Copyright ©1994-1999 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.
= One of the very best episodes, a must-see.
= Better
than average, worthy of attention.
= Average, perhaps with a few
moments of interest.
= One of the very worst, a show to avoid.
This is by far the worst season opener -- a yawnable production with uninspired direction, indifferent acting and a mediocre script, plus a weird score by John Cacavas using a clangy, overamplified harpsichord. The beginning is especially stupid. Philip Walden (Vic Leon), a "skilled operative" with 16 years' experience breaks into the house of scientist Sonya Hansen (Maria Perschy) and attempts to open her safe. She catches him and shoots him dead! You'd think he would be a little smarter than this. McGarrett has numerous things for Five-O and HPD to check out: all the hotels, to try and find where Walden was staying; all the gun shops to find the pistol with the unusual calibre of bullet which shot him; and the ribbon on the typewriter in Walden's apartment, which is silly, since this is a red/black felt ribbon, not an IBM Selectric ribbon which might retain the characters. Attention is drawn to the March Foundation, a government-financed think-tank investigating ways to counteract brainwashing which Walden was investigating. Washington sends an agent named Glen Fallon (Steve Kanaly) to work along with McGarrett. When the two of them talk to the top brains from the Foundation, one of them, Dr. Conrad (Jim Ferrier), says "Your job [trying to catch the "sleeper" or spy among them] is going to be harder than Chinese arithmetic." Conrad is later crushed by a car driven by Hansen, and the crime lab determines that the killer car has "paint of German manufacture." (I don't understand why Conrad can't flee off to the side of the parking garage when being pursued by the car ... instead, he runs up against the garage wall and the car slams into him. At this point, the soundtrack goes dead and the pre-commercial "wave" following is totally silent!) McGarrett subsequently administers a lie detector test to Hansen in a somewhat informal manner, rather than with the usual yes/no type of questions. Suspicion then begins to fall on the boss of the Foundation, Dr. Rathman (Andrew Duggan, giving a bored performance -- his attempt at failed memory when introducing one of his colleagues is especially lame). After Basil Kent (John A. Hunt), one of the scientists, is found dead on Rathman's boat, McGarrett has Rathman confined to a hotel room (rather than a jail cell) under the guard of a policeman whom Rathman subsequently hypnotizes with a swinging watch (really!). (It's difficult to imagine how Hansen can murder Kent and carry his body along the dock to the cupboard on the boat with no one noticing.) Fallon is finally revealed to be Hansen's "control" in an unbelievable finale, and the last scene between McGarrett and Rathman is particularly sucky. An interesting quote when Fallon offers McGarrett a drink. McGarrett responds: "I never use booze, but I'll take you up on a Kona coffee." The scientists are using what looks like a Sony Betamax VCR. There's a cool in-joke in this show. Rathman claims he was watching "God's Little Acre" on TV, a movie which starred Jack Lord!
Samantha Eggar appears as astrologer Agnes du Bois, who is working on a book about "astrology and the criminal mind," and thinks the stars have the solution to a series of recent murders. McGarrett and the Five-O crew are skeptical, to say the least, referring to her as a "ding-a-ling." However, Agnes' predictions become so accurate that McGarrett begins to think that she may be involved in the crimes. McGarrett bones up on astrology himself and at one point tortures Danno, asking when he was born! Although Eggar's performance is good, Tab Hunter as competing star-gazer Mel Burgess (who committed the murders) is totally lame. Where is his motivation? The ending scene with McGarrett using his newly-found horoscopic knowledge to overcome Burgess in the rafters of the planetarium as an audience watches is dumb. The astrological mumbo-jumbo in the show presumably makes sense, since the end credits actually list an Astrological Consultant, Ursula A. Lewis. One of Agnes' customers, Cindy (Kerry Sherman), talks about sleeping with Burgess. The score by Fred Steiner was orchestrated by John Morgan, who is involved with a series of classic film music CDs on the Marco Polo label.
An episode to make you yell at the TV! The story by Seeleg Lester and Sam Neuman is appallingly bad. When McGarrett arrives at the jail to interrogate courier Walter Sherman (John Zenda) whose attaché case blows up at the beginning of the show, McGarrett opens his badge and throws it on the table where it immediately shuts! During the subsequent investigation Danno goes to the Seaside Import-Export Co., coincidentally mentioning to McGarrett that he has a date for the evening (isn't work more important?). While Danno talks to Marla Kahuana (Irene Yah Ling Sun) a team of scientists in a back room analyzes his fingerprints through the chair's arms and x-rays his body to determine his true identity. (We learn this way that Danno is 5'7", has "sandy" hair and weighs 165 pounds.) If that wasn't stupid enough, Danno is then drugged (he says "I'm a pigeon for exotic things" as he takes the knock-out tea) and brainwashed with the help of electroshock and a weird multi-colored piece of glass. Marla convinces Danno that he spent the night with her (as sleazy music plays in the background) and they went to a concert by Horowitz where the pianist played Chopin Etudes and Schubert Impromptus. McGarrett gets very testy with the Governor over working with Enslow (Stephen Elliott), yet another federal agent. When the Governor admonishes McGarrett for thinking that Enslow might be a suspect, McGarrett says "I won't think it if it makes you happy." The Governor says, "Don't be impertinent, Steve." The "trigger" to the couriers is discovered when a psychiatrist interviews Sherman and reflected light from her pendant hits him in the eyes ... but where does the bright light come from in the first place? The music by Cacavas at the beginning and end of the show sounds like John Barry's James Bond scores. The closing scene plays like an outtake, with Danno realizing that he really didn't score with Marla. Winston Char plays a Che Fong-like HPD lab technician.MORE TRIVIA:
- Duke worked with plastic explosives in the Navy.
This episode could be entitled "McGarrett Joins the Jury." It starts out at a party with the murder of Christie's wife under mysterious circumstances (fortunately for us, since the actress playing the wife -- Nicole Erickson -- is mediocre). Christie (Lou Richards) is the most likely suspect thanks to circumstantial evidence and also the fact he is a "mechanical genius" (and an "electronics genius"). McGarrett is called up for jury duty on the case, and puts his deductive logic to use in overcoming the other eleven who think Christie is guilty. The deputy district attorney (John Fitzgibbon) is s-o-o-o histrionic, with a near-English accent. Danno and Duke actually ask McGarrett questions about the trial while it is still in progress. Shame! Where is their police training? Unfortunately, the plot goes off on a major tangent towards the end, oscillating between a murder investigation and a romance between McGarrett and the jury foreman Minnie Cahoon (Janis Paige). McGarrett seems to be pitching most of his ideas to Minnie. She tells him, "I knew a lady once as obstinate as you -- she died a virgin!" McGarrett comments, "Good for her ... they're very rare these days." McGarrett seemingly overrides judge Kwan Hi Lim (played by Kwan Hi Lim), getting the jury taken to the murder scene while they are deliberating -- a highly unusual move in my opinion, even more unusual than letting McGarrett on a jury in the first place! The resolution of the plot is disappointing (the person who did it came up the back staircase -- why didn't anyone else think of that?) and takes second place to some chit-chat between Minnie and McGarrett when she asks him to lunch: "I never eat lunch, Minnie." "You married, McGarrett?" "No ... no lady would ever have me." (He kisses her.) "You're a lovely lady, Minnie." She sighs: "I wish I had met you ten years ago." The final scene has McGarrett on his boat. Danno asks him, "Do you ever sail this thing?" McGarrett replies, "This boat is not a 'thing', it's a lady, so treat it with respect." There are several scenes in this show which take place in brilliant sunlight. Al ("Doc") Eben plays the Coroner!
This show is interesting for Zohra Lampert's portrayal of Gloria, the neurotic girlfriend of "small potatoes" hustler Johnny Noah (Richard Romanus) who's involved in various mob-related gambling scams and a possible call-girl operation. It's hard to separate Lampert the character from Lampert the actress! When she possessively tells Johnny "I don't want to watch all them chicks in heat," referring to Johnny's gambling groupies, Johnny tells her there must be "something wrong with your kharma." Danno also makes reference to Johnny's "chicks." While investigating Johnny's activities, McGarrett has competition from Kendricks, a federal investigator who he tussled with before -- in a discussion with the Governor, McGarrett refers to Kendricks as a "jackass." McGarrett meets Johnny on a sailing ship docked in the harbor and a photographer takes pictures of the two of them -- the angle of some of these pictures is impossible. Following this, for some stupid reason, McGarrett decides to go underground to a gambling den wearing a grey wig and moustache -- as if no one in Hawaii could recognize him! One of the den's employees does that in about a minute after McGarrett arrives; then Hendrick raids the joint and arrests McGarrett. Must be a big budget for this show -- Johnny's Rolls-Royce gets rammed. However, despite the fact the car is only hit on the side, its front window is broken in a major way. (Compare the manner in which the medical attendants deal with Johnny compared to those dealing with McGarrett's car in The Ninety-Second War.) There is some deep kissing and suggestion of nudity in the bathtub in one scene between Gloria and Johnny. Seth Sakai appears as a bald-headed Vietnamese general who's boss of the syndicate, Les Keiter is seen on TV as the commentator for a panel discussion about gambling featuring McGarrett. Danno wears a white suit with snappy bell-bottoms and says that gambling "like alcohol, is a sickness." The title is spoken at least three times. This and #249, Miracle Man, are the only shows which have titles the same as X-Files episode (so far). During this episode, an investigator slips McGarrett a list of phone numbers made from calls by Mr. Lee (Danny Kamekona) before he jumps off a building. Like a similar list in #159, The Computer Killer, it is full of in jokes:
Parisa, Kati .... 55549?? | (Mute girl in East Wind -- Ill Wind) |
Sandanarik, T. .... KL56789 | ("Foreign" leader who is murdered at beginning of East Wind -- Ill Wind ... or his wife?) |
Davilo, Chas. .... QU20056
| (Character in East Wind -- Ill Wind who delivers Sandanarik's paper at the human rights conference ... note use of "Q" in phone number which doesn't exist) |
Kahala, Jimmy .... 5557943 | (A mystery...) |
Hameo, Kale .... 5550649 | (In Angel in Blue, the lead male character's name is "Kimo", his mother is played by a woman whose first name is Keokeokalae. "Kale" means "Charlie" in Hawaiian.) |
Topo, Keoki .... KL53204 | (The "uncle" character played by Kwan Hi Lim in The Friends of Joey Kalima) |
Sartain, Elena .... QU74301 | (The character played by Lyle Bettger in Tsunami is Dr. Dimitri Sartain -- presumably this is some relation.) |
Noah, Johnny .... 5551871 | (Lead character in Small Potatoes) |
MORE TRIVIA:
- Danno droolers take note -- when he's busted, McGarrett phones Danno at home, who's in bed in his pyjamas with his bare chest exposed.
- A Physicians Ambulance takes Johnny to the hospital.
- Gloria says "Think they'll let you keep it when they hang you?" to Johnny, referring to his neck brace. But there was no such death penalty in Hawaii.
Danno goes undercover as a Nazi in this episode to investigate the National Socialist Movement which is harassing Robert Tamara (Cal Bellini), considered to be the "Hawaiian Kennedy." Tamara makes speeches mentioning human rights and against nuclear weapons with catch phrases like "the time has come to deal in attitudes, not platitudes." The Nazis' commander Wendell Stoner (James Olson) makes crank phone calls to Tamara, saying "You will burn in hell," threatening his wife and family. These Nazis are mean bastards -- they run over Tamara's son's dog!! Their headquarters are full of slogans like "Send the apes back to the jungle" and "Keep mongrels out of office." McGarrett determines that to qualify as a Nazi, one has to be "fair-skinned, blonde, clean-cut, Protestant and Aryan," qualities which suit Danno to a T! When he cautions Danno that this assignment could be dangerous, Danno replies, "Surfing could be dangerous." McGarrett gets Danno a job in a garage as part of his cover, and Danno tells the owner, "I used to fool around cars." McGarrett says, "He's referring to the engine, not the back seat." Danno abuses a plainclothes black cop named Phil (Johnny Walker) in a scene designed to endear him to Stoner. He tells the cop, who is mouthing off to Stoner, "Beat it, Rufus ... I'm talking to you, nigger!" (This is the second and only other time in the entire series the "N-word" is used, the first being in the first season episode, #13, King of the Hill.) Danno's pseudonym is Walter Mantell. Stoner compliments him, saying "You fought that jungle monkey to assist me," and goes on, "The Jews fill our places of business, Blackie fills our bedrooms ... The Fuhrer was right, he realized what mongrelization was." Danno sucks up in return, saying, "I respect you for what you're doing for white Christian people everywhere." When Danno finally gets indoctrinated into the party, Stoner reminds him that, among other things, he must "maintain a high level of personal cleanliness." McGarrett is disgusted by the Nazis, telling Danno "We're dealing with lunatics here." He goes on: "The losers and the dimwits are usually the ones who wind up wearing swastikas or a Ku Klux Klan robe." The Nazis attempt to get a picture of Danno and Tamara in a homosexual setup -- Danno opens his shirt and puts his arm around Tamara and one of his fellow Nazis snaps a picture. Fortunately the camera gets busted in the ensuing fracas. When Danno's cover is finally blown, Stoner wonders if he is a "cop, FBI, Jew-spy." Danno snickers, "You're not Nazis, you're nut-zies." The party is not amused and prepares to execute Danno. Fortunately McGarrett and crew manage to prevent this, as well as the assassination of Tamara by Stoner. When McGarrett finally confronts Stoner, he looks like he wants to dance with the commander. Stoner falls to his knees, saying "God will bless me for my work." Before the final scene with Bobby, which is weak, McGarrett insists that Stoner be read his rights after he is arrested. The music by John Cacavas is full of snare drums. When it's first revealed that Stoner is a Nazi, the drumming is combined with a speech by Hitler ... I think it would have been more effective to have the drums alone. I question whether Danno would be the best choice for this undercover operation, considering what a high-profile cop he's been for the last 11 years. Not only that, before he takes on this assignment, he's seen walking by Stoner's house in his Five-O suit to check on Stoner's truck (not a Ford, but a Chevrolet, license number 503814). The embroidery on "Walter's" gas station shirt has very similar lettering to that on Stoner's janitorial service uniform. This episode may have been inspired by events that took place in the village of Skokie, Illinois in 1977, when the neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of America planned a demonstration, raising various issues about freedom of speech.MORE TRIVIA:
- Johnny Walker, the black cop that Danno calls a "nigger," appears in Who Says Cops Don't Cry as one of the gang members.
- Tamara's son is played by Haku Kahoano ... any relation to Kimo Kahoano?
- McGarrett is seen wearing the hideous black leisure suit as well as a hat.
- A stock shot shows McGarrett squealing around a corner in a car from the early seasons, not the Grand Brougham.
This is the only show where the episode title is in a different font -- as well, it disappears into the background. Cyd Charisse is art patron and sculptress Alicia Warren who has arranged for a display of artwork from the era of Egyptian king Tutankhamun to be displayed at a Honolulu museum. A middle-aged fox, Alicia tells McGarrett "I'd like to do you sometime ... perhaps a bronze." Her husband Bart (Robert Ellerstein), who looks old in comparison, warns McGarrett if he isn't careful, he will end up as husband number five. Marsha Mercant plays Alicia's daughter Jill Baker, whose boyfriend Mik Chandler (Tim Thomerson) gets involved with Alicia in stealing a mask from the exhibit, as well as sexually. Jill's part is poorly written, and consists primarily of her acting like a dipshit or bitch and screaming loudly in response to traumatic events. Her Oregon driver's license reveals she lived on 1783 Bendix Street in Portland. The date of issue was 12/11/77, her date of birth was 12/1/60, her height is 5'5", weight 110 lbs., and it expires on her birthday, 1983. The code for the license, which is number 38590110, is C7rg. When Duke travels to Portland to check into Jill's past, the insignia on the coveralls of the moving man from Akina Van and Storage is written in the same script as seen on clothing in A Distant Thunder. McGarrett is very careful to get a warrant from a postal inspector to open Jill's mail, rather than snoop in it in front of her landlady. McGarrett has a couple of good quotes, first to Rory Calhoun, playing museum boss Edgar Miles -- "Nobody puts me up to anything" -- and to Alicia: "The standard phrase is 'we're working on it'." Danno comments on the fact that Miles doesn't like Alicia's sculpture: "Hell hath no fury like a society sculptress scorned," and McGarrett chastises him for "all-time abysmal alliteration." The music by John Cacavas features a goopy pseudo-Egyptian vocal line reminiscent of Tiomkin's Land of the Pharaohs (not to mention Cacavas' hideous score to When Will Linda Die). The ending is sucky.MORE TRIVIA:
- Stuntman Beau Vanden Ecker plays a man whose wallet gets stolen by Chandler during the disturbance which leads to the theft of the mask.
- Duke is able to trace calls made from Jill's apartment to local Honolulu numbers. Would this have been possible?
- There is an extended sequence when Danno arrives at the Iolani Palace.
What the title of this episode means is a mystery to me. McGarrett in disguise and driving a blue Ford station wagon springs Joey Lee (Brian Tochi) from Oahu State Prison to help with an investigation in Chinatown. (Joey comments he might later get busted for "aiding and abetting a cop.") The Governor thinks this idea stinks, and has no qualms about letting McGarrett know. McGarrett says he wants to make sure a Chinese organization like the Cosa Nostra doesn't get a foothold in the islands, referring to an "emerging sense of ethnic pride among the young Chinese." The Governor twice refers to "Pal Joey" (very good!). When Joey later visits the Five-O office pretending to be a delivery boy, he uses a stereotypical accent, to which McGarrett says, "You make a lousy Chinese." Dane Clark is Riley, an older cop whose beat is Chinatown. When Joey's gang is having a kung-fu rumble with the rival Toy Li gang, Riley breaks it up. This is pretty funny -- more than likely they would break him up! McGarrett asks Riley why he always looks the same, and Riley replies, "ginseng, rhinoceros horn..." When McGarrett and the Five-O crew stop an assassination attempt, McGarrett is very rough with the Toy Li leader, Mr. Soo, played by Roland Nip. (Nip mugs his way through an earlier meeting with Joey, calling him "coolie" and "punk.") Mr. Chan (TinHop Pang), a restaurant owner, spills the beans to McGarrett about Joey being in danger, commenting the Chinese community doesn't like to go to the police, but prefer instead to handle their own affairs. When McGarrett grills Joey's former girlfriend about his whereabouts, he says, "Look, honey, we're not playing games." When he gets out of his car near the end, McGarrett leaves his signal on. The funk music score by John Cacavas is pretty crappy throughout. During a news broadcast, a casually-dressed Oriental woman is seen reporting. Victor Fong (Dana Lee), mainland boss of the Toy Lis, stays at the Ilikai.MORE TRIVIA:
- Riley's car has the license number 5B-7204. The Mustang Joey's gang uses for an escape is 3B-3047.
- Duke goes with McGarrett to check out a social club to find Joey, whose life is in danger. But shortly after, when McGarrett radios to Riley, he says to call Duke. Did Duke go back to the office?
- McGarrett wears the black leisure suit.
In a corridor at HPD, Danny meets Melissa Cole (the blonde, Toni Tenille-like Katherine Cannon), an old girl friend from the mainland, who has been busted for shoplifting. After he helps out with her bail and gets her a job and a place to stay (an apartment numbered 219), Melissa tells him he was the nicest guy she ever dated. She remembers when Danno kissed her on the roof of her parents' apartment in San Francisco. She dropped out in junior year, the year he went to Berkeley. Danno, who looks totally dumbstruck when talking to her, says he has "thought about her a lot since high school." He gives her a big kiss, and she asks if he still thinks of her as a prom queen. They must "do it" because later when Danno confronts her over lies she told him, she says "Damn it, Danny, you're like all the rest -- one night and you think you own me." Moe Keale plays a greasy snitch named Kimo who works in a pizza parlor where a family size pizza with bacon, pepperoni and cheese costs $7.75. When Melissa visits Kimo, offering to pay for information, he leers, "Sure you don't wanna knock off a hundred?". Danno refers to him as a "fat pig" when Kimo taunts him during a grilling in the Five-O office, saying "You're getting cheap, Williams ... the lady [Melissa] had more to offer." Melissa later climbs into the back of her ex-boyfriend Crawford's (Burr de Benning) pickup truck just at the moment he is getting in the truck and can't see her, which seems improbable. Crawford and associates, including security guard Simpson (Beau Van Den Ecker), pull off a million dollar robbery at a Honolulu bank. The bank manager Guthrie (Bill Bigelow) signs a receipt for the money dated 6/9/71! (This reveals Bigelow to be left-handed.) There's an interesting stunt during the bank robbery with Simpson grabbing onto the hood of Crawford's steel-reinforced Bronco and then getting shot off. Crawford is not very clever, since the Bronco has a rear license plate. When Guthrie is questioned about the robbers later, he says that he recognized Crawford's face -- this is interesting, since Crawford did not remove his gas mask. Considering this show is mostly about Danno, why the focus on McGarrett at the end? The music by Dick de Benedictus is cloyingly sentimental at times, especially one tearjerking violin theme. Danno says "What've we got, Steve?" early on in the show. Later, when phoning McGarrett to bring the chief up to date on the case, Danno goes through the switchboard -- surely he would know McGarrett's direct number! The episode is directed by Robert L. Morrison, who was director of photography on many of the earlier shows.
Directed by Jack Lord (not in a particularly interesting manner), this episode features an exceptional performance by Sharon Farrell as Diana Forbes, a prissy, uptight schizophrenic woman who occasionally assumes the identity of her vivacious, but now dead, sister. Unfortunately, the script by Ken Pettus is weak, especially at the end where there are far too many unanswered questions. What really sabotages the show, however, is the hideously goopy score by John Cacavas, one of his -- and the series' -- worst. A prominent melody which sounds like Ennio Morricone's music is particularly inappropriate, almost to the point of being comic, whether it's whistled, sung or played by a solo cello. Some Canadian colour in this episode -- Farrell was having an affair with a Member of Parliament from Toronto named Paul Evans who gets killed in the opening scene, not very convincingly. Although there is plenty of room for him to run around, he lets a car knock him over a cliff. Later, the headlight of the rented car (from Char Auto Rental, number 16543) is shown as broken, yet it hardly tapped him! Five-O receives information that Evans was registered at the Ilikai Hotel, but when they go to check out his room, it is in the Rainbow Tower, part of the Hilton Hotel complex close to the Ilikai. The coroner (John Zenda) is very snotty to Danno for some unexplained reason -- was something cut out of the finished show? McGarrett comments on the promiscuity of stewardesses, saying "Those stews get around, don't they?" During the final pursuit of Diana disguised as Linda by McGarrett there are continuity lapses as he pursues her up several steep grades to the cemetery where the real Linda is buried. At the end, we are left wondering why Five-O never uncovered information about Linda's drowning ... wasn't this a matter of public record? Questions are also raised as to how Diana could have fooled the lovers who were attracted to her in her dual role ... how could "Linda" keep her wig on during sex, for example, or why didn't the boyfriends -- or Dr. Fleming (Lyle Bettger), Linda's shrink -- recognize similarities between the two women's bodies?
Five-O is called in after the attempted assassination, broadcast live on TV, of Reverend Andy (Keith Baxter), an evangelist visiting Hawaii on a crusade. The assassin, Jim Nelson (Pepper Martin), calls Andy "Rasputin" and claims that the minister had designs on his wife who was subsequently killed in a California auto accident. The Governor, who is disturbingly chummy with Andy and his sleazy manager Oscar Ross (James Sikking), says "evangelism is as American as apple pie." When McGarrett says that he wants to investigate the Reverend and his flock, the Governor says (perhaps with tongue in cheek), "You have my blessings". After one of the reverend's most devoted followers Sister Harmony (Jean Marsh) is making moves to blow the whistle on him, Andy asks Oscar, "Would you take the word of an ex-whore against that of the Lord's own chosen minister?" Andy has thoughts about revealing skeletons in his closet and Oscar asks, referring to a different "sister" Andy was "doing it" with at a Honolulu retreat: "You want to give it all up for some cheap tramp?" Reverend Andy is staying at the Ilikai Hotel -- at first, the camera shows the building known as the Marina Tower (now condominiums), but later on the camera pans up the outside of the main hotel building. McGarrett is seen playing with a camera in his office, and later uses it to take pictures of the Reverend (the action freezes whenever McGarrett's shutter clicks). The effective score by Fred Steiner uses snippets of the hymn "Bringing in the Sheaves." Ed Fernandez appears as an HPD Sergeant. McGarrett uses his clear blackboard. What does "MT" on the crusade's podium and members' arm bands mean? There is a crowd scene in front of the Neil Blasdell Center, locally known as the "Shell", which looked like a gigantic space ship (this is the same place where Elvis did his "Aloha from Hawaii" satellite broadcast). This and #243, Small Potatoes are the only episodes which have titles the same as X-Files episodes (so far).
An above-average two-parter focusing on mob influence in the Hawaiian music industry and disco scene. There are numerous disco hits on the soundtrack, and a featured role for real-life singer Yvonne Elliman as Yvonne Kanekoa, sister of Sonny Kanekoa (Richard Dimitri) who is up to his eyebrows in trouble. Yvonne's boyfriend, Johnny Munroe (James Darren) has authored two hit songs for her, but resists getting involved with local mobster and Sonny's new partner Ray Santoro (Antony Ponzini) who's working for kumu (Hawaiian mob) boss Tony Alika (Ross Martin, in the first of four appearances). Santoro's previous employment included handling "the Colombo family's musical interests." When he is beaten up by goons working for Santoro and Alika, Munroe enlists the help of L.A. mob kingpin Allie Francis (Nehemiah Persoff). Early in the show, McGarrett checks out the disco scene after Sonny's first partner is blown up in a spectacular explosion. McGarrett talks to lounge singer Sally (Melveen Leed) who tells him, "One of these days I'm gonna get you so smashed I'm gonna find out what's behind that all-business front you put up." McGarrett replies, "Sally, you better watch out, I might take you up on that invitation one of these days or nights." There's an extraordinary scene near the end of part two where Francis asks McGarrett what makes him tick. McGarrett reveals the motivation for his becoming a cop, replying when he was thirteen years old, he watched his father buried at the age of 42 which forced his mother to spend 20 years bringing up the family. He goes on: "On his way home from work, my father was run down and killed by some bastard like you who had just held up a supermarket." (Strong language for 1979!) He tells Francis he has dealt with hundreds of crooks, "each of them had a name, a face and dirty hands like you." A nice contrast with one of the "waves" where Yvonne sees Munroe's gun ... the music instead of the usual ominous build-up is very low-key. Jimmy Borges appears briefly as disco owner. Alika's black manservant Billy Swan is played in this episode by Vic Malo, by another actor in subsequent shows. Joey Lee (Brian Tochi), who was sprung from prison by McGarrett in #246, The Pagoda Factor, has achieved respectable employment in this episode as a DJ at Sonny's disco. At one point, Joey visits the Five-O office to spill some beans. Francis stays at the Ilikai. The piano that Munroe has in his apartment varies in pitch, depending on whether or not Yvonne is being accompanied. The 1978 date is seen on a calendar. The Kalihi district of Honolulu is identified as having some special ties to the kumu.
This show starts with the discovery that a bank's supposedly impregnable vault has been plundered (producing a very loud scream from one of the bank's female employees). It just so happens this bank was built by philanthropist Matthew Meighan (Robert Reed). Investigation reveals that other banks he was connected with suffered a similar fate and that all of them had a neighboring music store containing a control panel for an elaborate mechanism allowing thieves to enter the bank. (Duke visits one of these music stores on the mainland when he gets homesick for Hawaiian music and decides to buy a harmonica.) This is all very swell, but I wonder how Meighan and his accomplices can not only rob the bank but cover their tracks by filling up the passageway connecting the two with cement in a relatively short space of time. When McGarrett arrives at a new bank built by Meighan, he leaves the wipers on his car running, but in a subsequent scene they are shut off. The outside of Meighan's lavish beachfront house looks very familiar. Meighan's wife Dorothy tries to act seductive to McGarrett, who addresses her as "board chairman ... or should I say chairperson." In an earlier scene, she and her husband are going to "go inside and pull the blinds," i.e., "do it." There's some amusement between Steve and Danno. Coming out of a Chinese restaurant, McGarrett says his fortune cookie suggested "a beautiful blond will soon complicate your life." Danno asks if he would like to trade fortunes -- Danno's was "You'll soon encounter a tall, dark, handsome man." The ending of this episode -- with the Governor paying an unusual visit to the Five-O office -- is unbelievably mediocre, as is the smarty-pants music by John Cacavas throughout. Good McGarrett quote: "Everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise." Stock shot of McGarrett's car -- not his recent model -- driving past a balcony. When receiving a phone call from Duke on the mainland, McGarrett asks the receptionist Luana to "put it on speaker," something which is usually under McGarrett's control.MORE TRIVIA:
- Meighan referrs to McGarrett as a "pussycat."
- During the shopping center opening ceremonies presided over the Governor, a stand selling hot malasadas is seen in the background. Malasadas are a kind of hole-less doughnut which was introduced to Hawaii by the Portuguese.
- McGarrett wears his black leisure suit.
Mildred Natwick makes a return appearance as elderly mystery writer Millicent Shand who's on the case of spiritualist Rolande, played by Robert Vaughan (an uninspired choice of casting). The Governor asks McGarrett to baby-sit the tut-tutting and eye-rolling Mildred while she attempts to figure out if Rolande had anything to do with the murder of her niece Carole's (Diana Scarwid) husband. The score by John Cacavas is like a soap opera, and at one point uses the slow movement from Mahler's first symphony. Technologically speaking, the explanation for Rolande's bogus séances (using a projector which looks like a vacuum cleaner) is hard to swallow, not to mention the fact that Rolande knows far too much. A pretty lame episode all around, especially the ending. Directed by Reza Badiyi.MORE TRIVIA:
- Fred Ball, who plays Fitzwilliam, Roland's assistant, was in the previous Mildred Natwick episode Frozen Assets, as a man who is resuscitated from the dead.
McGarrett is asked by the Governor to keep an eye on heiress Dilys Conover (Tricia O'Neil), whose mother was the Governor's close friend -- as if McGarrett has nothing better to do! Dilys has brought her yappy dog Daphne to the islands, and it has to be placed in quarantine (Hawaii has very strict policies in this regard). When Dilys argues with McGarrett about this rule, he asks if she's ever heard about rabies. She asks if he's ever heard about fascism, to which he responds, "Yeah, and fortunately we don't have either one here." McGarrett later describes Dilys to Danno: "She's harder to read than a wet newspaper." McGarrett contacts Dilys's sister in San Francisco, who is a mover in the Civic Purity League, the purpose of which is "improving the moral climate" in that city. Nita Talbot plays Eudora Finch, the screwball boss of the quarantine center and John Saxon is Harry Clive, a hustler who is after an expensive ruby in Dilys's possession. At one point, McGarrett examines the ruby with a jeweller's glass. At the end of the show, McGarrett is trying to weasel out of the fact that he broke the law by removing a dog from quarantine to help solve the case. Finally, in exasperation, he says "Book me, Danno!" The smile on Jack Lord's face for the final freeze-frame is priceless. This and the scene which features the very sexy O'Neil in a bikini are about the only things really worth watching in the episode. The amusing score by Fred Steiner frequently uses the song "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" (It was orchestrated by John Morgan, who is involved with a series of classic film music CDs on the Marco Polo label.) Interestingly, Streets of San Francisco also had a "canine" show in its final season, also to do with dogs having a very expensive jewel-studded collar.MORE TRIVIA:
- McGarrett wears three different leisure suits in this episode: grey, black and blue.
- A shot of the parking lot at the Iolani Palace with a car driving off to the left is used twice in the fourth act, once at the beginning, once near the end.
- In the Five-O office, McGarrett holds the phone up twice so that Danno can hear the conversation from several feet away ... this is hardly realistic.
- The dog Dudley slobbers when waiting at its master's house.
- Fred Ball, who plays "Central Dispatcher," was in the previous episode as Robert Vaughan's assistant Fitzwilliam.
- McGarrett's weight is estimated by Dilys at 180 pounds.
- Harry Clive's car, which looks like an Excalibur, has the unusual license plate 1E-4.
- The freckles on the face of Armitage (Cooper Huckabee), another crook after the jewels, look like they are painted on, and give him the appearance of Raggedy Ann.
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The story, co-authored by guest star Paul Williams, concerns a freelance photographer who tries to blackmail mob boss Tony Alika (Ross Martin). At the beginning, the cops (Duke and an unidentified HPD officer) are tailing Alika out in the middle of nowhere on a narrow road. One of Alika's boys shoots out the cops' tire, and the car plunges over a cliff. Fortunately Duke is thrown free. When he returns, bandaged, to the Five-O office, he gets another warm welcome from McGarrett (see episode #236, My Friend, the Enemy). Danno wants the lab to look at the tires of the car to find bullets -- this should be difficult, since the whole car was totally fried! At one point, Alika says "Shhh..." sounding like it's going to turn into "Shit!" Alika is sarcastic to McGarrett during their meetings, describing McGarrett as "a big superstar cop" and "Sherlock Holmes of Hawaii." When McGarrett tells photographer Williams' girlfriend "Trust me," this reminds me of what she said to Williams earlier, that her father had told her whenever someone said that, this actually meant "Don't trust me." When Alika brutally orders the murder of middleman Howard Kramer in Williams' apartment, the camera taking pictures of the event is very loud! When McGarrett and everyone suddenly appear in Williams' room to confront him later, how did they get in? The door was locked!
Robert Loggia plays Russ Hendrix, a ex-cop with a troubled past on a crusade to rescue young girls from prostitution and knock off their pimps. He has a special attraction to one of them, Lureen (Kaki Hunter), now living in a halfway house, who was "raped and beaten when she was fifteen." Hendrix' feelings for Lureen, now sixteen years old, seem to go beyond those of a father for a daughter. Later in the show, Lureen suggests to McGarrett that "Russ loved me as a woman as well as a child ... do you know what I'm saying? ... The thing was, it would have worked out in time." When she asks McGarrett if this shocks him, he replies, "Nothing shocks me, little one." John Larch plays the gangster Roger Maggers (an ineffectual performance). The scriptwriters must have searched pretty hard to come up with this name, which gives Five-O the opportunity to refer to him as "maggot." Both Nephi Hannemann and Jimmy Borges play pimps. Near the end of the show, McGarrett is looking at a binder with pictures of pimps that Hendrix has killed, and Borges' picture has a big "X" across it ... but he was still alive the last time we saw him! Maggers contracts an out-of-town hitman to knock off Hendrix, but he doesn't do a very good job, wounding Hendrix to the extent that he can make it back to his office, then to Maggers' house where we have to endure McGarrett's pleading comments to the fatally injured ex-cop. The song "Do You Think I'm Sexy" is heard, arranged by John Cacavas and sung by Jim Henderson. Cacavas' score has some interesting counterpoint with the song at the beginning of the show, but the rest of his music is dull. Hendrix drives a cool red Mustang convertible. This episode would have been more interesting if the writer had played up the angle of Hendrix having a mid-life crisis.
A good "contemporary issues" show dealing with doctors who overprescribe drugs like quaaludes. Cameron Mitchell appears as Tom Riordan, an old Navy comrade of McGarrett ("the best bosun the Navy ever had"), now security chief at the Ilikai Hotel, whose son dies after an overdose. McGarrett vows to make it a "very personal matter" to determine if Doctor Danworth (Fritz Weaver) who prescribed the drugs is guilty of negligence. The credibility of this episode is nearly derailed by the presence of Simone Griffeth as well-stacked blonde aerobics instructor Gerry Colby. McGarrett's relationship with her is unclear -- is she an ex-policewoman? How does he know her? He warns her she will be doing "undercover work." She seems very concerned about "young people." When she begs Danworth for "downers" at his marina, he tells her "You look pretty healthy to me." McGarrett, later having his doubts about persecuting Danworth, finally says, "My God, maybe I misjudged the man," and later apologizes to him. (McGarrett denying that he enlisted Gerry to try and frame Danworth catches the Five-O boss in a rare bald-faced lie!) When talking to Gerry, McGarrett has a peculiar memory lapse, referring to Danworth as "Dr. What's-His-Name." Gerry's exercise class takes place near the War Memorial Natatorium in Kapiolani Park where also she helps Five-O nab Kona Emery (Alan Austin), a drug dealer who helps break the case. Danno chases Emery into the water and gets completely submerged, suit and all! Tommy Fujiwara appears as the judge at Danworth's competency hearing. A ticket for Keoni Pawnbrokers has the number 51362 and a 1/17/79 date is seen on a prescription slip for Riordan's son, whose apartment is at #8, 838 N. Ulani. A Physicians Ambulance is seen in the opening shots. Five-O uncovers that Danworth drives a 1978 Mercury. In one sequence where is on the road, McGarrett's lips don't match the words he is speaking into the car radio.
This episode contains an exceptional score by Dick DeBenedictis plus some effective hand-held camera work. There are hints of nudity (behind an extremely opaque glass door) at the beginning when Erin Black (Spray Rosso) is taking a shower ("Spray"?). As usual, she screams loudly and throws her hands up. Charles Cioffi plays Norman Klane, an "investigative reporter" whose attempts to get an exclusive story from the killer (Walt Davis) conflict with McGarrett's obsessive investigation. At one point McGarrett mentions the Son of Sam. The killer reveals he is motivated by "those tramps exposing themselves at their windows, wearing those clothes that show." McGarrett's phone's ring is very noisy at one point! He tells the Five-O team to "check every flower shop in the city." Klane's daughter Mary Ellen (Rita Wilson) becomes the object of the killer's wrath near the show's end. She meets her father at Sally's bar (Melveen Leed again playing Sally), previously seen in #250, Number One with a Bullet. It looks like Mary Ellen is staying at the Ilikai, judging from the view outside the window. Earlier, an external night shot of her father's hotel showed the Ilikai's glass elevator, but inside in a hallway was a sign suggesting it was a Sheraton hotel. Another previous episode (#147, I'll Kill 'em Again) is referenced when the killer purchases a used copy of Klane's best-selling book at Beecham's Used Books. There are some mind-boggling stunts on a high-rise construction crane at the end -- since when is McGarrett so agile up in the air? Two stunt men are actually listed in the credits, and the episode is directed by stunt man Beau Van Den Ecker, who became an Associate Producer for the twelfth season. McGarrett wears his black leisure suit, and, at one point, a hideous shirt with a black and white zebra pattern. Danno is then wearing a pretty awful shirt as well.
This two-hour show is the last one featuring James MacArthur. McGarrett takes another trip to Singapore to investigate a heroin smuggling ring which may be part of a "diabolical plot" to discredit the Governor. This time McGarrett poses as an insurance investigator using the alias "Kevin Riley." He sometimes wears his black (as well as a white) leisure suit and also a large straw hat, and at one point the robes of a monk. The guest cast includes Barry Bostwick as martial-arts-practising drug kingpin Lucas Sandover, long "missing in action" from the Vietnam War, Victoria Principal as his wife Dolores who tells McGarrett "I've had other men ... I'm not pristine," Lawrence Dobkin as the mysterious bald-headed Oriental General Oban and George ("James Bond") Lazenby as John Cossett, a gay choreographer who addresses McGarrett as "darling." Manu Tupou plays a Singapore cop named Eddie Chu, not very convincingly. Doc Bergmann is seen at the beginning, also his last show, and Beau Van Den Ecker appears briefly as General Oban's driver. At the beginning of his investigation in Singapore, McGarrett visits Cossett, where he's attacked by a crazed guy in a scary mask. Later in his hotel room, he is attacked by another thug weilding nunchucks. Danno, who seems bored, discovers that Sandover has been MIA since December 17, 1969, and has been considered "dead for nine years." As McGarrett is about to meet some punks, a snake charmer shows his cobra. McGarrett tells him, "Beat it, pal, I don't dig snakes." Dolores tails McGarrett to this meeting place, despite the fact that her cab is over three and a half minutes behind him. There are some scary stunts on a cable car between McGarrett and Sandover. Danno's reaction in the car behind is similar to that for McGarrett's high-wire antics in The Skyline Killer. The finale features a high-speed ocean chase where McGarrett freaks when the bad guys escape into international waters, saying that "anyone who deals in drugs at this level are mass murderers and violate human law." Instead of violating 57 varieties of rights at home, McGarrett is obsessed with getting Sandover to "surrender to American jurisdiction" abroad. Sandover is also confused -- when he beats a hasty retreat after buying some heroin, he says the "marine police must have heard the shots" ... but no shots were fired. John Cacavas' music in the first hour is full of King and I orientalisms. A toy monkey with clapping cymbals is seen. At the finale, McGarrett sends Dolores off, saying "Goodbye, pretty lady."