Copyright ©1994-2008 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. An excellent episode starring Khigh Dhiegh as Wo Fat. We learn more about Wo, who kidnaps the daughter of the "top neurosurgeon in Hawaii," Dr. Forbes (Donald Moffat), in an effort to get the doctor not to save the life of Shepherd, a seriously wounded agent who is carrying sensitive information. Wo plays chess with the doctor's daughter, saying "I knew a little girl once," and nearly lapses into sentimentality. He goes on, "So few women play chess ... they seem to have no grasp for it." When Wo confronts the doctor and his wife, Wo says, "I'm not interested in winning your approval, doctor -- only your co-operation. I'm just as much a victim of this situation ... I would genuinely hate to harm your child," insisting that his own credibility is at stake if he doesn't carry out the plan as ordered. McGarrett has to deal with federal agent Sam Kavanaugh (Gerald S. O'Loughlin -- see #16 and #22). The number of the pay phone one of Kavanaugh's agents uses has the number 819-855. Daniel Kamekona plays Wo's henchman Chung who tries to knock off the agent at the beginning. One of the views of the rifle scope is totally wrong -- it's from ground level instead of up in the building (the Rainbow Tower, now part of the Hilton hotel complex) from which Chung is aiming. I'd like to know where McGarrett gets the pictures of the boat where the doctor's daughter is being held.
Singer Nancy Wilson gives an outstanding performance as singer Eadie Jordan who has not only a concert to perform, but a serious heroin addiction problem. Trouble is, there's a batch of smack laced with arsenic circulating around Oahu. Series and main theme composer Morton Stevens plays Hank, a drummer who dies from using the poisoned dope in a scene at the beginning. (When McGarrett looks at a file after Hank's death, in addition to the drummer's photo, there is some paperwork which is supposedly his musicians' union contract -- but close examination reveals it to be concerned with oil drilling rights!) The jazzy score is by Stevens, and I would suspect that so are the arrangements for Wilson. She sings part of at least four different songs -- Stormy Monday, Honeysuckle Rose, the title tune, and Spinning Wheel. Honeysuckle Rose is not included in the Season 3 DVD box set, probably because of music rights. From the time McGarrett leaves his office at the beginning of the show to when Wilson says "Maybe it's me..." is cut out (approximately 24 seconds). Click here to see the missing material (requires QuickTime). Harry Guardino plays Mike, Eadie's manager/arranger/accompanist. There is some inter-racial embracing between the two which probably raised eyebrows way back then, plus a disturbing scene with a very young kid (Remi Abellira) who claims to be a heroin addict. When Guardino berates the kid for his habit, the kid says Guardino is talking "fuzz jive." This show has McGarrett referring to cassette tapes (which he pronounces "case-sette"), as opposed to the reel-to-reel variety.
A mundane episode, with John Marley playing Dr. Lemira, "symbol of freedom for the opposition parties" in Greece who's living in exile in Hawaii. Eric Braden is sent to assassinate him, posting as reporter Klaus Marburg. The scheme by which Marburg is himself shot and nearly killed with the intention of sympathetically working his way into Lemira's confidence is interesting, but for most of the show we are just waiting and waiting for the dénouement, with McGarrett predictably saving the day at the last moment. McGarrett is seen driving on the wrong side of the road in a scene seemingly lifted from the previous episode which starred Marley, #23, The Big Kahuna. McGarrett wears some cool sunglasses near the beginning of the show. When McGarrett tells Chin Ho to find the bullet which went through Marburg, Chin protests, "How come I always get stuck with these jobs?" McGarrett replies, "Because you're good at it." McGarrett has to tangle with another Fed, but the confrontation is less intense than usual.
This episode could be subtitled "Flashback City." An old girl friend of McGarrett, Cathy Wallis (Diana Muldaur) is the number one suspect in the murder of her lawyer husband Frank, and McGarrett ends up arresting her for lack of any other evidence. There are numerous glimpses into McGarrett's past relationship with Cathy, especially during the "third act." Interestingly, McGarrett doesn't look a day younger! Steve is so emotionally wrapped up that Danno even asks him to let the Five-O team handle the case for his own good, a suggestion which Steve rejects. It turns out the real killer is Martin Sheen, giving yet another snotty performance (see #43) as Arthur Dixon, a lawyer who was given the heave-o from Cathy's husband Frank's practice because he had the hots for Frank's daughter Joan (Kathy Cannon, who looks about 16). Sheen pulled off a scam with something called a "tie line" from Frank's San Francisco office to give the impression that he was on the mainland, then knocked off Frank and took a plane back to California and then returned immediately to Hawaii. When Dixon returns to Hawaii and greets Joan, he says "It's all right, baby," but his mouth isn't moving. I guess McGarrett is too involved with the case to consider Dixon a suspect -- why didn't McGarrett check Dixon's supposed departure time several days previously, which would no doubt have cracked the case immediately? There is mention of a real phone number -- 734-2211. At one point McGarrett plays his guitar.
This show features two creepy white trash criminals who seem to be hopped up on drugs -- Bruce Dern look-alike Anthony James as Hutch and Kenneth O'Brien as Deke. They steal a car containing the priceless Guarnerius violin of Russian virtuoso Dmitri Rostov (Ed Flanders) shortly after he gives a recital for various Honolulu socialites where he plays the last movement of Brahms' violin concerto accompanied by a pianist. This causes an anonymous source at the Soviet embassy in Washington to say via the press that the violin "was stolen by American fascists as an act of political vengeance against the Soviet Union." McGarrett responds to this, saying, "They never change their tune, do they?" Because of pressure by the State Department, the Governor is freaking in a major way, sternly telling McGarrett to watch his P's and Q's. Rostov is guarded by KGB-type intelligence agent Josef Sarpa (Albert Paulsen) who resists any co-operation with McGarrett. The two crooks sell the violin for peanuts to Gino Mazzini, a blind violin teacher played by Wright Esser (who sports heavy "old man" makeup). When they find out its true value, they return to Mazzini's apartment and steal it back after murdering him. At the end, Sarpa coldly orders Rostov to pay the ransom money, knowing full well that Rostov will be executed the violin-nappers. Fortunately, McGarrett sneaks up from behind and all is well (despite the violin being thrown into a field). I would like to see the follow-up to this show and witness the political heat which ensues! McGarrett has a great line, telling the Five-O team, "I want the prints of anyone who touched that car [containing the violin] since it left Detroit."MORE TRIVIA:
- The teaser is fairly long before the main titles kick in -- about 7 and a half minutes.
- A real phone number -- 732-5577 -- is seen on the side of the truck owned by "Ikeda Pool Service" and driven by Hutch and Deke's friend Tojo (Ah Vah). This number is used numerous times throughout the series.
- When Hutch and Deke are on the beach, their radio is playing the selection "Operation Smash" from the Five-O soundtrack album.
- Why doesn't Sarpa recognize McGarrett driving by the ransom site near the end of the show? It's not like there are a lot of cars on the road. This site, which is full of stripped cars and other junk, is supposedly in Sherwood Forest, another name for Waimanalo Bay Beach Park.
- This is the first show featuring Honolulu used car dealer "Lippy" Espinda, identified in the credits along with his first name of David. He plays a taxi driver for Bernie's Cabs.
- Sarpa is contacted by Hutch and Deke via a pay phone at the corner of Kanaina (3700 block) and Monsarrat (3100 block). This is an actual location, though it is unlikely the Dairy Queen seen at the corner of this five-way intersection is still there.
- Near the beginning of the show, McGarrett's hair has a reddish tinge to it!
- The man who has arranged Rostov's concert, Jared Gifford (Larry Ronson), addresses Rostov as "maestro." This is a term normally used for conductors, not soloists.
- Notice there are two closeup shots of the violinist's fingers which seem to be playing very accurately. Either Ed Flanders did a very good job or they hired some actual violinist to perform in these shots.
As in #35, another boy is kidnapped (Timmy O'Brien, played by Geoffrey Thorpe, same actor as the previous episode). His father (Lloyd Gough) looks very old (as did the previous father) and the mother is nowhere to be seen. This time Kono also gets captured while doing surveillance on the money drop, but subsequently helps the kid to escape. This doesn't endear Kono to the nasty kidnappers who then beat him up very badly. At least he lets fly with a good head butt while fighting with one of them. When he sees pictures of the badly beaten Kono, McGarrett is very upset -- vowing to get the kidnappers -- in one of his most intense moments of the entire series. McGarrett gets Chin Ho and Winston Char to trace the source of a call to a pay phone (in what will become a stock sequence) -- but why does McGarrett alert them only after he receives a call? Didn't he know where the phone booth was in the first place? At least they get it traced, just after the kidnapper hangs up. Doug Mossman appears briefly near the end. McGarrett is sprayed with gasoline, but he saves Kono in the nick of time, asking him, "How do you feel, you big Kanaka?" Kono can barely reply, "Starved." Incidentally, at the Five-O convention, Zoulou said that during this final scene, it was him -- not a stunt man -- in the coffin-like box. If someone had screwed up and the box fallen into the water, Zoulou would have drowned!
The "ruthless" Richard Sloane is blown up in an boat explosion which almost kills McGarrett. McGarrett and Danno have to deal with a choice of suspects, which finally narrows down to McGarrett's boating buddy Cal Anderson (John Vernon). The psychological explanation for why Cal did it is a bit far-fetched, but if one can buy this, then the episode is enjoyable, full of snappy dialogue from Danno who takes over while McGarrett is in the hospital (where "Dr. Freeman" is paged yet again). 1966 and 1967 dates are mentioned. McGarrett has an exchange with a cute nurse (Carole Kai, now a singer/TV personality in Hawaii) as he prepares to leave the hospital. The music (stock) is creepy as McGarrett gets Cal to finally realize his criminal behavior. Vernon, a veteran of Canadian TV and frequent portrayer of film heavies, gives an above-average performance as do Linda Marsh as Sloane's wife Maria and Dewey Martin as her lawyer Richard Fairbirne. McGarrett says he checked the telephone records at the yacht club ... would this have been possible in Honolulu for local calls? McGarrett seems pretty agile during the final fight with Cal despite his wounds obtained in the explosion.
A Japanese computer research company executive named Hatsuo Shigato (Teru Shimada), visiting Honolulu on a business trip, is seemingly threatened by Mitch Bradley (Joe Maross), who recognizes Shigato as the sadistic Kim Rashiri, commandant of the Lo Tang prison camp in the Philippines where Bradley was tortured during World War II. Bradley is taking part in a 15th Airborne Reunion at the Ilikai Hotel (where much of this show takes place) with two other vets who were also in the camp -- Frank Epstein (Simon Oakland) and Michael Holt (Barry Atwater). As in episode #4, the word "bushido" (Japanese samurai code of chivalry) is misused. Holt says of Rashiri, "He was a bushido." As the story develops, it turns out that Shigato is the bad guy, setting up the three vets in an elaborate scheme ... a bit too elaborate for one man, though Shigato is revealed to be a very slippery character in his interviews with McGarrett. The plot is interesting with several red herrings, but becomes illogical when a hired gun, Charlie Llacuna (Daws Dawson), not only puts darkroom equipment in Bradley's hotel room (in the bathroom?) but after shooting Holt from Bradley's balcony, manages to slip inside and place the rifle in a rack in front of the seemingly catatonic soldier (and somehow get Bradley's fingerprints all over it) before Kono kicks in the door seconds after the fatal shot is fired. It isn't established whether Bradley actually lives in the hotel room, or he is just visiting Honolulu -- at the beginning of the show he is on the same Tradewind Tours bus as Shigato. Although Simon Oakland is playing a character under considerable stress, his laughter at the Ilikai poolside bar is phony-sounding and his screaming and yelling about Rashiri become tiresome after a while. A real phone number is used -- 277-9277. There is a shot of a radio on a dashboard, seen later in #60, Beautiful Screamer.
An excellent episode with Don Stroud playing Nick Pierson, professional hit man who falls in love with Julie Grant (the very hot Marianne McAndrew), who witnessed the murder of the title character a couple of years before. (This murder is depicted in an interestingly photographed flashback with cocktail waitress Julie dressed in a geisha costume.) Pierson is contracted to knock off Julie by his boss, Harry Quon, who is into "gambling, prostitution, smack, shakedowns" according to McGarrett. Quon is played by the white Alfred Ryder with a Fu Manchu moustache in yet another mediocre performance that could have been better played by some Asian actor. Al ("Ben") Harrington plays Quon's thug Charlie, Hilo Hattie appears as Mrs. Pruitt, and Kwan Hi Lim is the coroner on Maui. The "memories" theme appears in several different arrangements in this show. I like the fly on the corpse's face near the beginning! Outstanding use of color, especially during the teaser. Why does McGarrett take Quon with him during the chase at the end of the film?
This show features Ray Danton as outspoken Hawaiian singer Jimmy Nuanu who performs at the Canoe House in the Ilikai Hotel, often haranguing the audience with ecological issues. Jimmy is apparently well-to-do, since he drives a Rolls-Royce. On the walls of his dressing room are posters of Arthur Lyman and "Beverlee & Sidro with the Sneakers." Jimmy is set up as a patsy by a consortium headed by Walter Colfax (Paul Stevens) which wants to get control over the disposal of the island's garbage. When he is questioned by McGarrett as the most likely suspect in the bombing of a sewage plant, Jimmy tells McGarrett: "We Hawaiians always trusted you because you were always on our side." McGarrett refers to Jimmy as "a hot-headed Hawaiian." When the two discuss Jimmy's kid, the music features what sounds like a recorder -- similar to #161, Small Witness, Large Crime. After Nuanu's pal Eddie Kamoko (Tom Fujiwara) -- who helped set up Jimmy in exchange for paying off gambling debts -- is thrown out of his apartment window and killed, there is a hair in the picture when the Beacon Ambulance team prepares to transport his body. During the investigation, McGarrett encounters a bar girl who offers him her services for free. His response: "It's never free, honey." Richard Morrison, who plays Professor Hale says "Greed and money ... that's what ecology's all about" when interviewed in McGarrett's office. During the teaser, Jimmy utters the popular phrase "Ain't no big t'ing" (in a spoken, not singing voice) and Eddie says the title of the episode when talking to Jimmy. McGarrett refuses a drink twice. At the finale, Jimmy pursues Colfax up a down escalator which seems peculiar, since the up escalator is right beside it. This show was co-written by Jerry Ludwig and Eric Bercovici, who wrote over a dozen Five-O episodes in total. Prior to this episode, which aired on November 18, 1970, they had written a Mission: Impossible episode called Butterfly (broadcast October 30th of that year) which starred Khigh Dhiegh as well as other actors who appeared on Five-O such as James Shigeta and Helen Funai. Two of the characters in the Five-O show are named Phelps (Mitch Mitchel [sic]) and Briggs (Wallace Landford), the same as the "bosses" of Mission: Impossible.
A classic episode, starring Hume Cronyn as elderly master of disguise and former insurance investigator Lewis Avery Filer, who engages in an amusing cat-and-mouse game with McGarrett and the Five-O crew. The script is witty as is the music score by Morton Stevens (featuring a harpsichord). There are a couple of goofs, though. When Filer locks the employees of Kam's Jewelery (the owner is played by Galen Kam) in the back room, does it make sense the door locks from the outside? The recording Filer leaves them to listen to starts out with a long pause, but then it turns into an endless loop tape. The Governor visits the Five-O office to view a video tape of Filer robbing a bank (which provides considerable amusement). At one point McGarrett is seen putting Visine-like drops in his eyes. A good quote from Filer to McGarrett: "You're too smart to be a cop." Parker Brothers, creator of Monopoly (Filer leaves Monopoly money everywhere), gets a credit in the end titles.
Danno's girlfriend Jane Michaels (Anne Archer) is killed as part of a complicated plot by Walter Gregson (Lloyd Bochner) to murder his own wife. The resulting emotional distress for Danno is unreal -- and produces James MacArthur's best performance of the entire series. There is a peculiar scene where Gregson locks himself in his construction trailer, then sneaks out a hole in the floor. Surely the workers who later say they were sitting right by the front door would have seen him! (But of course, no one does...) Gregson follows his wife Sally (Laraine Stephens) as she take some blind kids to a viewpoint as part of her volunteer work. (Was Five-O being "ahead of its time" in terms of "sensitivity to the handicapped"?) When he finally encounters Sally, Gregson lures her conveniently over to the steep cliff nearby. Why doesn't she just run in the other direction? Fortunately, Danno arrives ... the focus is on Danno at the end, rather than McGarrett for a change. The shot of the radio in Danno's car is the same as the one seen a few minutes before in the car of HPD cop Fujimara, who is supposedly protecting Sally (he is shot by Gregson) -- it's also seen in #56, The Reunion. The "memories" theme is heard briefly when Danno comforts Jane near the beginning of the show.
Excellent acting all around in this episode, especially in some of the minor roles -- Robert Edward as slum landlord Bemis and Warren Vanders as fatally wounded robber Jace Gorman in particular. The main characters, Vince Ryan (Albert Salmi) and his girl friend Madge (Madlyn Rhue), on the run with a lot of loot, are also fine. When the bad guys pursuing this duo check into the Hawaiian Village Hotel, they give their address as 1046 Green Valley Circle, Seattle. The date -- 9/13/70 -- is seen on the hotel registration card. There's a scene of all four members of the Five-O team -- McGarrett, Danno, Kono and Chin -- running down the palace steps. (Kono seems to be a bit behind.) During the investigation, Danno asks if one woman is a "B-girl." McGarrett tells Kono to "get on the phone to every bank in Oahu." I like the Asian dolls by Gorman's girl friend's phone.
Monte Markam plays Harry Kellem, a real estate developer who's in the pen for the murder of his partner. When Kellem hears a stabbed prisoner in the prison hospital confess to the murder (thus clearing him) with no other witnesses in the room, he freaks out and takes a doctor (Sorrell Booke) hostage and calls for McGarrett to reopen the investigation. Al "Ben" Harrington, who was a prisoner in The Box (#16), has moved up in the world -- here he plays Bates, a prison guard. R.G. Armstrong is still present as the the tough Warden. Bill Bigelow, wearing a wig, appears almost unrecognizable as Rycourt, an auditor. Mills Watson plays the very slimy thug Barney Banyon who's in the employ of an equally oily lawyer played by veteran character actor William Schallert. A good script.
A show with an interesting theme, with Frank Silvera as Frank Kuakua, a Maui cowboy who fears the loss of his land to the crooked real estate agent Lester Cronin (Bill Bigelow). When Cronin gets threatening, Kuakua says "Don't you 'bruddah' me", and pushes him backwards, causing Cronin to hit his head on a tree, killing him (doesn't seem that hard of a push!) Jack Lord finally gets to ride a horse as McGarrett and a posse pursue Frank into the mountains. Their tracker, Charlie, is Beau Van Den Ecker, one of the Five-O stuntmen who directed some episodes in the later seasons (including the wretched #276, "A Bird in Hand..."). One sequence after McGarrett hears Frank shoot his horse and another after the posse finds the horse are exactly the same. When McGarrett tries to talk Frank into surrendering, he says "I feel ashamed of what's being done here in the name of progress." I don't understand how Frank can go to Oahu to visit his daughter in Honolulu, since he seems to be very short of money. When she phones him in Maui from Honolulu, she only dials seven numbers. Lots of helicopter action in this show. In one scene, the helicopter parks dangerously on a hill at an angle and Danno leaps out. Frank Silvera, by the way, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and spent much of his film career playing Mexicans plus the occasional "South Seas" role like in Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). This episode of Five-O was his last performance -- he died shortly after.
Near the beginning, electronics genius Sheldon Orwell (Tim O'Connor), who's been busted out of police custody, has the chain connecting his handcuffs separated by use of a heavy duty cutter. But a few seconds later he gets out of the car with no handcuffs. If he had a key, why didn't he just use that in the first place? When a cigar ash is found at the scene, Chin Ho tracks down purchasers of that brand, including a woman. McGarrett quips, "Either she's got a boyfriend or women's liberation is working overtime." McGarrett and the cops are really on top of the crooks following the robbery of the diamond exchange. But why doesn't anyone notice the number of ambulance attendants coming out of the elevator is double the amount that went in? The ambulance is from the Clark Ambulance company -- one of the shots of it fleeing the robbery looks like it comes from #13, King of the Hill. There's the use of a portable-like video tape machine in this episode. Michael Morgan, who plays Exchange Room Guard, appeared in the previous episode as Maui Police Chief Ben Kubota. Paul Stewart, whose career began in the 40's with films like Citizen Kane, gives a great performance as the "dinosaur" from the age of Capone, Willard Lennox.
A very short yet effective teaser kicks off this episode, which ranks with the best of them for its fourth act, one of the most emotionally gruelling of the entire series. The score by music supervisor Don B. Ray introduces us to the "military theme," which will make numerous appearances in future shows. There are also variations on the "memories" theme. Five-O investigates the suspicious death of Vietnam war hero Jack Rigney (Peter Jason), who fell several stories from his apartment balcony. His father is the straight-laced World War II veteran Brigadier General Earl Rigney (John Anderson) whose other son Michael (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is thinking of skipping the country to avoid the draft. Michael visits the offices of the Hawaii Committee to Aid Draft Resistance, where Al "Doc" Eben is Max Heller, a counsellor. Posters like "War is not healthy for children and other living things" are seen in abundance. When Michael visits an underground newspaper and tells one of the hippie-like workers there he is going to flee to Canada, he is cautioned: "Don't get the idea that Trudeau-turf is a pacifist's Eden." To help solve the case, Danno goes underground as a potential deserter, not very convincingly. Ann (Brooks Almy), the sister of one deserter who's already in Canada tells him, "Don't tell me you're going to be inducted ... you look too old to be a draftee." When McGarrett grills Danno about his beliefs, Danno replies, "Like I'm splitting for Canada ... you know, Trudeau-turf, where it's cold and it snows eight months of the year ... and if I never feel the heat again, or hear the buzzing of flies, smell the stench of rotting bodies, it'll be too soon -- dig?" McGarrett says, "Danno, you should pass easily." In the scene with Ann, James MacArthur seems to be forgetting his lines: "Yeah, but, uh, [pause] Canada's [a very long pause] opening up [pause] to all kinds of protestors." When Danno is later busted with several hippie types, he grabs the arm of Matthews, their leader, in a cop-like move as they run outside their house, then lets go. Matthews was played by journalist Dave Donnelly, sporting a beard and sunglasses. He writes: "The scene was filmed in a shack in Kalama Valley which today is a thriving community, Hawaii Kai, complete with golf course." There is a good quote from Chin Ho in McGarrett's office: "How you like them pineapples?" (Some interesting trivia behind this line, sent to me by one of the actors in the show: The "nice pineapples" line was a result of an extra who was one of the hippies at the house. She was braless, wearing a see through blouse and had a body that demanded attention. The cast and crew were very entertained by her running from the house, so much so that about 15 takes ensued, most with no film in the camera.) McGarrett finds himself stonewalled by the military, who tell him, "cool your investigation." His response: "I'm not about to be pressured into cooling any or all of my investigation in this case. I work for the State of Hawaii, not the federal government." Glenn Cannon plays Col. Franklin, who throws more obstacles in McGarrett's path. Finally, General Rigney gets on the phone (202-545-6700) to Jonathan Kay (not identified by name, but played by Robert Dixon!) in Washington. The final scene where a tape (Sony reel-to-reel) made of Jack's final moments is played while his family, Col. Franklin, Michael's girl friend Gail Howard (Joy Bang, who looks about 14), McGarrett and Danno listen, is outstanding -- this should get five stars out of four! Jack's death is revealed as a suicide, a reaction to his having participated in a My Lai-like massacre: "We didn't care what we killed ... peasants ... gooks ... anything. We only cared about our body count, about our high kill ratio."
Wo Fat, the Soviet Mischa Toptegan (Roger C. Carmel) and Nicole Fleming (Sabrina Scharf), "as deadly as she is female," converge on Hawaii to place bids on $20 US bill printing plates which are in the possession of McGarrett's former Navy pal, Commander Nicholson (John McMartin). As expected, Federal bigshot Jonathan Kay (the stern Joseph Sirola), shows up to harass McGarrett and make sure the free world will survive this insidious "economic warfare." There's an exciting helicopter battle on top of a mountain at Wo Fat's secret hideout (one wonders why it is so secret, it's not that far from downtown Honolulu!). The "military theme" makes an appearance at the beginning of part two, with further development at Nicholson's trailer after he is assassinated. Interestingly, part one's music credit says "Theme by Morton Stevens", which suggests stock music, but part two is scored by Ray. The continuity of the scene where Nicholson is shot is not that great ... he seems to jump back several feet to collapse in the water. McGarrett misprounounces the name of the Byodo-In Temple featured in the show's climax as "Bye-oh-do-in" rather than "Be-o-do-in". The interchanges between the various bidders as well as with McGarrett throughout the show are quite delightful. The finale is disappointing, however, with Wo Fat seriously wounded, yet escaping to live another day. (What's the significance of the spider web that the camera focuses on?) A taxi is seen with the stock phone number 732-5577.
The wife of arms dealer Ben Cunningham (Paul Burke) is kidnapped by separatist revolutionaries from the island of Arasunda who want the guns diverted from their intended destination, the Republic of Malanesia (shades of "Savage Sunday"). But it turns out that Cunningham arranged the kidnapping himself in order to generate sympathy from the Malanesian consul in the form of extra bucks to compensate him for the loss of his spouse. The result of this double-dealing is ultimately very unpleasant for Cunningham. McGarrett asks the Five-O team to "check all shipping companies, air freight cargo lines, everything..." to find a shipment of guns. As in #37, Which Way Did They Go, Philip Pine plays another "foreigner", not very well. As Pine leaves the Five-O office and McGarrett turns to his desk, there is the shadow of what looks like a microphone book on the back of his suit. When Arthur Batanides as the Malanesian Consul General is abusing McGarrett for interference, you can see him literally spitting at McGarrett. Robert Luck is seen on a photo as one of the revolutionary suspects, and Beau Van Den Ecker plays "1st Separatist," on screen for about 15 seconds! Daniel Kamekona is a slimy general from Arasunda wearing sunglasses, Kwan Him Lim a "Cleric." There are several stock shots: above the Iolani Palace as Five-O cars pull out onto the street, McGarrett running up the palace steps, Winston Char and Kam Fong tracing a phone call. In one sequence, McGarrett visits Doc (Robert Costa) wearing a grey suit. In the next scene he is going up the palace steps in a blue suit. During a chase near the end, Kono radios to McGarrett, but his voice seems altered. Chin Ho follows a suspect during this chase. As the suspect turns, there is a residential house with a wall in front of it on the corner, but when Chin turns, the house is nowhere to be seen! The "marimba theme" is heard several times.
This is more of a plot anal-ysis, which hopefully will help others to understand this talky and confusing story. About the only thing worth watching is guest star Vera Miles, but even her presence isn't enough to raise the rating from one star. Ray Tobias (Dub Taylor) returns from Australia, where he has been living for a year after leaving Hawaii. Described as "unreliable and opportunistic," he was formerly the manager of an apartment house where Betty Anders, the mistress of Fred Whiting (John Lipton), an aspiring politician, was murdered. He makes a phone call (which we later discover was to lawyer Henry Lockman (Gary Collins)). After spending some time in the Pantheon Bar where the bartender is Lippy Espinda and running up a hefty tab, Tobias goes to the docks to meet Lockman, but he trips on a broken step, is knocked unconscious in the fall, and then murdered by drowning. McGarrett of course is suspicious, but Che Fong says there is nothing fishy about Tobias' end. McGarrett meets with state senator Amons Bolin, a friend of Whiting's, after the newspapers run muckracking stories trying to connect the murdered Tobias with the sensational trial after Anders' murder, which resulted in Whiting being convicted. Bolin says that there is no connection at all, because Tobias was an "inconsequential witness." While Tobias -- who was on the witness stand for only a few minutes -- saw Whiting and Anders going into her apartment on occasion, he was not present when the murder took place. Lockman, Whiting's tax counsellor, political advisor and business partner, co-owned the apartment building with Whiting, and is now backing Bolin in the upcoming senatorial elections. McGarrett gets a call from Lockman to meet with Whiting's wife Flora (Vera Miles) who everyone thought was in a hospital on the mainland after having a nervous breakdown. She has returned to Hawaii ostensibly to meet with Tobias, having received a letter from him saying that he had information about other people seen with Anders which could clear her husband. However, when McGarrett asks to see the letter, she says it was lost in the hospital on the mainland. Flora says when she returned to Hawaii a few days before, she went to the beach house where she and her husband formerly lived and went into her husband's room where she found a broken cuff link under a piece of furniture, which she gives to McGarrett. It turns out that a cuff link which was found under Anders' murdered body and traced back to her husband was a vital piece of evidence which helped to convict him. According to McGarrett, that cuff link is in "the attorney general's files." There was another cuff link which the police subpoenaed from Flora to compare to the one under the body ... which was returned to her and is now in her safety deposit box. When McGarrett asks to have this cuff link, Flora says that she will go to the bank with Lockman to get it. McGarrett meets with Whiting, who is in Oahu State Prison. Whiting says he left his job at the university to run for the state legislature. He says he met Betty when she walked into his office "by mistake." Whiting says that when he got home to the beach house on the night when Betty was murdered (he and Betty had a fight prior to this, but he swears he did not kill her), he noticed that one of his cuff links was missing. Whiting says Betty threatened to expose their relationship, but he was primarily concerned with confessing everything to his wife. After this, Flora meets with McGarrett in his office, and she has suddenly got one page of Tobias' missing letter, but not another which gives more details about why Tobias wanted to meet her in Hawaii. When questioned about the second page, Flora can't remember what was on it, then says that it was of such a sensitive nature that Tobias had to come to Hawaii to talk to her about it. While she is talking with McGarrett, Danno comes in with the other part of the broken cuff link that the cops have just found after a search in Whiting's beach house room (strange that no one found it a year before!). Flora tells McGarrett "You thought the broken link was the one I had in the safety deposit box." Five-O later tracks down an associate of a jeweller who made the original cufflinks, and in a surprise confrontation in McGarrett's office, Flora admits that she had the duplicate (broken) cuff link made up and planted the evidence to try and spring her husband from jail. McGarrett is very annoyed, saying that Flora will likely be charged with manufacturing evidence, among other things. He sends Flora back to her hotel room to be put under a doctor's care. Following this, Lockman is in the outer Five-O office and overhears Danno saying in a really obvious way that Five-O is closing in on the person who broke into the flophouse room where Tobias was staying and ransacked the place earlier (it was Lockman). Lockman actually lifts up the phone to hear Danno talking to Kono! At Flora's hotel room, Lockman drugs her drink. He tells her that he broke into Tobias' room because he wanted "her story to look better." He also admits that he set up her husband with Betty and walked in on Betty after she had the fight with Flora's husband. When Betty said that she was going to expose Lockman, he had to kill her. Lockman is just about to dump Flora's near-comatose body over the hotel room's balcony when McGarrett and Danno burst in. There are a lot of unanswered questions when this show is over. Like why did Lockman set up his friend in the first place? And what will happen to Whiting now? Will he be released from jail? Unlikely, considering that Lockman is a sleazy lawyer and will probably find further ways to obstruct justice!MORE TRIVIA:
- There are some good quotes from McGarrett: "My job is to dig out the truth ... wherever it lies, wherever it's buried"; "Check every hotel, motel and flophouse in the city"; "You've gotta be a lawyer to be a cop today, Danno."
- Some of the minor character names in the end titles are arranged like the guest stars.
- The shot where McGarrett arrives and enters the prison is cribbed from the first season episode, The Box.
- The song heard at the pier at the beginning is also heard in Kiss the Queen Goodbye.
- McGarrett and Danno get to Flora's apartment very fast at the end of the show after getting no response from phoning her.
- Danno shows McGarrett a photocopy of a check from Lockman made out to Tobias drawn on the Central Pacific Bank. Danno says the check was made out "a year ago," but it is dated October 8, 1960.
- The prison shirt worn by Whiting has the number 18790. This is the same number on the California prison shirts worn by McGarrett and Barca in first season episode, The Ways of Love!
- The Honolulu Advertiser with a date which seems like Tuesday, October 13, 1970 is seen.
- The rent for Tobias' flophouse room is 50 cents a day.
- On the phone that Lockman uses to snoop on Danno's conversation in the middle of the rotary dial where the phone number should be, it says "Someone's Hoping You'll Call Long Distance." The phone has a hold button, plus four numbers: 732-5577, 732-5589, 732-5579 and 732-5500, and one other button.
- As Lockman leaves the Five-O office after listening to the call, there is some weird electronic-sounding music.
In this follow-up to #5, And They Painted Daisies on His Coffin, Marty Collins (Mark Jenkins), brother of Joey, whom Danno accidentally killed in the earlier episode, is released on parole from prison. Only one slight problem -- in #5, the brother was named Thad Vaughn! R.G. Armstrong is no longer the prison warden. The opening stock shot, taken from high above, shows McGarrett running down the Palace steps and getting in his car, but McGarrett is in Chicago during this show. Danno is in charge when Marty takes Chin Ho, Jenny, the old lady of the title (Hope Summers) and a cop hostage with guns and bombs in McGarrett's office. This episode is well-written and acted. The ending, where Doug Mossman (as Mossman, a bomb disposal expert) instructs Danno in how to deactivate dynamite attached to the dead Marty is kind of contrived. This show contains a couple of flashbacks to the earlier episode. There are also some scenes filmed in the entrance and on the stairway of the Iolani Palace.MORE TRIVIA:
- The shot near the beginning showing three men walking across the prison yard is from the first season episode "The Box."
- When Chin Ho surreptitiously turns on the phone so that people outside can hear what is going on, he dials the reception desk in the Palace. The phone number is 555-2368, extension 15.
A surprisingly good episode, with Pernell Roberts playing baseball player Lon Phillips who abandons the big leagues to bring his "slow" son Gary (Elliot Street, in the first of two "developmentally challenged" Five-O roles) to supposedly safer Hawaii. The "memories" theme makes an appearance when the two engage in arm-wrestling, and Lon says "we're gonna make it here." A shot of people playing tennis is taken from Beautiful Screamer. A newspaper headline -- "woman socialite slain at stadium" -- is in lower case letters as are the subheadings (rather unusual style). One of the murder witnesses, a hot dog vendor is said to notice "good-looking chicks." In one scene, McGarrett enters his car through the passenger side and slides over to the steering wheel. A stock shot of the palace is rather scratchy. When the bad guy, Lou Horton (Don Chastain), visits Lon's apartment, Ed Fernandez as the apartment manager appears and asks if he can be of assistance. Horton asks for "Mr. Johnson," and Fernandez says there is no one by that name staying there. But later when Fernandez meets Lon, he addresses him as "Mr. Johnson," presumably trying to be funny or something. A good fight at the end. The music for part one is stock, part two is Richard Shores.