Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Elegy in a Rain Forest (1977) User Reviews

One of the better shows from season 9

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 24 April 2012]

"Elegy in a Rain Forest" is one of the bloodier and more exciting shows from the 9th season of "Hawaii Five-O". In general, by the 9th season, the show had gotten a bit stale--and plots were often reworked or remade. In this case, there is some similarity to earlier shows, but not all that much--and the episode is packed with some exciting moments as well as has a GREAT guest villain.

William Watson stars as a nut-case named 'Lucien'. Lucien is one of the scariest criminals in the show's history, as he's a guy who loves killing people and raping women. When he escapes from custody, he leaves a long trail of corpses. What is most disturbing is how much he enjoys it---and Watson did a great job in playing this psycho. Unfortunately, the daughter of John Manicote (the DA) gets injured and lost in the wilderness--and comes right into the path of Lucien. He takes her and a mute man prisoner but you know sooner or later, he's going to want to rape and kill her.

Aside from the mute guy story line (which just seemed odd), there is nothing to dislike about this taut episode. Exciting, well written and well acted--this is one to see.

William Watson the perfect psycho

[glbenson-24252 · 8/10 · 5 November 2021]

William Watson gives great performance as the perfect psycho; the high altitude locations at the end are stunning....one slip and any cast member would be gone!

What is curious is at the beginning, the scenes with McGarrett seem to be photographed with a soft focus filter---either that or condensation got on the lens. Not sure why they did this. McGarrett's Hawaiian tan outfit and hat is kind of kitschy.

The part of the DA 'taking the law into his own hands' with his own gun at the end was kind of predictable and has been overdone. Still a good episode.

Man versus nature versus man -- who will win?

[midnight_raider2001 · 10/10 · 1 May 2010]

The classic of the post-Leonard Freeman episodes, this is a highly suspenseful tale of a totally psychotic serial rapist-killer who escapes from a prison van and disappears into the spine of mountains running the length of Oahu. (It is difficult to figure out the topography of most of this show, but it looks like many locations were later reused for "Lost.") Simultaneously, Attorney General John Manicote's daughter Karen goes on a nature hike in the same rain forest, sprains her ankle in a fall, and is rescued by a mute "nature boy" (Edward Gallardo) who gets all his shelter and sustenance from the forest and knows it like the back of his hand. The psycho catches up to them (after committing three additional murders) and directs them to lead him over the mountains to an ocean-view lookout where he expects to find an accomplice with a boat. (The accomplice is captured after several chases and a wild fight, so it's not clear how the killer was going to escape with that route cut off). Virtually all of this show was filmed outdoors (not counting scenes inside the prison van or one scene in the home of a couple of hippies who are killed by the escapee), much of it with hand-held cameras that really give you an intimate feel. The only major plot flaws come in the fourth act. McGarrett allows himself to be separated from Danno and Manicote (who is tagging along) and is caught by the gunman. McGarrett and Karen manage to escape running down a hill toward a highway (again the topography is unclear because the hill seems to be between the highway and the ocean). The killer blazes at them with a shotgun, runs out of shells, and reloads. The range he is firing from seems marginal at best for his weapon. Then Danno leaves Manicote behind -- and just disappears, for no good plot reason. Manicote runs straight at the killer and fires a concealed revolver (how did he hide it from Danno and McGarrett?) The killer shoots back and hits Manicote in the leg. Manicote drops his weapon (which gives McGarrett, who lost his gun earlier, something to go after), but the killer lets him and Karen go free before calling out McGarrett. Even then, the killer has a bead on McGarrett, but is distracted at the last moment and forgets about McGarrett long enough for the latter to fire one shot (I wondered if the bullet could pierce the killer's backpack). Still, this is a super show. Here's hoping it will come out on the ninth-season DVD if sales keep up. Kudos to Bruce Broughton for providing one of the best musical scores not from Morton Stevens.