Plot
The show is about a police officer and former amateur dirt-bike racer named Jesse Mach (Rex Smith) who is secretly chosen to test a top-secret project—an all-terrain attack motorcycle capable of speeds in excess of 300 miles per hour. Backing the motorcycle was a computerized command system that allowed its operator to provide the motorcycle's rider with real-time information from various sources, and even operate the motorcycle on "autopilot" during its high-speed runs, achieved through a process called "hyperthrust".
Norman Tuttle (Joe Regalbuto) was the designer of the motorcycle. An engineer previously employed with the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration of the Department of Justice and subsequently with one of its successor agencies (exactly which one was never specified in the stories) who reported to a certain Mr. Kirby, who never appeared in the stories, Tuttle was initially reluctant to choose Mach to test the motorcycle. But once he had, he was able to convince Mach to commit to the program for life.
Mach began to lead a double life, a police public relations officer by day, and crimefighter by night. Street Hawk (actually "The Street Hawk") was regarded as a lawless vigilante, and hence a fugitive from justice, by the police.
Captain of Public Relations Leo Altobelli (Richard Venture) was Mach's commanding officer, and the activities of the Street Hawk aggravated him. He neither knew that the Street Hawk was actually Jesse Mach, nor that the Street Hawk's activities were being conducted with full federal endorsement and sponsorship.
The musical theme was composed by Tangerine Dream and produced by Christopher Franke, and a modified version (which was featured in the pilot episode during the sequence where Mach took the bike out for the first time) appeared on their album Le Parc, titled "Le Parc (L.A. - Streethawk)."
The opening-titles narration, voiced by Ernie Anderson, runs:
This is Jesse Mach, an ex-motorcycle cop, injured in the line of duty. Now a police troubleshooter, he's been recruited for a top secret government mission to ride Street Hawk--an all-terrain attack motorcycle designed to fight urban crime, capable of incredible speeds up to three hundred miles an hour...and immense firepower. Only one man, federal agent Norman Tuttle, knows Jesse Mach's true identity. The man...the machine...Street Hawk.
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Read more about this topic: Street Hawk
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