Strangers in Our Own Land (3 Oct. 1968)

A state official is killed by a bomb after arriving from a visit to the Mainland. Five-O discovers the official had more enemies than it initially appears.

Director:

Herschel Daugherty

Writers:

Leonard Freeman (creator), John Kneubuhl (teleplay),

Stars:

Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Zulu

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Lord	...	Det. Steve McGarrett
James MacArthur	...	Danny
Zulu	...	Kono
Kam Fong	...	Chin Ho
Simon Oakland	...	Benny Kalua
Milton Selzer	...	Lester Willighby
Richard Denning	...	Governor
Hilo Hattie	...	Mrs. Kapali
Anne Barton	...	Mrs. Manu (as Ann Barton)
Jeanne Bates	...	Grace Willis
Paul Kent	...	David Milner
Milton Hibdon	...	Saunders
Daniel Kaleikini Jr.	...	Kamaki (as Danny Kaleikine)
Liana Petranek	...	Leilani Kalua (as Mary Liana Petranek)
Lord Kaulili	...	Nathan Manu

Storyline

A state official is killed by a bomb after arriving from a visit to the Mainland. Five-O discovers the official had more enemies than it initially appears.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 1968 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Leonard Freeman Production, CBS Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

51 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title comes from the novel 'Stranger in a Strange Land', a best-selling 1961 Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein.

User Reviews

Good concept for the episode, but dumb casting and a lot of plot problems sink it to mediocrity.

While "Strangers in Our Own Land" had an excellent story idea, it was severely handicapped at the onset due to an incredibly bad casting decision. While I loved Simon Oakland as an actor, he was horridly cast as the radical anti-industrialist and nativist. After all, Benny Kalua was supposed to be 100% pure Hawaiian and Oakland simply didn't look like a native. While this was not as dumb as having Ricardo Montalban play a Japanese man in the episode "Samurai" (also debuting in 1968), it was incredibly dumb as well as insensitive. In a way, although the episode purported to have some sympathy for his ideals, by having the role played by a Westerner, it confirmed that the show itself was anti-Hawaiian.

As I said above, the story idea WAS very good--especially since there has been a small but vocal movement within Hawaii for independence. And, considering how industrialized and commercialized the islands have become, it is very understandable. The island paradise that was Oahu is no more and having a man kill in retribution for this is compelling.

In this case, the man killed was Mr. Manu--a government official responsible for approving the many recent building projects on the island. The episode began with Manu receiving a briefcase that was not his. The briefcase soon exploded--killing both him and the cab driver. Oddly, the police never seemed to consider that perhaps the cab driver might have been the target of the assassination--though of course, logically, Manu was the most probable one.

Soon afterwords, McGarrett stops by to interview Mrs. Manu and offer his condolences. However, in a very, very dumb scene, Mr. Manu's "best friend" (Sion Oakland) says he'd like to give the assassin a medal--as people like Manu have perverted the island by over-industrialization. Why McGarrett didn't just slip the cuffs on him then, I don't know as it is very, very obvious that he is responsible for the killings--and this is only about 10 minutes into the episode!! Where is the mystery?! The next 41 minutes are just diversions that lead to the eventual conclusion to the episode and no more.

While the idea of a nativist crusade was brilliant, the rest of the episode, sadly, came up very short. While there were some excellent moments (such as the short but very interesting and well acted scene with veteran character actor, Milton Seltzer), too many plot problems and a silly final scene (a building is filled with MANY cases of dynamite but the resulting explosion is very small) all add up to an episode that should have been a lot better.