One Man's Dream

Fanfiction
Title:	One Man's Dream (titled "One Man's Dreams" online)
Author(s):	Marion Hale
Date(s):	1980
Length:
Genre(s):	gen
Fandom(s):	Starsky & Hutch
Relationship(s):
External Links:	One Man’s Dreams
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One Man's Dream is a gen Starsky & Hutch story by Marion Hale.

It is in One Shot #1 and is online.

Reactions and Reviews

Unknown Date

'One Man's Dream' is what happens when Hutch decides to quit the force in order to work the farm in Minnesota that he's inherited. Temporarily, Starsky comes along, of course, to help him get settled. And excellent, light-hearted story that also teaches us again how the grass *isn't* always as green on the other side of the street, as we think it is. Great scenes involving typical farm duties: gardening, canning, milking cows, and riding.

1980

By contrast [to Reprise], ‘One Man’s Dream’ is almost refreshing. It is an essentially naïve account of Hutch’s attempt to work his grandfather’s farm, told and illustrated in correspondingly unsophisticated style. The redeeming feature here is the female lead, a fully-realized woman who knows her own mind and capabilities, knows what she wants and how to get it…. Unfortunately, this level of characterization is not maintained. Kurz apparently intended to give us Hutchinson-the-ultimate-White Knight, an idealist constantly disappointed by harsh reality. What she has given us instead is a prepubescent choirboy who is ‘genuinely shocked’ that a woman of his own age is sexually active, who requires constant shepherding by partner, superior, parents… There is a hazy light-of-former-days aura over the who story… as serious contemporary fiction for contemporary adults – as a delineation of purpose and motivation – it fails.

In ‘One Man’s Dream,’ S&H play farmers in Minnesota. This is cool, but when strawberry season, blueberry season, and wolf whelping time are set practically simultaneous, my sense of belief receives a severe jolt. Still, this would probably not bother most readers, but other discrepancies might: Starsky’s near-panic because he find out meat is dead animals, Hutch’s impossibly simple expectations, and both of them getting rid of a wolf cub that bit Starsky instead of keeping it for a rabies check. It becomes a struggle just to stay in the story, and this is a pity, for there were some well done scenes, particularly toward the end when Jo discovers the killer of her two friends; the contrast to her earlier attitude is revealing.

1981

Although I found ONE MAN'S DREAM delightfully amusing in its own way and on its own terms, those characters weren't my interpretations.

1984

Of all the "S&H move to the country" tales I've read, "One Man's Dream" by Ruth Kurz is undoubtedly the most realistic. Having inherited his grandfather's farm. Hutch splits for the Minnesota backwoods to fulfill his childhood dream of living off the land. Starsk is along to help him get settled; however, within days of arriving, the fond memories of fishing in the pond and rolling in the haystacks are forced to give way to the realities of actually earning one's keep from chickens and hogs. Our duo soon discovers that crime flourishes even on rural outposts, when an escaped con finds his way to a neighbor's house, holding her hostage while ransacking provisions for his continued journey on the lam. When SfiH attempt to rescue her, the confrontation is brutal and eye-opening for everyone involved—reinforcing the old saying, "Be Careful what you wish for. You just might get it." A true charmer of a tale.