The Equalizer

The Equalizer is perhaps one of the best crime fighting shows on the small screen. The character Robert McCall is a well conceived character. His jaguar is a very cool sidekick and provides a very sleek supporting role for McCall. It's a very original show to come across television. Edward Woodward portrays McCall really well, he becomes McCall. This show is a serious show, people die on the show, from time to time there are gunfights. Another feature of the show is the cool musical theme that gives The Equalizer a very harmonic soundtrack. I give this show a 2 thumbs up.moreless

I love watching the Equalizer in action. This show has humor, drama and action all tied in each show. Each show has a real significance to real life. I would love to call the equalizer and have him fix all of my problems. Each of the characters in this show bring the show to life, especially the equalizer.

The Equalizer, Robert McCall, was the dark hero, unlike the other shows of this period, he was ivolved in helping people despite the cost to himself, his personal life and regardless of sometimes not being wanted. A man with a past who did what was needed to help those in need.

Robert McCall was not the young sexy hunk with the hip night clubs or talking cars but the mature man of experience who sought to give back some good to a world he had seen to much bad of.

Intelligent and often sarcastically witty, the show was before it's time and inventive despite dealing with many issues that were taboo at the time. 1 episode was not universally aired due to the topic therein.

Edward Woodward was appealing and comforting as the hero in the black hat, capable, conversant and knowledgable, he made the show what it was...a before it's time classic.

Guest stars included Robert Mitchum, Richard Jordan, Robert Lansing, Christian Slater, Kevin Spacey, Adam Ant, Telly Savalas, and many more.

It would be great to see the series re air before the movie was released...and it is too much to hope that Edward Woodward or his son Peter will be in the movie.

It was not the actor's accent that made the show, it was his style combined with calm strength...distinguished but not flashy or pretentious. Fitting the mold will not be easy.moreless

In the pilot, ex-super spy Robert McCall is sometimes uncertain how to proceed and makes errors in judgment. In the second episode, China Rain, he is in complete control and uses contacts and methods from his sordid past to craft the perfect strategy to save the kidnapped boy. The night club scene in China Rain establishes this side of McCall's persona for the series. This becomes evident immediately as he walks through the club. In his perfectly-cut, dark, conservative suit (with the signature lapel pin), this slightly overweight, fifty-something man should feel glaringly out of place among the young Chinese dressed in the latest 1985 fashions. But he is not. McCall is supremely self-aware and self-confident, and anything but out of place. And everyone knows it. This is someone to watch out for.

In the ensuing conversation with night club owner and former associate, Tommy Lee, McCall's reveals new sides of his interaction with the world and Edward Woodward reveals his range of acting skills. With small gestures, voice modifications, and facial changes, his tone varies from (albeit false) cordiality, to quietly menacing, to calm but clearly threatening. For example, a few words, and a tightening of his voice and lips reveal how dangerous he is when they talk about an incident from their past. How is his hand, she asks? He replies that he saw Paul Lau a year ago in Hong Kong. Did he ever found out whether Lau had given him up? McCall returns in a low voice filled with menace that he (Lau) is still alive, isn't he? Viewers next find more out about the job McCall has resigned from and his disgust about it: this time his mission was providing protection for Tommy Lee's heroin running. Tommy taunts him by saying he did everything for the ring but earn the money. Revulsion showing on his face with the heroin running, but also with himself for having facilitated it, McCall immediately changes the subject to the reason he is there: to find a little Chinese boy. Tommy cannot believe that a man like McCall is here about some Chinese kid. But yes, that is why he is here. What's in it for her? There's nothing in it for her. She's got enough nothing already. Now his tone turns even more menacing when he spits out that it's for OLD TIMES; she understands immediately that he can be very dangerous to her. Suitably frightened, she gives him information. When it isn't enough for McCall, she says that she owes him, but not enough to go to war. In yet a different tone, he snarls that HE is the war she has to avoid. Knowing she indeed wants to avoid this man's enmity, she reveals a secret which leads to his finding the boy.

There are other aspects of this episode that are noteworthy. The view of McCall in the darkened apartment listening to the businessman's telephone conversation from a perspective outside a rain streaked window is an example of the show's cinematographic excellence. We learn about McCall's methods through his meticulous planning of the police diversion and his use of former colleagues to find information. And, perhaps most noteworthy, the episode introduces the interaction between McCall and Mickey with some of their most memorable banter, for example their wry interchange while planning the rescue (McCall: I have set up a diversion. Mickey: What do we need a diversion for? Just kick in the door and hose the room. McCall: Mickey, there is a 5 year old boy in there. Mickey: Oh, yeah, we're going to need a diversion. McCall: I have set up a diversion.) This episode also has one of my favorite endings. McCall carries the little boy in his arms back to the apartment where his mother is waiting. Her back is turned when he puts the boy down. The boy says Mama and the mother turns as the boy rushes into her arms, underscored by the series' signature music. McCall finds out how it feels to do a good deed and we see whisper of a smile. Maybe he can be redeemed after all.moreless

I used to love this show when I was younger. It features Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) as a former secret agent of a shadowy organisation just refered to as 'the Company'.

Set in New York, McCall helps people in trouble from all sorts of miscreants, whether they be rapists, drug-dealers, murderers or kidnappers or other such nasty folk!

He'd offer his services 'for free' but insist that he would call upon his clients in the future for their help, and they could not refuse him.

The show also has a great opening soundtrack and incidental music. It was composed by Stewart Copeland, founder and drummer of the band 'The Police'.

There are so many good things about this show, and Edward Woodward plays his role expertly, along with an endless stream of guest stars. Watch it if you get the chance.moreless