Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
7
6%
9.5 (One of the Best)
14
12%
9.0 (Excellent)
17
14%
8.5 (Very Good)
35
29%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
22
18%
7.5 (Decent)
8
7%
7.0 (Average at Best)
5
4%
6.5 (Not So Good)
6
5%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
1
1%
5.0 (Just Awful)
4
3%
 
Total votes: 119

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Dave Anderson
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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#71 Post by Dave Anderson »

Never cared for this one. Found Mad Buck annoying. That's about it.

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#72 Post by BWheelz54 »

For me, this episode is in my top five. I agree that McGavin is a bit over the top, honestly he was over the top in "A Christmas Story" and in "Kolchak," but I have to say that's part of the charm with McGavin that I like. But I forgive that, even forgive the fake beard, for this story. Just really appreciate the complex, difficult choices facing the characters in this episode.

This forum is just awesome, so I don't really hesitate to share more of why I like this episode so well with this community of great people. This episode is very personal to me. My father was a baseball and football coach, as well as a PE teacher and driver's ed teacher, at my town's high school for a little over thirty years. A lot of the stereotypes with that kind of character fit with my dad. He was gruff. He had all kinds of sayings like, "excuses are like assholes, everyone's got them and they all stink" or "you guys play defense like old people make love, poorly and not very often." He won a state championship in football (a team I was able to play for:) and in baseball. Over the years, my dad became a bit of a celebrity in my home town. People had good-natured jokes about him. They liked to place wagers at the VFW regarding how quickly my dad would go into a diatribe on the sidelines. My dad liked to party really hard on the weekends. He was known to get into some occasional trouble. His students and players loved him as "coach," and a lot of people just saw him as the coolest thing.

But my dad was very different with my brother and I at home. He was a lot more patient than people knew. He would scream at me and kick me in the butt if I threw to the wrong base during a baseball game, but he would patiently sit my down and explain to me why there was going to be consequences when I took off in the driver's ed car when I was twelve, and he never yelled at me at all after I accidentally set the farm field behind the new Walmart on fire - he was simply thankful I was not hurt. People didn't know it, but my dad liked a lot more than watching football and baseball on tv. He was a fan of Bogart and old movies. He liked music. He liked board games.

So when I watch this episode, I see Mad Buck Gibson trying to live up to an image of himself that has gotten way out of control. Buck, like my father did, gets caught up in playing the image other people assign to him. As we watch the episode, we see that Buck is, truly, frightened of his illness. Buck admits that he thinks as himself as almost a coward, as a man nothing like the adventurer his public image as a writer has been made out to be. It's a story of a man dealing with terminal sickness, and a difficult choice, but it is also a story of a man who struggles to remember who he really is as his death is staring him in the eyes.

My father fought a very hard, short battle with cancer. By the time he relented to my harping and complaining and went to the doctor when he finally felt too bad to ignore it, the cancer had spread pretty much throughout his body and really did havoc to his bones. My dad so often told me on the sporting field to be tough, and to be a man, and to tough it out. So at first, I took that angle back at my dad - told him he wasn't going to quit and surrender to the cancer, that he was going to have to fight, that he was going to go down swinging, because, God Dammit, that's what he taught me to do. It was really hard on him. He just shrank into a man of bones so quickly, and I know he really hurt as he went through the treatments. It was hard when his old players came to visit him, and when they saw that he was no longer that "Mad Coach Wheeler" anymore, but was a weak man nearing his end. People, and I don't blame them, had a hard time giving our family a little privacy; they wanted to know how their "coach" was, while we were trying to comfort our "father." So I really empathize with the character of Buck's wife, she is trying to care for a husband, not for a larger-than-life writer.

There came a time when I had a decision that I feel wasn't so unlike the one Thomas made on that cliff top as Buck gets ready to leap off on his hang-glider. I'm in the hospital one morning next to my sleeping dad's bed. My dad doesn't hardly weigh anything anymore. A doctor who I had never seen during my father's later care and treatment, comes in and says. "Hey, your father had a mild heart attack last night, so we're going to go ahead an install a pacemaker in his chest." I went BALLISTIC! I was like, really, you think so? I don't care if it's not fair for me to think so, but I suspect that doctor was hoping to get a kickback upon selling a new pacemaker (my experience with my father's care has left me with a real, bad bitter taste in my mouth regarding our health care system). I realized at that moment that I had to let go, that the battle, no matter the spirit of the fight, was not going to be won. The time was at hand to let my dad stop suffering and feeling afraid. My dad passed a couple hard weeks later, but I'm proud I made that choice, and my family is too. I don't mean to say that's the right way to go for everyone. I am only trying to say it's very complex and difficult.

And because this episode shows that hard complexity is why I love it so much. I had more than a few "Bazooka Joes" with my dad, and I helped bail him out of some adventures (even bailed him out of jail once in Memphis - LOL!). So I have to admit I see a lot of my dad in Old Mad Buck, and so I love, love, love this episode.

And I really like Hemingway a lot too.

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#73 Post by marlboro »

I had missed the (obvious in retrospect) Hemingway parallels when I first watched this episode. On rewatching it a couple of days ago, I was reminded of a famous short story by Hemingway called "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Spoilers: It's about a man who finally conquers his fears while on a safari, but is shot and killed a short time later. I think that for all of his adventuring and partying, that Mad Buck only truly "lived" when he got the bad news from his doctor. A short, but happy, life.

p.s. Here's Hemingway with some kudu bucks:

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#74 Post by Luther's nephew Dobie »

BWheelz54 wrote:For me, this episode is in my top five. I agree that McGavin is a bit over the top, honestly he was over the top in "A Christmas Story" and in "Kolchak," but I have to say that's part of the charm with McGavin that I like. But I forgive that, even forgive the fake beard, for this story. Just really appreciate the complex, difficult choices facing the characters in this episode.

This forum is just awesome, so I don't really hesitate to share more of why I like this episode so well with this community of great people. This episode is very personal to me. My father was a baseball and football coach, as well as a PE teacher and driver's ed teacher, at my town's high school for a little over thirty years. A lot of the stereotypes with that kind of character fit with my dad. He was gruff. He had all kinds of sayings like, "excuses are like assholes, everyone's got them and they all stink" or "you guys play defense like old people make love, poorly and not very often." He won a state championship in football (a team I was able to play for:) and in baseball. Over the years, my dad became a bit of a celebrity in my home town. People had good-natured jokes about him. They liked to place wagers at the VFW regarding how quickly my dad would go into a diatribe on the sidelines. My dad liked to party really hard on the weekends. He was known to get into some occasional trouble. His students and players loved him as "coach," and a lot of people just saw him as the coolest thing.
But my dad was very different with my brother and I at home. He was a lot more patient than people knew. He would scream at me and kick me in the butt if I threw to the wrong base during a baseball game, but he would patiently sit my down and explain to me why there was going to be consequences when I took off in the driver's ed car when I was twelve, and he never yelled at me at all after I accidentally set the farm field behind the new Walmart on fire - he was simply thankful I was not hurt. People didn't know it, but my dad liked a lot more than watching football and baseball on tv. He was a fan of Bogart and old movies. He liked music. He liked board games.
So when I watch this episode, I see Mad Buck Gibson trying to live up to an image of himself that has gotten way out of control. Buck, like my father did, gets caught up in playing the image other people assign to him. As we watch the episode, we see that Buck is, truly, frightened of his illness. Buck admits that he thinks as himself as almost a coward, as a man nothing like the adventurer his public image as a writer has been made out to be. It's a story of a man dealing with terminal sickness, and a difficult choice, but it is also a story of a man who struggles to remember who he really is as his death is staring him in the eyes.
My father fought a very hard, short battle with cancer. By the time he relented to my harping and complaining and went to the doctor when he finally felt too bad to ignore it, the cancer had spread pretty much throughout his body and really did havoc to his bones. My dad so often told me on the sporting field to be tough, and to be a man, and to tough it out. So at first, I took that angle back at my dad - told him he wasn't going to quit and surrender to the cancer, that he was going to have to fight, that he was going to go down swinging, because, God Dammit, that's what he taught me to do. It was really hard on him. He just shrank into a man of bones so quickly, and I know he really hurt as he went through the treatments. It was hard when his old players came to visit him, and when they saw that he was no longer that "Mad Coach Wheeler" anymore, but was a weak man nearing his end. People, and I don't blame them, had a hard time giving our family a little privacy; they wanted to know how their "coach" was, while we were trying to comfort our "father." So I really empathize with the character of Buck's wife, she is trying to care for a husband, not for a larger-than-life writer.
There came a time when I had a decision that I feel wasn't so unlike the one Thomas made on that cliff top as Buck gets ready to leap off on his hang-glider. I'm in the hospital one morning next to my sleeping dad's bed. My dad doesn't hardly weigh anything anymore. A doctor who I had never seen during my father's later care and treatment, comes in and says. "Hey, your father had a mild heart attack last night, so we're going to go ahead an install a pacemaker in his chest." I went BALLISTIC! I was like, really, you think so? I don't care if it's not fair for me to think so, but I suspect that doctor was hoping to get a kickback upon selling a new pacemaker (my experience with my father's care has left me with a real, bad bitter taste in my mouth regarding our health care system). I realized at that moment that I had to let go, that the battle, no matter the spirit of the fight, was not going to be won. The time was at hand to let my dad stop suffering and feeling afraid. My dad passed a couple hard weeks later, but I'm proud I made that choice, and my family is too. I don't mean to say that's the right way to go for everyone. I am only trying to say it's very complex and difficult.
And because this episode shows that hard complexity is why I love it so much. I had more than a few "Bazooka Joes" with my dad, and I helped bail him out of some adventures (even bailed him out of jail once in Memphis - LOL!). So I have to admit I see a lot of my dad in Old Mad Buck, and so I love, love, love this episode.
And I really like Hemingway a lot too.
Hi BWheel,
Terrific post, really good. You made your Dad come alive to strangers who never met him, a guy who was the classic mentoring coach of your youth who was not a plaster saint but rather a fully realized person who could also raise a little hell in Memphis, which made me laugh too when you stated it.
I think you were fortunate and blessed to have him as long as you did.
I also salute you for having the guts in making the choice you did in regards to the pacemaker, weak people would have opted to have it installed as it would be easier on them, as opposed to doing the right thing by your Dad and by what he imparted to you growing up.
I know some people won't understand that, I hope they never suffer through the experience in order to do so.
As for McGavin, you are right on with him being 'over the top'. Author Jean Shepherd didnt care for him in Christmas Story because he trampled over the nuances of the father Shep had crafted in his stories on the radio and in the source book In God We Trust. But like you, I like that touch of ham in Buck and Kolchak and in Mike Hammer.
Thanks again for sharing your story, BWheel.

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#75 Post by Little Garwood »

marlboro wrote:I was reminded of a famous short story by Hemingway called "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Spoilers: It's about a man who finally conquers his fears while on a safari, but is shot and killed a short time later. I think that for all of his adventuring and partying, that Mad Buck only truly "lived" when he got the bad news from his doctor. A short, but happy, life.
I always thought it clever that the story is titled The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber--there isn't a comma between "short" and "happy", which is something Hemingway did intentionally. One doesn't get a completely happy ending in any Hemingway tale.

Big Hemingway fan here and so is A.J. Simon, as Hemingway's Selected Letters, 1917-1961 is chosen as part of A.J.'s "vacation reading" in the season three Simon & Simon episode D.J., D.O.A.

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#76 Post by Milton Collins »

This is a solid 8.5 for me, mostly because of Darren McGavin who always makes me laugh when I see him as his legendary performance as Ralphies dad in "A Christmas Story" plays through my mind. Random comment but given that it's late November I remember one Thanksgiving weekend fifteen or so years ago sitting with my Dad and watching some old (and keep in mind it was old 15 years ago lol) bank robber movie with Darren McGavin and a whole slew of other actors but I've always wondered what the title was? I know I could stop being lazy and simply look up McGavin's IMG listing but thought I'd pick all your brains instead. Anyway back to Mad Buck, a fun overall episode. I love the crazed, zest for life daredevil that Buck is and the story Higgins tells about one of Buck's previous visits and something to do with destroying a Rolls Royce (total shame!) and some fountain is awesome. There's always something funny about a guest of Robbin's tormenting/hurting Higgins (my favorite of all time being Elizabeth Barrett of Birdman of Budapest, one of the funniest episodes ever!). Last but surely not least, does anyone know what a Bazooka is? Meaning is it a real drink? I'm a beer drinker myself like TM but was just curious. He lists the ingredients when he's reading TC's story but I don't know what to make of it. Please help!

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#77 Post by marlboro »

No Deposit No Return?

Brinks: The Great Robbery?

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#78 Post by Milton Collins »

marlboro wrote:No Deposit No Return?

Brinks: The Great Robbery?

Yes, Brinks The Great Robbery it is! Thank you Marlboro and good call! I checked the IMD and that's def it lol. Now if we can just establish exactly what a bazooka is, hmmmmm............

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#79 Post by Milton Collins »

BWheelz54 wrote:For me, this episode is in my top five. I agree that McGavin is a bit over the top, honestly he was over the top in "A Christmas Story" and in "Kolchak," but I have to say that's part of the charm with McGavin that I like. But I forgive that, even forgive the fake beard, for this story. Just really appreciate the complex, difficult choices facing the characters in this episode.

This forum is just awesome, so I don't really hesitate to share more of why I like this episode so well with this community of great people. This episode is very personal to me. My father was a baseball and football coach, as well as a PE teacher and driver's ed teacher, at my town's high school for a little over thirty years. A lot of the stereotypes with that kind of character fit with my dad. He was gruff. He had all kinds of sayings like, "excuses are like assholes, everyone's got them and they all stink" or "you guys play defense like old people make love, poorly and not very often." He won a state championship in football (a team I was able to play for:) and in baseball. Over the years, my dad became a bit of a celebrity in my home town. People had good-natured jokes about him. They liked to place wagers at the VFW regarding how quickly my dad would go into a diatribe on the sidelines. My dad liked to party really hard on the weekends. He was known to get into some occasional trouble. His students and players loved him as "coach," and a lot of people just saw him as the coolest thing.

But my dad was very different with my brother and I at home. He was a lot more patient than people knew. He would scream at me and kick me in the butt if I threw to the wrong base during a baseball game, but he would patiently sit my down and explain to me why there was going to be consequences when I took off in the driver's ed car when I was twelve, and he never yelled at me at all after I accidentally set the farm field behind the new Walmart on fire - he was simply thankful I was not hurt. People didn't know it, but my dad liked a lot more than watching football and baseball on tv. He was a fan of Bogart and old movies. He liked music. He liked board games.

So when I watch this episode, I see Mad Buck Gibson trying to live up to an image of himself that has gotten way out of control. Buck, like my father did, gets caught up in playing the image other people assign to him. As we watch the episode, we see that Buck is, truly, frightened of his illness. Buck admits that he thinks as himself as almost a coward, as a man nothing like the adventurer his public image as a writer has been made out to be. It's a story of a man dealing with terminal sickness, and a difficult choice, but it is also a story of a man who struggles to remember who he really is as his death is staring him in the eyes.

My father fought a very hard, short battle with cancer. By the time he relented to my harping and complaining and went to the doctor when he finally felt too bad to ignore it, the cancer had spread pretty much throughout his body and really did havoc to his bones. My dad so often told me on the sporting field to be tough, and to be a man, and to tough it out. So at first, I took that angle back at my dad - told him he wasn't going to quit and surrender to the cancer, that he was going to have to fight, that he was going to go down swinging, because, God Dammit, that's what he taught me to do. It was really hard on him. He just shrank into a man of bones so quickly, and I know he really hurt as he went through the treatments. It was hard when his old players came to visit him, and when they saw that he was no longer that "Mad Coach Wheeler" anymore, but was a weak man nearing his end. People, and I don't blame them, had a hard time giving our family a little privacy; they wanted to know how their "coach" was, while we were trying to comfort our "father." So I really empathize with the character of Buck's wife, she is trying to care for a husband, not for a larger-than-life writer.

There came a time when I had a decision that I feel wasn't so unlike the one Thomas made on that cliff top as Buck gets ready to leap off on his hang-glider. I'm in the hospital one morning next to my sleeping dad's bed. My dad doesn't hardly weigh anything anymore. A doctor who I had never seen during my father's later care and treatment, comes in and says. "Hey, your father had a mild heart attack last night, so we're going to go ahead an install a pacemaker in his chest." I went BALLISTIC! I was like, really, you think so? I don't care if it's not fair for me to think so, but I suspect that doctor was hoping to get a kickback upon selling a new pacemaker (my experience with my father's care has left me with a real, bad bitter taste in my mouth regarding our health care system). I realized at that moment that I had to let go, that the battle, no matter the spirit of the fight, was not going to be won. The time was at hand to let my dad stop suffering and feeling afraid. My dad passed a couple hard weeks later, but I'm proud I made that choice, and my family is too. I don't mean to say that's the right way to go for everyone. I am only trying to say it's very complex and difficult.

And because this episode shows that hard complexity is why I love it so much. I had more than a few "Bazooka Joes" with my dad, and I helped bail him out of some adventures (even bailed him out of jail once in Memphis - LOL!). So I have to admit I see a lot of my dad in Old Mad Buck, and so I love, love, love this episode.

And I really like Hemingway a lot too.

Awesome post man! That's whats so cool about Magnum, it can hit home and apply to your real life in a lot of ways!

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#80 Post by SignGuyHPW »

This was kind of middle ground for me. The episode was good, but because of the way the characters were designed to be I couldn't really get emotionally involved in it. It was one of the episodes where it was unclear if Magnum was, technically, working on a case or if he was only helping with estate buisness as part of his agreement with Robin.

The main trouble I had was that none of the guest characters were really sympathetic so it was hard to really get behind Magnum's trying to keep Mad Buck from harming himself. Mad Buck was, seemingly, always reckless, disrespectful, arrogant, and problematic so it's hard to feel much sympathy that he's doing these same things now that he's sick. He didn't have the cancer when he tried to jump Robin's Rolls Royce over the fountain so he'd have caused a lot of the same trouble regardless. Mrs. Gibson mislead Magnum and was not too likeable either. You couldn't even root for her because it seemed she was after Buck's money more than anything. People noticed her pendanat and I have to think that was on purpose. In Buck's letter he said for Magnum to "tell Joan she's a brick" which I figure is what the censors would allow. It was also odd for TC and Rick to act out of character. TC was a non drinker yet he accepted the bazooka at the bar and didn't declne it at the estate despite not drinking it. Neither TC nor Rick ever showed any interest in writing after this despite being somewhat connected to Robin Masters. You'd think they'd ask Higgins or Magnum to forward their work to him if they were serious about writing a book.

It was a solidly acted episode, but I think the writing hurt it. Higgins freaking out over one of Robin's guests became something of a trend that he'd show in several episodes. I liked the bar fight scene and think it's one of the better ones of the series. Magnum's indifference as to if he's working for Joan or not was spot on as Magnum often didn't take paying cases for several reasons. This ethical deliuma was kind of an interesting twist especially with Rick pushing Magnum to take it (to pay off his bar tab most likely). I did have to laugh when Higgins stated he had a slight concussion and then went on to say he had all of his facalties about him. It's something with a person with a concussion might think, but it's often not the case.
Last edited by SignGuyHPW on Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#81 Post by SignGuyHPW »

Little Garwood wrote:Watched this again last night and only now just noticed that Higgins and Buck Gibson don't share a scene together! Yes, Higgins gets that hilarious monologue about Buck's previous visit to the estate, but McGavin and Hillerman don't interact at all.
Actually, they had the scene on the beach. Mad Buck crashed into Higgins to cause all of Higgins' injuries.

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#82 Post by Little Garwood »

SignGuyHPW wrote:
Little Garwood wrote:Watched this again last night and only now just noticed that Higgins and Buck Gibson don't share a scene together! Yes, Higgins gets that hilarious monologue about Buck's previous visit to the estate, but McGavin and Hillerman don't interact at all.
Actually, they had the scene on the beach. Mad Buck crashed into Higgins to cause all of Higgins' injuries.
Weren't those just stuntmen? I'll give the episode another look.
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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#83 Post by SignGuyHPW »

Little Garwood wrote:
SignGuyHPW wrote:
Little Garwood wrote:Watched this again last night and only now just noticed that Higgins and Buck Gibson don't share a scene together! Yes, Higgins gets that hilarious monologue about Buck's previous visit to the estate, but McGavin and Hillerman don't interact at all.
Actually, they had the scene on the beach. Mad Buck crashed into Higgins to cause all of Higgins' injuries.
Weren't those just stuntmen? I'll give the episode another look.
You're probably right. I was thinking the characters more of the actors. I'm guessing that it just didn't fit into the story they were doing.

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#84 Post by tiger73 »

Darren McGavin was the 1st Mike Hammer of Mickey Spillane in the 50s years; not a great episode. As I said "Murder by night" Magnukm episode season 7 was tribute to Mike Hammer. Here Darren McGavin look almost unrecognizable. Notice even the lovely Vera Miles :P

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Re: Mad Buck Gibson (2.9)

#85 Post by Little Garwood »

I don't know what I voted Mad Buck Gibson when I chose a rating years before, but it's a definite 9.0 (Excellent).

As I've mentioned previously in this thread, I am a long-time Hemingway fan, so Mad Buck appeals to me. Yes, he's infuriating, outrageous, impulsive, cantankerous, and absolutely maddening. It's amusing that so many here find him to be those things as well and they don't like him very much at all. In the episode Higgins, Joan, and most of the patrons at the Aloha (maker of the renowned "Bazooka") can't stand him to a large degree, either. However, I get the impression that Mad Buck, like Hemingway, was a whirlwind in people's lives. Uprooting them from their stable routines but nevertheless having a profound and lasting effect on them, which is the kind of effect Hemingway had on those who knew him.

Mad Buck's dialogue as he's about to take off in the hang glider is some truly marvelous writing and it's beautifully delivered by the great Darren McGavin:
Magnum: "They respect the way you live."

Mad Buck: "Well, then, for God's sake, let them respect the way I'm gonna die. Well, then I won't do it to you. I'll tell it to that little kid who had a curve ball that would break your heart. And who ached for Sandy Koufax's uniform. You see, because I had a fantasy, too, once. Never, never, ever was I gonna be afraid of death. Oh, yeah, always. Always hated myself for it. Yeah, I always i always ran just a little too far out in front of the bulls when we ran with them in Spain. I always pulled the ripcord just one instant too soon. I was always afraid of dying. But now Death has screwed up. He's overplayed his hand. You see, it's the only thing that we're really afraid of in death. We know it's inevitable, we just don't know when. But now, don't you see, now I know that Death can't cheat me of life, can't cheat me of--of really, truly living a full life. Because now, I don't have to hold back something to save for tomorrow, for next year, next summer. Now I know that there will never will be...another summer. I know there will never be another morning quite as glorious as this. You see, I won because I've nothing to lose."
I think Tom Selleck's acting in this episode was superb and severely underrated. His reactions to Buck make Buck's dialogue all the more poignant and Selleck does the thankless job of setting those brilliant lines of dialogue up but he does it wonderfully, especially in light of Magnum's own knowing--if subsequently canonically incorrect--monologue about baseball and how long that "summer" will last.
Last edited by Little Garwood on Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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