Hawaii Five-O – The First Season
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B
So many
action shows came out of the 1960s that it is hard to believe how many great
shows really debuted, but Hawaii Five-O
lasted into the early 1980s when they did just about everything they could with
the storyline. Jack Lord, who played the
first Felix Leiter in the first James Bond film Dr. No in 1962 landed the lead as Detective Steve McGarrett. Introduced with a strong, relatively
big-budget for the time TV movie, CBS scored another winner and along with a
solid supporting cast, the other big star was Hawaii.
Color TV
was a plus and the show was in color from the start, but the show knew how to
use the islands to best effect, something that still looks great today, but
this was still a gritty crime drama to be joined by hugely successful cycles of
police shows (especially from Universal and Quinn Martin Productions) all over
the 1970s and the show became the next Gunsmoke for CBS.
The
episodes from this strong first season include:
1)
Cocoon/pilot
telefilm co-stars Nancy Kwan, Leslie Nielsen, Lew Ayres & Andrew Duggan
2) Full Fathom Five
3) Strangers In Our Own Land (guest
stars Simon Oakland)
4) Tiger By The Tail (guest
stars Sal Mineo)
5) Samurai (guest stars Ricardo
Montalban)
6) ...And They Painted Daisies On His Coffin (guest
stars Gavin MacLeod as Big Chicken)
7) Twenty-Four Karat Kill
8) The Ways Of Love
9) No Blue Skies (guest
stars Tommy Sands)
10) By The
Numbers
11) Yesterday
Died & Tomorrow Won't Be Born
12) Deathwatch (guest
stars Nehemiah Persoff)
13) Pray
Love Remember, Pray Love Remember
14) King
Of The Hill (guest stars Yaphet Kotto)
15) Up
Tight
16) Face
Of The Dragon
17) The
Box (guest stars Gavin MacLeod as Big Chicken and R.G. Armstrong)
18) One For
The Money (guest stars Farley Granger and Jeanette Nolan)
19) Along
Came Joey (guest stars Jesse White & Jean Hale)
20) Once
Upon A Time (2 parts)
21) Not
That Much Different
22) Six
Kilos
23) The
Big Kahuna (guest stars Sally Kellerman, Robert Colbert &
John Marley)
I like the show, but it was not my favorite of its
kind or of its time, yet I have to say to say that it holds up very well and in
its ability to not pull punches on the crimes or their seriousness, has
appreciated in value. Viewers liked its
honesty in pre-PC times and knew the show would deliver a naturalistic realism
that was not seen on TV before, yet did not wallow in violence or
stupidity. Wo Fat (Khign Dhiegh) was the
big villain gangster from “Red” China and it inadvertently added a kind of
tension similar to The Cold War, which makes for suspenseful viewing.
These shows took 7 DVDs and they are looking good
too. Paramount had fixed these up a few
years ago, but the picture quality is often so impressive that this set almost
deserves a higher picture rating for the 1.33 X 1 color image. Looking better than they ever have before,
the prints are in fine shape, clean and very color consistent. The better shots have depth and the
cinematography whether it is locations, indoors or at night gave the show a
look like nothing on TV and arguably in theaters. Many scenes are demonstration quality.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also very clean and
clear for its age, showing a certain professionalism that many current audio
productions lacked. CBS took no chances
with this production and made sure they treated it with extra care. This was not a cheap series to make, but when
it was a hit, it more than paid its own way and that was pretty
immediately. The only extra includes a
1996 installment of Emme’s Island
Moments entitled “Memories Of Hawaii Five-O” reflecting on the show
has a tribute to Jack Lord and featuring cast/crew interviews including James
MacArthur, who played Danny “Danno” Williams.
Another long-overdue show to hit DVD, anyone
serious about TV or action shows will not want to miss this First Season set. Now if I can just get the image of that
dancer’s hips moving to the beat of the theme song!
- Nicholas
Sheffo
