User reviews

This series was so popular that "Bookem Danno!" became a common phrase teenagers uttered around schools while this show ran. Once you see an episode, you understand why. CBS really went to great lengths to make this series run so well.

Leonard Freeman's top notch production shows & holds up well after all these years. Jack Lord is the ultimate Hawaii Supercop in charge of FIVE-O. James Macarthur is great as Dan-o, McGarrett subordinate. The use of Hawaian actors int he cast was UN precedented. The choice of shooting locations in Hawaii seems perfect.

The theme song blows you away & the sequence shown during the theme is priceless as well. The more I think about it, the only way it is not perfect is that with rare exceptions the show became a little too much predictable & formula at times. With the Hawaii locations & always something nice in a bikini around, the formula isn't so bad is it?

Outside of Jack Webb I don't think you could make a better case for a cop being totally professional than with Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett. Even with Webb you got hints of a private life usually in the squad car as he and Ben Alexander or later Harry Morgan rode around between locations on an episode. In fact usually TV series last because of various personal dimensions gradually introduced into a series for the characters.

But in Hawaii 5-0, never. Lord was appointed by the Governor of Hawaii to head a special state police force to really go after the high level crooks. His jurisdiction was pretty well anywhere he wanted it. I never saw any complaints from Honolulu PD or any other local police entity about it in the 12 years Hawaii Five-0 ran.

Lord had a picked team with James MacArthur, Kam Fong and several other local players from Hawaii as other police assigned to him. Richard Denning made some appearances every so often as the governor. In fact MacArthur as Danny Williams was the guy that McGarrett ordered almost every week to 'book 'em Danno' in the show's most celebrated catchphrase.

Hawaii Five-0 had three great things going for it. The first was Hawaii itself. I for one can't get enough of the scenery. It's the most beautiful place on the planet and that's on several different levels. I don't the show would have lasted twelve seasons if it was done in East St. Louis.

Secondly the writing was extraordinarily good matched by the editing. I don't recall a frame of extraneous film in any given episode. Like McGarrett and his team, every show got right down to business and moved.

Lastly it was Jack Lord who created a character that solely and totally focused on his job. Normally those are not warm and fuzzy people, but the absolutely incorruptible Steve McGarrett was a guy that any citizen would want to know is serving and protecting. Even if he didn't seem to have a personal life.

To live and work in Hawaii, it doesn't get better.

"Hawaii 5-0", which I reviewed for the Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, was the first major series set in Hawaii. Its locale, its central character, and much else have been copied since. From beginning to end of its dozen-years' run, this was a quality production. It began as a TV movie; and from first to last Jack Lord played the head of this special investigation unit, Steve McGarrett. He reported directly to the Attorney General and Governor of the state; and his unit took on murder and all the other most difficult cases. A look at the directors and writers who toiled for the show reveals the quality of the attempt. The directors included TV's biggest names, I assert, among them Danny Arnold, Reza S. Badayi, Richard Benedict, Abner Biberman, Bruce Bilson, Robert Butler, Marvin Chomsky, Barry Crane, Lawrence Dobkin, David Friedkin, Alvin Ganzer, Robert Gist, Gordon Hessler, Alj Kjellin, Paul Krasny, Philip Leacock, Bernard McEveety, John Llewellyn Moxey, Gene Nelsom, John Newland, Michae O'Herlihy, Leo Penn, Seymour Robbie, Sutton Roley, Barry Shear, Bob Sweeney, Jerry Thorpe, Don Weis, Paul Wendkos and Nicholas Colasanto. The fine writers who worked for "Hawaii 5-0" included Ed Adamson, Albert Aley, John D.F. Black, Walter Black, Jerome Coopersmith, Robert C. Dennis, Meyer Doilinsky, Jackson Gillis, Herman Gorves, Darid P. Harmon, Laurence Heath, Shirl Hendryx, Stephen Kandel, E. Arthur Kean, Curtis Kenyon, Anthony Lawrence, Seeleg Lester, Robert Lewin, Jerry Ludwig, Bob and Esther Mitchell, Irv Pearlberg, Gilbert Ralston, Sy Salkowitz, Alvin Sapinsley, George F. Slavin, Jack Turley, Carey Wilber, and Preston Wood. The producers maintained both a mainland and an Hawaii-based unit. The cast included besides Richard Denning as the Governor and several other regulars McGarrett's unit, comprised of James MacArthur as young Danny Williams, Zulu as Kono Kalakaua, Kam Fong as Chin Ho Kelly and Harry Endo as lab man Che Fong for seven years. As regulars left the series, others were hired including Al Harrington, Herman Wedemeyer, and later in the series Sharon Farrell. Regular guest stars. included Kawn Hi Lim, Seth Sakai, Khigh Dhiegh as Chinese spy Wo Fat, Danny Kamekona, Tommy Fujiwara and more. Prominent actors who were hired for prominent guest roles included Stephen Boyd, Mark Lenard, Charlene Polite, Ricardo Montalban, Hume Cronyn, Simon Oakland, Constance Towers, Marianne McAndrew, Luther Adler (the Vachon trilogy), Nehemiah Persoff, and hundreds more. The topics included the degradation of the original Hawaiian culture, plague, murder of tourists, robberies, power-crazed locals and newcomers, organized crime's 'lords', vicious malefactors and fantastic plots of assassination or worse. The show's theme, its locations, Jack Lord's saying, "Book 'em Danno--murder one" became household icons. Finally the series ran out of new cast members and new crimes worthy of an hour's length of narrative film. But the ethical quality of its tough-minded lead, the clear, crisp photography and the swift-paced and intelligent dialogue read in authentic locales set a new standard in each case for what had until 1968 been a rather insular TV production system, shot mostly in Los Angles regardless of the storyline. The show was very fine by my standards; and it is still missed today.

Hawaii Five-O's successful 12-year run proved one thing: A drama doesn't have to be perfect or overly complex to succeed.

Hawaii Five-O's plots were straightforward and self-contained. They rarely had big surprises or twists, and the plot of one episode rarely carried over into future episodes. However, the stories were (for the most part) well written, intelligent, and often unique. For example, in the sixth season's "Draw Me a Killer", a young man "in love" with a female comic book character murders people who resemble her fictional adversaries. This sort of creativity resulted in interesting plots that didn't have to depend upon shocks or gimmicks to be watchable.

Hawaii Five-O was authentic. It was shot entirely on location in Hawaii. Most took place in Honolulu, but the show saw some time on the other islands, as well. Local actors were used to fill nearly every minor part in almost all episodes. While many of these actors were clearly amateurs, you didn't care. This actually added to the show's charm and authenticity. Some of these locals had recurring parts, being seen in different roles in as many as 14 episodes. That also wasn't a big deal, provided you didn't take the show too seriously.

Hawaii Five-O was nice to look at. The show went out of its way to create scenes with beautiful backdrops, allowing the viewer to feel he's on a Hawaiian vacation while in his own living room.

Hawaii Five-O featured one of the best opening theme songs and title sequences. It still holds up well 37 years later. Even the end title sequence, showcasing about 20 native Hawaiians paddling a boat through the ocean off Hawaii, fit in with the show's Hawaiian authenticity. A bit of trivia regarding the opening sequence: The famous wave at the beginning was NOT filmed for Hawaii Five-O, and was instead taken from some 1962 stock footage. This footage was so unimportant at the time that it is now unknown exactly where that wave video originated. Also, the 10-year-old boy shown on the beach was randomly selected and given $5 for allowing himself to be filmed. He didn't know he was in the opening titles until kids at school teased him about it! The first 7 seasons of the show were by far superior to the final 5. The show especially deteriorated by season 11. This was simply a case of a show that had run its course, and it honestly should have been canceled two years earlier.

Jack Lord did a superb job as Five-O head Steve McGarrett. We never got to learn too much about the lives of the other characters, but it was always clear that they were there to support McGarrett. The unity and dedication amongst the characters of the show was comforting to watch. While many cop shows (such as NYPD Blue) introduce conflict between the main characters, this had no place in Hawaii Five-O. This was a show about Five-O versus the criminal element of Hawaii.

Despite the repeated showcasing of Honolulu's crime, Hawaii Five-O actually did a lot to boost Hawaii tourism. You would think that episodes showing tourists as murder victims would put people off. Perhaps everyone felt protected by McGarrett and Five-O, even if both were just a work of fiction.

It is hard to believe that years after the development of the DVD, that this great series has not been released on this format. Personally, I think Five-0 was one of the best ensemble shows of all-time. Steve McGarrett was a larger-than-life (and too good to be true) character that you could root for in all occasions. The remainder of the team was cast with varying results, with both James McArther as Danno, and Kam Fong as Chin Ho Kelly being excellent in their roles. Even the mediocre Zulu as Kono would share the occasional "Hey brot'r". I personally feel that the long-time nemesis Wo Fat, played to the hilt by Khigh Dhiegh, is one of the best bad guys of all time TV. The running clash between McGarrett and Wo Fat always made Steve's life interesting. My favorite episode is the light and comical, "Over Fifty? Steal!" starring Hume Cronyn as Lewis Filer. Also exceptional was the 3 episode block, "V for Vashon" starring Harold Gould. This is one TV series that I will definitely be purchasing if it is ever available in the DVD format. For my money, I place my Top 3 all-time TV series as: 1) X-Files; 2) Hawaii Five-0; and 3) The Dick Van Dyke Show. The other two are available; hopefully the folks holding the current rights to Five-0 will realize there is a huge pool of people ready to spend their hard-earned $$ once available. Thanks for reading, I hope this was beneficial to you.

Arguably the greatest of all the American cop shows of the seventies, Hawaii Five-0 ran throughout this decade, though actually started and finished its run outside of this era (1968 and 1980 respectively). At its peak (season five, in my opinion) it was unbeatable entertainment. Though entertainment it was and always will be if you learn not to take the show too seriously and realism isn't your bag! Seasons one to six represent the show's golden age, seasons seven, eight and nine show a noticeable deterioration in quality and the final three seasons aren't worth setting the video for! One of the primary reasons for the show's success can be attributed to Jack Lord's inimitable portrayal of tough no nonsense cop Steve McGarrett. From its inception in the 1968 pilot movie 'cocoon', McGarrett pitted wits with villain 'Wo Fat' and continued to do so on numerous occasions until the series ended in 1980. Other regulars included James MacArthur as Danny 'Danno' Williams (1968-1979) and Chin Ho Kelly played by Kam Fong (1968-1979) The show exuded coolness in every frame shot, the opening title sequence today looks as fresh and as exciting as it ever did - thirty years on! Morton Stevens' pulsating theme tune without doubt is one of the most vibrant pieces of music to ever accompany a television series. In short, the show is pure escapism that has never and may never be rivalled again. Notable episodes are: Over Fifty? Steal (episode #59); No Bottles.....No Cans......No People (episode #74); and the Vashon trilogy from season 5 (episodes #105, #106 and #107).

To me Hawaii five-0 was the best police TV show. Intro music is fantastic I have it as my ring tone in my mobile. Jack Lord...Steve Mcgarrett...super handsome actor and an excellent image of a police officer. Danny, Kono, Chin-ho, John Manicote,The governor and of course Wo Fat, were fantastic support actors. I didn't miss any episode, I ran to home to watch the CBS program. It's unbelievable how I was excited when McGarrett and Wo fat were sharing the screen. Fantastic performances. In did writers did a wonderful job as well as Leonard Freeman. When I think in Hawaii...I think in Steve McGarrett.

I believe Jack Lord is the symbol of the 50th American state Also believe that this TV show brought a lot of tourism to the island... it was absolutely necessary to take pictures to the Iolani Palace, to the Ilikai hotel (the most famous pent house worldwide )and the Kahala Hilton. DVD'S was a wonderful idea. I go back in time...and it is very pleasant to watch well done TV broadcasts

Remember it is the late 1960. Here is a series that dares to respect the native people of a US state. While some regard Jack Lords acting style as wooden it is solid as a rock. He is the anchor of the series. The respect McGarrett shows for his team and the people of Hawaii comes through in almost every episode. As can be expected with any series that lasts this long, there are a few standard cop scripts, but kick back and look at the scenery in those. Catch the better ones- anything with Vashon, Wo Fat, etc., etc. If you are willing to realize this was a long time ago and there are some things that are VERY different these days (for the worse in most cases) open up and fall in love with one of the best series ever. Just look at the opening credits (the first music Video?) and go back to simpler times.......

(*Frequently spoken "McGarrett" quote*) - "Book him, Danno."

TV's "Hawaii Five-O" was (in its heyday) a popular cop show (set in Honolulu) that actually ran for 12 consecutive seasons (1968-1980).

If you want to see this show as it was at its absolute peak when the scripts were tight and the story-lines interesting, then, be sure to watch it within its first 5 seasons.

'Cause, believe me, following "Hawaii Five-O's" 5th season this program's ability to hold one's full attention began to wane significantly.

When approached to direct a proposed movie version of this series, an enterprise that has been repeatedly undertaken and then shelved over the past twenty years, Quentin Tarantino took a look at the show for the first time and discovered that it "sucked." The tardiness of his discovery made me laugh. The show, despite its popularity, did "suck," and can now clearly be seen as having done so, but in ways that were uniquely bizarre.

First, it was incredibly boring. Coming two years after the spy shows, where characters trotted the globe and saved or overthrew governments, here was an "action" show where nothing ever happened.

Of course no show is bad a hundred percent of the time, and this one had a few episodes that stood out from the rest. One of the best was in effect a one-set, two-character play confined to a hotel room where the lead cop, McGarrett, was holed up with a woman he was protecting against an ex-boyfriend she had sent to prison, who had escaped with the announced intention of paying her back. The story traced the shifting balance between the two characters and built to a neat twist ending where everything turned out the opposite of what it had appeared.

Another good episode with a twist in its tail was a portrait of an emotionally blocked Marine who was suspected and convicted of rape, but who turned out in the end to be physically incapable of it due to an accident some years before. He had arranged to incriminate himself so "the other guys wouldn't find out I'm not a man."

These episodes were the exceptions. For the most part, the "action" of the show was inaction: dull square stodgy men standing around talking: middle-class white men in suits; lower-class Hawaiians in Hawaiian shirts; and the occasional Southern redneck (on this show, all the rednecks were grinning, degenerate loonies). The outlook of the show was so unhip as to make it appear that the writers had been locked in a vault for most of the century. Their hippies and leftists, spouting impossible slogans, were on about the same order of reality as characters in Dick Tracy comics. One radical group, for instance, ran a theater company; in another episode "Danno," McGarrett's lieutenant, was cornered by a ring of beefy, flower-shirted "acidheads." The show's dialogue wrought weird changes on the slang of the era: "What's your bit?" (i.e. "bag"); "Are you ready to let it happen?" (cf. "What's happening?"); "You flip me, man"; or (describing a soup) "Guaranteed to blow your stomach." Plus the occasional faux-redneck argot: "I'll shoot him between his funky Russky eyes." Nobody ever talked like that; I doubt that the writers ever heard anybody talk. Not to mention McGarrett's penchant for sententious (and, for a cop, unlikely) quotation: "You know, Danno, someone once wrote that every man's death diminishes me, because I am a part of all mankind." When the show wasn't doing cop stories, it was doing equally boring spy stories which, despite the boringness, were so implausible as to make The Man from U.N.C.L.E. look like a CIA dossier.

But the primary object of fascination on the show now, seen as a cultural artifact, is its leading man. Like William Shatner on Star Trek, Jack Lord started out as a competent, stolid B-Western type of hero but gradually, left to his own devices and his own ego, became ever hammier and more narcissistic. His line readings grew slower and more self-infatuated by the year; he would issue the most mundane orders, like "Run a check on that plate," as if he were delivering a soliloquy from Hamlet, and punctuate them with gestures that had obviously been thought out and rehearsed beforehand but came out limp and silly: pounding his fist on a desk, snapping his fingers several times in succession, as if to say "Let's get cracking." And as if to gratify his ego, his co-stars were made to hang on his orders like a retinue of dependent courtiers, all but bowing as they exited while promising to get right on it.

Unaccountably, Hawaiian shows always seem to have a gay subtext, and some of Lord's wardrobe choices on this show are difficult to interpret otherwise. In one scene he is introduced lounging in a hip-length lemon yellow bathrobe; in another he sports a white plantation suit, a flashily colored ascot, and a broad-brimmed plantation hat.

Some of the other eccentric touches in his characterization are not easily interpretable. During a visit to Los Angeles, where a research librarian whose aid he has enlisted develops an immediate, unaccountable infatuation for him, he parts from her with a kiss on the lips and a "So long, chicky baby." In another episode, he's planted in a prison cell to trick a convict into dropping information about some stolen loot (an announcer at a microphone feeds a fake news story of Lord's arrest into the convict's radio, just like on Mission: Impossible), and impersonates a "con" by affecting a sideways grin, dropping the "g" at the end of participles, and chewing on a toothpick. Later, when he and the con's gang are holed up together in a hotel room, he affects a pair of shades and an orange turtleneck and pounds the sideboard like a set of bongos. He acts like a crazy gay man with the delusion he's James Cagney, but none of his companions seems to notice.

Now I come to think of it, given Tarantino's penchant for ineffectual macho goofballs, he might have been able to do something with this material, after all.

The longest-running cop show on American TV until "Law & Order"'s thirteenth season, "Hawaii Five-O" still has a long life in reruns and probably will continue in that vein long into the future.

Admittedly it did go downhill towards the end (the last season's episodes, ironically, seem even more dated than those from the '68 run) and no one can really claim that the acting was on a par with your Bochcos or your Levinsons, but it worked - yes, the scenery was a plus, along with Reza S. Badiyi's title sequence (still one of the all-time greats), but ultimately the glue that held it together was the late Jack Lord. He clearly thought the show revolved around him, and he was right - stiff, yes, but the man WAS Steve McGarrett; you never doubted for a second that he was in charge.

The show also had more than a few decent stories to go with the Hawaiian setting; that's the main reason this show was popular enough to run for more than 10 years (and more than twice that length in reruns). That and Morton Stevens's theme music, of course - all these years and that still hasn't worn thin yet either. I doubt "Miami Vice" will hold up so well.

The Stephen J. Cannell-backed pilot shot in '97 (and which brought back Chin Ho, killed off in "A Death In The Family") was judged so bad by CBS that to this day it hasn't aired, and probably never will. Like I'm weeping...

Geographically and historically speaking, Hawaii Five 0 was very lucky. Aired from 1968 to 1980, anti colonialism, revolutions, student uprisings, racial issues, Asian communism and many other current events made compelling topics. Hawaii Five 0, with its stoic leader, McGarrett, tackled all these issues with fairness. Mc Garrett, despite his fierce devotion to law and order, was no old school ideologue. His political convictions were kept to himself; he loathed extremism on both sides of the political spectrum. Although a bit sexist, he had a multicultural team that must have been quite alien to audiences used to lily- white police shows. This show, although almost forty years old, is still highly watchable. The first six seasons are worth hunting down.

You can't beat Jack Lord as Mcgarrett on the original Hawaii 5 o. Everything about the cast and the show is the best. The new show is GARBAGE.

I might have given this show a 10 but for one reason--this longest-running American police show went on a bit too long and towards the end the quality really suffered (especially the last two which were horrid seasons). The reason I love it so much is that it not only was fun and exciting, but was one of the best-written dramas of its time. Again and again for over a decade, writers gave us exceptional scripts and the familiar faces were something many people wanted to see again and again. Sure, a few of the plots were a bit ridiculous if you thought them out (such as the number of times and ways the evil Communist spy "Wo Fat" battled with his arch-rival, McGarrett or the number of episodes involving organized crime--no place on this planet is THAT dangerous). But despite these occasionally silly plots, the shows were fun and you could suspend disbelief. Who can watch episodes like the one with the identical McGarrett who is doing evil (thanks to, you guessed it, Wo Fat), the Vashon series, "Daddy's little helper" and the murdering hillbilly family and not enjoy the show?!

Now apart from occasionally over the top plots, there is one other possible complaint some might have about the show and that is that McGarrett is such a major square! While in the earliest episodes he DID fight and punch a lot, later he was much more laid back and often wore a black suit (in tropical Hawaii??). Plus, on his days off, he tended to dress a lot like an effeminate version of Fred from "Scooby Doo" (with his silly hat and scarf). But it was because he was so square and didn't care that actually made him seem very, very hip to me! Plus my wife really thought he was quite the stud-muffin in the earlier episodes! So the bottom line is that consistent writing (until seasons 11 and 12), excellent characters and cerebral and well thought-out plots are why this series lasted so long. Also, there is GREAT NEWS--Seasons one and two were just released on DVD. Let's just hope that they release the entire series--though at 12 seasons, it's tough for most folks to afford this!

UPDATE: All 12 seasons are on DVD and are also on Netflix. Enjoy.

First off, the original Hawaii Five-O was an excellent t.v. police drama. Not perfect by any means but thoroughly entertaining and generally bereft of pretty boy and girl "actors" who flexed their muscles and kung-fu'd the bad guys. The focus was on solving crimes via solid investigation and footwork. The Five-O team was thoroughly professional in their demeanor and dress. McGarrett was especially stylish with his perfectly tailored custom made suits and solid color neckties (he wore some patterns towards the end of the series). Good home entertainment. That said I've always been puzzled by McGarret's shoulder holster. Having worn them professionally for many years I can not imagine how McGarret's stays up and in place given that there's no opposite side tie down. Silly observation perhaps but ...?

This show lasted for many seasons because of the talents of Jack Lord and great writing, but I think it helped that it was on CBS as well. CBS always seemed to stand behind it's shows longer, even after ratings begin to drop. Perhaps my memory is wrong, but didn't the show end because Jack Lord wanted it to instead of it being cancelled? There are many memorable episodes of course, but the one that always stands out in my mind was the episode with singer Nancy Wilson as the heroin addicted performer. I thought she did a great job! Hopefully the show will come out in a DVD set. I hope the show will always be in reruns somewhere at least!

Without a doubt, this is probably one of the best cop shows ever made! Jack Lord made the series all the more beleivable as the tough as nails Steve McGarrett. Adding Wo Fat as an adversary was even better!. I grew up in New England watching this series, and came to Hawaii a few years before it stopped production. It was a trip seeing all the sights that I saw on the show. Jack Lord had many of the local entertainers from Hawaii on the show. Many of the plots were good. This is one show that I will always remember.

I still want to go to Hawaii on a vacation. I finally saw the first season of this groundbreaking series. It's set in Honolulu, Hawaii and filmed entirely on location with guest stars and locals. The series has Hawaiian feel but the show is first rate. Jack Lord was perfect to play Steven McGarrett who runs Hawaii Five-O with his colleagues. I love the guest stars and the scripts are first rate. The series moves at a perfect pace. The drama moves well with innovative twists and revelations to keep the audience tuned in. This was the first crime drama series to be filmed outside Hollywood and New York City by 1968. Despite the beautiful scenery, paradise like Hawaii faces crimes. You can't be off guard even in paradise. I do hope to get there someday. Still the Hawaii in this version of the series is before construction and tourism boom.

Besides being a quite a good cop show as the other reviews point out, H50 deserves credit for something else.

For over a decade this series was almost the only place to see Asians and Pacific Islanders on television, and not just actors but the cultures depicted accurately and respectfully. The Green Hornet a year before had Bruce Lee as Kato, but insisted on keeping his mask on as much as possible. Finally towards the end of the series, MASH came on the air and showed Korean culture.

But H50 had Kam Fong on almost the entire series, and a variety of other roles for Asians, plus regularly had Asian guest stars. While Kung Fu had the bizarre spectacle of an obviously very white David Carradine laughably supposed to be Chinese, H50 avoided ethnic imposters except for one strange guest shot where Ricardo Montalban played a Japanese, with his eyes made up and speaking in an obvious not-Japanese accent.

And Hawaiians, forget it. Just a few wrestlers and athletes. Where else could you find a depiction of Hawaiian struggles and issues?