Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Strangers in Our Own Land (1968) User Reviews

Good issue episode

[wwgrayii · 7/10 · 3 February 2010]

Issue-oriented episode dealing with commercial real estate development. When this episode was filmed, Waikiki in particular was in the midst of a hotel boom. This was an big issue for some locals, since traditional Hawaiian culture didn't recognize private property rights. Since this is "Hawaii Five-O" and not "Meet the Press," the story kicks off with the state land commissioner being blown to bits. Ultimately, the trail leads Five-O to a disgruntled native Hawaiian (played by Simon Oakland), upset over losing his native lands to commercial interests.

Oakland, is of course no native Hawaiian, but he does a pretty good job conveying the conflict people like his character felt.

During the course of this episode, the Five-O team examines a home movie for clues, giving them their first opportunity to use the Five-O Magic Movie Projector. It can freeze frames (without burning the film) and even zoom in on individual images (with crystal clarity, of course).

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

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 September 2009]

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.

Early episode of Hawaii Five-0 struggles to be credible.

[FloridaFred · 6/10 · 1 August 2023]

Casting Blunder! Bad guy Simon Oakland is a New Yorker with Israeli heritage. How could the producers give him the part of a native Hawaiian?

The scene with "Lester Willoughby" is nothing but filler. And the grand finale is absurd... a dynamite shack with no warning signs, no guards, no nothing. When hit by the bulldozer, that much dynamite blowing up would have been visible for miles; but instead we get a small Fourth of July style fireworks bang bang.

It was early in the series; the producers made some blunders. Over the next 12 seasons, there would be other occasional mistakes, but thank goodness that shows like this were few and far between!

Car Bombing

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 13 June 2021]

"Strangers In Our Own Land" was first aired on television October 3, 1968.

Anyway - As the story goes - After a Hawaiian official is killed in a car bombing, McGarrett delves into a politically charged murder-mystery, following a twisting trail of phony leads and frame-ups to an explosive finale.

Tension Between Hawaiian Natives and Commercial Development

[billhanousek · 9/10 · 16 October 2023]

Hawaii is indeed a beautiful state and reflective of many cultures. Set apart from the natural beauty of the Island of Kauai is the urban area of Waikiki, a center of development and tourism.

The rapid development of Waikiki is the focus of the tension between those looking to make commercial profit and those who see development as a threat to native culture. This tension is at the heart of this second episode of the series. While it makes no judgment, it raises the question of the cost of what is often defined as "progress."

Having visited Hawaii many times, we enjoyed many visits to Hilo Hattie, the states most popular clothing and gift outlet. What a surprise then to see that the real Hilo Hattie had a featured role in this second episode!

Excellent subject matter

[vulcanrider-00892 · 10/10 · 21 August 2015]

One of the best of the early episodes. Yes, it had some goofs, but what TV show doesn't. At least it had real acting, writing, and directing, unlike today's 99% CGI movies, which I don't even watch.

The reason I gave it a 10 despite a few miscues is because of the subject matter. It hit pretty close to home. First of all, I was in Oahu about 2 1/2 years ago. They have turned the place into a giant recreational park. Everything there costs a fortune, and most native Hawaiians can't afford to live there. The truth is, I would not WANT to live there if I could afford to. That was my first trip to Hawaii, so I can only imagine what it was like before the developers took over.

I am living in a similar situation. First of all, I live in the state of AZ, some 30 miles southeast of Phoenix. When I was a kid it was all desert and farmland. Now it is all cookie cutter stucco houses, shopping malls, and freeways. So I can understand how the character played by Simon Oakland would have felt. I feel the same way. My homeland (I'm a native, lived here for 56 years) has been totally destroyed. There is nothing left of what it used to be.

On top of that, we have no southern border to speak of, and out state is being flooded with illegal immigrants from Mexico and South America. Half the people where I live don't speak English, and many are here illegally.

Hawaiians are a Stranger in their Own Land!

[Sylviastel · 10/10 · 27 August 2017]

I haven't been to Hawaii but yearn too. This series ran twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980. Hawaii has become a hog tourist destination and many including myself would love to live there if given the opportunity. I can relate to the natives in Hawaii who want to stay living there. Unfortunately most native Hawaiians can't afford to stay and move to the mainland. Las Vegas has become a popular destination for Hawaiians. I live in New Jersey which is also very expensive. Many can't afford to live in my state so they go elsewhere. This episode displayed the reality of Hawaii in 1968. Hawaii is still beautiful.

Good idea. Pathetic Execution.

[dawmtrothko · 1/10 · 31 January 2021]

One of the criticisms of "Strangers in Our Own Land" is that the actor Simon Oakland did not look like a native Hawaiian. As indubitable as this is, a far greater problem here is that the moment you see Simon Oakland you automatically know that he is going to be playing the villain because in episodic television Simon Oakland almost invariably played villains-and by 1968 he was already that typecast! Indeed, even before he tells McGarrett to pin a medal on the murderer of the victim (who was his best friend) you know that he is in fact the murderer!

Another criticism of this episode is that when the victim-who was the state land commissioner-was killed by a bomb, a taxicab driver was killed as well but Five-0 never considered that he might have been the target despite that the land commissioner was more likely. Reasonably, the cab driver was collateral damage, but what is disappointing is that never in the episode is it even mentioned that he was killed along with the land commissioner! And this is totally out-of-character, for a righteous peace officer like Steve McGarrett would certainly have regarded the life of a cab driver as equally important with the life of a public official!

The scene with Milton Selzer as the sad sack bookkeeper who confesses to murdering the land commissioner just to get attention plays so obviously it ends up being an unnecessary distraction. Milton Selzer is another actor who was typecast-in his case playing sad sacks-but this is beside the point! He claims to be a contract killer, but since when do contract killers go to the authorities and confess to a murder they have committed? Contract killers do their business and leave without drawing any attention to themselves! Besides, who ever heard of a contract killer named Lester Willighby?

What was also unconvincing was when McGarrett confers with the Governor (Richard Denning), who tells him that the land commissioner was a warm soul who waived his salary and worked for $1.00/year! Especially since when McGarrett interviews the victim's wife at her home and you see how well she and her late husband lived! Perhaps, the land commissioner had a previous career in which he made enough money for he and his wife to live on, but I just did not buy it that he would have been so magnanimous he would have worked for next to nothing!

Then there was the end where Simon Oakland attempts to kill the contractor with a bulldozer. Where does a Honolulu nightclub owner learn how to operate a bulldozer? Perhaps he served in the Seabees or the Corps of Engineers during World War II and/or worked for the CCC as a young man, but it just does not play convincingly! And his fate is thoroughly gratuitous: Five-0 arrives in the nick of time and as he is driving toward the contractor, McGarrett shoots him in the arm and he ends up crashing the bulldozer into a demolition shed and is blown to bits! A gunshot wound and then an explosion...after all that excess, I just wished that they had plain taken him alive!

While the idea was certainly good the execution of "Strangers in Our Own Land" was pathetic- especially because of the latter! After all, for centuries it has been the whites (who were originally colonists) who have benefitted from the development of Hawaii, while the native Hawaiians have found themselves on the outside looking in, and they were utilized by the whites as virtual slave labor in this development even after they became citizens of the United States. But they did not hardly scratch the surface in exploring this issue.

Incidentally, the scene of the murder of the land commissioner (the exploded taxicab) was used in a photograph 10 years later in the action flick Good Guys Wear Black (1978), when Chuck Norris is investigating the death of one of his fellow Vietnam vets.