Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

Rate, review & discuss the episodes from the fifth season

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
1
1%
9.5 (One of the Best)
2
3%
9.0 (Excellent)
9
12%
8.5 (Very Good)
12
16%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
18
24%
7.5 (Decent)
9
12%
7.0 (Average at Best)
8
11%
6.5 (Not So Good)
9
12%
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
5
7%
5.0 (Just Awful)
2
3%
 
Total votes: 75

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J.J. Walters
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#31 Post by J.J. Walters »

Coops wrote:Wow...is it me or did Rusty Weaver (Lacy, '54) look just like a young Steve Carell? I was absolutely convinced of it unitl I say the listing for Rusty Weaver in IMDB. That really freaked me out!
Ha! He does look like a young Steve Carell! :lol:

Image
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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nha trang
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Great episode

#32 Post by nha trang »

The writing for this episode was top notch, in my opinion, this was a very well written story, with plenty of sentimentality though not overly so, I question how appropriate of a story it was for Magnum PI, but to the credit of the script, I think the story could have been pulled off with any number of prime time TV shows. Well done, though not a particular "Magnum-esque" favorite of mine, on the first viewing at least.

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burny
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#33 Post by burny »

I really enjoyed this episode - there are lots of good "character" moments in
this epi. MPI was cool as it took time to 'endear' the characters to the viewers.
Like Hig singing with Lacey in the study, the funny banter before/during the
barfight....all character driven stuff. Living in Nashville and being in the music
biz and being a collector of obscure songs, made the story kinda cool to me. 8)

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MaiTaiMan
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#34 Post by MaiTaiMan »

As I've stated before in other posts, I don't really care for cowboy/hick/western/hillbilly type or style shows/movies. So, this is not one of my favorites. :? Some "Cowboy-Bob" running around looking for some goof-ball songs (that he actually wrote) so he could claim the loser singer guy supposedly wrote them.

I don't know...the plot just seemed silly, hillbilly, and goof-ball. :roll: I rated this "Not So Good"...because (in my opinion) it wasn't. :wink:
"It was more ironic than a Robin Masters novel--she thought he was dead, he thought she was dead...and only the chauffeur knew the truth! He should have been the butler!" "Lest We Forget"

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miltontheripper
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#35 Post by miltontheripper »

I liked this episode more than I remembered from previous viewings. I recognized the red headed young cowboy (now much older) as the same actor from season two's "all roads lead to floyd." I thought this was a good episode with an interesting plot. Higgins singing country music with Lacey was great!

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Doc Fred
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#36 Post by Doc Fred »

rubber chicken wrote:Since writing everything below I see Sam's comment above, so I'll respond to that first.

Hearing that this scene was shot in Hoomaluhia Botanical Gardens would have helped my search! Instead I had a devil of a time finding the location from looking at the mountains, buildings and trees were seen in the show. But according to what I've found it's not actually located in the Hoomaluhia Botanical Gardens, but about 2000 feet to the north. I just had the thought though that it may have been part of the HBG in 1984 or early 85 when the show was shot.

Following is what I already had written and put together...
-----------------------------------------

I decided to see if I could find the location of the tree with the help of google earth. This was a tough one and tested my GE skills but after some aggravation I did find the location. It's just southeast of Windward Community College. Click here for the location of the tree.

So here's the tree in question.
Image

The bad news is that I can't be 100% sure that the tree in goggle earth is the tree from the show, but I'm pretty sure it is. The surrounding area has gone through some changes as you can see in the picture below, which made my task harder. But the building in the lower left and a small number of other things makes me sure this is the right location (or just a small number of feet off). Looking in google earth with terrain on you can even see that the mountains are correct. My scriblings in the picture are a bit crude but I think they still help.
Image
GREAT work! Thank you for all the time and effort.
Woof, woof... thirty years uglier!... woof, woof...

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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#37 Post by marlboro »

I thought this was a very solid episode with a great cast of guest stars and some fairly catchy tunes. Bonus points for not going the stereotypical Beverly Hillbillies/Hee Haw rout when portraying characters from the south.: e.g. the lamentable "Billy Joe Bob" character from season two.

Several people have already mention Dennis Weaver who is superb as always, but it was also a treat to see long time stuntman/actor Red West and the great character actress Susan Oliver.

Image

As a big fan of 60's television, it seems like Susan Oliver made a guest appearance in nearly all of my favorite shows. The Wild Wild West, the Andy Griffith Show, Gunsmoke, the Twilight Zone , and the very first episode of Star Trek; she was everywhere.

I have to wonder if her playing Hank Williams' wife in the 1964 biopic "Your Cheatin' Heart" had anything to do with her getting cast in this episode. Probably just a coincidence.

As for Red West:

Image

Another casting coincidence?

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Rembrandt's Girl
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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#38 Post by Rembrandt's Girl »

I just watched this one again last night on Encore and have to admit I haven’t seen this one in a while. There are a few episodes I typically skip and this is one of them. Anyway, I just read through everyone’s comments for this episode and I didn’t see this mentioned so maybe I’m nuts, but I got the feeling that Lacy was in love with George.

If you’re still with me, I think the writers establish this in the first scene with the adoring way Lacy looks at George when performing in ’54 (although the screen cap below doesn’t quite capture it like watching it does.) Then there are the emotions/actions/comments they have Lacy exhibit for George that to me seem beyond a friendship from 30+ years ago. Finally, and perhaps the most telling for me, the original title for this episode was “Secret Rainbows.” I can’t think of what else that title could have meant…or am I missing something and I’m completely embarrassing myself here?!

Anyone else think that? Next time you watch this episode, keep that idea in mind. Curious if anyone else sees the possibility.

Image


By the way, is Dennis Weaver's son Robby actually singing "Last Word Woman"? I see who wrote it but not who really sings it, and I don't see that he did any other singing in his career. What a wonderful voice! http://magnum-mania.com/Audio/Last_Word_Woman.html

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J.J. Walters
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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#39 Post by J.J. Walters »

Yeah, I kinda got that vibe, too. LOL! I doubt it was intentional though. They seemed to be going for the mentor angle. But Lacy did have that look about him regarding Georgie. ;)

I just wanna hold you
and listen deep within
Listen to the music
that'll let me live again

Let me hear the music
that keeps my world in time
Let me hear the music
and let me hear the rhyme
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

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Rembrandt's Girl
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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#40 Post by Rembrandt's Girl »

Thanks, JJ! :D Guess I’m not completely imagining it! That opening scene got me going with the way Lacy looked at Georgie…and then that was my viewpoint for the rest of the episode. From then on everything Lacy did fit with my assumption. I was trying to find the script online (free) to see if there’s any mention of this but came up empty.

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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#41 Post by SignGuyHPW »

Wasn't a fan of this one at all. It just didn't make much sense to me at all. Why would the band have let Jessup fly the plane when he was so heavily intoxicated and admitting that he'd probably crash? It seemed WAY too convienient that the girl from 30 years earlier just happened to not only still be on the islands, but have the missing songs that the two sides were searching for at the same time. The fight scene was probably the worst of any on Magnum, p.i. It didn't seem likely that Higgins was a huge fan of, what sounded like, bluegrass music. How would an Englishman that was in remote outposts in the 50s have become a fan of an American bluegrass singer to the point he'd know the value of undiscovered songs he'd written? Why was Lacy so hardcore about people revering Jessup despite it being widely known that he had lots of issues that contradicted that image? Why did Magnum return the retainer if he'd already performed the work he was hired to perform?

I did like the scene where Higgins was astondished that someone would pick up a valuable violin and start playing it like that. That seemed very in character with him. I also thought it was funny that Higgins just happened to be conducting an orchestra at the same exact time Magnum gets hired by a well known musician to solve a case.

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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#42 Post by Dave Anderson »

I enjoyed this episode and continue to enjoy it on subsequent viewings. Its important to remember how big the country music fad was in the 1980s to understand it in context. That it would even spread to Hawaii made sense. I don't really see the downsides to the episode that others have expressed here, its not the best episode but its definitely a very good, solid Magnum episode.

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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#43 Post by Dave Anderson »

Rembrandt's Girl wrote:I just watched this one again last night on Encore and have to admit I haven’t seen this one in a while. There are a few episodes I typically skip and this is one of them. Anyway, I just read through everyone’s comments for this episode and I didn’t see this mentioned so maybe I’m nuts, but I got the feeling that Lacy was in love with George.

If you’re still with me, I think the writers establish this in the first scene with the adoring way Lacy looks at George when performing in ’54 (although the screen cap below doesn’t quite capture it like watching it does.) Then there are the emotions/actions/comments they have Lacy exhibit for George that to me seem beyond a friendship from 30+ years ago. Finally, and perhaps the most telling for me, the original title for this episode was “Secret Rainbows.” I can’t think of what else that title could have meant…or am I missing something and I’m completely embarrassing myself here?!

Anyone else think that? Next time you watch this episode, keep that idea in mind. Curious if anyone else sees the possibility.
I'm sure he was "in love" with George but not in a sexual sense.

The idea that men can and do have admiration and even affection for other men, as friends, without any homosexual or sexual aspect is sadly being obscured nowadays due to the fact we hear so much about homosexuality. Its perfectly normal for men to have admiration and affection, brotherhood maybe is a better term, for their best friend or other male buddy.

As for the rainbow aspect, this was in the mid-80s, rainbows had NO association with homosexuality or gay politics. This did not start until at least the 90s (and probably the late 90s). Rainbows were of course associated with Hawaii. They had nothing to do with sex or sexual politics during the 80s.

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Re:

#44 Post by Milton Collins »

MaiTaiMan wrote:As I've stated before in other posts, I don't really care for cowboy/hick/western/hillbilly type or style shows/movies. So, this is not one of my favorites. :? Some "Cowboy-Bob" running around looking for some goof-ball songs (that he actually wrote) so he could claim the loser singer guy supposedly wrote them.

I don't know...the plot just seemed silly, hillbilly, and goof-ball. :roll: I rated this "Not So Good"...because (in my opinion) it wasn't. :wink:

You must have read my mind MTM, I thought this episode was flat out boring! I rated it not so good as well. It wasnt completely annoying or anything (like Kiss of the Sabre, or By It's Cover, two of my least favorite episodes) but it just didn't keep me interested at all. The only positive thing I can say was seeing Higgins and Lacey singing country music was hilarious!

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Re: Let Me Hear the Music (5.18)

#45 Post by KingKC »

No, this was not the strongest plot or role for Dennis Weaver. But Weaver did a good job and made the show memorable in a feel-good way. Maybe country-western singers had more loyalty to the past in the eighties than they seem to have now. The early eighties, IMO, was the last good era for CW music so this episode just barely made it in if they were trying to play off of the times. Heck, CW hasn't been worth a darn since George Jones sang "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

KingKC

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