The People vs. Orville Wright (7.21)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for The People vs. Orville Wright (7.21). All discussions and reviews for this episode should go here. If you wish to rate the episode, please do so with the poll. The avg. score will be the official 'community rating', which will be used on the episode page (updated monthly).

This thread is also linked in the episode page of the Episode Guide.

Original Air Date: 4/1/1987
Rick just can't seem to catch a break when he is arrested for the murder of a hit man contracted to kill Icepick.

[J.J. Walters]

Wow, what a completely unexpected cliffhanger ending! You are all set for a nice, happy conclusion to the events of the episode, then, wham, Rick gets hauled off to the state pen! Roll end credits. I like how the show did these kinds of things periodically ("Faith and Begorrah" anybody?). Expect the unexpected seems to be the show's mantra.

And T.C. struts his stuff again!



He should have had his own action figure.

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

[J.J. Walters]

This episode also has one of my favorite pieces of Magnum narration.

Magnum: A cogent note about Walter Pidgeon, not the actor, my cousin Rainy's pet bird. One summer, Walter got out of the house, onto the deck. He would have flown away except there was a glass partition he couldn't get through. He kept trying and trying, but he kept hitting up against the glass. Now, two feet to the left, and two feet to the right, the partition ended, but he couldn't see the obvious, that there was a glass wall in front of him. The difference between me and Walter Pidgeon was I had finally seen the wall that Frank Foley had thrown up in front of me and I was taking two steps to the left to get around it ... (short time later) ... One last thought about Walter Pidgeon and the "glass wall". I'd always wondered what would have happened if old Walter had gone around the partition and found his freedom. What would he have done with it? Maybe it was better that he never knew what was beyond the wall?

Great stuff.

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

[golfmobile]

James,

[J.J. Walters]

LOL!

I didn't mean to offend you TCGI. It's just, well, you weren't around in the 80s when we needed you.

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

[rubber chicken]

Just an fyi - the location of Icepick's house in this episode is talked about in the Death of the Flowers (7.12) thread.

[IslandHopper]

This was a good and entertaining episode. I liked the plot. I could see Rick trying to take the fall for Icepick since he considered him a father figure. Interestingly, I don’t see Rick taking the fall for Magnum , or TC if the situation called for it despite their bond created by their combat experiences. I know Rick has helped both Magnum and TC, and even J.J. Quincannon in “All For One.“ But, I don’t see him going to jail for a murder rap for anyone but Icepick. If wasn’t for Icepick, Rick wouldn’t have made it out of Chicago.

This is one of those episode where the whole gang pitches in to help a buddy (Rick), i.e., “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Underworld,” “All For One,” “This Island Isn‘t Big Enough,” and “Missing Melody” to name a few. Even Higgins helps in his own way.

At the request of the KKC Board-of-Directors, Higgins must interview prospective candidates to fill Rick’s manager position. In true “Jonathon Quayle Higgins” style, he lends an assist to Rick in his own subtle way. Higgins, very slyly steers away all of the qualified applicants, and refers only the most unqualified candidates to the KKC board, in order to keep Rick‘s job open for as long as possible in the hope that he resolves his legal trouble before the position is filled.

There is a great scene where Higgins is interviewing a woman for the position. She is woefully unqualified to manage the most prestigious private club on the islands. Her most relevant experience is working six months as the “night cashier at the Taco House.” The actress who played this applicant was great. Her northeastern accent, her delivery, everything was right on for that scene. When Higgins tells her that she is the number-one candidate, she gets so excited that she asks Higgins out on a date to the Taco House. Her treat. She says she has a way with “old guys.“ Great scene.

The opening scene of this episode shows Magnum being attended to for a broken nose, and rushed to the hospital. Does anyone know why the story called for Magnum to have a broken nose? I didn’t really see how that played into the episode. It was totally unnecessary. It was also distracting, watching Magnum walk around with that bandage on his nose for most of the episode. I just don’t know what the point of all that was. I hope it wasn’t just an excuse to set up the scene where Officer/Detective Reggert, runs after Magnum with the incident report in an effort to have Magnum sign it.

Flubs & notable items:

1. Right after Rick confesses to killing Marty Shea, you see TC working on his helicopter and Magnum driving up to tell him Rick is in jail. The right side of the tail section of TC’s chopper reveals a new registration number. The new number is N4943T. The registration number was previously N1095A.

2. When TC is visiting Rick in jail, Rick says “Did I ever tell you about my kid sister?” Of course TC knows about his kid sister. She was a mule for a Chicago drug dealer who was killed while she was supposed to be watching “Bambi” with Magnum (“Distant Relative“). I know Rick is distracted with a murder rap, but how could he forget that, or better yet, how could the writers forget that? I guess it was Rick’s cryptic way of saying he was taking the fall for Icepick.

3. The building depicted as the “Hawaii Metro Police” with the address of “465” is also used as different buildings in other episodes, such as a building called KEKUANAOA in “Luther Gillis: File #521.“ The name of the building changes, but the address number (465) remains the same.

4. Flub: After Magnum chases Frank out of the Bank building, the camera cuts to a shot of TC’s helicopter flying. It has the old registration number N1095A, not the new number we just saw a few minutes before (N4943T).

5. Flub: While TC and Magnum are in the chopper following Frank’s car, Magnum says “maybe you can find a place to set us down.” The camera then cuts to a shot of the chopper flying away from the camera, however, the skids are now the fat/thick skids rather than the skinny skids we saw in the previous shot. When the chopper lands near the cliff, the chopper has skinny skids again.

6. Flub: After Frank arrives at Icepick’s hideout, Magnum is looking down on them through a pair of binoculars. As he is looking, you see Icepick walk up to Frank’s car. You will hear a voice that is supposed to be Magnum say “wait a minute” as he is surprised to see Icepick alive (he thought he was dead). The voice does not appear to be Magnum’s or TC’s. It sounds like a voiceover by a different actor.

7. Flub: During the gun fight at Icepick’s hideout TC shoots Frank. As TC shoots Frank, Frank is firing his Uzi. You can see the flash/flame exit the barrel of the Uzi as Frank fires. However, as Frank gets hit he falls backward with the Uzi and stops firing (you can no longer see the flash/flame from the barrel of the Uzi). Despite the fact that Frank stopped firing the Uzi as he was falling backward the sound effect of the Uzi firing continued.

8. One of the two guards at Icepick’s hideout appears to be George Fisher who was the boxer in “Thank Heaven For Little Girls And Big Ones Too.”

9. The Ilikai Hotel and adjacent harbor area is seen in the opening overhead shot, and when Magnum meets Carol during lunch when he tries to solicit information about Rick. The hotel was also used in “A.A.P.I.”

10. Rick's house appears to be more of a condominium/town house in the Hawaii Kai area. It looks very similar to where my friends lived (Opihikao Place). Additionally, this house/town house in this episode doesn't appear to be the same house that Rick has in "Innocence, A Broad" (season Eight). The house in "Innocence, A Broad" seems more like a traditional house with a pool in the back.

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The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

[J.J. Walters]

Excellent review IH!

[IslandHopper]

Thanks James. I looked up Maria O'Brien on IMDB. It looks like she had a pretty extensive career as a character actress. I knew I had seen her before.

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The answer is obvious, old man. Logic is irrelevant. It's simply Tropical Madness. (J.Q. Higgins)

[J.J. Walters]

Ok rubber chicken, I got one for you. This one will really test your "location finding" skills. Are you up for the challenge? .... Good!

[drum roll]

Rick's House!



[tick, tock]

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