Five-O Oddities, Goofs, Trivia -- Season 1

Copyright ©1994-2007 by Mike Quigley. No reproduction of any kind without permission. Original air dates are taken from information supplied by the Iolani Palace Irregulars and Karen Rhodes' Booking Five-O.

Victor Reese, a.k.a. Rawlings (Kevin McCarthy) and his wife Nora (Louise Troy) bilk rich widows out of their funds, then poison them and dump them in the ocean. A serial killer as well as a con artist, Reese recites Ariel's song from Shakespeare's Tempest as the barrel containing the woman victim at the beginning of the show goes underwater (the song has the sex changed to "her" from "him"). Nora shows a bit of cleavage in the opening scene, and the music by Morton Stevens is dissonant. McGarrett gropes his secretary on the way into his office during his first appearance. Peggy Ryan, later McGarrett's secretary Jenny, is named Milly and works for the Governor (Richard Denning). When the Governor meets McGarrett, he offers the latter some papaya, something later parodied in Mad magazine. (The Governor just sits under a tree eating his lunch ... obviously there are no security concerns!) There are some interesting camera angles during the discussion between McGarrett and the Governor. During a plot twist, McGarrett checks out the Hawaiian hippie "subculture," which he finds amusing -- it prompts him to say "Peace, brother." The words "mary jane" can be seen scrawled on the hippie compound. There is tension between McGarrett and Danno: Danny objects to using a policewoman as bait for McCarthy's schemes, saying "I don't like it," and McGarrett replies "Nobody asked you." During a flight over the harbour, Danno is sitting in the door of the helicopter -- no need for a stunt man! Chin Ho says "some of my best ancestors are Chinese" and "Confucius once said -- we got a winner, boss!" Chin also tails people in a very obvious fashion, establishing a trait that will be seen in many more episodes. When Danny meets McGarrett at the boat dock, he says "that [bright Hawaiian] shirt's blinding me!" Herman ("Duke") Wedemeyer makes a brief appearance as "Lt. Balta." When McGarrett is driving Joyce Weber (Patricia Smith) to her airport cab, watch the cars and scenery behind them ... must have been a bad continuity day! McGarrett says "good girl" to Joyce twice and when she leaves him says "go with God." The ending where Reese tells Joyce that he and Nora are going to kill her after she drops the poisoned drink that they give her is a bit too contrived.

This show begins with my favorite special effect of the series -- the awesome bomb blast in the taxi which wipes out Land Commissioner Nathan Manu. The episode deals with the issue of Hawaiian nationalism and the way the natives have been exploited in the name of progress. There are some nice touches -- the interrogation of the main suspect's mother (Hilo Hattie -- whose real name Clarissa Haili) by McGarrett and the scene with Lester Willighby (Milton Selzer) trying to capitalize on the publicity surrounding the bombing. Unfortunately, things go downhill near the end with the introduction of a conspiracy theory. The final scene with nightclub owner Benny Kalua (Simon Oakland) driving a bulldozer into a shed of dynamite (which, of course, explodes, killing him) is mediocre. Still, since this is only episode #2, there are several things of interest. McGarrett uses the freeze-frame movie projector technique which would show up in later episodes, as well as slow-motion and "sharpening" the picture. Danno wears cool sunglasses and is seen smoking in McGarrett's office. McGarrett kisses his secretary May (Maggi Parker) on his way into the office. May seems to function as a den mother, producing coffee and food for the Five-O crew at a moment's notice. McGarrett tells her, "Thanks, love, what would we do without you?" The date, July 1968, is seen on a calendar. Chin Ho mispronounces "La Jolla" to McGarrett's amusement. A land developer tells McGarrett, "You've got to stop treating these Hawaiians like children ... I've never seen a race of people die out anywhere when they had good jobs or money in the bank." Don't forget the scene when Chin Ho swipes a hard-boiled egg off McGarrett's desk! The ending features a great continuity goof -- watch Kono's hair as he utters a profound statement (including the title) while gazing over the housing development. This one of Zoulou's favorite shows.

Aspiring nightclub singer Bobby George (Sal Mineo) stages his own kidnapping as a publicity stunt, but it goes wrong when his co-conspirators get designs on the $500,000 Bobby's estranged father (Harold Stone) offers as ransom. The Attorney-General (Morgan White) assures the father: "In McGarrett, you've got the best ... believe me ... the best." I find the analysis done of the reel-to-reel ransom tapes hard to believe, not to mention the fact that the source of one crucial tape is tracked down by its "serial number." McGarrett tells his men "I want this rock turned inside out," and they analyze anything and everything remotely connected with the case, including the flight plans of airplanes heard in the background of one of the tapes. McGarrett is much too clever in this show. After he interviews two beach babes (one of whom is Karol -- more recently Carole -- Kai, now an entertainer in Hawaii), they comment, "Dig?" ... "Groovy," eyeing him as he leaves. Still, despite minor faults, this is an above average show, with excellent performances especially by Stone, Mineo and Sam Melville as Gerry Parker, the head "kidnapper." Journalist Dave ("David L.") Donnelly, who has been writing on happenings in Hawaii for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin since 1968, plays the sound technician Charlie who analyzes one of the ransom tapes and determines it contains a "high frequency sound." This scene was filmed in the KGMB-TV studios, the CBS outlet, in Honolulu. Dave writes: "Since I was playing Checkers in the kiddies show, "Checkers and Pogo," both stars were in that episode. Morgan White, who played the Attorney General, was Pogo on our show."

Someone in the Five-O production office must have remembered Ricardo Montalban playing Nakamura, a Japanese kabuki actor in the film Sayonara, since he appears in this episode as Leonard Tokura, "head of organized crime in Hawaii" responsible for "narcotics, gambling, prostitution, book," in a performance which charitably could be described as unreal. This was the first Five-O show produced, but fortunately not the first one shown. This no doubt accounts for the word "Hawaii" flashed during the teaser. What is even more annoying than Montalban, though, is the continued misuse of the word "bushido," which the dictionary defines as "a feudal-military Japanese code of chivalry valuing honor above life." McGarrett keeps using the word "bushido" referring to a person or persons. He refers correctly to the "code of bushido" once, but then shows Tokura a knife, commenting "it makes it easier for a bushido to gut himself when he fails on a mission." Other misapplied remarks include "I'm about to order a medal for the next bushido who comes to chop you down," "Why does the bushido want you dead?", and "The bushido put him on their death list." Even Chin Ho gets into the act saying "Bushido... what about him?" During the opening courtroom scene, Attorney General Walter Stewart (Morgan White) refers to Tokura as "Tokuru" a couple of times, then continues with the correct punctuation. Danno gets taken to task by McGarrett in a major way for failing to prevent Tokura from knocking off a protected witness. Danno exclaims, "I blew it!" But McGarrett is kind of dumb himself ... why doesn't he compare the fingerprints from the supposedly dead Tokura with the ones he sends to Japan? The Governor's secretary, Milly (Peggy Ryan), later became McGarrett's receptionist, Jenny. McGarrett's current receptionist, May (Maggi Parker), addresses him as "Mr. McGarrett." Tokura, when discussing his past with McGarrett, recalls "after Pearl Harbour you were a 'Jap'." In McGarrett's office during the investigation, Kono incongruously discusses trying to teach a woman the hula -- presumably for some local colour. McGarrett fingers his guitar which is on his desk. During an investigation of Tokura there is reference to a past date of April 7, 1967. Tokura meets his daughter Deedee (Carolyn Barrett) in a movie theatre which has a poster for "Revenge of the Pearl Divers" in the lobby. During their ensuing conversation, he suggests that she book a flight overseas under the name of "Goro", which is more likely to be a Japanese first, rather than last, name. The music during the movie in the theatre is extremely banal. At the end, McGarrett tells Tokura "Aloha, baby."

An excellent show, with Danno accused of murder after he shoots a kid and the victim's girlfriend sneaks away with the kid's gun. During the opening chase, Arthur Hee is seen briefly. The cops find "fresh pot" at the kid's pad. I wonder how the kid gets shot -- Danno fires at the door. Is the kid standing right behind it? When grilled by McGarrett, Danno says when he saw the kid's body, "I didn't know he'd been hit." But there is a bullet wound in his back that we can see when he's lying on the floor! Danno tells McGarrett: "It's a stinking job," to which McGarrett replies, "Who told you it was anything else!" McGarrett engages in verbal sparring with the Attorney-General (Morgan White). Searching for clues, Kono visits a massage parlor. McGarrett checks out the Club Hubba Hubba (actually in existence since the late 1940's at 25 N. Hotel St.), where one of the peelers tells him: "Catch my act sometime." McGarrett smiles. McGarrett and Kono take on a gang on the beach. Gavin ("Love Boat") McLeod plays the sweaty dope pusher Big Chicken, who utters phrases like "the law is cool" and "peace." In the hippie pad, there is sitar music and body painting. McGarrett tells the kid's girl friend she's been "apprised of [her] constitutional rights." McGarrett roughs up Big Chicken, drawing blood. I like the ending where McGarrett and Danno come "into the light." According to Denise Maraschin and Ilene Baxley, quoting a casting sheet for the episode, Che Fong is played by the uncredited Edward Tom.

This show has a major continuity error: "Governor" Richard Denning appears in this show as treasury agent Philip Grey. There is no logical explanation for this. I assume that some other actor was supposed to play this part and was unavailable at the very last minute. During his first appearance, McGarrett keeps repeating Grey's name -- as if he is trying to convince us that it really isn't the Governor! Or (this is my rumour) maybe the show's producers thought that Five-O wasn't going to be successful, and they didn't care who played this part? Aside from this blunder, it's a good show. When the woman buys the fish (a kind of tuna called bonito, by the way) at the beginning, and considering she is very picky, why doesn't she realize how heavy the fish is (since it contains a gold bar)? I like the parallels when she gets knocked off -- her knife, the killer's knife; her screaming, her baby screaming. This show has a great, archetypal sequence of McGarrett driving away from his office and through Honolulu (taken from the pilot episode) with accompanying score by Stevens. Why can't anyone drive in this episode without squealing tires? Doug Mossman plays Lt. Howard Kealoha, who deals with McGarrett in a blunt, no-nonsense way. Kono is used to bust down the door of the gambling den, sort of like a human bulldozer. Check McGarrett's artsy-fartsy reflection in the mirror when he is talking to the coroner. Chin gets a skull fracture (from tailing someone too close!) and McGarrett addresses him as "Fatso" in the hospital. When McGarrett busts into the office of sleazy lawyer Paul Dennison (Paul Richards), he tells Dennison's secretary, "Stay out of this, honey." McGarrett is very pissed at Dennison for putting Chin in the hospital. McGarrett says "no dames" when Grey suggests using a female undercover operator. When McGarrett suggests using a million bucks, Grey says if it gets lost, they'll take it out of McGarrett's salary, to which McGarrett replies: "What's a couple of hundred years of peanut butter sandwiches?" McGarrett directs his receptionist's attention to the coffee machine when he enters the office. When Johnny Fargo (Kaz Garas) tries to get fresh with the undercover agent Andréea (Marj Dusay), he says "Perfect, baby, perfect," to which she replies, "Act your age." When Danno phones the office to relay the good news about Chin's recovery, he seems very chummy with May, the receptionist, telling her "You're beautiful." When they are tailing the bad guys near the show's end, the scene with the cops in car nine is used twice, and the scene with car twelve is used four times!! At the end, Fargo ends up shot and in the drink, similar to Kevin McCarthy's character in episode number 1. Eddie Sherman (presumably the newspaperman) plays a detective. One of the boats used by the bad guys is named Alika, which is the name of a gangster played by Ross Martin in the final two seasons.This is the first show in which McGarrett utters the familiar expression "Book him, Danno," when he and Williams overtake Dennison and Wong Tuo inside the parking garage.

Random Thoughts (after viewing the First Season DVD):

1. Look carefully at the guy who jumps from Johnny Fargo's boat to hook the gold under the buoy -- it's Beau Van Der Ecker!
2. When Fargo forces Andréea (Marj Dusay) into the hold of the boat near the end, a gust of wind blows up her skirt so you can see her underpants!
3. Listen to the sound at the beginning of this show. It is really cranked up ... when McGarrett and Philip Grey are talking, they are almost drowned out by the sound of the wind rustling through the bushes in the background. It stays at this level until Kono appears in McGarrett's office, then the sound drops down to normal.

During the opening chase, which inexplicably takes place in the middle of nowhere on a narrow one-lane road, you can see the shadow of the crew filming as the two cars rush between two low hills -- my favorite Five-O boo-boo! Check the speedometer on the car driven by Dan Larsen (Don Knight, in his first Five-O appearance) -- it goes up to 180 miles an hour (290 kilometres per hour for metric types). This car (license number D8-5382) is later fished out of the drink, a sequence which will be used in episodes #37, Which Way Did They Go? and #87, Bait Once, Bait Twice. When Celeste Caro (Josie Over) jumps out of the car, the camera looks sped up. This episode also features my favorite "underground" performance by McGarrett, who travels to California to become a cellmate with Caro's former partner Dave Barca (James Patterson). Jack Lord is convincing as convict Steve Crowley, wearing cool sunglasses and spouting phrases like "What a burn!" and "Groovy!" His prison number -- 18790 -- is the same as Barca's! During their escape, McGarrett manufactures the bogus mimeographed military flight orders rather quickly. Robert Costa is X-ray technician Jimmy, Edward Fernandez plays the Consul. McGarrett says "Easy..." once at the end after he shoots Barca. Morton Stevens' music is modernistic -- a bit of the music from the pilot episode is heard. A good McGarrett quote early on: "Some of our best work is luck." When McGarrett/Crowley and Barca are on their way to the temple near the end of the show, the scenery behind the car looks like a projected backdrop. At the 1999 Five-O reunion, Ed Fernandez told me he originally worked for the phone company (he had some kind of military connection in this regard) and one of his friends told him about the casting call for Five-O back in 1968. When he phoned them up, the person asked, "Are you a haole?" (maybe because of Ed's name) ... they were trying to hire local people. While he delivered one of his lines in this show, a car sped away, showering him with gravel from the tires which caused him to lose his place. Jack Lord came over, grabbed Ed by the shoulder and said, "Concentration ... that's what it's all about ... concentration!" Ed said this was pretty scary, since he had never acted before, but later he and Lord became good friends.

This show features Tommy Sands -- like Sal Mineo, another teen idol -- who should get a major nomination for the greasiest hair ever seen on Five-O. He sings five songs, including "This Land is Your Land" and the ubiquitous "Ain't no big thing." The pianist in Sands' combo looks suspiciously like series composer Morton Stevens. The opening sequence accompanying the cat burglar (Sands' "dresser") sounds like Henry Mancini. Sands refers to his girl friend as a "dumb broad" and just about everyone as "baby!" When the old Chinese man refuses to take part in the police lineup, McGarrett tells Chin to let him go, saying "Maybe he'll develop a public conscience." McGarrett and Kono tackle some punks in a bar. Despite all the vocalizing by Sands, there is still a reasonable amount of story in this episode.

Another excellent show, starring Johnny ("Rifleman") Crawford as a G.I. drawn into a mob power struggle. The Governor tells McGarrett he must "do something about Hotel Street," to which McGarrett replies: "The merchants retailing drugs, sex and gambling might march on the palace." Randall Kim as John Lo tells Crawford's soldier friend: "I hear a lot of G.I.s talking ... they say one gook [pronounced to rhyme with "look," not "duke"] looks like another. Must be the same with you, huh? I look like 'some other gook'." After McGarrett leaves his office, it looks like the same shot when he drove past the fountain in episode #7. Herman Wedemeyer appears as Lt. George Balta. When Chin tells McGarrett, "There must be a thousand places a guy could hide out," McGarrett replies, "You've got a thousand relatives ... use them!" A newspaper headline reads "Isle GOP prepares for Agnew campaign visit." McGarrett tells Danno during a discussion about the mobsters: "When you're number two, you try a little harder." When McGarrett grills Irene (Anne Helm), he tells her: "You're an attractive woman, Irene -- do you know what you'll look like when you get out of prison in twenty to thirty years?" The very un-Oriental Will Kuluva plays "big brother" Philip Lo in this episode -- his makeup is hideous, and looks like the Asian equivalent of "blackface." (Randall Kim was born in 1943, so he was around 25 in 1968. Kuluva was born in 1917!) I am almost tempted to drop this episode's 4-star rating because of Kuluva's performance, but the sight of Ann Helm in a bikini is enough to raise it back up. Pete Ackles reports a goof: "Crawford wears a PFC [private first class] stripe and is referred to as such during the show. However, in the credits at the end his character is listed as a corporal (2 stripes)."And Robert McDonald, who lived in Hawaii during the period of the series, writes: "The flea-bag hotel [in this episode] was actually on Maunakea Street, which is just off of Hotel Street in the red light district. At the beginning of the show, the R&R bus appears to be traveling from the airport to Ft DeRussy in Waikiki (heading east), while the background footage looks like the bus is actually traveling west, either on Kalakaua Ave near Kapiolani park, or west along Ala Moana Blvd near Ala Moana Beach park."

A dynamite episode, with John Larch as Joseph Trinian reappearing after fifteen years to drill McGarrett while the latter is jogging on the beach. (The kid in the surf that McGarrett picks up must run to the waves pretty quickly, since he is not seen in the opening shots taken of McGarrett jogging from far away.) There is plenty of effective hand-held camera work in the first part of the show, especially shots in the car from the driver's point of view which makes you wonder how the shots were made. When we finally see Larch's face, it's one of Five-O's most chilling moments! In this episode, Doug Mossman plays cop George Leoloha who talks about "a kid hopped up to the gills with speed." Al Eben (later "Doc") is here with a moustache as Dr. Cohen. When Chin Ho asks some hot-rodding punks for information, one of them, M.K. (Lanikai) calls him a "venerable pain in the ancestor." Chin Ho's attempts to rough up M.K. are laughable.

McGarrett has to guard a mob underboss (Nehemiah Persoff, in the first of several such roles) who is going to testify and help convict his former superior, Joe Matsukino (James Shigeta). (The name "Matsukino" sounds made-up.) When the prosecutor's pregnant wife sits shocked by her husband's demise at the beginning of the show, McGarrett comforts her, saying "What can I say, hon ... what can I say." McGarrett later refers to a nurse as "honey" and his secretary as "love." Randall Kim, who appeared only two episodes earlier as John Lo, plays Oscar, a pickpocket. McGarrett is disgusted by Persoff's mocking attitude, screaming "Shut up!" at him. The headline in the newspaper at the end -- Headline Trial Witness Dies -- has no relation to any of the stories in the paper. The subhead on the same article is "Senate Nixes Registration." Too bad Shigeta couldn't have played Ricardo Montalban's role in Samurai.

An Indonesian student is murdered at the Pacific Cultural Institute, an international college whose exteriors look suspiciously like the Byodo-In Temple near Heeia on Oahu. (Perhaps this is modelled on the Polynesian Cultural Center in the north of Oahu?) Number one suspect, thanks to some damning circumstantial evidence, is John Hays (Denny Miller), the woman's boyfriend. Despite the fact that his staff think it's an open and shut case, McGarrett thinks there is something "fishy" going on (a bad pun for those who have seen the episode). Ron Feinberg gives a sympathetic performance as the "developmentally challenged" Benny Apa. Obviously the SPCA had nothing to do with the show, which features a cock fight. While working on the case, Danno is bossy, telling Kono "Don't look at me ... get him [McG] a bucket." At one point, Danno tells McGarrett "Peace and joy, strong brother," and the two make the peace sign at each other. Kono says he has size 13 shoes, "dainty little feet." Daniel Kamekona plays Che Fong. The little boy who dumps sand on Hays' face at the beach is Geoffrey Thorpe, son of location casting director Ted Thorpe. Robert McDonald reports that the haole man who buys the koi fish from Benny is played by Jim Demarest, who replaced Dave Donnelly as Mr. Checkers on the "Checkers and Pogo" show (see #3). Ron Feinberg regards this show as a major stepping stone in his career (see the report of Mahalo Con).

This episode, about medal-winning Marine John Auston (Yaphet Kotto) who freaks out in the hospital, shoots Danno and hinders attempts to rescue both of them because he considers everyone "the enemy," shows McGarrett in an incredibly upset frame of mind. McGarrett just about rushes down the hall single-handed to rescue Danno and has to be restrained by Doug Mossman (as Lt. George Kealoha) who tells him to "settle down, cool off" and Chin Ho ("It won't help Danny blowing your cool"). McGarrett yells at Mossman, "Why haven't you ... you go down and get him!" McGarrett and Castle Memorial Hospital chief Doctor Hanson (Jeff Corey) engage in a screaming match at one point. One of McGarrett's reaction shots during this exchange is not what we might expect. There is some interesting hand-held camera work as McGarrett is quizzed by the media at the beginning of the show. A shot with Hansen coming into the hallway past some cops is repeated twice. The music is by Harry Geller, the first score not done by Stevens. We learn some trivia about Danno during this show: he is a "local boy," born in Hawaii, went to the University of Hawaii for one year (psychology major), then moved to the mainland (University of California at Berkeley) where he majored in police science. We also learn that Five-O sponsors a kids' baseball team! There are some racial overtones to this episode which are not developed very well. Near the end of the show, Kotto mutters deliriously, talking to the "Sarge" (Danny): "You didn't even fight ... you ran cause you didn't wanna owe this black man nothing. He didn't even give me the chance to hear him say, 'John O, call me nigger'!"

This episode stars Ed Flanders as drug-dispensing Timothy Leary-like professor David Stone who spouts hippie platitudes about love and peace like "laughter should be beautiful." (The significance of the name "Stone" is not to be underestimated!) There is plenty of talk of speed, acid and mescaline. After Danno fails to save Eadie Hastings, one of Stone's drug converts, from a cliff high above the ocean at the beginning, McGarrett comments, "You're up pretty tight, Danno." McGarrett visits the snotty rich brat Donna Wales (Brenda Scott), one of Stone's followers. As she comes out of her parents' swimming pool, her bathing suit top almost slips off. She refers to McGarrett as "fuzz" and makes references to police brutality and harassment. As he leaves, McGarrett says "That's pretty cool, baby, pretty cool." Later when McGarrett confronts Stone at the latter's country retreat, McGarrett uses the expression "turning on and tuning out." Danny becomes an unconvincing surfer/hippie type, using phrases like "Sure, baby, let's let it happen!" The music by Stevens covers a wide range of moods, including a drug-crazed ride on a motorbike by Donna. Some of the hallucinations in this show seem very similar to those suffered by Yaphet Kotto in the previous episode. Donna ends up in a hospital ward for "acid heads and speed trippers." There is a continuity goof -- after Danno meets Donna on the beach, they return to her parents' house where she meets a character called Zero (Gray Gleason) who tells her about an upcoming party. But later, Stone later confronts Donna about her friendship with Danno whom he recognizes as a cop, saying that "the day after Eadie killed herself" one of the Five-O "stalwarts" (i.e., Danno) paid a visit to Zero. If this is the case, why didn't Zero warn Donna during the previous scene?

In this generally serious episode McGarrett has to track down the source of an outbreak of bubonic plague. Some humour is provided in the scene where Kono, Danny and Chin Ho all get inoculations. Kono needles Chin (no pun intended): "He worries a lot when he breaks open a fortune cookie." McGarrett leers at the cool blond doctor AlexAndréa played by Nancy Kovak. When she aks him, "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" he replies "Only when I shave, and I do that running." Chin Ho and Danno are seen checking out plague-infested sites wearing silver uniforms like firemen. David Opatoshu does an Alec Guinness playing the oriental patriarch Shen Yu-Lan (badly). The score by Richard Shores is weird at times, featuring what sounds like a theremin. Soon Taik Oh appears as a Red Chinese defector, Yankee Chang plays a tour bus commentator in the opening sequence at Hanauma Bay.

McGarrett offers himself as a hostage in this tense prison drama featuring Gavin MacLeod in a return appearance as "Big Chicken" (see episode #5). The song Chicken sings in the shower at the beginning is "Ain't no big thing," heard performed by Sal Mineo in #3, Tiger by the Tail and Tommy Sands in #8, No Blue Skies. The touristy shots of Hawaii at the very beginning are presumably just to set the scene, since virtually everything else in this episode could have taken place on the mainland. (The shot with a catamaran and a rainbow looks suspiciously like one from the film Blue Hawaii.) MacLeod's scenery-chewing performance is particularly oily, with sexual overtones. Of McGarrett, he says "I hate his livin' insides." McGarrett calls him a "slimy dope pusher," an "animal," and "a vulture." Al ("Ben") Harrington is Toshi, one of the convicts, and R.G. Armstrong is the stern warden, Captain Wade. Ted Nobriga appears unbilled as one of the guards. There are appearances by real life journalists: Dave Donnelly as Dave, who harangues Danno about freedom of the press; Eddie Sherman, who wrote a three-dot column for the Honolulu Advertiser, as Sherm; Wes Young who, according to Dave Donnelly, was the police reporter for the Star-Bulletin at the time that show was filmed and who went on to become the longtime spokesman for HPD after leaving the paper; and Bert Darr who Dave reports "was the guy who singlehandedly put out the TV Week section of the Sunday paper. He's retired now and lives in Las Vegas, and now and then drops me a line about Hawaii ties there." When hostage taker Carl "Charlie" Swanson (Gerald S. O'Loughlin) lists his demands for prison reform for McGarrett, he refers to "the homosexuals, these old smart ones, they don't do anything to keep them away from these young kids that just have come in for their first stretch." (Pretty rank stuff for 1969!) I like the way the demands are printed in the newspaper in the space of about an hour. Swanson is one of the major characters of Six Kilos (episode #22), which was actually filmed first. In that episode, he is seriously wounded at the end!

This is the show of "changing suits". In the opening scenes, McGarrett is wearing a dark blue suit, but when he comes out of the building with Danno, the color has changed to light blue. At the beginning of act one, the color is back to dark blue. Near the end, before McGarrett and Danno head to the killer's apartment to discuss the blood stains, McGarrett is wearing a light blue suit. When they arrive at the apartment, the suit is grey! That aside, this is an interesting episode where Five-O must track down a psycho killer (McGarrett: "All killers are psychotic."), revealed to be one of two cousins who stand to receive a large inheritance in the form of a Hawaiian corporation. The bad cousin knocks off various company employees to distract attention from his real purpose, murdering his aunt (owner of the company) and the "good" cousin, played by Farley Granger. Prior to killing to Auntie, he studies an anatomy book to determine how to stab himself seriously but not fatally, making a mark on his stomach with a felt pen. Why this pen mark isn't discovered at the hospital when they are sewing him up is a good question. The score at the beginning (Stevens is credited with "Music Supervision") is weird, sounding like a theremin or some other electronic instrument associated with "scary movies." Later it uses a harpsichord. Danno says "nice looking gal" when McGarrett shows him the picture of the first murder victim. The aunt's "living will" is preserved on a cassette tape recorder -- of course the "bad" cousin doesn't get what he wants, which motivates his further revenge, chloroforming Granger and planting his body in a car in the garage to make it look like Granger committed the murders and then took his own life. When McGarrett and Danno arrive at the house, they hear the car still running in the garage, and McGarrett orders Central Dispatch to generate a high-frequency sound via the two-way radio in his car to "unlock" the door -- this is pretty far-fetched. The ambulance shot is taken from King of the Hill. Why is McGarrett's car hood full of crap after he parks in front of the garage door after rescuing Granger from the carbon monoxide-filled garage? It wasn't when he drove up! A very long "final act" in this show -- over 19 and a half minutes.

A very good show, with McGarrett trying to find who killed the boxer son of Phil Kalama (Frank de Kova), a cop from Maui. As McGarrett arrives near the beginning of the show after Joey is brutally beaten to death by some thugs, you can see the windshield wipers on McGarrett's car are on, even though it is not obviously raining. Later, when Danno comes up with some ideas on the case, McGarrett says: "You'll make a good cop one of these days, Danno." Interesting camera angles in this show, many looking up at the characters. Kalama refers to his son's girl friend Lois Walker (Jean Hale) as a "cheap little tramp" when she can't provide info about the killing, which she witnessed. Hale wears a visually stunning pink outfit at one point. McGarrett later tells her, "Nothing rocks me any more, honey." Kono's car really smokes when he blasts off in pursuit of a false alarm that Kalama calls in -- but this radio call is not logical. Why would Kalama's car have a radio in it? He is a visiting cop from Maui and it is not suggested that he is taking care of any police business while in Oahu which would require him to borrow a car from HPD.

The best "human side of McGarrett" show and one of the best "contemporary issues" episodes. (This does not mean that it's my personal favorite, though -- see #192 and #121.) Ironically, not that much of it takes place in Hawaii! McGarrett journeys to Los Angeles where he takes on Dr. C.L. Fremont (Joanne Linville), a "blood-sucking" quack "naturologist" ("one who heals by helping nature") who is treating his cancer-stricken nephew. McGarrett comes under attack from his sister, Mary Ann Whalen (Nancy Malone) who thinks that Fremont is beyond criticism. McGarrett tells his sister that Fremont "couldn't cure a ham." The scene where Fremont tries to seduce McGarrett, who has come to serve her with a summons, is creepy -- Fremont takes off her lab coat, trying to make herself more sexy. When she calls McGarrett "attractive", and tells him "I need a man in my life again," he says "I'd rather take up housekeeping with a cobra." Fremont gives McGarrett a big sob story about her past, and McGarrett says he finds this fascinating, "like watching an auto wreck." After McGarrett's nephew dies, he cries copious amounts of tears in his Five-O office, saying to Danno, "Who the hell made me Big Daddy to the world?" Back in L.A., McGarrett does research in the hall of records, flirting with one of the employees, who he calls "chickie baby." (The December, 1968 date is visible on some of the death certificates he is checking.) The final courtroom sequence, with William Schallert as Fremont's oily attorney, has a conclusion worthy of Perry Mason. (Fremont's taking over the courtroom to demonstrate her computer is unconventional.) The music by Harry Geller is first class. Not much humour in this show, though the opening scene where McGarrett tells Chin Ho to sub for him making a speech is good. McGarrett tells Chin the speech will be on "law and order" and Chin replies, "For or against?" We also learn McGarrett's badge serial number -- 22082 -- and his address which is 404 Piikoi Street.

After Julian Scott, a peace protestor is shot during an anti-war demonstration, McGarrett meets with his friends. One of the demonstrators says coming to McGarrett's office makes her "sick". He lays on a heavy speech bringing up the names of JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King and Gandhi, saying "I abhor violence in any form.... I'm a peace officer ... euphemism? But I maybe want peace more than anything else in the world." He's later shown playing guitar in his office. The peaceniks, who publish a magazine, are more palatable than most Five-O radicals, though they are rather preppy. One of them, Manning ("Manny") West (Dennis Cooney) drives a snazzy red sports car and when asked about Julian's old girlfriend Lannie Devereaux (Anne Prentiss), says she was a "cheap little thing, certainly not one of us." (If I'd uttered such a comment at the underground paper where I worked in the early 70's, I would have been singing soprano!) When McGarrett visits the peaceniks' office, Ned Horvath (Stewart Moss) wonders if McGarrett has a "built-in immunity to rejection." He tells McGarrett: "We've got nothing against you personally, it's just what you represent that bugs us." There are hints of homosexuality between Manny and Julian. Ned confronts Manny with a letter the latter wrote to Julian. Julian responds saying that "this isn't evidence of much except my affection for him. I loved him, you hated Julian." When Danno and Kono have a shootout at Lannie's place, there are some very weird edits -- Danny and Kono start walking from the middle of the room in a shot worthy of Ed Wood! When they enter the room to find the gunman's body, Chin Ho and Lannie suddenly appear from nowhere. Lannie tells McGarrett she "knew [Julian] loved someone else." McGarrett says his "cop instinct" tells him that Lannie didn't kill Julian. There is an exciting chase at the end across some lava beds above the ocean. On his way there, McGarrett grabs for his car door to close it and misses! McGarrett tells the wounded Manny "You admired Julian, too." Manny says "I felt he betrayed me" and that he was jealous of "a shining leader." Some profound comments by McGarrett at the end. Lee Paul, who plays "Skinhead" in episode #90 appears as peacenik Paul Brechtman. Daniel Kamekona allegedly plays Che Fong ... but not in the version which I saw!

This show has been long unavailable for some inexplicable reason. It's not offensive. In fact, it's rather weird. The direction by Seymour Robbie reminds me of a "foreign film." This analysis will be a bit more lengthy than usual, and also contains tons of spoilers. The show begins when safecracking expert John Warnash (a.k.a. Harry K. Brown -- played by Edward L. Dew) disembarks from a plane at Honolulu Airport. As he walks to the terminal, he is hustling some woman. After being paged, he receives an envelope which contains the key to an airport locker. Danno and Chin Ho are standing around looking very stunned. Brown opens the locker which contains a roll of bills and a reservation for a Hilo hotel. Chin approaches and pulls out his badge. Chin is punched to the floor by Brown, who whips out a gun. Danno pulls out his gun and shoots Brown dead. At the Five-O offices, after a brief discussion, McGarrett takes over Brown's persona -- why he does this is never specified. McGarrett says he "cracked a few safes for naval intelligence" which presumably qualifies him to be an expert. McGarrett flies to Hilo. He speaks to some babe, saying "How's the action around this place?" Entering the hotel room he finds a bug in the lamp -- he has also duplicated Warnash's identifying tattoo on his arm. Carl Swanson enters the room with a gun. Played by Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Swanson is one of the major characters of the tense hostage drama, The Box (episode #16) -- Six Kilos was actually filmed first. Swanson queries McGarrett; McGarrett wants to know about "The Man" who is behind the operation. Swanson takes McGarrett to an expensive oceanfront house where he meets his safecracking cronies, André (Than Wyenn) and Margi Carstairs (Antoinette Bower). "The Man" issues instructions on a reel-to-reel tape (the tape is in the middle, not the beginning). Danno snoops on McGarrett and his pals from a boat offshore with a high-powered lens. When he takes pictures, the angle is totally wrong -- how can he photograph their faces when they are facing away from the water!! Margi tells the safecracking crew that she works for Quon Ling, who has diplomatic immunity. Their take will be a million bucks, split four ways. We cut back to a scene in The Governor's office. The Governor has an interest in this case (though again, we are not told why) as does some mysterious government official with him. Five-O checks on the house, which is rented by a guy named Hiro Tagati. Back at the house, McGarrett spies an envelope on a table and picks it up, which causes Swanson to freak out and punch him. The envelope contains a tape and blueprints for Quon Ling's ship, where the safe to be cracked lies. The foursome go to the dock to check out the boat where there is a lei seller (rather odd -- is this a busy public dock?) as well as Kono in a taxi. Kono takes McGarrett to a tennis game where he talks briefly with Danno. At the Mauna Loa Hotel, McGarrett meets this beardo who has a bracelet containing the nitro that McGarrett is to use for blowing the safe. Just as Beardo turns this over to McGarrett, some guy who knows McGarrett arrives on the scene and blows his cover!! Fortunately McGarrett threatens to blow them up with the nitro and Beardo is nabbed by Kono. Back at the house, McGarrett shares a drink with Margi, who asks whether she can trust him. She gets philosophical, talking about how ordinary people can become monsters. McGarrett says, "Come on, baby, we were talking moonlight and orchids, remember?" After receiving more taped instructions, McGarrett figures out that the prize in the safe is six kilos of uncut heroin, worth $40 million bucks. (Gold is worth a piddling $35 an ounce.) Margi attends a party on Quon Ling's boat, and Swanson arrives as a refrigerator repairman working for the "Muana Loa Refrigeration Service." The others swim onto the boat and punch out the guards, who don't seem very attentive! Margi knocks out Quon Ling with a Mickey Finn, and André locates the safe with a strange detector and cuts a panel out of the wall. (How did Quon Ling get access to the safe then?) When everyone synchronizes their watches, the minute hands are all the same! Some punk attacks Swanson, and his watch is busted. This interferes with his plans to throw the main power switch on the boat, killing the lights. Swanson throws the switch and everything is in chaos. Fortunately the foursome all escape, diving into the drink with the bags of heroin. At the finale, a tape from "The Man" says the payoff money is in a stone lantern, but when André checks it out, it's empty. Margi unexpectedly shoots both Swanson and André, but she hesitates to blast McGarrett. Fortunately for McGarrett, Danno and Kono appear with guns drawn. The tape recorder is now running at fast forward. When McGarrett puts it on "play", he adjusts it to play back at the correct speed (is this some kind of a variable-pitch recorder?) and "The Man" is revealed to be Margi (the slowed-down voice did sound effeminate). Overall, McGarrett talks far too much in this episode in his "Harry Brown" characterization, more so than he did in a similar undercover role in #7, The Ways of Love. The music by Stevens is mostly recycled from other shows.

A mediocre conclusion to the first season. Sam Kalakua (John Marley) is a descendant of Hawaiian royalty and a distant uncle of Kono. (Danno remarks that Kono is "nine-tenths Hawaiian, one-tenth cop.") His nephew George (Robert Colbert) and haole niece Eleanor (Sally Kellerman) are trying to scare the old man to death so they can sell his property to a sleazy real estate mogul (Peter Leeds). They enlist the help of doped-up movie auteur Alistair Kemp (Jerry Cox) to create images of Pele, goddess of fire which are projected on a screen in Sam's front yard (how this is done is difficult to understand). Sam retaliates by shooting a gun and throwing a lamp filled with explosives which blows up. As a result of this, Sam is said to be a threat to his neighbors -- but his property is "a haunted house in the middle of a jungle"! The doctor who examines Sam is Robert Costa. When Danno grills Kemp, he asks the filmmaker: "What are you on, Kemp? Pills? Acid?" and talks about "psychedelic effects." When Kemp is about to crack, Danno says there "might be some sweat forming inside that acid head." Later when Kemp finds Danno snooping in some of his film cans, he says "What are you, some kind of klepto?" McGarrett examines the film using a freeze-frame technique which would probably cause the film to melt in the projector (see also episode #2 and #136, Banzai Pipeline). I don't know how McGarrett can recognize Kellerman as Pele -- I sure couldn't! The shot of Danno and McGarrett coming out of their office is the same as the one in episode #17. Of course, McGarrett and Danno know exactly where the high cliffs Sam is going to jump off are located, and so does niece Eleanor who appears in her Pele getup. (On his way there, McGarrett seems to be driving on the wrong side of the road.) The ending is stupid -- Eleanor steps a few feet behind Sam, who is about to walk face-forward off the cliff edge. But when McGarrett and Danno appear, she suddenly falls over the edge! The music in this episode by Stevens uses theramin-like noises to suggest the supernatural, and also some gamelan-like sounds.