lutherhgillis wrote:I just noticed that Pat Hingle aka Garwood Huddle died recently at the age of 84. CNN's obituary includes "Hingle's other TV series included "Hawaii Five-O," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Hart to Hart," "St. Elsewhere," "Magnum, P.I." and "Cheers.""
Oh, so sorry to hear that. RIP Pat.
He had a long, established career. His most memorable role for me (in addition to Garwood) will always be Judge Fenton from Hang 'Em High.
I was just reading his bio in Wikipedia and came across this shocking piece of info regarding a near fatal accident he had in 1960:
In 1960, he had been offered the title role in Elmer Gantry, but could not do it due to a near fatal accident; caught in an elevator in his West End Avenue apartment building that had stalled between the second and third floors, he crawled out, trying to reach the second floor corridor, lost his balance and fell 54 feet down the shaft, fracturing his skull, wrist, hip and most of the ribs on his left side, breaking his left leg in three places and losing the little finger on his left hand. He lay near death for two weeks and his recovery took more than a year.
Frannie Huddle tells Magnum that Walt plays gin with his buddy Norm. Walt is played by John Ratzenberger, Cliff from Cheers who's best friend was Norm. I half ecpected to see george Wendt when TM burst into the house where they were hiding out.
I’m surprised how many people find this a passable episode, as personally I found it quite weak and dull.
[rating=7.5]
Higgins persuades Magnum to help Garwood Huddle, an aged ex-Robin Hood type who has broken out of prison to recover a stash of loot needed to pay for the release of his young grandson, who has been kidnapped. A rather dull episode…
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Coming after such a great episode as ‘Mac’s Back’ would always be hard to top, but ‘The Legacy of Garwood Huddle’ is a definite step down, and one of the show’s weaker stories.
As has already been commented, this episode always struck me as being shown out of sequence, as Magnum has long hair in this instalment, but had it cut in ‘Mac’s Back’.
The story starts off with some potential, with an aged robber having broken out of prison to find the ransom for his kidnapped grandson, but unfortunately it soon goes downhill, and is downright dull in places. Sadly, this would be the case for many episodes of the fifth and sixth season.
Pat Hingle is an okay guest star I suppose (he reminds me of Eugene Roche, who plays the recurring Luther Gillis), but I just had very little interest in Garwood, which is not a very good sign in a story where you should be rooting for him.
Also, I guessed who the villain of the piece was straight away. I won’t give it away here, but I personally found it very obvious.
A nice touch – and probably the best element of the story – is the aftershave sampler that Magnum tries on, making him reek of “brussel sprouts” and “old gym shorts”. This is the only truly humorous moment of story; The familiar spark of the series is definitely missing with this one.
For all I’ve said against it, I wouldn’t say this is one of my all-time least favourite episodes, but is a definite notch down from proceeding stories (especially when watching the show on reruns or DVD without a break from the fourth season, which also had some strong episodes at the end). At best, it would be down the end of a season to bump the year’s episode count up – it certainly has a ‘filler’ feel to it – but placed so near the start of season, and after such a classic episode, it really suffers.
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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:
* Nothing to really note on this one, other than that Rick only appears in one sequence in the story (when he goes to visit Ice Pick).
I've been a long-time visitor to this site, but I never really thought about participating. I love the forums here and have learned a lot reading through these threads, so I finally took the plunge and registered. I didn't see a thread for new members, so consider this my "Hello!"
I thought this was a fun episode. Poor Magnum, having to miss his playoff game. These cases always seem to pop up at the most inopportune times! And I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when Frannie said that John Ratzenberger was "playing gin with his buddy Norm." A great nod to Cheers! Wonder if Magnum or Garwood had to pay for the massage parlor floor, lol?
BTW, is there someone on this forum who uses the same photo I used for my avatar? I use this pic of TC's chopper for a lot of things, like my fantasy sports teams' logos, etc., and I can't remember if I found it on my own or I saw someone here using it. If someone else has it, I'll switch so as not to be confusing.
Phil Hartman (uncredited) does the news reader voiceover in the opening scene. This was way before he became famous. It even pre-dates the early work he did on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Pretty cool.
Absolutely love the opening scene of this episode. It has a little bit of everything that makes Magnum P.I. so great - a flashback sequence (newsreel-style, 1940s), Magnum/Higgins banter, faux newscaster narrative on a television set, a great guest star (Pat Hingle), a Higgins war story (staged Mexico City bank robbery to steal Third Reich documents), and some stimulating Magnum narration. All within the first five minutes.
J.J. Walters wrote:Phil Hartman (uncredited) does the news reader voiceover in the opening scene. This was way before he became famous. It even pre-dates the early work he did on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Pretty cool.
IIRC Hartman had already appeared as Captain Carl in the 1981 HBO Pee-Wee Herman special, which is how many of us were introduced to Pee-Wee to begin with.
J.J. Walters wrote:Phil Hartman (uncredited) does the news reader voiceover in the opening scene. This was way before he became famous. It even pre-dates the early work he did on Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Pretty cool.
IIRC Hartman had already appeared as Captain Carl in the 1981 HBO Pee-Wee Herman special, which is how many of us were introduced to Pee-Wee to begin with.
That's true LG, but it's still an "early-career" appearance for Hartman. And I did say Pee-Wee's Playhouse, which started in '86, after this episode.
Interesting, I had no idea S. Epatha Merkerson was on PWP!
I didn't see a thread for new members, so consider this my "Hello!"
Hi and welcome TPL, at 'Magnum Mania Talk' is a "The Welcome Wagon" thread. Is this what you were searching for?
Well, I did come to this thread to talk about this particular episode, but I did miss the Welcome Wagon thread, so I'll head on over there now. Thanks.
I love the global community of MPI: Higgins, a British MI6 agent, hires Garwood Huddle, an American bank robber, to rob a Mexican bank to steal German Nazi documents... MPI was ahead of its time.
I know we must suspend disbelief in order to enjoy TV but give me a break. They forceably restrain a 'masseuse' and hold her captive while they break through the floor and dig under the building... all while Huddle is on the lamb being aided by Magnum...... let me count the felonies...
Who's Dot Matrix, and what has she got to do with this?
lutherhgillis wrote:I just noticed that Pat Hingle aka Garwood Huddle died recently at the age of 84. CNN's obituary includes "Hingle's other TV series included "Hawaii Five-O," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Hart to Hart," "St. Elsewhere," "Magnum, P.I." and "Cheers.""
In observing Hingle's mannerisms and speech style, it's obvious that Pat Hingle was Nick Nolte before Nick Nolte! Proof once again that yesterday's character actors are infinitely superior to today's leading stars...
lutherhgillis wrote:I just noticed that Pat Hingle aka Garwood Huddle died recently at the age of 84. CNN's obituary includes "Hingle's other TV series included "Hawaii Five-O," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Hart to Hart," "St. Elsewhere," "Magnum, P.I." and "Cheers.""
In observing Hingle's mannerisms and speech style, it's obvious that Pat Hingle was Nick Nolte before Nick Nolte! Proof once again that yesterday's character actors are infinitely superior to today's leading stars...
That may be so, but I'm sure hingle doesn't have a mug shot quite as awesome as Nolte's!