Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Full Fathom Five (1968) User Reviews

Good way to kick off the series.

[wwgrayii · 8/10 · 1 February 2010]

Executive Producer Leonard Freeman wanted the bad guys on Five-O to be as nasty as possible, as a way of providing contrast with the natural beauty of Hawaii. This episode (the first one aired, but not the first one filmed) is a particularly good example of that philosophy.

Kevin McCarthy and Louise Troy play a brother and sister who lure wealthy mainland widows to Hawaii, con them out of their inheritance, then kill them (and dump their bodies offshore inside 55 gallon drums!).

McCarthy has always been good at playing amoral slimeballs and he does his usual nice job here, as does Patricia Smith as the Honolulu cop enlisted by Five-O to reel him in. The regulars do their usual jobs, nothing special, although McGarrett sports a particularly obnoxious "aloha" shirt in one scene.

A very good start

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 28 September 2009]

A week after the premier of the HAWAII FIVE-O movie ("The Cocoon"), the first regular episode of the series began. This is that first episode. For a first, it's awfully good--with an interesting plot and characters who seem to already be hitting their stride.

The film begins with a man (Kevin McCarthy) killing a rich widow. It seems that McCarthy travels aboard cruise ships headed to the Islands and looks for wealthy single women he can romance and kill--with the help of his wife, though he introduces her to people as his sister.

The way all this comes to Five-O's attention is when a lawyer comes to them asking for help to find a rich heiress who has disappeared. The lawyer is obviously a jerk and he demands INSTANT results. Well, the team soon discovers that she is NOT one of the victims but has deliberately "dropped out" and wants nothing to do with the pesky lawyer (in an uncharacteristically funny scene for the series).

When Danno was looking into the disappearance, he discovered a pattern--ten or more women with the same demographics have all disappeared...and the ten all traveled with the same cruise ship. Steve's plan is to have a policewoman take the same ship and travel under an assumed identity--as a rich and lonely widow. Soon, McCarthy has spotted her and spends much of the cruise by her side--not knowing that Danno is also aboard.

Once in Hawaii, the team continues tailing her and McCarthy. Apparently, Chin Ho learned to tail someone from reading comic books or was just having a bad day, as he practically sat right on top of the two. At one point, McCarthy pulled away in his car and instantly, Chin Ho started his car and followed. How McCarthy didn't see him is a mystery--and one of the few sloppy scenes in the show.

So, does McCarthy swindle and kill the policewoman? Do they catch him and his "sister" before it's too late? Tune in and see.

Overall, a nice episode because the story seems so plausible. Additionally, the acting and script (aside from Chin Ho's stakeout) were all handled very well. A very capable and interesting outing for Five-O.

NOTE: Herman Wedemeyer played Lt. Balta in this episode. Just a bit later, he became a series regular as Sgt. Duke Lukela (hmmm...a demotion, huh?). While I love the show, continuity was OFTEN a problem with the show. Perhaps they just didn't have that many available actors on the Islands.

Great episode

[rms125a · 9/10 · 15 July 2022]

Great, well-acted episode but I am unclear. Were Victor and Nora really brother and sister killers? Or were they more than that or something else? Either way, a very creepy vibe by the end of the episode.

Arguably my favorite episode...

[shopins2002 · 10/10 · 18 January 2022]

And I mean this. Not saying all of the acting is top notch as the first woman killed on the episode needs work on how to die from poisoning but I digress.

Any good episode needs a great villan and Kevin McCarthy does an absolute superb job playing a conniving murdering womanizer. I loved his work. So sleazy plus 'book em' Dano and Lord have a sense of urgency to stop this man.

Just really good. Highly recommend.

Full Fathom Five

[bmr-60900 · 19 April 2022]

Great start to a great new series.

I enjoyed this episode a lot from the characters down to the plot line.

Kevin McCarthy is fabulous as the sleazy criminal bilking defenseless women out of their life savings while also being murdered in the process.

However, there are a few things that puzzled me. What are the odds there would be an eligible woman on every cruise especially one that would consent to be wooed so easily. Secondly, why give up so quickly on their plan just because the poisoned champagne glass gets broken. Just get the boat fixed and go out the next day. They really weren't in any hurry. Also why be so brazen as to tell their intended victim what they are going to do especially in broad daylight while docked in the marina. Didn't make sense to me.

Still a successful episode to one of my favorite shows.

Pretty ladies carry this first regularly produced ep

[bobforapples-40146 · 10/10 · 23 July 2023]

Louise Troy as the killer's wife and Patricia Smith as a cop are both very good looking to watch. I like both ladies' work in this.

As for the plot itself it is almost episodic with another lady's being the missing lady the Five-O gang searched for in the first act.

This ep differed from the movie pilot in James MacArthur and Richard Denning ably replacing Tim O'Kelly and Lew Ayers as both respectively Danno and the Governor. Both replacements were very superior. There would be a total of two murders in this ep Some eps would have a good deal more.

I say this makes a superb first regular ep. And Jack Lord already knew Steve McGarrett by the time he made and completed the pilot! Again, the two fine lady guests make the ep.

Not Bad For the First Episode

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 22 March 2012]

The first episode of "Hawaii 5-0" is entertaining but routine. A murderous brother and sister, Victor and Nora Reese, prey of widows, swindle them out of their money, and then kill them with cold premeditation. Detective Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord of "Man of the West") leads a team of multi-cultural investigators of the Hawaii 5-0 task force to launch a search for a missing woman. There is a surprise or two, but the villains provide the only flavor here while the heroic cops are dull but buttoned down in their suits and ties. Lord delivers his usual commanding performance, with Richard Denning putting in an appearance as the Governor. This episode is believable enough, but doesn't generate sufficient suspense and a little action occurs until the bullet blazing finale on the dock as McGarrett and company close the net on the evil dastards. Kevin McCarthy is perfectly cast as a smooth operator with all the right moves.

"Full Fathom Five" opens with Victor (Kevin McCarthy of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers")and Nora (Louise Troy) celebrating at sea with their victim. She lives long enough to guzzle a glass of poisoned champagne before she keels over. Ironically, she claims that it is the best day of her life. After she dies, Victor prises a ring off her finger and tosses it into the ocean. Nora reprimands him. They could have recut the gem, but Victor refuses to ruin their well-laid plans. Callously, Victor stuffs the body of the woman into a barrel and dumps it into the drink. The next thing we know an attorney shows up looking for a woman. She is wealthy beyond imagination and has gone into hiding with a group of beach hippies when 5-0 find her. In the process of locating her, our heroes discover ten other cases about women who mysteriously vanished without a trace. McGarrett sends in an undercover police investigator, Joyce Webber (Patricia Smith of "The Bachelor Party"), to catch them. Joyce is on a cruise ship when Victor plunders her state room so he can meet her. What sly Victor doesn't realize is that McGarrett has assigned his right hand man, Danny (James MacArthur of "High'em High"), to shadow Joyce. While Victor is getting familiar with Joyce over a game of chess, Danny rifles Victor's room, finds a revolver, and a bottle with poison capsules. Danny objects to putting Joyce in harm's way, but McGarrett lets her masquerade as a widow. Victor convinces Joyce to marry him and furnish him with a bundle of cash so he can purchase real estate, but Joyce isn't taken in by either Victor or Nora. Victor plans to celebrate with Joyce and Nora aboard his boat Aloha Baby. Joyce drops her champagne glass with poison in it and Victor tries to kill her. Fortunately for Joyce, McGarrett moves in and Victor flees, only to die in a hail of gunfire.

Most of "Full Fathom Five" occurs in offices and boats. Director Richard Benedict keeps things moving along, but he conjures up only a modicum of suspense. The revelations are few and far between. The producers don't flaunt the island's scenic beauty, and you get the feeling that the entire show was lensed on premises far from Hawaii, despite the series use of actual Hawaiian vacation. Our heroes encounter few problems, and they get their man. Danny and McGarret has charisma and often disagree.

Fun to look back at how it all started

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 4 September 2023]

Attorney Tyler Skaggs pays McGarrett (Jack Lord) a visit, looking for his rich client who has disappeared. There isn't much to go on and McGarrett says she has either disappeared intentionally or she's dead. Going over the missing person files, the detectives find that there are ten other women who meet the profile of the missing woman and who have disappeared - between 30-50, well off but not too well off, single or widowed, with no close relatives who would miss them too soon.

It turns out that the missing woman Skaggs is looking for disappeared on purpose - she's alive and well and living with some hippies that remind you very much that you are in the late 1960s, but the investigation has gotten McGarrett aware of the other ten missing women, and he does not think they'll be found living with hippies on the beach.

It's a great start to the series that, although there is palpable comradery among the detectives, eschews the personal details of the lives of the characters and stays focused on the crime of the week.

The First Episode

[ashleyallinson · 7/10 · 15 March 2007]

Growing up watching Hawaii Five-O as a kid, I now realize that I had never seen the first episode. Here, our plot is about as air-tight as the drum used as a watery coffin. Although not the tightest of episodes, it's obviously a must-see.

Kevin McCarthy's (UHF) angle here is savvy. He flies to the mainland, only the mack recently divorced ladies traveling by cruise-ship to Hawaii. Once Five-O catches word of this, Dan-O is dressed up in sailor garb and goes undercover in an attempt to nip the operation before any more women fall victim to the scam.

CBS has released the entire first season and have done a great job restoring colour.

Can't wait to see the rest.

He Was Always the Lucky One!

[Sylviastel · 10/10 · 23 August 2017]

It was a pity that female characters were limited in this series. There were no female cast members in the opening credits. Patricia Smith was awesome as Joyce Weber, a female undercover detective. It is the first episode with James MacArthur as Dan in the role. Kevin McCarthy plays a slimy gigolo who kills wealthy divorced and widowed women. Smith pretends to be a wealthy widow. I wished that Smith was utilized more in the series. The cast included Richard Denning as the Governor. Peggy Ryan also appeared as Mildred.

Seducer

[StrictlyConfidential · 7/10 · 13 June 2021]

"Full Fathom Five" was first aired on television September 26, 1968.

Anyway - As the story goes -When rich widows begin disappearing, McGarrett and his Five-O team set a trap to catch a lethal Lothario and his accomplice.

Love this excellent first season first episode of H50

[daydriver2010 · 10/10 · 17 January 2014]

I just saw this one again today on "Me-TV" So I went here to find it because it had a guest star I liked all through my life. I am 60 now and have seen absolutely everything that KEVIN MCCARTHY worked in on the big screen as well as on television. He has made a fine living as an actor in many different shows and movies over a really long period and everyone who sees something he was in always says "Who is that? I've seen him someplace before." Anyway, I've loved H50 since this was originally aired when I was about 15 years old. The new one on CBS is decent but the writing is not nearly as good. However, one thing they do now that they did not do on the original series that I do like is that they feature all the new Chevrolet cars and trucks. I have loved cars as long as H50 and the old Fords and Mercury's in the original show couldn't hold a candle to the Chevrolet's of the 1960's and '70s.