"Hawaii Five-O" Here Today, Gone Tonight (1973)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Michael O'Herlihy

Writers:

Jerome Coopersmith (writer)
Leonard Freeman (creator)

TV Series:

"Hawaii Five-O" (1968)

Original Air Date:

23 January 1973 (Season 5, Episode 17)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

The No. 2 executive to a reclusive businessman approaches McGarrett. He tells the lawman that he has evidence of illegal activity by his employer...

Plot Keywords:

Hawaii | Police | Investigation | Book Em Danno | Archenemy

Cast

Jack Lord	...	Det. Steve McGarrett
James MacArthur	...	Det. Danny Williams
Al Harrington	...	Det. Ben Kokua
Monte Markham	...	Barry Dean
Sandra Smith	...	Bella Morgan
Madlyn Rhue	...	June Fleming
Richard Denning	...	The Governor
Kam Fong	...	Det. Chin Ho Kelly
Douglas Kennedy	...	Fleming
George Oshiro	...	Nathaniel
Harry Endo	...	Che Fong
Al Eben	...	Doc Bergman
Clarence Garcia	...	First guard
Douglas Mossman	...	Second guard
Lawrence Montaigne	...	Whitelaw

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Cleverly Done Episode Based on a Man being in Two Places at Once

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Here Today . . . Gone Tonight" is an enjoyable episode of "Hawaii Five- O" — in many ways, the equivalent of a locked-room mystery, wherein paranoid industrialist Peter Fleming (Douglas Kennedy) has what appears to be the only office atop a tall building in Honolulu, shielded by an elaborate security system (guards, cameras, metal detectors, etc.). All of this would apparently make it impossible for anyone to kill him — or at least, to do so without someone leaving an indelible trail of who got in and out to do it.

The villain — if that's the right word — is played by Monte Markham, making the third of his four appearances on "Five-O" (and the last until the show's final season). Markham plays Barry Dean, Fleming's top deputy, who apparently pulls off the caper while simultaneously being with an impeccable alibi witness — Danny Williams, whom Dean (apparently as paranoid as his boss) has invited to his beach house on Maui to turn over incriminating evidence against Fleming. If Dean was in the beach house on Maui with Danny, how could he be killing Fleming back in Honolulu when there wasn't enough time for him to get there and back?

Writer Jerome Coopersmith has created this elaborate paradox, setting up an intriguing mystery for both McGarrett and the viewer to try to solve. Of course, given that this is "Hawaii Five-O," it's foregone that McGarrett will solve it; this mystery might be dubbed a "howdunnit" instead of a "whodunnit," and the only question is how McGarrett will figure things out, and how long it will take. Markham, who can simultaneously project both apparent innocence and menace, was an excellent choice for the role of Dean. And because this is one of those episodes — like one of those oh-so-clever bank heists — where the audience spends a lot of time with the villain, one almost comes to be rooting for the bad guy and against McGarrett, given the cleverness of the scheme.

The script also features a number of other interesting touches, including what starts out the beginning of the episode as a rather confusing montage, of two men — both of them apparently Barry Dean — who provide contradictory traits (one a sports fan, the other not; one a conservative dresser, the other not; one a drinker, the other not; etc.) Is this a double, or is it Dean playing two roles? Little touches like this are what make the episode fun to watch, even if there are aspects of the resolution to the mystery that seem a bit far-fetched once it's been solved.

The episode also features two surprisingly strong (if brief) roles for two familiar actresses: Madlyn Rhue plays Fleming's much younger wife June, who apparently can barely tolerate Barry Dean, while Sandra Smith makes her second and final appearance on "Five-O" as an insurance investigator whose company has five million reasons to get out of paying off June Fleming's life insurance policy. Smith's character then takes on what amounts to an undercover role -- one performed in other episodes by a random policewoman (e.g., Patricia Smith in the premiere episode "Full Fathom Five," or Anne Helm in the Season Two outing, "Just Lucky, I Guess"). It was a curious choice to create a new character like this for just one episode; had Smith done this on a semi-regular basis it might have made for interesting continuity, but this is her solo appearance in the role.