Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fourth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
5
5%
9.5 (One of the Best)
20
20%
9.0 (Excellent)
17
17%
8.5 (Very Good)
26
27%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
18
18%
7.5 (Decent)
3
3%
7.0 (Average at Best)
5
5%
6.5 (Not So Good)
3
3%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
0
No votes
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 98

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Little Garwood
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#41 Post by Little Garwood »

Somewhere I posted that I liked one Luther Gillis over the other. Guess I was confused because I'd fogotten that Artie Keanu was in the first two. Anyway, after having seen Luther Gillis: File #521 last night, I can say definitively that the second, The Return of Luther Gillis, is the best of all the Luther episodes.

Can't remember what I voted on this one, but it's a solid [8.0], because I like Luther Gillis--but not for his own show.

Now I love Film Noir/lone wolf detectives as much as anyone, but I felt that this episode would have benefited from NOT having been filmed in "Smear-O-Vision", which seemed to be a late '70s-early '80s technique of invoking nostalgia or the past. We know how much Bellisario loves that stuff, but I'm glad the technique was dropped for subsequent Gillis episodes.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

Seaver41
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#42 Post by Seaver41 »

this one always scored well with me. Loved the Luther Gillis character as the guy Magnum didn't want to become......and I'm sure that is one of the primary reasons for introducing him. It especially hits when Luther shows Magnum his book on how to be a private eye, something Magnum has mentioned he will write someday.

Near the end when they cross the street to the car and Magnum tells Luther he will take him to the airport, I could swear the extra walking by the car, a woman, either aborts a wave at Selleck or is signaling someone. It just looked so awkward.

OR maybe it's you flub guys getting in my head.......lol

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#43 Post by Braddah Kimo »

Ever since watching this ep in da eighties, I have always wondered. (and still do to this day, especially as I am watching the movie right now) HOW da heck did they end up giving this character a name so bloody close to "South Pacific"'s almost main character, Luther Billis?!

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snp389
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#44 Post by snp389 »

John Hillerman and Geoffrey Lewis both starred together in Clint Eastwood's classic "High Plains Drifter".

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.45caliber
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#45 Post by .45caliber »

Very funny episode. I love the Luther Gillis character. Some funny parts I remember, Luther Gillis slips Magnum a mickey, Luther punches the old lady training with the butler, the jail cell scenes and Luther's thought of the day for Artie, "Be kind to animals, they're supposed to be dumber than us"

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Doc Ibold
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#46 Post by Doc Ibold »

And of course, Scrungo

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#47 Post by charybdis1966 »

Seen this episode yesterday and having seen it in sequence it is quite a change of pace from "Home from the sea".

Luther himself has the snappiest dialogue in the show and I do like his slightly cliched/stereotyped private eye views (why did I think he was a real life version of "Inch High, Private Eye?), tongue in cheek attitude.

The use of VO's from both the show's Pi's was quite amusing, like they were having an unseen battle of wits.

The twist that blonde on the street corner in the opening scene was the "MacGuffin" for the entire show was quite clever, a part of me wonders that it would have made for a very short show if he realised who he gave the $5 to was his daughter and it would all have been over.

Overall an upbeat episode which is what I/is needed at that stage of Season 4.
Last edited by charybdis1966 on Fri Mar 04, 2022 12:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#48 Post by Estate resident »

The Luther Gillis eps. are my favorite recurring character eps.. Nobody but Eugene Roche could pull off a character like Luther Gillis. So much so a seperate mini-series probably could have been done...then when tv had a strange thing like a sense of humor. Which is also what made MPI the great show it was. MV got very boring very fast because it took itself waaay too seriously.

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#49 Post by MagnumILWU »

I never realized that the actress who played Luther's daughter "Little Nancy", is also the same actress who played Trudy Monk for several seasons( not the first 2) on "MONK"! Melora Hardin!
"pickled egg please"

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Luther's nephew Dobie
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#50 Post by Luther's nephew Dobie »

MaiTaiMan wrote:
J.J. Walters wrote:
MaiTaiMan wrote:Gillis sucks! :P
Them's fightin' words!! Center of town, high noon, be there! ;)
LOL! :lol: This sounds more like Gary Cooper ("High Noon") than Luther Gillis. :wink:
Really, though, I'm sure there are many who like Luther Gillis and think he's hilarious...I totally respect their opinions. I just don't happen to share them. :wink:
Compared to Bogie and Magnum, I still think Gillis sucked. :P But, for those who liked his loud-mouthed, slobiness, know-it-all style, I suppose he could've had his own show--set in St. Louis of course. But, I could not have watched it. :shock:
I love the "Magnum" episodes that primarily deal with the regular characters and an action-packed/suspenseful case that Magnum would be working on. Usually the episodes that focus primarily on a recurring, goof-ball, guest-star character (such as Gillis) are not ones I really enjoy that much. :? They take way too much away from Magnum and the "gang", and the normal style of the show. :x
"I'm not bad I was just drawn that way"...Jessica Rabbit

Hi Mai Tai,
Of course "Gillis sucked" compared to Bogie the screen immortal.
The writers aren't stupid, Gillis wasnt a badly drawn attempt at a clone of Bogie but rather he is supposed to be a tongue in cheek homage to Bogie's Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe for people who loved those old characters.
Perhaps some were disappointed the producers didn't cast more Selleck like eye candy for the ladies but that's the point.
Luther is reality(with exaggerated humor), the every day working slob and Roche was pitch perfect.
He is honorable and loyal in his way and if his boorishness resulted in a brawl he'd fight to the end and not leave a pal in the lurch. I'd have beers with him on Hotel street anytime, he'd pick up his rounds and have great stories.
He is also a possible vision of Magnum in 20 years, as most posters here have noted, and as Magnum himself comes to knows this, 'there's the rub' as the Bard would say and the source of Magnum's unease.
Both have written PI books, have a daughter who lives far away, dress sloppy, avoid mature relationships and still score with the babes (Blanche being portrayed by Sheree North who in her salad days was a stone sexpot groomed to replace Marilynn Monroe).
That's not shallow writing for a cartoon character Luther, the writers are playing off Magnum's long established history with 'Future Magnum' Luther.
As for the humor, humor is needed when you constantly portray a world of violence(or are actually dwelling in it like in the army). John Ford's war movies are a prime example of this as is most of Mister Selleck's work, especially Magnum PI.
As John Lennon said
"All we are saying, is give Luther a chance"
Last edited by Luther's nephew Dobie on Fri Feb 26, 2016 1:28 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#51 Post by EZiller »

Of all the recurring characters in MPI. Luther was my favorite, even better than Higgins assorted half-brothers. Eugene Roche was superb in the role. It could have been easy to portray Luther as a clownish buffoon and while he certainly is that at times, Luthor is also loyal, resourceful, completely fearless and with a wealth of experience. Here, in his first appearance we get to learn a lot about his style. It's a rather weak plot line, but Roche and Selleck really work well together. After the dramatic tension of "Home From the Sea" this was a terrific comedic episode. 9.5

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#52 Post by Milton Collins »

Ok while I have grown to like Luther Gillis quite a bit over the years of watching the DVDs/Netflix, I didn't like this plot. I think the Return of Luther Gillis later this season and AAPI were far better. I loved the karate class scene though. The very fact that Higgins was teaching a self defense class to a bunch of older women was funny enough, but Luther getting ticked at Higgins slanderous comments about private investigators and then punching out that old woman who was just doing some silly practice move was awesome! I'm very against violence towards women don't read that last part wrong, just thought it was a funny and ridiculous reaction by Luther, not that he hit a woman, that's totally not cool outside of a fictional tv show. Anyway, I think Luther is extremely well played by Eugene Roche and I very much like his character but I went on and on about him in my review of AAPI so I'll avoid duplication. I guess I just thought that other than Luther and the karate scene, this was a thin plot and a boring episode. I have it a 6.5.

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#53 Post by MagnumILWU »

"You Too"! This is such a great episode! Just too funny! I love everything about it! There really hasn't been a better guest star!
"pickled egg please"

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#54 Post by tiger73 »

One of best episode. Almost every scene is funny. I like soundtrack similar to Mike Hammer music Theme and noir wnviroment of the beginning. This episode remember me Dukes of Hazzerd with its great rythmin

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Re: Luther Gillis: File #521 (4.2)

#55 Post by KingKC »

I loved Luther Gillis when he first came on in the 4th season. I liked who he was searching for in the first episode which told me, for all his flaws, he was a good man. I actually dream of being a PI (not quite like Luther Gillis or TM, mind you!) in St. Louis after WWII and through the Fifties and onward when the true city of St. Louis was a thriving city of almost one million inhabitants. The city proper is now under 400K but the metropolitan area is over 2.5 million. I lived there for five years and could imagine his office in an actual building and what night life in downtown "St. Louie" was like then. (I am sure you know that absolutely NO ONE in St. Louis refers to St. Louis as St. Louie. That was just in the song Meet Me in St. Louie). I found it hilarious that Gillis also had his "book" on being a PI while Magnum was thinking of his. Gillis may have been the extreme comic example of Magnum some 25 years later!! Kudos to the writers, producers and directors for Luther P. Gillis.

KingKC

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