"Book 'em, Danno." - Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett
Hawaii Five-O: The First Season DVD Review
By Jude Clement
Pop Hawaii Five-O: The First Season into your DVD player and you'll soon realize that they just don't make 'em like this anymore. It's obvious from the moment those famous opening credits hit the screen: A crashing wave, a blaring horn section, and that famous, slightly sped-up shot in which the camera approaches a figure standing on the balcony of a penthouse. At the last moment, the P.O.V. switches to a camera on the balcony behind the figure. He turns, acknowledging us, and reveals himself to be Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) - lantern-jawed, square-shouldered, and solid. Hula dancers, exotic beachgoers, and extremely phallic images of airplanes follow. Yep, this minute-long title sequence (designed by Reza S. Badiyi, who also designed the opening credits for The Mary Tyler Moore Show) is more exciting and propulsive than most full length shows. Of course, it wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't attached to a thoroughly entertaining TV series.
The Five-O is a division of the Hawaii State Police headed by Steve McGarrett. McGarrett's second-in-command is Danny "Danno" Williams (James MacArthur), an eager, youthful detective. Also on the team are natives Chin Ho Kelly (Kam Fong) and Kono Kalakaua (Zulu). Although Five-O cooperates with the police and other local officials, McGarrett answers only to the governor (Richard Denning, Lucille Ball's husband in the radio series My Favorite Husband). McGarrett and his men investigate murders, kidnappings, and organized crime, keeping the islands safe for locals and tourists alike.
One of the episodes included here is the original TV pilot movie, "Cocoon." In the movie - and in several of the early episodes - the series is more 007 than Kojak. Villainous Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh, The Manchurian Candidate) has a Bond-esque lair in the bowels of a ship, including a sensory deprivation system with which he plans to extract state secrets for Red China. The U.S. Government decides that McGarrett would be the perfect person to bust the spy ring by having him memorize false information and allowing Wo Fat to question him in the sensory deprivation unit. Wo Fat's technique involves dressing McGarrett in red bondagewear; sealing his eyes, nose, and ears shut with a special paste; placing a latex mask over his face that makes his head look like a plucked chicken; and partially submerging him in water. James Bond would be right at home doing something like this, but it isn't exactly a cop's typical assignment.
McGarrett is chosen for the delicate assignment in "Cocoon" because it is believed that he is the only person who won't crack - he'll stay aware enough to disseminate the flawed intelligence. When explaining to theme song composer Morton Stevens what he was looking for, series creator Leonard Freeman is reportedly said that "[Hawaii Five-O] is about a guy who's as hard as a rock. And he's living on a rock. And he's hard." Thus was born the series' throbbing, libidinous theme song and the phallic imagery in the opening credits. But McGarrett also has a sensitive side. In the two-part "Once Upon a Time," the tough guy cries - in front of Danno, no less - when he discovers that his young nephew is dying of cancer. Ever the investigator, he leads a sting operation to flush out the quack who claims that she can "cure" the child.
Hawaii Five-O is stylishly filmed, employing funky camera angles (shots from inside a freshly-dug grave and the bottom of a champagne glass), hyperkinetic camera motions (a 360 degree vertical loop-the-loop during a fight scene), quick zooms, and images that seem to stutter into slow motion before returning to regular speed. Many of these techniques mimic those seen in the opening credits. Since they are used sparingly, however, they never feel gimmicky. "Yesterday Died and Tomorrow Won't Be Born" employs the hoary old technique of P.O.V. shots putting us in the shoes of a crazed killer. These border on cliché, but they are so well done - how'd they get the camera behind the wheel of a car? - you have to admire them.
Hawaii Five-O perfectly meshes its exotic locale, a compelling lead actor, and intriguing plotlines to form a memorable cop show like no other. Not all of the episodes are classics - several Dragnet-esque entries could be titled "Those Darn Hippies," and even the most un-PC among us would probably agree that Fantasy Island's Ricardo Montalban should never have been allowed to play someone of Polynesian descent - but taken as a whole, Hawaii Five-O: The First Season is as entertaining as a day at the beach.
Familiar faces in season one include Leslie Nielsen (Police Squad), Nancy Kwan (Flower Drum Song), Lew Ayres (Lime Street), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Simon Oakland (Kolchak: The Night Stalker), Sal Mineo (Rebel without a Cause), Gavin MacLeod (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Marj Dusay (The Guiding Light), Tommy Sands, Ellen Corby (The Waltons), Yaphet Kotto (Homicide: Life on the Street), Richard Bull (Little House on the Prairie), Ed Flanders (St. Elsewhere), Jackie Coogan (The Addams Family), Farley Granger, Jeanette Nolan, Jesse "Maytag Repairman" White, William Schallert (The Patty Duke Show), Beah Richards (Beloved), and Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H).
The twenty-four episodes that make up Hawaii Five-O: The First Season are divided onto seven discs. The discs are housed in four slim, clear plastic keepcases, three of which hold two discs. The fronts of the cases include photos of the series' stars...including the giant wave that begins each episode's opening credits. The backs of the cases include titles, brief synopses, and original airdates for each episode. The interiors of the cases include a larger photo of that famous wave. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve.
The DVD menus are simple and easy to navigate. Viewers can play all of the disc's episodes or choose them individually. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
