The montage begins with a point-of-view shot from a busy street, as if we are in car, racing down the avenue.  But in truth, it looks like we are in a canyon between giant skyscrapers.  Making the image more terrifying, it is night time.  The sky is dark, impenetrable.

A second shot is a pan across the skyline, from a high-altitude.

These two opening shots inform us of something important about the series. The Equalizer concerns both “street level” crime, and the crimes of those in penthouse apartments.  McCall can help you in either case

In the next shot, we swoop (or zoom) back down to city level, and see a person running across a mostly-vacant street at night.  He seems to be running for his life.  The figure is tiny, a victim unnoticed by the Establishment, or by society at large.

This visual is followed quickly by other shots that suggest overt,  immediate and frequent danger.  We see a door crack open, and someone peering in at us.

After that, we gaze down (from a view suggesting doom), at a woman alone in an elevator with someone who reads, visually, as a gang member or thug.  He may be planning to rob, rape or murder her.  To accent the point, we get an extreme close-up of her panicked eyes.

The litany of horrors continues.  A man standing in a phone booth sees head-lights shining on his face, as if he is going to be attacked by someone in a car.  

Then, in broad daylight, a stalker leaves his car and pursues an unwitting woman into an office building.  The point of view suggests he is watching her, and planning no good, and that she is unaware both of his presence and his intentions

Up next, we get one of the most important compositions in the montage: a hand works at a small scale, and the balance of the device is off. One of the scale’s plates dips at a lop-sided angle…because crime is winning in this urban jungle!  

Who will right the scales of justice?

Then, the horrific moments of out-of-control crime resume. A woman misses her subway, and a stranger steps out onto the lonely platform to challenge and threaten her

Then our hero appears, in shadow, for the first time. We see McCall’s silhouette.  He can no longer remain in the shadows and watch all these injustices.  He will soon emerge to help the helpless…

Another stalking incident is next. We watch from another first-person subjective shot how someone -- a shadow – is stalking a woman on the side-walk.  At first we see only her feet, increasing their pace.  Then we get an extreme high-angle, looking down, as the shadow nears his quarry.

Now the force of justice emerges at last.  At first he is merely a shadow on a brick wall.  But soon, the mist clears -- literally -- and we meet…The Equalizer!

After the title of the series, we meet our star, Edward Woodward, and the punchy theme jump-cuts us out of the montage.

One of the most paranoid, over-the-top introductions ever created, The Equalizer depicts a populace in total fear and a city in chaos. It suggests that one man -- the right man -- can shine a light on this terrible, urban darkness.  

Below, you can watch the entire montage in motion.