AllMovie

This two-hour pilot episode for S.W.A.T. originated as a special installment of the ABC police series The Rookies, explaining the omnipresence of that program's co-star Georg Stanford Brown in his familiar role of Officer Terry Webster. Essentially a peace-loving man and a firm believer in due process, Webster resents the apparently cold-blooded approach of Lt. Dan "Hondo" Harrison, head of the Special Weapons and Technical (SWAT) team. Trained to handle dangerous situations beyond the control of the regular police, Hondo and his men tend to shoot first and ask questions later -- a technique that proves quite effective in the chilling climax of this episode. For syndication purposes, the S.W.A.T. pilot was been divided into two hour-long segments.