Baretta

Baretta
Baretta title screen
Genre	Detective fiction
Created by	Stephen J. Cannell
Starring	Robert Blake Dana Elcar Tom Ewell Michael D. Roberts
Theme music composer	Dave Grusin Morgan Ames
Opening theme	"Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow" Performed by Sammy Davis, Jr. Music performed by El Chicano
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	82 (list of episodes)
Production
Production companies	Roy Huggins-Public Arts Productions Universal Television
Distributor	MCA TV (1980-1981) NBCUniversal Television Distribution (2004-2011)
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	January 17, 1975 (1975-01-17) – May 18, 1978 (1978-05-18)
Chronology
Preceded by	Toma

Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978.^[1]

The show was a revised and milder version of a 1973–1974 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma. When Musante left the series after a single season, the concept was retooled as Baretta, with Robert Blake in the title role.^[2][3]

"Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow," the show's theme music, was composed by Dave Grusin and Morgan Ames^[4] and sung by Sammy Davis Jr.^[5]

Overview[]

Anthony Vincenzo "Tony" Baretta is an unorthodox plainclothes police detective (Badge #609) with the 53rd Precinct in an unnamed, fictional city. He resides in Apartment 2C of the run-down King Edward Hotel with Fred, his Triton cockatoo. A master of disguise, Baretta wears many while performing his duties. When not working he usually wears a short-sleeve sweatshirt, casual slacks, a brown suede jacket and a newsboy cap.

Baretta is often seen with an unlit cigarette in his lips or behind his ear. His catchphrases include "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time", "You can take dat to da bank" and "And dat's the name of dat tune." When exasperated, he occasionally speaks in asides to his late father, Louie Baretta. He drives a rusted-out Mist Blue 1966 Chevrolet Impala four-door sport sedan nicknamed "The Blue Ghost" (license plate 532 BEM). He frequents Ross's Billiard Academy and refers to his numerous girlfriends as his "cousins".

Episodes[]

Cast[]

• Anthony Vincenzo "Tony" Baretta (Robert Blake), a police detective.
• Billy Truman (Tom Ewell), retired cop who used to work with Baretta's father Louie at the 53rd Precinct.
• Rooster (Michael D. Roberts), a streetwise pimp and Baretta's favorite informant.
• Inspector Shiller (Dana Elcar) and Lieutenant Hal Brubaker (), Baretta's supervisors.
• Detective Foley (John Ward), police detective.
• Fats (Chino 'Fats' Williams), a gravelly-voiced, older detective.
• Detective Nopke (Ron Thompson), a rookie detective.^[6]
• Little Moe (Angelo Rossitto), a shoeshine man and informant.
• Mr. Nicholas (Titos Vandis), a mob boss.
• Mr. Muncie (), the owner of a liquor store at 52nd and Main.

Production[]

Upon watching Blake in the 1973 film Electra Glide in Blue, then ABC executive Michael Eisner contacted the star about doing a police series, which culminated in Baretta. Blake was given creative control in most aspects of production.^[7]

Baretta with Fred.

The theme song, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow", was written by Dave Grusin and Morgan 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." According to Blake, studio executives did not want Davis's vocals for the theme song for fear that audiences would confuse Baretta for being a black series. Blake threatened to leave production if Davis's recording was rejected. His bosses relented.^[8]

The song was released as a single in Europe in 1976, reaching number one in the Dutch Top 40 as "Baretta's Theme". The music for the theme song was performed by Los Angeles-based Latin influenced Rock band El Chicano from Los Angeles, California. El Chicano also released the song as a 45 and also as a track on one of their albums. The "Baretta" theme song by El Chicano was a huge hit in many countries including Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore, France and The Philippines.

The song was released as a single in the US, but only charted as high as #42 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, while it "bubbled under the Hot 100" at #101.

Broadcast syndication[]

After its initial run in syndication beginning in 1979, the series later re-appeared on TV Land in 1999 as part of a package of series licensed from Universal. MeTV aired reruns of Baretta on Saturday afternoons in 2007.

Home media[]

On October 29, 2002, Universal Studios released the first season of Baretta on Region 1 DVD in the United States.^[9]

Cultural references[]

Mad magazine spoofed the series as "Barfetta".

In Taskmaster Live, a 2016 show at the Edinburgh Festival contested by five television executives, Jeff Ford, the UK Managing Director of Fox Networks Group and SVP and Content Development Manager for Europe and Africa, described Baretta as a "lesser known 1960s vehicle".

In the Barney Miller episode "Copycat", Detective Arthur Dietrich tells a copycat criminal that cops and committing a crime are not like they are depicted on television, and ends by saying, "And dat's the name of dat tune."

In the film Reservoir Dogs, protagonist Mr. Orange steels himself before meeting main antagonist Joe Cabot by saying "You're not gonna get hurt. You're fucking Baretta. They believe every fucking word 'cause you're super cool."

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baretta.

• Baretta at IMDb
• TV Character Bio: Tony Baretta at TV Acres
• Roy Huggins discusses the creation of Baretta in an Archive of American Television Interview