"Magnum, P.I." Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii: Part 2 (1980)

Director:

Roger Young

Writers:

Donald P. Bellisario (written by) and
Glen A. Larson (written by)

TV Series:

"Magnum, P.I." (1980)

Original Air Date:

11 December 1980 (Season 1, Episode 2)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Magnum proves that his dead Navy buddy is no cocaine smuggler, but rather an officer of honor and integrity.

Plot Keywords:

Estate | Hawaii | Ferrari | Private Investigator | Helicopter

Cast

Tom Selleck	...	Magnum
John Hillerman	...	Higgins
Roger E. Mosley	...	TC
Larry Manetti	...	Rick
Pamela Susan Shoop	...	Alice Cook
W.K. Stratton	...	Ensign Healy
Allen Williams	...	Lieutenant Dan Cook, USN
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Naval Medical Examiner
Robert Loggia	...	Philippe Trusseau / 'La Bulle'
Fritz Weaver	...	Captain J. Cooly, USN
Dorit Stevens	...	Inge
Lillian Müller	...	Greta (as Yuliis Ruval)
Jeff MacKay	...	Ski
Judge Reinhold	...	Seaman Wolfe
Murray Salem	...	Arab

Company:

Belisarius Productions

Trivia:

Second half of first episode of _"Magnum, P.I." (1980)_ makes reference to McGarrett of _"Hawaii Five-O" (1968)_ when speaking about the bad assignments for Dan: "Putting Dan on this stuff is like making McGarrett the meter maid on Waikiki."

Movie Connections:

References Casablanca (1942)

I Woke Up Aged 33 and Realized I'd Never Been 23

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

In part 2 of the series pilot we continue with Magnum and Lieutenant Dan's sister Alice trying the clear his name. They meet with "Snow White", and the 19-yr old coke kingpin takes a liking to Magnum. It serves her purpose so she gives them some good leads as to who is behind Dan's death, a man named "LaBulle". Turns out that during one of Dan's routine investigations for the Navy he found that an illegal gold deal was going down. Perhaps whoever was doing the deal killed Dan for finding out? Inquiring minds want to know.

Intersliced between the guys finding out more information are flashbacks to their missions in Vietnam. One of these flashbacks shows Magnum, Dan, Rick & TC getting out of a firefight but having to leave their commander behind. Foreshadowing perhaps?

Magnum heads back to the Navy base to snoop around and see if he can't find out more about the cases Dan was working on. He bullies his way into the base past a new recruit (great cameo by Judge Reinhold) and discovers that Dan was indeed looking into a WWII plane wreck that was carrying secret cargo but unfortunate enough to be flying into Hawaii Dec. 7th, 1941. Turns out that a US plane carrying government gold was found but that Captain Cooley reported that the find was only a Japanese Zero shot down in the Pearl Harbor attack – nothing of value. Dan went to Japan to find the truth and that Cooley was lying. Oh Magnum also finds Captain Cooley quite dead.

One of La Bulle's thugs tries to tie up loose ends by killing Magnum/Higgins but Rick ends up shooting the guy (is it not a problem to shoot a semi-automatic machine gun in the streets of Hawaii – where are the cops?) and Magnum saves Higgins's life. Worth a smirk or two.

We cut to a scene of Magnum swimming and then looking pensive. He has a "gut" that he knows this La Bulle. And he has a "gut" that La Bulle has not left the country yet. Lots of magnum's "guts" seem to play out and – he finds La Bull at the airport and the payoff is that it is their old commander who survived the firefight in Vietnam years ago. Magnum avenges Dan right there in the men's room at the airport.

I liked the overall episode better than most. It had it all - a mystery, the set-up of his military career and his subsequent ties to Rick & TC, cool surroundings, Higgins and the "lads", hot ladies, great Hawaiian shirts and too short shorts. It's Magnum, baby!

Episode Body Count: Women kissed = 1, Bad guys shot & killed by Magnum = 1

Running Body Count: Episodes = 2, Women kissed = 1, Bad guys shot & killed by Magnum = 1