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Premiering in 1968 and running continuously until 1980,
Hawaii Five-O was one of the most successful television
cop shows of its time. For 12 seasons, the series never
failed to please. ***
Hawaii Five-O stars Jack Lord (you may remember him
as Felix Leiter in the first James Bond movie, Dr. No) as
a hard-boiled police officer out to put a stop to crimes
in one of the most exotic locales on the face of the earth.
The show co-stars James MacArthur, Kam Fong Chun, Herman
Wedemeyer, Richard Denning, Doug Mossman, and Gilbert Lani
Kauhi. ***
Hawaii Five-O was one of the better cop shows of the
era, and remained such well into the seventies, when there
was an onslaught of them coming on the air. The show succeeded
due to the talent of its leading man, a talented supporting
cast, beautiful scenery, and perhaps most importantly, an
emphasis almost entirely on the plot and action. The show
never got itself bogged down in sentimental issues, and
this made it all the more interesting and involving throughout.
***
The seventies had a ton of cop shows, but Hawaii Five-O
definitely stands in the upper tier. Jack Lord makes for
one hell of a TV cop, and he proved it twelve seasons over.
This was the longest running crime TV series on American
television until Law and Order eventually broke the record.
Season Six is one of the show’s finest, and for any fan,
it makes an ideal addition to your collection. ---
Image and Sound:
Considering that the series was filmed on location
and that this is a crime drama, I wasn’t expecting it to
look too good on DVD 30 years later. I was wrong. The colors
haven’t faded much, and the image is generally bright and
clear throughout. Audio is presented in the original mono,
and there really aren’t any flaws with the presentation
here.
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