Paramount // 1968 // 1200 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge Cynthia Boris // June 15th, 2009
Patch me through to McGarrett!
We're only half way through this classic crime series' 12-season run and, incredibly, the episodes are as strong as ever. This is Hawaii Five-O: Sixth Season on DVD.
There's more trouble in this island paradise and all of the usual suspects are back and ready for action. You have Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) still standing tall as the head of Hawaii's elite crime solving unit. Under him is the youthful and exuberant Danny Williams (James MacArthur), father figure Chin Ho Kelly (Kam Fong), and sidekick Ben Kokua (Al Harrington).
There are 24 episodes this season, which ran from September 1973 to February 1974.
As always, there are a couple of stand out episodes in what is overall, a very good season. Let's take them one by one:
Disc One
* "Hookman"
The season opens with a
gimmick -- real-life armless detective Jay J. Armes appears as a cop killer with
a very specific M.O. This episode made quite an impact back in the 70's when
many soldiers were coming home from Vietnam missing arms and legs. It's kind of
a shame that Armes plays a bad guy in this because the things he manages to do
with hooks instead of hands are nothing short of amazing. We've come a long way
since then, but this episode is still a classic.
* "Draw Me a Killer"
Next up is another excellent episode
about a geeky young man living in a cartoon world. Arthur is in love with comic
strip character Judy Moon and he'll do anything to protect her from the nasty
villains that come after her in the funny pages. To solve the crime, the comic's
creator adds Officer Danny to the world of Judy Moon, making him the next target
in Arthur's murder spree. Clever plotting made even better by actor Elliott
Street's sad sack performance.
* "Charter For Death"
Bubonic plague is the villain in this
piece about a mobster (Nehemiah Persoff) and his family who came ashore on a
chartered yacht with plans to jet to the mainland incognito. Unbeknownst to
them, the mobster's daughter is sick with the plague and she's contaminating
everyone she comes in contact with. With an possible epidemic on their hands,
Five-O must find three people who don't want to be found. Bert Convy plays
against type as the mobster's son-in-law. Too much time with the guest stars and
not enough with the cops makes this one slow around the middle.
* "One Big Happy Family"
This is one that has stuck with me
since I first saw it in the 70s. Slim Pickins and Barbara Baxley lord over a
family of white trash serial killers. Bo Hopkins is cold and sleazy as oldest
boy Jeb, Robyn Millan is his slutty wife, and Lynette Kim plays his mentally
handicapped little sister. Burdened with an odd sense of morality and
righteousness, the family members take blue collar jobs, work for a week, then
murder everyone on the premises on Fridays in order to steal a few dollars from
the till. The characters here are in one way, so over the top, and yet so very
believable and scary. Baxley steals the show with her cold, quiet version of a
strict mama who insists that her son kiss goodbye before heading out to kill. If
you only watch one episode this whole season, this is the one.
Disc Two
* "The Sunday Torch"
Disc two takes a
turn for the mundane with several episodes in a row that don't quite live up to
the ones before it. This episode is about an arsonist who strikes on Sundays.
Michael Anderson Jr. plays a young firebug who may or may not be behind the
blazes.
* "Murder Is a Taxing Affair"
The Andy Griffith
Show's Jack Dodson ends up with a half a million in cash when his wife grabs
the wrong bag at the airport. Over played hick-town tourists, the couple wants
to keep the money but there are several nasty characters in the story who will
do anything to get that money back. This one barely comes in as average.
* "Tricks Are Not Treats"
Thanks to some tricked out pimps
and plenty of smack talk, this episode is horribly dated and it simply doesn't
hold up. Gregory Sierra guest stars as a mob boss who wants a cut of all of the
prostitution action happening in his neighborhood. When the pimps have had
enough (yes, the pimps are the victims in this episode) they hire a hitman to
take care of the problem. All in all, this is a very strange episode for Five-O.
You'll see a clearly topless girl from behind, and it's loaded with degrading
comments about the "ho's" and their black pimps. Look for an
appearance by Ron Glass who would later go on to play a detective along side
Sierra on Barney Miller.
* "Why Wait Until Uncle Kevin Dies? "
Due for an
inheritance? Why wait until that rich uncle dies? Reversions, Inc. will give you
the money right now and all you have to do is make them the beneficiaries of
your life insurance in case anything should happen to you. I guess dangling
millions of dollars in front of someone's eyes makes them stupid. When the
murders start stacking up, Five-O sends in an undercover man (Lawrence Pressman)
to get the goods on the felonious corporate bigwigs. I clever idea, I suppose,
but this one plays like a B-movie. Next!
Disc Three
* "Flash Of Color, Flash Of Death"
An Australian opal dealer is robbed when he arrives in the Islands but he can't
tell Five-O the whole truth since much of what he was bringing in was illegal.
Another average episode.
* "A Bullet For El Diablo"
A Latin American dictator comes
to Hawaii to ransom his kidnapped daughter. The girl he gets back looks like his
daughter, but looks can be deceiving.
* "The Finishing Touch"
When counterfeit bonds show up in a
bank, McGarrett hires an expert in forgeries to check the rest. Only problem,
the expert is the one who forged the bond in the first place. Not a lot of
excitement in this one but still it's a fascinating tale.
* "Anybody Can Build A Bomb"
It's terrorism 70's style when
someone threatens to set off an atomic bomb in Honolulu if they aren't paid a
king's ransom. The science may be screwy here but it's a fear we can still
relate to.
Disc Four
* "Try To Die On Time"
This complex
tale involves a gambler who decides to take bets from his friends predicting the
time of his impending death. An interesting concept but a little hard to
follow.
* "The $100,000 Nickel"
Victor Buono is at his usual
wonderful, menacing best as a coin collector who hires a sleight of hand artist
to switch a rare nickel for a fake. But when the police close in, the conman
dumps the coin into a newspaper vending machine and the chase is on from there.
It's an interesting chase story that really works because of Buono.
* "The Flip Side Is Death"
Four men dressed in military garb
fake a nerve gas leak in order to rob a bank, now all they have to do is get off
the island with the cash. Yeah, like Five-O is going to let that happen.
* "Banzai Pipeline"
Perry King and Nicholas Hammond play
brothers out to make the ultimate surfing movie. Cash strapped, King steals a
wallet from a man who is the subject of a DA investigation. Enter the scary
hitman who fears King may have seen him pull the trigger. Now everyone is trying
to track the two brothers -- one wanting to kill them while Five-O tries to save
them. Nice surfing footage helps you overlook some of the silly things in the
episode such as "zooming" in on the killer's image while watching a
film on an old 16mm projector.
Disc Five
* "One Born Every Minute"
A diamond
con is at the center of this merry chase that has McGarrett chasing down a slick
team who is fleecing tourists out of big bucks. Halfway through this story, the
episode takes a turn I didn't expect. It's hard to imagine that people are this
gullible, but you'll buy it when you see these con artists at work. Funny
though, this is a plot that wouldn't work as well in this day and age of cell
phones as much of the con is based on the inability to reach another person
quickly.
* "Secret Witness"
A husband with a wife (a young Cindy
Williams) and new baby puts all of their lives into danger when he witnesses a
mob hit. Star Trek's Mark Leonard guest stars in this tense cat and mouse
game that has the bad guys and the good guys all trying to find the same
man.
* "Death With Father"
When Five-O takes down a drug lab, they learn that one of the drug dealers is Tom Morgan (Peter Strauss) son of an ex-cop (Andrew Duggan). Daddy tells the cops it can't be so, but then he goes to great lengths to clear his son of the charges. A strong guest cast makes this one worth watching.
* "Murder With a Golden Touch"
When a private detective
turns up dead and covered in gold dust, Five-O goes on a treasure hunt for the
source of the pricey glitter. Turns out the thieves have recasted the stolen
gold and planted it in the ocean so it appears to be bounty from a shipwreck --
thus making it salvage and the property of whomever finds it.
Disc Six
* "Nightmare In Blue"
One of the best
episodes, it's also the heaviest. The story revolves around a man dressed as a
police officer (who may or may not be an actual officer) who is raping and
murdering women around the island. Five-O gets a break when one of the women
survives to tell her story but her husband steps in to block the cops. He's
afraid she'll be dragged through the mud and he's not about to allow his wife to
be violated again by the court system, this time.
It's a particularly chilling episode and one that still holds up despite dated references such as McGarrett calling a policewoman "honey."
* "Mother's Deadly Helper"
This action-packed episode has
Anthony Zerbe playing a vigilante who is supporting his local police by killing
men who have escaped justice. Radio host Casey Kasem guests.
* "Killer At Sea"
A kidnapper and robber hides in plain
sight on an ocean liner full of tourists. Comedian and impressionist John Byner
guests. Not a favorite.
* "30,000 Rooms And I Have a Key"
Sadly, the season ends on
a low note with David Wayne as an aging cat burglar who taunts Five-O as he robs
his way through a luxury hotel in Waikiki.
Paramount does a great job with the packaging on this set. The box graphics are appropriate and the navigation screens feature a variety of photos. Best of all, the episode synopsis are written on the back of each snap case for ease of use! The video quality is overall very nice. There are a few scenes marred by pops and crackles but they are few and far between.
As with previous seasons, each episode includes the promo for the episode (what we used to call the coming attractions). A nice touch since they're all voiced over by Jack Lord, but it's the only special feature on the DVD.
The only problem I had with this set was the sound quality, which was so uneven I had to watch with my remote control in hand. The dialogue had to be turned way up to hear but sound effects such as gun shots, airplane engines, even cars screeching along the street were so loud I couldn't turn the sound down fast enough. It wasn't a big problem when watching the more typical dialogue-filled episodes, but it was extremely frustrating on an episode such as "The Sunday Torch," which is loaded with fire trucks and sirens.
From its signature theme and cresting wave, to the oft quoted "book 'em, Danno," there's no denying that Hawaii Five-O is an icon in the world of cop shows. They couldn't have done it any better.
This court finds Hawaii Five-O: Sixth Season to be as exciting as
ever. Surfs up. Court's adjourned.
Review content copyright © 2009 Cynthia Boris; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2009 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Video: 95
Audio: 80
Extras: 10
Acting: 92
Story: 89
Judgment: 83
Perp Profile
Studio: Paramount
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono (English)
* Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono (Spanish)
Subtitles:
* English
* Portuguese
* Spanish
Running Time: 1200 Minutes
Release Year: 1968
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Episode Promos
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0062568/combined
* Mike Quigley's Fan Site
http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/
* Joe Roberts' Fan Site
http://www.rocketroberts.com/hawaii/hawaiifi.htm