OT. Horatio Caine VS Steve McGarrett
curmudgeon
"Jeff" <je...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:r4CdnaznrrJ...@fcc.net...
The more I get into CSI miami the more I see Caruso's performance as
Horation Caine so much like Jack Lord's Steve McGarrett on Hawaii 5 0.
I really here certain mono syballic nuances that sound ala McGarrett.
I wonder if David Caruso was a Jack Lord/McGarrett fan.
Funny too though there was an episode on Hawaii Five-o called "Tsunami"
when
the bad guys had manged a false alert of a Tsunami to be put out so they
could do a major robbery.
Anyway, just my two cents.
jeff
McGarrett
Lord is what made this program the success is was and continues to be.
I don't know if any of you out there know but there will be a Hawaii
Five-O movie coming out in the future! It's has been in the works for
several years, but it's coming together.
Breaking News
WARNER BROTHERS TAKES OVER THE FIVE-O MOVIE!
See article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin
http://starbulletin.com/2004/09/09/news/story3.html
On one of the Hawaii Five-O sites there was even a poll you could take
where you voted for who would be the best Steve Mcgarrett. Tommy Lee
Jones was highly voted, Alec Baldwin, George Cloony, and Harrison Ford.
I wasn't real happy with the ones voted on except maybe George
Clooney, as he might be able to pull it off, but then one night I
turned on CSI Miami and saw David Caruso! Boom!! It hit me! He was
like McGarrett!!. He had it nailed down pat. He doesn't have the
handsome features that Jack Lord had but he more then makes up for it
by his performance.
I don't think he has a chance of making the cut for the movie which is
a real shame, because he really could do the part, but when I saw your
post, I had to reply because it has been on my mind ever since I have
been watching CSI Miami!
McGarrett
McGarrett
McGarrett
Was it enough to be in the land of Hawaii Five-O, in Honolulu, where
Steve McGarrett had prowled the streets in his big black Mercury? Was
it enough to be the Fan Guest of Honor at the Hawaii Five-O reunion
convention, enough to walk into a place and have James MacArthur say,
"Hi, Karen," enough to jaunt with fellow fans from one end of Oahu to
the other snapping photos of Five-O locations? No, it wasn't enough. I
had to ride in THAT car.
One of them, anyway.
McGarrett had driven three, all Mercury autos: First, a two-door 1967
Marquis in the original pilot movie filmed in 1967 and aired in
September, 1968, one week before the series premiered. The whereabouts
of that car, if it still exists, are unknown. Then, a 1968 Park Lane
Brougham in the first six seasons, 1968-1974. Then a 1974 Marquis in
the last six seasons, 1975-1980.
When the chance came, I was waiting outside our hotel on Kuhio Street
in Waikiki with Rita Ractliffe, the "Mama Nui" of the Hawaii Five-O
reunion convention which had begun at the end of October in Burbank,
California, and then leaped 3000 miles of blue Pacific to Honolulu. The
convention was the result of 18 months of planning by Rita, with help
on the Hawaii side from Douglas Mossman, who had many roles in the
series, including two semi-continuing characters; and from Margaret
Doversola, who had been Jack Lord's secretary and from that built a
career of her own in casting. And what fan convention has had a
convention committee like James MacArthur, Kam Fong, Zulu, Moe Keale,
and Herman Wedemeyer, all regular cast members of Five-O?
The car caught my eye, that big black beauty, as it paused at the
intersection just across from the hotel. I felt goose bumps -- in
Hawaii it's called chicken skin -- and I could imagine Steve McGarrett
driving up to ask us to join the Five-O team on some dangerous, vital
adventure. Then the car slowly, powerfully pulled onto Kuhio and came
to a stop in front of us. Tourists on the sidewalk were oblivious to
the huge auto rumbling throatily as it idled at the curb, unaware of
the history that sat mere feet from where they walked. This was the
1974 Marquis, old but still possessed of a mighty heart.
John Boley Nordlum, the car's owner, had invited Rita and me for a ride
and brunch, and had said we could bring a guest with us. I knew just
the man. Michael Timothy, attending the convention from Chicago, now
owns McGarrett's 1968 Park Lane. He had restored the '68 from a hulk,
and was interested in buying the '74 from John. When I called him at
his hotel -- catching him literally seconds before he left for the
beach -- and asked if he'd like a ride in the 1974 Marquis, his
response was a McGarrett-like "I'm on my way."
John Nordlum had been Jack Lord's stunt double and a stunt man in the
series, and had appeared in a speaking role in "The Two-Faced Corpse,"
dying in the first few minutes, a murder victim. At the end of Five-O's
run in 1980, Jack Lord had given John the car. He's driven it ever
since. It has over 250,000 miles on it, but has worn it well. The
"bullet holes" popped into the skin during one episode have been filled
in. The engine is original and still makes that incredibly intimidating
and yet deeply exciting rumble.
Rita got the place of honor in the front passenger seat. I slipped in
and slid across the black back seat to sit behind John. Seated behind
Rita, Michael gave the interior a slow, critical once-over. He was
looking at the structure; I was soaking up the atmosphere, picking up
on the vibes in the cavernous interior of that huge car. In rapid-fire
memory, I relived scenes in that car: McGarrett speeding down a street
with siren blaring, tires squealing; McGarrett driving slowly through a
residential area, questioning an informer cowering in the back seat so
he won't be seen; the car being used, in a frame-up, as a weapon
against its master. It's the kind of car that makes people of my
generation say, "They just don't make 'em like that anymore." And maybe
they don't make heroes like McGarrett anymore, either; more's the pity.
The "mana" of the tall, intense man who had driven the car for six
years in Five-O was still strong. His presence was apparent in other
ways, too. The microphone on which he had many times asked Honolulu
Police dispatch to "patch me through" was clipped to the dashboard. No
radio; just the microphone (dispatch's dialogue was overdubbed in
editing). Another reminder was a sign affixed to the dashboard just
above the glove compartment: ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING IN THIS CAR. THANK
YOU.
I asked John if he had put that there. No, he told me; that was
original equipment -- Jack Lord had put it there. Weeks later, when I
was back home, I watched "Man in a Steel Frame," and in one shot of the
interior of the car, the sign was indeed there. I felt connected again
to that car, and to the tangible evidence of the truth of Jack Lord's
reputation as a militant non-smoker, a trait shared by his alter ego in
later episodes when he tells a man visiting his office to refrain from
polluting his private airspace.
John drove us out to the backside of Diamond Head, to a local eatery
called the K.C. Diner. The food was good and reasonably priced,
confirming the habit my husband and I have when traveling of seeking
out the local eateries and shops rather than falling into tourist traps
(I can use that phrase; I'm from Florida).
After brunch, Michael began his thorough inspection of the car in the
parking lot. That was interrupted by the approaching noon hour bringing
lunchtime crowds. We piled in -- with Michael driving -- and headed to
Hawaii Studios, just off Diamond Head Road, the last home of Hawaii
Five-O. Michael couldn't resist one joke -- he parked the car across
the parking lines rather than between them, just like McGarrett and Dan
Williams (James MacArthur) did from time to time in the series. Here
Michael completed his inspection and made an offer on the car. The car
does, unfortunately, have some major structural rust. If it is to be
saved, Michael is the one who can do it. He's a member of the
International Mercury Owner's Association, and truly loves the cars. As
a piece of history, this one must be saved.
(Michael inspects the door's condition, though he looks like McGarrett
checking for a possible bomb!)
Rita drove on the way back to Waikiki, starting off with a
McGarrettlike roar which unnerved the rest of us. John quipped, "Hey,
Mike. Maybe you'd better pay me now!" We did, however, arrive in one
piece. Rita and I felt sad as the car pulled away, but we imagined that
it was McGarrett at the wheel, once again on a mission. We had
completed ours.
I had one more chance to ride in that car, the next evening. It was the
last evening of the convention, the farewell luau hosted by the cast
members and attended by some 350 people. After the luau, John and his
fiancee, Laurie, invited Rita and me to join them in the bar of the old
Tahitian Lanai for drinks. After an incredible evening listening to a
group of regular patrons sing the night away, John gave us a ride back
to our hotel. It was raining, and again my mind went back, to the many
nighttime scenes filmed with that car. John apologized that I hadn't
had a chance to drive the wonderful machine, but my philosophy was that
if it wasn't meant to be then, it wasn't meant to be.
Maybe my chance is yet to come. Be there! Aloha.
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