The Incredible Hulk (TV Series) The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas (1978) User Reviews

Vega$ Hulk

[Chase_Witherspoon · 7/10 · 27 January 2012]

While working an odd job for a casino, David (Bixby) intervenes to save the life of an informant (Santoro) who's near-fatally beaten by casino boss' (Crawford) thugs after it's discovered he holds incriminating evidence that would bring the casino boss down. Santoro's wife (Gregg) manages to deposit the evidence in a safe place until Jack McGee (Colvin) can recover and publish it; a tense race ensues to retrieve the evidence and silence the witnesses.

Veteran supporting actor Crawford is icy as the brawny crime boss not averse to getting his hands dirty, while his right hand man Lee (Marshall) is cucumber-cool as the charismatic stand-over merchant of pain. Julie Gregg and pert Simone Griffeth balance out the testosterone, and while Griffeth's role as a casino croupier is largely frivolous, Gregg has a more intrinsic role to the storyline as Santoro's apparently long-suffering wife. Overall, the cast is a highlight of this season one episode.

Two great hulk-out moments punctuate the suspense, the climax in particular tantalisingly close to revealing the Hulk's alter ego after he emerges from a make-shift grave. Engrossing episode with standout performances by Crawford and Marshall in particular.

Best episode of season one

[ODDBear · 8/10 · 21 December 2006]

A season 1 episode has David working in a casino in Las Vegas when he happens to witness an attempted murder of a journalist investigating a money scandal involving the casino owners. Helping the guy into an ambulance and lending a hand on the way he agrees to pass on some information to a fellow journalist. As fate would have it, the fellow journalist is Jack McGee; the ruthless reporter who's relentlessly seeking David's green alter ego.

The best episode on the first season has some outstanding Hulk action and a well written and suspenseful near confrontation between Banner and McGee. I find that whenever McGee plays a big part the episodes go from good to outstanding, Jack Colvin simply excels in the part.

The Incredible Hulk - The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 11 December 2015]

While we never get that ideal shot of the Hulk running through the streets and sidewalks of Vegas (rear projection screen with shots of the city is briefly used as Hulk runs out of a casino, but it is clearly not like seeing Big Green in Times Square), the story set in it is rather exciting, considering how David gets involved between a news reporter and a mobster inadvertently (a common problem unfortunately for David as he tries to keep his current existence as closed off from detection as possible, often running into difficulty time and again). Tom Edler (John Crawford) tries to keep a news reporter, Ed Campion (Dean Santoro), from turning over damaging evidence--that ties him to a number of criminal activities, and this involves important members of the law enforcement among other high power positions in the city--through bribery, but he has henchmen (including Don Marshall of Land of the Giants fame) prepared to hurt him plenty bad to shut him up. Jack McGee (Jack Colvin), reporter for the paper that has been following behind David and his Hulk across the country, is a friend of Campion's, requested to come to Vegas to secure a recording of the Edler bribe on audio tape and evidence hidden in an airport locker, so the proper authorities can use them to put those committing crimes behind bars. When Campion is hit by a car, a hit-and-run orchestrated by Edler, David Banner (Bill Bixby) happened to see it, and the paramedics convince him to accompany the fallen journalist. David is responsible for the tape recorder and tape getting to McGee, but he's successful in avoiding a face-to-face. But when Edler learns that David is working in his casino as a shill (yep, a smart scientist couldn't perhaps fall much further than this), some interrogation will be in store…as well as an involuntary trip to a landfill.

McGee's use in the series sometimes is small potatoes, but occasionally he is used quite well, as is the case in this episode. His journalism regarding his chasing around the Hulk instead of truly following in the similar steps of the heroic, dedicated reporter, Campion, has become quite an obsession and is rather pitiable. You can't say McGee isn't dogged in this pursuit; and he does *almost* see just how close the Hulk and David Banner really are. The show always cleverly avoids allowing others to see David transform into the Hulk, like when Edler tosses him down some stairs from his apartment; the Hulk then treats him almost as roughly. The Hulk does crash through a blackjack table, his rampage through a casino leaving those in attendance quite alarmed. In a landfill, the Hulk is also a victor against a forklift operated by one of Edler's henchmen! I always enjoy a good villain toss and Ferrigno's Hulk never fails to pick up some dirtbag, hurling him a distance. But I do wish Vegas itself was more of a character than it turns out to be…perhaps the Times Square bit took up too much of the budget. Some second unit shots of the city do at least identify its presence as a stop for David until he can find help to solve his Big Green Problem.

Julie Gregg is Campion's girl, Wanda, deeply involved even if she really doesn't want to be. She tries to convince Campion that his mission is just not worth the trouble. Wanda has the key to the locker that Edler is certainly interested in.

The Casino

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 18 November 2014]

David Banner(Bill Bixby) is working as a shill(a low point in jobs) in a Las Vegas casino that is owned by a crooked man(played by John Crawford) who is after a reporter who has accumulated a mass of evidence against him. He plans on turning this over to Jack McGee(Jack Colvin) but is attacked and run over before he can. David rides with him in the ambulance to help, but finds himself entrusted with tape-recorded evidence to get to McGee, which obviously will put his freedom in jeopardy, as both their lives are still threatened by the crooks, who also want the evidence. Fine episode makes good use of McGee and its location, creating suspense in a familiar crime situation.

the use of blue key made it laughable by moments

[trashgang · 6/10 · 2 May 2013]

It was so nice to see old Vegas as it never will be again and that's almost the best I can say about this episode. Why they ever decided to shot it in Las Vegas is a big question because you can see clearly that it was never shot over there. The use of blue key teared this episode down. Oh yes, there are a lot of shots of Vegas but never with our guests in it and if they do it's as stated blue key. That they used blue key while driving that I can take but to see the hulk running before a blue key was a bit laughable.

Still, it's a classic episode were by coincidence David runs in a men being hit by a car. Getting involved with the man rescue he has been given a voice recorder. From there David runs in trouble but not only that, Jack McGee, the reporter, is close on his heels because he's related to the victim.

There's even a scene were McGee finally comes in front of the hulk, asking him of he know David Banner. It's very close that the alter-ego has been revealed.

A bit weak in story and of course that particular part with the blue key.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

McGee Meets the Hulk

[flarefan-81906 · 7/10 · 7 March 2017]

With a title like that, it's hard not to expect something lowbrow. But this is close to the best episode of the season. Why? Because Jack McGee is actually in the plot! David chances to be on hand to help an investigative reporter who was the victim of an attempted hit, and the reporter asks him to deliver some evidence to a friend of his - who just happens to be dear Mr. McGee. Uh oh for David.

The episode doesn't insult your intelligence by spending a lot of time on this predicament; obviously, David is going to honor the (possibly) dying man's wishes and try to deliver the evidence without actually meeting McGee face-to-face. Nor does the drama end there, because that evidence is just one small part of exposing a crooked political boss. McGee remains a core character throughout, for once serving as more than just an excuse for the series to keep changing locales.

But it gets even better: McGee actually meets the Hulk for the first time in this episode. Nor is the encounter a predictable contrived scenario where McGee sees the Hulk doing something and mistakes it for further proof of the creature's homicidal nature. Without spoiling anything, it's a beautifully handled moment which actually advances the story of the series.

The one problem to this episode is that it makes it apparent just how obligatory the attractive female character is in the series; the lady in this one does absolutely nothing significant to the plot. There's also the usual case of the transformations into the Hulk being too convenient, and the episode doesn't really aspire to masterpiece level. But it is a good example of the sort of tale this series should be telling.