Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Legacy of Terror (1976) User Reviews

A solid episode that ended well.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 17 January 2012]

This is a very good episode of "Hawaii Five-O", though it's not among the best of the series. It begins with a scum-bag lawyer (am I being repetitive here?) killing an old man who has just made out his will (I would have at least waited until his check for services cleared). This occurred after the old Japanese-American man talked about a letter in a safe-deposit box. Apparently the lawyer plans to see what's inside and keep it for himself. However, when he goes to the bank, the bank was already informed by the old man that his son was supposed to open it and the bank office refuses to allow the lawyer access to the box. This all occurs in the first few minutes of the show--stay tuned and see what the son does when he arrives in Hawaii from the mainland as well as exactly what the treasure is. Interesting but even more interesting as it ends, as the secret to the treasure was pretty good after all that wait.

This episode is improved a bit by some nice guest appearances. Mako plays the son, the evil lawyer is Don Porter and Lew Ayres is on hand as the old dead man's friend and nemesis. All in all, well written and solid.

By the way, this is yet another guest appearance by Moe Keale before he ultimately became a series regular in its final season. As usual, the guest spot has him playing yet another baddie.

Nice appearance by Mako

[VetteRanger · 8/10 · 12 June 2023]

Don Porter, who previously appeared as a tax man trying to track down cash which disappeared in an accidental luggage swap at the airport (and later killed himself when about to be apprehended) makes another appearance, this time as a crooked lawyer.

He has killed a man he suspects has a hidden horde of gold before the man can tip of his son and heir to the location of the gold.

But the real treats of this episode are Mako and Lew Ayers. This aired a few years before Mako made a larger splash in feature films, starting with the Conan movies in 1982 and 1984. Here he's both looking for his father's murderer and the gold, and is a bit of an iffy guy himself.

But the real treasure is Lew Ayes, as a retired Naval Intelligence operative. He doesn't appear in many scenes, but he steals each one he appears in. Always a pleasure to see him appear.

Spoiler Alert

[tim_smit1836 · 10/10 · 14 July 2008]

An aging Japanese-American, Minoru Tahashi (C. K. Huang), prepares his will with the help of his aide Kim Matsu (Haunani Minn). To perform all the litigious paperwork involved in a will; Minoru hires Alex Kelsey (DonPorter) as his attorney. Kelsey in turn, sets fire to Minour's house,killing him. At the death of his father, the son Kazuo (Mako) arrives from San Francisco to claim the contents of his father's safe-deposit box. Kelsey knows of the legendary tales of a hidden two to three million dollars worth of gold bullion hidden by Minoru just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He enlists the aide of Din Lee (Moe Keale) and his men to track down the millions and ship it off the island. At Minoru's funeral, McGarrett has his own questions that he puts to former naval commander Reginald Blackwell (Lew Ayres) knowing he had a connection with Minoru from years past. Kazuo and Kim work together to hide facts from McGarrett and Five-O. For all her help, Kazuo double crosses Kim, killing her to make it appear that Lee's hired muscle-boys have killed her. Kazuo calls Kelsey and arranges a deal with the gold, just between him and Kelsey. Once at Kelsey's hotel, Kazuo kills him by tossing him out of his hotel window. McGarrett deduces that Minoru had hidden the gold bullion at a cabin sold to him by Blackwell. Kazuo also figures out where the gold is hidden. Kazuo takes Chin Ho Kelly captive while at the cabin. As the stand off continues with McGarrett talking to Kazuo as he holds Chin at gun point, Blackwell appears from the underbrush and shoots and wounds Kazuo. When the gold crate is brought out and opened, only three bars of gold are left after years of spending. Blackwell says that he and Minoru agreed that no one owned the gold. Together they used the money to set up scholarships and aided the elderly Japanese-American community. McGarrett smiles with that answer.