Hawaii Five-0 #2, "Terror In The Sun"

Kudos to the rear-cover copywriter who praised the "sensational long-running CBS-TV series" for his prescience, as TERROR IN THE SUN, the second paperback tie-in novel, was published in September 1969 -- just as HAWAII FIVE-0 was beginning its second season. Of course, the series ran ten more for a total of 12 seasons on CBS, which was then the longest-running crime drama ever.

HAWAII FIVE-0 was a pretty great show for most of its run, combining Hawaii's naturally sun-kissed scenery with gritty crime plots and occasional doses of espionage. The first American television series to film entirely on location in Hawaii, FIVE-0 wasn't shy about shooting in grimy alleys and Honolulu slums, which other shows produced in the state refused to emulate. Jack Lord starred as Steve McGarrett, the straight-laced, uptight leader of a special state police force that reported only to the governor (Richard Denning). In 1969, when TERROR IN THE SUN was published, Lord's co-stars were James MacArthur as McGarrett's number two man, Danny Williams (affectionately called "Danno"), Kam Fong as Chinese detective Chin Ho Kelly, and Hawaiian native Zulu as Kono.

However, a major fault of Michael Avallone's FIVE-0 novel is the lack of teamwork so essential to the series. Danno, Chin Ho, and Kono are taken out of the story very early, making TERROR IN THE SUN virtually a McGarrett solo story. Avallone likely didn't see FIVE-0 during its first season, as he doesn't quite have the McGarrett character down. Though the character was still finding its way during its first season, it was well established that McGarrett didn't drink ("I don't use alcohol," he stated in one episode), didn't smoke, and didn't much fool around with women, particularly not the daughter of a man involved in an investigation and not during a case. All of which Avallone's McGarrett does, unconvincingly.

As for the story, an important British diplomat, Rogers Endore, has arrived on Oahu, and the governor orders Five-0 to bodyguard him. Despite McGarrett's protestations, the governor refuses to provide the cop with any information about Endore's stay -- why he's here or why he needs protecting. What we, the reader, know is that a notorious assassin named the Undertaker has been hired by bad forces in Vietnam to murder Endore. To make his job easier, the Undertaker has recruited six assassins, all from different countries, to take out McGarrett and his Five-0 team, leaving Endore unprotected. Unfortunately, a bigger band of screwups you've never seen, as every assassin bungles his assignment to some extent.

An easy read at 125 pages, TERROR IN THE SUN is amiable enough, so long as you don't let its latitudes with the television series bother you much. As a huge HAWAII FIVE-0 fan since high school, I found the differences annoying, particularly Avallone throwing "The Process" out the window by sidelining the sidekicks and giving the hero all the heavy lifting.

You Can't Buy A Ticket To See This Movie

Swedish director Gunnar Hellstrom’s American work was almost entirely in episodic television, helming network westerns (GUNSMOKE) and cop shows (THE FBI). His lone big-screen venture was an unusual thriller produced by Joe Solomon (THE LOSERS) and distributed in 1968 by his Fanfare Films (AIP also released it in various territories).

Seen on local television as THE FEMALE TRAP, THE NAME OF THE GAME IS KILL! boasts a very good Stu Phillips (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) score and sharp Vilmos Zsigmond (THE DEER HUNTER) photography. The screenplay by Gary Crutcher (STANLEY) is damned unusual and structured like a mystery. It offers juicy roles for its five leading characters with strong dialogue and a helluva twist that will unfortunately not surprise anyone who’s seen HEAD. Unfortunately, it opened the day after RFK’s assassination, and a movie called THE NAME OF THE GAME IS KILL! didn’t have a chance.

Jack Lord, just before beginning his twelve-season run on HAWAII FIVE-0, plays Symcha, a Hungarian immigrant wandering across the Arizona desert on foot. He’s picked up by the lovely Mickey Terry (THE TRIP's Susan Strasberg), who brings him back to the isolated gas station she operates with her sisters Diz (TV mainstay Collin Wilcox) and Nan (Tisha Sterling, COOGAN'S BLUFF) and their mother. Mr. Terry was apparently an abusive husband who was killed when the girls were children, but no one can keep their stories straight when explaining the incident. It’s pretty clear that the whole damn family is whacko, but Sym falls for Mickey, leading to jealousy, lust, and the revelation of some pretty messed-up Terry secrets.

Never available on VHS or DVD, THE NAME OF THE GAME IS KILL! has been difficult to see for decades, but if you get the chance to see it, do. It’s fairly talky and bloodless for what has been billed as a horror movie, but it makes up for its lack of action with its characterizations and performances by stars who rarely had material this odd in Hollywood. Sterling’s sizzling dance to the Electric Prunes’ “Shadows” is a highlight.

So Long, Danno

James MacArthur, the youthful actor forever known as “Danno” after eleven seasons on HAWAII FIVE-0, died today in Florida at age 72. The cause of death given was natural causes.

MacArthur was actually not originally cast as Danny Williams, the number-one sidekick to Jack Lord’s Steve McGarrett. Tim O’Kelly (TARGETS) played Williams in the 1968 pilot episode, “Cocoon,” but MacArthur took over the role thereafter and stuck with the series until 1979. He left the show after its eleventh season, and FIVE-0 limped along one year without MacArthur until its 1980 cancellation.

HAWAII FIVE-0 would fit nicely with much of today’s network schedule, thirty years after it left CBS; in fact, a remake of the series premiered on CBS last month with Scott Caan (OCEAN’S ELEVEN), the son of movie star James, cast as Danno. FIVE-0’s emphasis on dynamic plots and exotic Hawaiian culture left little time for backstories, leaving it to the actors themselves to create strong characters through their performances.

Because of episodic television standards of the period, as well as—let’s face it—Jack Lord’s reported reticence to share the spotlight, FIVE-0’s supporting actors, which also over the years included Kam Fong as Chin Ho Kelly, Zulu as Kono, Herman Wedemeyer as Duke, and Al Harrington as Ben Kokua, received few opportunities to shine alone. Even MacArthur, an accomplished star of Disney movies and the scion of Hollywood royalty (his mother was Helen Hayes), rarely got an episode of his own.

Perhaps MacArthur’s finest performance as Danny Williams was in the third-season episode “Beautiful Screamer,” which aired December 2, 1970. Rarely seen since then, because it was not included with most syndicated packages until HAWAII FIVE-0 was digitally remastered in the 1990s, “Beautiful Screamer” provides one of the few cases to impact the Five-0 team on a personal level.

Two beautiful young women who are friends with each other are strangled to death. One of them is Danny’s girlfriend, Jane Michaels, played by a gorgeous Anne Archer, making one of her first TV appearances at age 23. The killer is Walter Gregson (Lloyd Bochner), a cold bastard who wants to murder his rich wife (a dishy Laraine Stephens) and strangles the other women to make it appear as though a psycho is on the loose.

Scripted by Stephen Kandel, an excellent writer with a gift for offbeat plotting, and directed by Tony Leader, “Beautiful Screamer” allows McGarrett to step aside and let Danno run the investigation. It’s certainly the most emotional acting MacArthur ever did on the series and a nice showcase for a somewhat stiff performer who must have relished the chance to play something with more meat to it.

One Big Happy Family

Here's the CBS promo for the excellent "One Big Happy Family" episode from HAWAII FIVE-0's sixth season. Slim Pickens and Bo Hopkins guest-starred as members of a Southern redneck family that roamed from state to state coldbloodedly murdering and robbing folks. Incredibly disturbing stuff.

Praise The Lord

The great television star Jack Lord, one of the baddest-ass cops ever, would have been 89 years old today. Aloha, Mr. McGarrett.





Here's something new to me. When AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE (which had already aired on CBS as a TWILIGHT ZONE episode) won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Subject, it was Jack Lord who accepted the trophy on behalf of the French filmmakers. Does anyone know why Lord received the honor? Did he have a relationship with the filmmakers?

Here's the clip:

I Shot Him. You Killed Him.

Most HAWAII FIVE-0 fans will concede that "'V' for Vashon" is the series' magnum opus. The three-part episode, which CBS aired on consecutive Tuesday nights in November 1972, chronicles Five-0's attempt to destroy the Vashon crime family, the most powerful mobsters on the islands (that over 100 episodes had been produced with nary a mention of the Vashons was part and parcel for episodic TV back then). With this month's release of HAWAII FIVE-0's fifth season on DVD, you can watch one of the show's finest stories without commercial interruptions and looking better than ever.

Each "'V' for Vashon" episode carried a different subtitle. In Part 1, "The Son," Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) and his Five-0 unit—Danny Williams (James MacArthur), Chin Ho Kelly (Kam Fong), and Ben Kokua (Al Harrington)—look into a minor hotel robbery, when one of the victims reports he was punched by one of the three masked thieves…and has a V-shaped mark on his face to prove it. Leaving the imprint of the Vashon family crest on crime victims was a notorious tactic enforced by patriarch Dominic Vashon (Luther Adler) decades earlier, and it's easy to assume that "Nick"'s grandson Chris (Robert Drivas) is reviving the tradition.

At the end of the hour, after Chris initiates a fatal shootout with McGarrett, the boy's father Honore (Harold Gould) vows revenge. In "The Father," Honore hires professionals to arrange the top cop's assassination. After a car bomb meant for McGarrett takes out another cop instead, Honore, aided by trusted mob lawyer Tosaki (Kwan Hi Lim), brings in shades-wearing Hayward (Don Knight, who appeared on FIVE-0 six times in 12 seasons) from Melbourne and agrees to pay him $60,000 to get the job done. Five-0 tumbles to the plot and sets up a sting to trap Hayward, who testifies against Honore, who becomes the first Vashon to go to jail.

It's Dominic's turn for vengeance in "The Patriarch," who tricks three-time-loser Fred Sullivan (Robert Luck) into shooting McGarrett in a parking garage. Unbeknownst to Sullivan, his gun is loaded with blanks, and Vashon's elaborate frame makes the pistol disappear before the police arrive at the scene, making it appear as though McGarrett has killed an unarmed man. While no contemporary jury would believe McGarrett's guilt in a million years, Honolulu D.A. Manicote (Glenn Cannon) files Murder Two charges against him, which doesn't prevent the Five-0 head from asking his men to find evidence to clear him.

When they do, which involves impeaching the unimpeachable witness against McGarrett, a trusted criminal attorney named Harvey Drew (John Stalker), the confrontation involves a surprisingly mature plot point that was unusual for episodic TV at the time. The startling dénouement set in Dominic's home office is a real stunner that marks the end of the Vashons' reign over Hawaii's criminal underground.

"'V' for Vashon" was a highlight of writer Alvin Sapinsley's career. The venerable scribe had worked in television since virtually the beginning of the medium, etching credits on prominent shows like STUDIO ONE, OMNIBUS, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., and THE VIRGINIAN. Sapinsley was one of hundreds of freelance writers who made early television such a diverse platform from which to tell dramatic stories of all types, basically the consummate TV dramatist. It isn't known whether "Vashon" was originally intended to be a three-parter; Sapinsley must have enjoyed the security of three confirmed paychecks from a single story.

Versatile director Charles S. Dubin bounced between comedy and drama with ease, earning three Emmy nominations for M*A*S*H episodes, but "Vashon" earned him a respected Director's Guild of America Award nomination from his peers. He lost to THE WALTONS' Robert Butler, but won the trophy the next year for directing a KOJAK. Dubin uses movement within the shot and deep focus tricks to keep the visuals lively without needing a lot of coverage. I was especially impressed with a scene in "The Father" that plays in one long shot staged inside an actual house and incorporates at least six different actors, one of whom pulls up in a car seen through the front window and enters the living room to begin his dialogue. As with any FIVE-0 episodes, particularly after the death of executive producer Leonard Freeman, star Jack Lord was the true boss on the set, and it's he and not Dubin who has to take the blame for Lord's atrocious wardrobe in this scene.

HAWAII FIVE-0 was at the top of its game during its fifth season, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Continuing Drama Series (losing to—what else?—THE WALTONS). It was the third highest-rated television series in the U.S., behind perennial front-runner ALL IN THE FAMILY and SANFORD AND SON. With high-class scripts and productions like the "'V' for Vashon" trilogy, it's not hard to understand why.

Bored She Hung Herself

"Bored She Hung Herself" (sic) is the rarest of the 284 episodes of HAWAII FIVE-0 that were produced during its 12-season run on CBS. It aired only once—January 7, 1970—and has not been broadcast since. It has never been rerun on CBS or in syndication, and CBS/Paramount, regrettably, omitted it from its recent HAWAII FIVE-0: THE SECOND SEASON DVD box set.

CBS and Paramount have never revealed exactly why they have censored this episode, although most fans believe it is because of its opening scene, in which a hippie character is seen hanging by the neck without harm for the purpose of meditation. A few minutes later, his girlfriend is discovered hanging from the ceiling in the same noose, but quite dead. Reportedly, someone really did attempt to hang themselves based on what they saw on this episode and was killed.

Only one copy of "Bored She Hung Herself" appears to exist. It looks like a 16mm print that was sent to network affiliates and contains bumpers, leader, etc. Audio and visual quality is barely watchable, as though the print were projected onto a wall and recorded by a video camera. It also seems to be considered not one of the series' highlights, although I thought it was quite interesting and stands outside the program's usual formula.

Five-0, Hawaii's special four-man police task force, headed up by Steve McGarrett (series star Jack Lord), investigates the death of Wanda Parker (Pamela Murphy), who is found hanging by the neck in the beach cottage she shares with her boyfriend Don (Don Quine). Wanda's father Warren (perennial TV guest star William Smithers) strongly believes that Don is the murderer and tape-records a conversation with him that he thinks confirms his suspicions. McGarrett, a by-the-book cop through and through, refuses to stand by the tape, claiming that it would never hold up in court. Parker, though a good friend of McGarrett's, storms out of the Five-0 office while threatening McGarrett's job.

Devoid of the gun battles and screaming car chases often connected to the show, "Bored She Hung Herself," which was written by Mel Goldberg and directed by John Newland (the former host and director of the ONE STEP BEYOND TV series), is an absorbing mystery, despite its paucity of suspects, and has at least three strong scenes dominated by their performances and direction. The teaser between Don and Wanda is surprisingly frank and violent, and very quickly sums up their relationship and hers with her father. Later, the dialogues between Warren and Don and between McGarrett and Warren, in which they debate the morality of Parker's tape recording, are crisply performed and directed by Newland, who returned for only one more of the 284 shows.

Suppose, Danno, Just Suppose

Season 2 of HAWAII FIVE-0, the greatest cop show of all time, hit DVD last week. The New York Times ran a commendable piece on the series that proves the author "gets" it.

Whether saving a drowning boy, defusing a bomb with nail clippers or offering himself as a prison hostage, he’s a model of steadfast decency. He’s white but not white bread, at ease in the ethnic stir-fry of Honolulu. And there’s no emergency his bare-bones agency — four men, a secretary and a car — can’t resolve in just under an hour.

And when he gets his man — Book ’im, Danno! — you can hear America exhaling. Their sons and their daughters were beyond their command, Vietnam was a mess, but at least Hawaii had McGarrett.