Fourth Wall

[Steve]

As I recall, one non-recurring character breaks the fourth wall. Anyone else notice it?

Great question.....Does Charlie at the end of The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club count?

[Seaver41]

yes........

[TankTop44]

What about animals?

[Souome1]

Agatha, you wrote (I have not figured out the box thing yet): "I haven't found all of the regular cast "breaks" yet, Souome1, much less a break by a non-recurring character. Who was it? Which episode?"

Agatha, I had to look at the episode before answering.... just to make sure. It is the Butler (Henry Jones) in Murder by Midnight. He arguable does it a few times, but certainly in the scene when he shows Magnum out of the study. He stops, turns, and looks directly into the camera, making a somewhat puzzling expression.

By the way, this episode has the best pun . . . . . ever

Alicia drew Maxfield's bath, but he never used it because he ended up flying over the balcony into the surf and rocks below. He is found in the morning.

During Magnum's questioning, Chirstine volunteers: "He didn't need a bath. He knew he was going wash up on the shore in the morning!"[quote][/quote]

[Agatha]

Thanks, Souome1! I haven't seen Murder by Midnight yet. Must be in either Season 7...which I'm working on now via Netflix...or Season 8 which will happen next. Will be fun to watch for it!



I don't know, Steve...I don't get the sense that Charlie is looking at ME in Curse of the King Kamehameha Club. I usually get that sense when Thomas does it. And, in fact, it was that sense that caused me to check with you all to see if TC does it. I felt that he was looking right at me! Magnum breaks it just after that and that one is clear to me but I'll have to think about Charlie.

Maybe I'm developing "fourth wall intuition" about Magnum the way that Luther "Suitcase" Simpson is developing "coply intuition" in the Jesse Stone movies. I feel it in my cells!

[N1095A]

As I recall, one non-recurring character breaks the fourth wall. Anyone else notice it?

Great question.....Does Charlie at the end of The Curse of the King Kamehameha Club count?

I would have to review the scene, but as I recall, I thought the same thing last time I saw it. I concluded at the time Charlie was looking in TM's direction at the time, and not directly at the camera. I could be wrong however. As i said I have to watch it again.

[Sam]

If anyone watches the scene again,note the flub..Old Charlie puts his left earplug in at least twice and possibly three times.

[TankTop44]

I posted this in the seasons category, answering a question from Agetha. I thought it might go better here:

"I suppose you could look at it two ways. Yes he is looking at the "camera" and it appears he is breaking the fourth wall, however, is it the "camera" he is looking at or is it Magnum. If he is looking at Magnum, then we are seeing him through Magnum's eyes and not just us the veiwer."

[Agatha]

That's a great way to explain the difference, TankTop44. There are a couple of places where I was just SURE it was a break but then, when I looked at the eyes...he just wasn't looking at ME. That's how I feel about Charlie.

Interesting....veeerrrrry interesting.

Thanks!

[J.J. Walters]

The guy who played Charlie had an interesting career. His name is Manu Tupou. Check out his Wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Tupou


- Studied under Lee Strasberg (w/ Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Shelly Winters)
- Senior Life Member of the Actors Studio (NY)
- Honors graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
- B.A. from both the University of Hawaii and the University of London
- Founded the American Repertory Company
- Landed major roles in several Broadway productions - Annie Get Your Gun (w/ Debbie Reynolds), Captain Brassbound's Conversion (w/ Ingrid Bergman), Iphigenia at Aulis (w/ Tommy Lee Jones), Othello.
- Narrated & co-starred in Michener's Hawaii
- Was in several Hawaii Five-O episodes.

Not bad for a guy with humble beginnings in the Fiji Islands! I'm surprised he was only used in one MPI episode.

[Agatha]

I think I saw Higgins break the Fourth Wall in Season 5...Under World...last night! It's just after TC tells him that he doesn't have a brother named Gerald.

What does anyone else think? I watched it several times to be sure and I think I am...but I've watched that episode MANY times and never saw it before...

This is so fun!! It's like finding money on the ground!!

[rubber chicken]

I don't know, it's hard to say. It doesn't help that Higgins' eyeballs look independent of each other with his left eye appearing to look further to his left than his right eye. I think my personal conclusion is that he's looking just below and to the right (his right) of the camera. Here's a screenshot for others to see:



No, wait. Cover up half of Higgins' face so that just one eyeball is showing. When I can see only the eye on the right it appears to be looking at the camera. When only seeing the eye on the left it appears to be looking below and the right (his right) of the camera. So he did and he didn't, we both win! Higgins' car crash must have thrown his eyeballs out of alignment.

[Agatha]

Thanks, rubberchicken...I think!! I guess I must have been looking at that right eye!!

[steveadl]

Considering they broke the 4th wall so much throughout the series, I guess it's somewhat fitting they ended the entire series in the last scene with one final TM 4th wall break.

Quite cool, and definitely no question it was a break - not only looking at the camera, but also talking to the audience as Tom Selleck too, not as Tom Magnum.

Here it is for those that wanna check it out, from memory it's not on all the DVD versions:
http://youtu.be/deZcdIDi_Zs

[K Hale]

I would say Higgins did not break the fourth wall in the above image from Underworld.

However, he did break it in The Elmo Ziller Story while being harangued by his ex sister in law. I never realized this before making the below gif and thus watching this moment over and over frame by frame: