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List Price: $59.95 | | Label: Rykodisc
Salesrank: 30742
Released: June 28, 2005 |
| Our Price: $199.99 |
| Used Price: $26.99 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
For The First Time Ever
The Four Top-Rated SPENSER Movies
In One Explosive Collection
Following the surprise cancellation of the hit series Spenser: For Hire, ABC produced four full-length movies starring the late Robert Urich as the wisecracking-but-deadly Boston detective. Avery Brooks (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) co-stars as ‘Hawk’ in these television events based on the best-selling books by Robert B. Parker that The New York Times calls "one of the great series in the history of the American detective story."
SPENSER: CEREMONY
Starring Robert Urich, Avery Brooks, Barbara Williams
Screenplay by Robert P. Parker & Joan H. Parker
When a 16-year-old girl disappears into Boston’s sleazy underbelly, Spenser and Hawk pull the trigger on a teen pornography ring that leads to a shocking final twist.
SPENSER: PALE KINGS AND PRINCES
Starring Robert Urich, Avery Brooks, Barbara Williams, Alex Carter (CSI), Matthew Ferguson (La Femme Nikita)
Screenplay by Robert P. Parker & Joan H. Parker
Spenser, his ‘lady shrink’ girlfriend Susan Silverman, and Hawk investigate a brutal murder in a quaint New England town where snow falls in kilo packages.
SPENSER: THE JUDAS GOAT
Starring Robert Urich, Avery Brooks, Wendy Crewson (24, AIR FORCE ONE)
Spenser is hired out-of-town and may be out of his league when a terrorist group with a taste for car bombs targets a controversial African leader.
SPENSER: A SAVAGE PLACE
Starring Robert Urich, Avery Brooks, Cynthia Dale, Wendy Crewson
A TV news cameraman is found murdered, and Spencer is hired by an old flame to investigate a movie producer who may be shooting more than film.
Spenser For Hire - the Movie Collection Reviews:
A Mere Shadow of the TV Series 
2009-11-10 - As a big fan of the '85-'88 Spenser: For Hire TV series, I anticipated the arrival of my Amazon order of this Spenser movie collection. My anticipation quickly dried up - replaced by a sense of shock and sorrow...
"Ceremony", the first chronologically of these Made-for-TV movies, bears the closest resemblance to the TV series. Robert Urich (Spenser) and Avery Brooks (Hawk) do their usual stellar work and the movie has the feel (and strength of story line) close to the original Spenser series. It's a touch off, in terms of quality, but forgivable for Spenser fans.
The other movies here - Pale Kings and Princes, The Judas Goat, and A Savage Place - are a disappointment, at best. I could certainly use the terms "pale" and "savage" from the individual titles in describing these poor attempts at recreating the feel and strength of the Spenser TV series, but I'll leave that to your imagination... But to sum up the experience: I found watching these three painful - especially considering Urich and Brooks, who I consider excellent actors and all-around "classy", seemed surrounded - perhaps trapped - by thin story lines and poor acting that not even they could save.
Bottom line? Far from satisfying, this collection deeply disappoints and I don't know that there are adequate words to fully describe that disappointment. Buy "Ceremony" by itself and save your money and time - this collection is not worth either. As another reviewer said, "Spenser, Spenser, where art thou?"
Spenser doesn't fail to please 
2009-09-08 - Having read most of Robert B Parkser's books, it was a natural progression to be curious about the Spenser TV and Movie series. I can't believe I never watched them, being a kid of the 70's. I found the movies to be a bit campy, as they should have been, and they were great fun to watch. They were authentic Robert B Parker stories and well worth watching.
"Spenser for Hire" Movie Collection 
2009-06-03 - Spenser For Hire - the Movie Collection
These movies are great stories and the quality of the DVDs is first class. Plus, they arrived in our mailbox very quickly and we didn't order any special mailing package. Good choice for family entertainment.
Old school
2009-04-18 - Now all I have to do is find the tv series!! Check them out! This is a good set to have. Especialy if your from Boston!
Long-time Spenser Fan
2009-02-03 - As a long-time fan of the Spenser character I was delighted to discover these movies. I thought I remembered a TV series a couple of decades ago that I didn't particularly enjoy (but I hadn't discovered the books at that time.) I enjoyed all four of the movies but the first two were better. Wendy Crewson was terribly miscast as Susan. I hadn't seen the Spenser, for Hire DVDs when I watched these four movies so I thought the woman playing Susan in the first two was perfectly fine. After purchasing the Spenser, for Hire DVDs, however, and seeing Barbara Stock in the Susan Silverman role I have to say that she was the best. By the way, the Spenser, for Hire DVDs that I purchased were of very poor quality. There were 17 discs and over 1/2 of them were damaged. Disc 16 was a duplicate of disc 15. So yes, Warner, let's have a quality production of this great series. P.S. Does anyone know why the Susan Silverman character is missing from Season Two?
