Honey West: The Complete Series (4pc) (Full B&W)

Honey West was a breakthrough series as it not only was an action series with a female lead but it was also an early attempt at syndication.

Anne Francis starred as Honey West. Honey inherited her father's detective agency and ran it with Sam Bolt. Since the episodes were only 25 minutes long, there was not a lot of room for red herrings and plot twists. This is probably what lead the show to its one season run. But Anne Francis is incandesent as the lead.

PS. Other manufactures should look at the packaging. 4 discs in a hardcase not much bigger than a 1 disc hardcase.

Honey West? I'd never heard the name before. I didn't know there was a whole series of novels, and I definitely didn't know that Anne Francis was a groundbreaker for future leading ladies. As I popped in the discs one by one, I was on the fast track to visit 1965 and find out all about The Swingin' Mrs. Jones.

The Episodes:

Truth be told, I didn't even blink at the episodes being in black & white, because I grew up with re-runs of other shows without color, but it took me a little while to get used to the show being only 30 minutes long.

Most of the episodes were pretty formulaic, but I could see the redefined gender roles: Honey would typically do all the investigating, and Sam would do more of the menial tasks like surveillance in the "H.W. Bolt & Co. TV Repairing" van. Honey would save the day with martial arts, while Sam would typically get knocked out from behind. Honey West got to change outfits about 2-3 times per episode: whether it was a bikini, an evening gown or a black catsuit, they only served to accentuate her drop-dead-gorgeous looks (yes, I am biased).

I never knew if I'd see a pair of glasses with a hidden microphone, a bottle of sun tan lotion as a homing device, or a garter belt as a gas mask.

One frequent technique I enjoyed were the quick cuts for humor. One minute Sam would be yelling at Honey saying "You are not gonna do any more crazy things! THAT'S THE..." and the scene immediately cuts to Honey at a movie theater with an usher saying "Ticket, please..."

Cameo roles? Well, I noticed Joe Don Baker, Richard Kiel, Dick Clark, Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone!), a very young Maureen McCormick, a.k.a. Marcia Brady, George Burns in a few cigar commercials, even a robot which appeared in a Gilligan's Island episode one year later!

Okay, how about the box set itself?

(1) First off, this is a space-saver's dream come true. All 4 discs come in a single DVD case so there's no worrying about finding shelf space for this series.

(2) Vintage Commercials:

I was pleased to find over 40 commercials in this box set. From Sylvania's Flash Cubes to Dippity-Do, each of them had me in stitches. The one for Sucrets relieving sore throat pain enough to smoke a cigarette never ceased to make me laugh!

(3) Glamour Shots: This feature is found on the first two discs of the set, showing promotional pictures of the cast as well as a few caricatures.

(4) Hidden Trailers: On the first disc there are trailers for "Next week's exciting episode of Honey West" - These are only accessible at the end of the credits of the first 3 episodes.

I can't go on with this review without a little recognition for some people behind the scenes:

(1) Honey's gowns were designed by Nolan Miller, a television costume designer who did work on the 1980s series "Dynasty", and "The Colbys".

(2) John Ericson's wardrobe was done by Botany 500, a men's apparel line which provided the wardrobe for Don Adams in "Get Smart", and several game show hosts such as Bob Barker and Dick Clark.

(3) Joseph Mullendore did the music for the episodes, and his unique dramatic music was also found in the original Star Trek series.

Are there any cons to this box set? There are but a few:

(1) The Vintage Commercials are not listed on any of the discs. Since there were over 40 advertisements, finding just one is impossible - we also have to fast-forward to the commercials we want, they do not have individual chapters.

(2) There is no Closed-Captioning on the episodes. Other shows from the 1960's have captions in their re-runs; I'm not sure why that wasn't done here.

Even with said drawbacks, I enjoyed this series very much. Honey West was a few years before my time, so I never knew Anne Francis paved the way for roles like Jennifer Garner in Alias or shows like Charlie's Angels. If you're a fan of retro television shows like The Avengers, You will definitely enjoy this.

With 30 episodes and the extra features, Honey West is a sweet deal.

I have to be honest, I wasn't familiar with HONEY WEST before the recent DVD release. It was sort of the 1960's version of ALIAS. Anne Francis is a private detective, on a different mission every week.

The show is highly entertaining. It is fast paced with Anne Francis just wonderful in the lead.

The DVD is very good. There are four discs containing all thirty episodes of the series. The black and white episodes look good. There are all sorts of fun extras as well, including vintage commercials for products from the mid 60's.

If you were a fan of the show, you will definitely want this. Even if you never saw it, and enjoy the genre, it is worth picking up.

It is great to see shows like this make it to DVD.

I have to confess that I was only 9 years old when this series first aired. But I do recall my family and I watching it each week and enjoying every inch of the show. I was unable to remember any one particular show, but was excited to see it was going to be released on DVD. How happy I am that I made the purchase as the show stands up against time. The prints are nice and clear. The sound is excellent and the plots, great. I recommend this wonderful set to anyone interested in vintage TV shows.

HONEY WEST was a series starring Anne Francis that was a somewhat successful spin-off from another series called BURKE'S LAW. It premiered in 1965, and ran for one full season. On this DVD set we get all the episodes of HONEY's short run. Originally the show was designed for Honor Blackman, but she declined to do the Bond film GOLDFINGER. Anne Francis was cast, and the show broke ground for displaying the first female action star to hit the air. It was a formula Spelling would resurrect many times throughout his career, most notably in CHARLIE'S ANGELS. HONEY WEST only ran one year because ABC was planning on doing THE AVENGERS, and they worried only one female action star could be on their network at once. What a pity!

In this set from VCI we get 30 black and white episodes. The transfers are okay, but we do see some edge enhancement and pixelation now and then. As for extras we get two photo galleries set to music, vintage commercials, and promotional spots for the show. There could have been more, but amazing we get all of this in one package in the first place.

Sexy and funny, HONEY WEST is certainly one fans of empowered females will find irresistable. It's a kick!