Big Man on a Little Stick

This is a fabulously written episode and the dialogue is hysterically funny. It's also one of the "sexiest" episodes in that Ginger and Mary Ann are besides themselves with attraction. No, not to each other! To Duke Williams, famous surfer!

Duke surfs his way to Gilligan's Island and lands on the beach and passes out. Gilligan and the Skipper revive him and get him on his feet again. He meets Ginger and Mary Ann. Both girls start salivating and drooling, which is funny to see because they can usually control themselves. Here they seem to have no self-control whatsoever! They ooh and aah over everything he does. And he's happy to oblige them. He shows off his muscles to them and they quiver and shiver and salivate. Maybe this will be the episode that finally has sex! It sure looks that way! But hold on, pardner, this is a family show! So it doesn't quite go that far. But it sure seems to want to. It's bursting with sexual tension. This has the most sexual tension of any episode in the series.

One of my favorite scenes is Duke interacting with Mr. And Mrs. Howell. They think he's an actual "duke" and he thinks they're crazy. It's a very funny scene.

Okay, so the castaways want to get rescued and they think Duke can help them. They think Duke can surf back to Hawaii and then send help. But Duke would rather hang out with the girls. So they have to trick him to get him to surf back. And he has to catch a very big and dangerous wave called a Tsunami. He catches the wave and surfs back to Hawaii. But then something happens. I won't say what because I don't want to spoil it.

This episode is just so darn funny. Denny Miller is marvelous as the dim-witted muscle-bound surfer.

"Big Man on a Little Stick" marked the first of two series appearances from former Tarzan Denny Miller (the abominable 1959 remake of "Tarzan the Ape Man"), still in mighty good shape as champion surfer Duke Williams, who miraculously lands on the island after riding a 30 foot tsunami for five straight days. The Skipper notes that Duke's starting point at Waimea Beach is near Honolulu, while Duke gets a look at Ginger and Mary Ann, concluding that the castaways aren't lost: "you're hidin'!" Ginger has a good line when the Skipper reveals that Gilligan reeled in the surfer: "wow, what did you use for bait?" Any thoughts of getting back to Honolulu are put on hold with Duke showing off his muscular physique to the swooning ladies, but eventually a plan is executed that pairs off Ginger with the Professor, Mary Ann with Gilligan, to inflame Duke's jealousy so that he won't want to stay. It's rather a shame that this Duke wasn't the type of royalty that the Howells were expecting, using all the unintelligible 'hot dog' slang so popular during the era of The Beach Boys. Denny Miller would return the third season as a genuine Ape Man in "Our Vines Have Tender Apes."

This episode features some delightfully funny dialogue, and still has me laughing out loud after all these decades! Terrific shtick from the comedy team of Denver and Hale.

Tribute to Denny Miller. We miss him.

Anton Leader was the right choice to direct this bananas episode. The TARZAN tv show was among his many credits. Although Denny Miller did not appear in the tv series, he was the first natural blonde Tarzan of the movies (1959). Later he co-starred in WAGON TRAIN.

Miller, a fun guy, with a terrific personality, plays a hunk surfer who rides to the island (via mini surf board?) on a tsunami wave following an earthquake? Simply, simply Outrageous. On a historical note, this was, perhaps, the first time in a sitcom that tsunamis were ever discussed.

The opening scene with Miller (as Duke) surfing to the beach is classic. He had to be on a motorized board or was towed in, but the effects are way cool. Duke naturally becomes a hero of sorts for love starved Ginger and Mary Ann, and a lifeline to the outside world when the castaways eventually send him back to civilization? But does it all work out?

I agree with the last reviewer, has to be the most sexually charged episode of the series. Hands down. And catch the goofy scene where Mr. And Mrs. Howell actually think Duke is a royal duke? Shades of the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, famous for mixing up names and titles.

In real life, Denny Miller (who stood 6 foot 4) was discovered walking on Sunset Boulevard by a talent agent who got him an immediate screen test. Of course with those measurements, how could you lose?

Beautifully written by Charles Tannen, also an actor. Tannen wrote five episodes for the show, including writing for Jim Backus' short-lived tv show in the early 60s. Perhaps the best script of the first season.

Denny later became the Gorton Fisherman in tv commercials. He passed in 2014.

SEASON 1 EPISODE 21 remastered color CBS dvd box set. 6 dvds. Released 2004. Thank you METV for running this sitcom since the beginning.