Murder: Eyes Only (12 Sep. 1975)

The U.S. Navy's top "spy catcher" is killed by a powerful letter bomb while in Honolulu. Five-O's Steve McGarrett, while serving a two-week hitch in the Navy Reserves, is called upon to ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael O'Herlihy

Writers:

Leonard Freeman (creator), Orville H. Hampton (teleplay),

Stars:

Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Kam Fong

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Lord	...	Det. Steve McGarrett
James MacArthur	...	Dan Williams
Kam Fong	...	Chin Ho
Harry Guardino	...	Commander Wallace
David Birney	...	Lt. Waldron
Biff McGuire	...	Sam Bissell
Lloyd Bochner	...	Capt. Roger Newhouse
Khigh Dhiegh	...	Wo Fat
Lyle Bettger	...	Admiral Dean
Ray Reinhardt	...	Dr. Bickman
Lee Stetson	...	Capt. Fesler
Jackie Ben	...	Teura
Robert Nelson	...	Mr. Chong
Morgan Shaan	...	Dr. Pendler (as Morgan Sha'an)
Gary Kau	...	Bank Teller

Storyline

The U.S. Navy's top "spy catcher" is killed by a powerful letter bomb while in Honolulu. Five-O's Steve McGarrett, while serving a two-week hitch in the Navy Reserves, is called upon to investigate the slaying. The death is tied to a security leak within Naval Intelligence and it turns out that Wo Fat is its mastermind.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 1975 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The U.S.N. Destroyer Escort is The U.S.S. Knox (DE1052). McGarret was actually aboard the vessel filming at open sea. Shortly after the filming, The Knox was reclassified as a Frigate and reassigned from its base at Pearl Harbor, To Japan. Ref:navsource.org

---

Goofs

When McGarrett is at a restaurant with Ensign Bissell, she hands him her father's service record that she took from LT Waldron's desk. McGarrett opens the pages to look, and it is obviously a typed-over Army Service Record. The font style of her father's name (Bissell, Samuel) doesn't match the rest of the document, the Grade is PFC, the organization is an infantry regiment (her father retired from the Navy).

User Reviews

Crackling Espionage Case Opens Season Eight with a Reunion of Sorts

By the eighth season, many television series start to show some wear, but "Hawaii Five-O" managed to go longer than that -- at least nine seasons by most accounts -- before it began to go downhill. And "Murder -- Eyes Only," the two-hour premiere of the eighth season -- presents a slam-bang espionage adventure once again featuring (who else?) Khigh Dhiegh as master spy Wo Fat.

The episode opens with McGarrett boarding ship for a two-week deployment as a reserve Navy commander, but as one might expect, there's only a short interlude until he's assigned back to the islands for a joint civilian-Naval investigation of a mysterious bombing that's killed one intelligence officer and wounded another. Following the trail has McGarrett -- always decked out in his naval uniform -- even going so far as to visit both San Diego and Costa Mesa, California. There are suspects and motives aplenty, and the extra time allows McGarrett, still aided by Danny Williams and Chin Ho, and even Che Fong (Harry Endo), to run each piece of the puzzle to ground. (Curiously, though Danny gets plenty to do, Chin is mostly confined to slapping the cuffs on a bad guy here or there; even Che gets more screen time than the ostensible bigger star, Chin!)

"Murder -- Eyes Only" also was something of a reunion episode, featuring four recognizable character actors, each of whom had already appeared on "Five-O" at least once -- Lyle Bettger as Adm. Dean, David Birney as Woodrow Waldon, a lieutenant in the Fleet Intelligence Service, Harry Guardino as McGarrett's intelligence liaison officer, Commander Wallace, and Lloyd Bochner as Capt. Roger Newhouse, who unfortunately has only a few scenes in his office in San Diego (though one with McGarrett). The last three had also all been the primary villains in their respective earlier episodes -- Guardino as a homicidal Army Sergeant in the Season 2 premiere, "A Thousand Pardons -- You're Dead!," Bochner as another killer in Season 3's "Beautiful Screamer," and Birney as a heroin smuggler in season 4's "Follow the White Brick Road." This time each of them got to play one of the good guys -- Guardino camouflaged behind a pair of glasses and a mustache.

Arguably, some of the extra time results in some padding -- there's a long, leisurely boat ride to the Arizona memorial where a "drop" of some microfilm is made, and despite the extra time, Wo Fat's isn't given much to do except sit on his hydrofoil boat and talk on the telephone from time to time. Indeed, his chief assistant, Mr. Chong (Robert Nelson), who was once described in an earlier episode as Wo Fat's "chief assassin," probably is given more to do. But since Wo Fat appeared on average less than once per season, any time spent with him and Khigh Deigh's droll characterization is worth the wait.

Of course, another way to look at the added length is that it allows time for the story to develop and for the viewer to get to know all of the suspects. They include Lee Stetson, in a fairly large role as Marine Capt. Fesler; he'd played a creepy gun dealer named Alfie in "Diary of a Gun," one of the final episodes of the previous season, but isn't recognizable here as the same actor -- like Guardino, he's hidden behind a thick mustache. Also doing a competent job as suspects are Donna Mills (her only appearance on the series) as Navy Ensign Marcia Bissell and newcomer to "Five-O" Biff McGuire as her father, playing a wonderfully abrasive character in almost every scene he's in. In sum, "Murder -- Eyes Only" not only demonstrated that there was still life left in the "Five-O" formula, but also provided an opportunity to spend some extra time with an ensemble cast that frequently conjured many memorable performances from the prior seven seasons.