Ghost Writer (2.12)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the second season

Moderator: Styles Bitchley

How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
1
1%
9.5 (One of the Best)
4
4%
9.0 (Excellent)
6
6%
8.5 (Very Good)
22
21%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
27
25%
7.5 (Decent)
22
21%
7.0 (Average at Best)
10
9%
6.5 (Not So Good)
6
6%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
5
5%
5.0 (Just Awful)
3
3%
 
Total votes: 106

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ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)
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#41 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

Yes, that Honolulu Municipal Building is on King Street, just a block over from the Iolani Palace (Five-0 office).

And yes I concur that Patch MacKenzie was a beautiful woman! Looking at the Facebook picture of her it's definitely her. Older but the face is still the same. Patch also guest-starred in the KNIGHT RIDER second season finale "Big Iron" alongside Stuart Whitman who played her husband.

P.S. While not the best of episodes (though still quite good as I kinda liked the wacky elements) Jon Lormer definitely stole the show as the ancient-looking elevator operator Barker! Haha!!! His scenes were an absolute hoot!!! :lol: He looked like he was about to fall apart at any second he looked so frail and incoherent.

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ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)
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#42 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

I have a question about the fight on the roof at the end. Did one of the bad guys get thrown off the roof by Thomas? Sure seems like it. Rick is fighting Arthur (Alan Fudge) while Thomas fights the other guy. I think Thomas punches him or something and then there's a scream like the guy flew off the building. You don't see him after that. Just Arthur who gets knocked out by Rick.

Any ideas?

Braddah Kimo
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#43 Post by Braddah Kimo »

"Now known as The Frank Fasi Municipal Building?" not to many locals at all. Damned name changes, every friggin couple years. And Fasi, tho he brought in a good city bus system, caused many great local old landmarks to disappear and created many enemies of great well loved local luminaries.

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snp389
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#44 Post by snp389 »

I love the fact that TSM always has some sort of incriminating 'dirt' on both Rick and TC to get them to do a favour or simply off his back.
Classic.

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terryfromkerry
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#45 Post by terryfromkerry »

Elisha Cooke Jnr ( then 80 approx) features here in a role before he appeared as " Icepick".

I will always remember him as the young "gunsel" in The Maltese Falcon. "Bogey" slaps him around a bit. When he protests "Bogey" says "when I slap you , you'll take it and like it"......... classic.
"Oh Jonathan !....oh Jonathan, come quickly ...... your hot cross buns are smoking".

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Pahonu
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#46 Post by Pahonu »

terryfromkerry wrote:Elisha Cooke Jnr ( then 80 approx) features here in a role before he appeared as " Icepick".

I will always remember him as the young "gunsel" in The Maltese Falcon. "Bogey" slaps him around a bit. When he protests "Bogey" says "when I slap you , you'll take it and like it"......... classic.
Check out this link http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gunsel as it relates to the use of "gunsel" to describe Elisha Cook's character Wilmer.

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terryfromkerry
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#47 Post by terryfromkerry »

Hi Pahonu.

That's very interesting and certainly puts some of those scenes involving Bogey's verbal putdowns of the young hoodlum Wilmer in a different light.
"Oh Jonathan !....oh Jonathan, come quickly ...... your hot cross buns are smoking".

magnumfan325
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#48 Post by magnumfan325 »

I was watching ghost writer...wow was that patch mackenzie one good looking lady..
There is just something about her...she is really special...I am in love..

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Sinjin
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#49 Post by Sinjin »

I agree, Patch Mackenzie was very beautiful in this episode. This was one of the more lighthearted stories; more rom-com than mystery. I always like it when Magnum gets the girl, and in this case Patch (Virginia Fowler) was a worthy catch--a great combination of beauty and brains. Every private eye has a "strict policy" to never get involved with a client, but of course they always do. Magnum says, "I know what you're thinking, and you're right." It's more of a guideline than a policy, is what I was thinking.

This episode features the venerable character actor Elisha Cook, Jr., who also played Ice Pick. He was in literally hundreds of movies, but I know him best from classic private eye film noirs like The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. So Magnum P.I. was a natural fit in his later years. I think its great that they got to utilize him as much as they did. The creators showed a veneration toward their many influences and the pioneers of the genre. Here Elisha literally sleep walks through his role in some scary makeup, but hey it was work.

The central mystery involves an eccentric billionaire, some missing letters, a creepy Mr. White, and cryogenics. There is a side plot involving a Senator's wife that serves as a red herring. Perhaps the most important revelation from this episode is that we finally know who the chronicler is for Magnum's autobiography--Virginia Fowler. This forms the literary basis for the series, for what that's worth.

I enjoyed this episode primarily for Patch Mackenzie as ghost writer Virginia Fowler. She is very easy on the eyes.

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terryfromkerry
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#50 Post by terryfromkerry »

Sinjin wrote:
This episode features the venerable character actor Elisha Cook, Jr., who also played Ice Pick. He was in literally hundreds of movies, but I know him best from classic private eye film noirs like The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. So Magnum P.I. was a natural fit in his later years. I think its great that they got to utilize him as much as they did. The creators showed a veneration toward their many influences and the pioneers of the genre. Here Elisha literally sleep walks through his role in some scary makeup, but hey it was work.
Hi Sinjin & welcome.

I have enjoyed your posts. Another memorable Elisha Cook Jnr performance immediately comes to mind.
I am thinking of "Shane", particularly his gunfight scene with Jack Palance on a muddy rain swept main street. One of those cinematic moments that stay with you forever.
"Oh Jonathan !....oh Jonathan, come quickly ...... your hot cross buns are smoking".

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Sinjin
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#51 Post by Sinjin »

terryfromkerry wrote:Another memorable Elisha Cook Jnr performance immediately comes to mind.
I am thinking of "Shane", particularly his gunfight scene with Jack Palance on a muddy rain swept main street. One of those cinematic moments that stay with you forever.
Thanks Terry. I remember that scene as well. His characters often met their fate on the wrong end of a gun, but they were almost always memorable scenes. It was refreshing to see him play against type as Ice Pick.

SignGuyHPW
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#52 Post by SignGuyHPW »

I actually really enjoyed this one. My main gripe is that the opening scene didn't make complete sense to me. I understand TC was paid a huge sum of money by the Farber people to make deliveries. The fact that it was some kind of dangerous material never came into play the rest of the episode nor did the fact that they were supposedly worried about competitors.

I thought this one had a little of everything that was classic to Magnum. You had comedy (Rick saying no more disguises only to be seen in one the next scene), action (the fight on the roof), a mystery to solve (whom was trashing the writer's rooms), Magnum and Higgins banter (the scene where Higgins demands the car keys), TC making the save despite his protests (the chopper landing), and a little military day recall (Magnum discussing his Naval Intelligence days with the client).

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EZiller
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#53 Post by EZiller »

An entertaining comedic episode. Season 2 has it share of duds, but this is better than most. Notable for Elisha Cook Jr in a pre-Icepick role, playing a wino standing in for Farber, a billionaire recluse along the lines of Howard Hughes. A bit of a dumb script, but I thought Patch McKenzie [terrible name!] was an absolute doll as Virginia Fowler, the ghost writer. Top ten MPI babe. Her and TM really had some playful sexual chemistry going.

8.5

Dave Anderson
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#54 Post by Dave Anderson »

This episode was a little too far fetched for me, but still entertaining. There were funny parts, and Virginia Fowler was hot. The plot was too over the top though.

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Little Garwood
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Re: Ghost Writer (2.12)

#55 Post by Little Garwood »

I voted Ghost Writer a 7.0 [Average at Best]

I was actually dreading this one as its turn came in my run through of the entire series but a few things redeemed it for me. One was the classic scene of Magnum going into his closet, rifling through his bags, and finally producing his gun. However, the angle of the shooter who had the reclining-on-the-guesthouse-couch Thomas dead in his sights looked like another of those impossible angles. I wasn't sure where in relation to the guesthouse the shooter was. To me he just suddenly appeared on the guesthouse stairs. The other is TC foregoing his business agreement with the Farber group in order to come to the aid of his friend.

Other than what I just mentioned, Ghost Writer has very little going for it. In fact, it's one of my least favorite episodes of the series, despite the lenient rating I've given it. I don't like that so much of the episode takes place in a parking garage. If I saw one more shot of that elevator. The large amount of time spent in those enclosed areas make me think that this was a "Bottle Show", when budgetary constraints force the production to rely on one set or remain indoors for much of the shoot. It may not be the case here, but it makes me wonder; why not take more advantage of the gorgeous Hawaiian scenery?

Some random observations: Rick wears a red version of that blue bamboo sticks shirt he's worn in other episodes. He also wears a weird yellow shirt with nearly matching khaki pants in another scene.

When Rick and T.C. are en route to the Farber building, it appears that T.C. is piloting the chopper because the street view and ocean can be seen off in the distance when all we were actually seeing was the chopper parked atop a roof while the camera moved slightly to give the illusion of flight. Funny.

Alan Fudge was a fine character actor with numerous roles on 1970s TV, but he gets very little to do here except take punches from Rick in the rooftop fight finale.

I liked the lingering shot on Thomas's Chronosport watch.

Patch McKenzie reminds me a bit of Helen Mirren, at least in the eyes and perhaps her nose. She wears some then-stylish early '80s outfits and sports a big feathered hairstyle that I remember many women having back then. Those clothes and hair styles would become increasingly ugly by mid decade.
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