The Hotel Dick
Episode ID: 111
Episode Number: 6.5
Air Date: 10/17/1985
Writer: Reuben Leder
Director: Douglas Heyes
Producer: Chris Abbott
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario
Candy Clark (Leslie Emory),
Phyllis Davis (Cleo Mitchell)
Granville Van Dusen (Clyde Daltrey),
Joe Moore (Willard X. Huxley),
Norm Compton (Nick),
Wayne Storm (Leo),
Jeff Habberstad (Cat Burglar)
All that glitters isn't gold when Magnum is hired to prevent an elusive cat burglar from infiltrating an international convention of jewelry designers at an island hotel.
1 Candy Clark and
Phyllis Davis begin their roles as Leslie Emory and Cleo Mitchell, two Waikiki call girls. Leslie will return again in "
Straight and Narrow" (7.4), and Cleo will appear in "
Murder by Night" (7.14), "
The Great Hawaiian Adventure Company" (8.9), "
Transitions" (8.11), and the series finale, where she marries Rick!
2 The "Hawaiian Gardens Hotel" is fictional. All of the hotel scenes were shot at the famous
Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort in Waikiki. Other than the one brief scene at the King Kamehameha Club, the entire episode takes place at the hotel. This is one of the very few episodes to feature no Robin's Nest scenes.
3 In one of the scenes with Leslie at the hotel room (just after Magnum finds the phone number in the coat), Tom Selleck delivers a piece of dialog in a noticeably unusual way. His little "It Matters" speech
[audio] seems almost mechanical in nature, with a strangely subdued tone. Normally, Magnum would say these type of lines with more anger and passion. It may be intentional on Selleck's part, a kind of "tip-of-the-fedora" salute to the title of the episode (and film noir Private Dick's).
(Noted by IslandHopper & golfmobile)
4 It appears that Magnum's office in the hotel is the same soundstage set that is used for his bedroom at the guesthouse, only redecorated. The size of the room and the location of the door and closet are exactly the same in both sets.
(Noted by eeyore)
5 Magnum doesn't wear a baseball cap for the third time in the first five episodes of Season Six.
(Noted by Mike Barnes)
6 In one scene, Magnum is wearing reading glasses and he mentions to Higgins that his eyesight isn't as good as it once was. We will see him wearing his glasses more and more in several later episodes to come.
7 Magnum's rooftop jump at the very end, where he overcomes his shaken confidence, is one of the most memorable "final frames" of the entire series.
[video]
1
Magnum: Higgins, if you are here on a siteseeing tour, I am busy, or do you miss me already?
Higgins: Hardly. As a matter of fact, the aura of pastoral serenity that has permeated the estate since your departure is positively delightful. The birds sing. The Lads frolic.
Magnum: The Lads frolic? What are you here for Higgins?
2
Leslie: Who cares? I'm gone tomorrow, so are you. It's not our problem anymore. What's it matter?
Magnum: It matters.
Leslie: ... Why?!
Magnum: It matters. It matters, because sometime you get to a point where easy rationalizations don't cut it anymore. There's gotta be a place where you stop and examine your life, and if it isn't right then maybe you just got to say no, no more, ... or stop looking in the mirror.
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