Baretta | |
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Baretta title screen |
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Format | Police drama |
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. |
Country of origin | United States |
Language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 82 (List of episodes) |
Broadcast | |
Original channel | ABC |
Original run | January 17, 1975 | – May 18, 1978
Chronology | |
Preceded by | Toma |
Baretta is an American detective television 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 Jersey police 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.
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Detective Anthony Vincenzo "Tony" Baretta is an unorthodox plainclothes cop (badge #609) with the 53rd precinct, who lives with Fred, his Triton Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, in apartment 2C at the run-down King Edward Hotel in an unnamed Eastern city (presumably Newark, New Jersey). The actual location was obviously Los Angeles.
Supporting characters include:
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 da bank" and "And dat‘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 Impala four-door 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 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." The song was released as a single in Europe in 1976, reaching number one in the Dutch Top 40 as "Baretta's Theme".
On October 29, 2002, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first season of Baretta on Region 1 DVD in the United States. It is unknown if the remaining three seasons will be released.
DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
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Season 1 | 12 | October 29, 2002 |
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