Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Guns Don't Die (1982) User Reviews

Completely recycled H5O story

[rayoflite24 · 5/10 · 13 December 2015]

Guns Don't Die begins with two broke junkees needing a fix using a gun to rob a man in the park, but the victim fights back and is shot dead. One of the junkees throws the gun away near a tree leading it to be found by a teenager the next day who goes on to shoot another boy after a verbal altercation. Later, the police and Quincy (Jack Klugman) identify that the bullets were fired from the same gun which leads to a desperate search for the weapon before it falls into the hands of another person who will also use it to kill.

As another reviewer perfectly pointed out, this story is a complete rip off from the 1975 Hawaii Five-O episode Diary of a Gun and I was immediately reminded of the same thing. Unlike this Quincy episode, though, I thought the Hawaii Five-O story was much better and had way more credibility. First off, why is Quincy so involved in this case and the police investigation to the point of going along with Monahan (Garry Walberg) to question suspects and execute search warrants? He is the coroner, and once he determined the cause of death and pulled the bullet out his job would be done with the rest of the investigation being up to the police and ballistics. Since Hawaii Five-O centered around a police unit and crime lab, the story was more appropriate and relevant for that show, but for Quincy, he has no business being involved in most of this plot.

I won't ruin anything with details, but I also thought that the final scenes were total overkill and completely unnecessary. The message about gun control is made throughout the episode ad nausem, so to conclude in this manner was yet another reason for me to dislike it. How about just ending with a nice, light-hearted scene at Danny's after such heavy material?

This is the second Season 7 episode in a row with a completely recycled story which further convinces me that the writers were struggling for ideas at this point. I don't recommend this episode unless you are a dedicated fan of the series who wants to see it all, rather if you want to see a good version of this story check out Hawaii Five-O's Diary of a Gun episode.

A Little Late to Jump on the Rolling Bandwagon...

[elvimark01 · 5/10 · 9 October 2022]

The Streets of San Francisco with "The Twenty-Five Caliber Plague". Hawaii Five-O with "Diary of a Gun". The Rookies with "The Saturday Night Special". All of these episodes with a similar theme aired during the 1974-75 TV season. Seven seasons later, along comes this Quincy episode, that doesn't break new ground, but as I mentioned in my review of the Hawaii Five-O episode, what do you expect? It's Hollywood, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

The best thing about this Quincy episode is the quote from which the title is derived..."Guns don't die...but people do!". Otherwise, there's not much to distinguish it from any of those episodes I mentioned at the top of my review. My advice? Watch the Streets of San Francisco episode...they did it first and best! And no disrespect to Jack Klugman, but Karl Malden is a far better actor.

"Guns don't die... but people do." Moralistic Quincy.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 14 August 2008]

Quincy M.E.: Guns Don't Die starts as a drug addict named Benny robs a man in a park at gunpoint, the man resists & the gun goes off. The next morning & Los Angeles coroner Quincy (Jack Klugman) performs the mans autopsy & finds a cut & dry case of death by 22 calibre bullet. Having dumped the gun Benny is picked up by police but a member of a local street gang finds the discarded weapon & uses it to shoot & kill a 14 year old boy who also ends up on Quincy's autopsy table. Two needless death's in the space of a few hours by the same gun really hits Quincy hard, Quincy realises that the US has a huge gun problem & sets out on a personal crusade to locate & destroy the gun that killed two innocent people & he soon has the backing of the entire LAPD when the gun is used to kill a third person, this time a cop doing his job...

Episode 10 from season 7 this Quincy story was directed by Bob Bender & while Guns Don't Die is largely moralistic & social issue based the story is actually quite good & compelling for a change. Usually these moralistic Quincy episodes become a total bore with very heavy handed preaching that is often outdated anyway & no murder or mystery elements but int he case of Guns Don't Die the narrative is quite clever as the gun itself becomes the main guest star in the sense the episode follows the gun around, it follows it as it is used in various crimes & how one gun in the wrong hands can cause so much pain, suffering & needless death. The gun passes from thieving drug addicts to gang members to pawn shop owners to illegal arms suppliers to killers to a woman who supposed has it for protection before it is finally returned to it's lawful owner where it causes more tragedy when his young children get hold of it & one shoots the other by mistake in a rather sombre & downbeat ending. As I said I think the plot is quite clever as it follows this one gun around as it brings nothing but misery & death to those around it. A nicely effective anti-gun story really this & much, much better than the usual dull as dishwater moralistic Quincy episodes. I liked it & if only all the moralistic episodes were as interesting as Guns Don't Die, even though it is an episode with a social issue at it's core it doesn't forget about being a TV show or entertaining.

During Guns Don't Die Quincy states that one person dies from gun crime every fifty minutes (the same length of time as an episode of Quincy actually) & while I can't find out the exact corresponding number for 2008 I would suspect that has dramatically increased. Of course here in the UK guns are illegal, all guns are illegal so Guns Don't Die when seen over here feels like it is preaching to the converted. Maybe because we don't have significant gun crime over here I enjoyed Guns Don't Die more than if I lived in the US & the events portrayed might feel a bit too close to home. Likable character actor Tom Atkins appears as a firearms expert while Klugman is as good as ever.

Guns Don't Die is one of the best moralistic Quincy episodes, it hasn't dated that much & the themes & ideas are still relevant. The nice story following the gun around is also better than usual & quite original.

Imitation if NOT the most sincere form of flattery--it's just ripping off someone else's ideas!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 21 May 2013]

"Guns Don't Die" is an episode of "Quincy" from 1982 and it's clearly a copy of the "Hawaii Five-O" episode "Diary of a Gun" from 1975. Normally, I might say the two shows are similar but here it's so similar that I can't help but think this one is just a ripoff of the earlier show. On top of that, "Hawaii Five-O" managed to convey the story in a much less preachy and more convincing manner.

This show traces the path of a single 'Saturday Night Special' (a cheap gun intended for robberies and non-sporting uses) during a VERY short period of time. From the first incident where someone is shot, the gun goes on with different owners to kill others again and again. As I said, this idea is right from "Hawaii Five-O". It also is incredibly unrealistic, as this cheap .22 caliber gun is incredibly lethal and accurate--something you wouldn't expect from a gun like this. Plus, it seemed very unrealistic that it went from one crime to another to another so quickly--it must have been some sort of world record for lethality of a gun with each subsequent owner! The bottom line is that although I an not anti-gun, I gave the "Hawaii Five-O" episode an 8. It was well-written and made me think. This "Quincy" show, on the other hand, really was a pale imitation. It also featured levels of preachiness that were amazing--such as when Asten, Quincy and Sam sat around throwing out gun violence statistics--not like they were talking but that they were tossing facts at the audience. Later, Quincy did essentially the same thing as he had a coffee break with Monahan! In other words, the show was NOT entertaining but meant to educate. Why couldn't it have done BOTH?!

"Guns don't die...people do!"

Hollywood went insane earlier than I realized.

[skyking-14 · 3/10 · 14 December 2023]

I loved this show back in the day, but now I realize how long ago Hollywood lost their minds about guns. The entire episode is full of the faulty arguments for gun control that Liberals are pushing today. The idiocy of blaming inanimate objects for the choices made by the people who misuse them! Every time the gun changes hands in this episode, it does so ILLEGALLY, but NO, it's not the fault of the criminals, it's all on the gun!

"That gun's already killed three people." No, three people have killed with that gun. The gun has no brain, it makes no choices. Hollywood loves guns when they make violent movies but hate them for everyone else.