T.J. Hooker (TV Series) A Cry for Help (1982) User Reviews

Good aircraft stunt at the end

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 31 August 2022]

An ambitious drug lord directs a street gang to deal high-grade heroin in Hooker's beat, meanwhile setting up a hearing-impaired teenage gang member to take a murder rap, but Hooker suspects the boy is innocent and vows to help him.

The series is renowned for its action, the rolling over the hood, Heather Locklear, Hooker's sermonising and Hooker twirling his nightstick as well as running after the bad hombres, but in this episode it shows that it can be quite moving in addressing a youth who might end up in a gang if he doesn't get help. Hooker can be overbearing and intense in his talk but he is right, and gets the job done. You got a slimy character played by Trinidad Silva, who talks like he got gobstoppers in his mouth. The finale is quite exciting with Hooker clinging to a stanchion of a light aircraft.

When a Thug Just Needs a Hug

[JasonDanielBaker · 21 April 2014]

In a remarkable instance of serendipity Sgt. T.J.Hooker (William Shatner) and his young partner Vince Romano (Adrian Zmed) just happen to be driving by the scene of a drug deal gone wrong in a railway yard. Drug-lord Carlo Vega (Miguel Fernandes) murders a heroin trafficker and his minion Cruz (Trinidad Silva) gets Danny Perez (Panchito Gomez) an underage, deaf accomplice to dispose of the murder weapon. Hooker and Romano nab Danny but not Vega or Cruz.

Deemed very expendable by his fellow gang members Danny is set to take the fall for Vega and Cruz as they corner the local heroin market. Hooker is outraged that they would take advantage of the kid that way and tries to help Danny turn his life around. Danny's gang associates get the idea that Hooker is just being nice to get him to inform on them. They plot to exterminate the potential snitch before he decides to talk.

This is another instalment in a series that could be classified as a "dumb cop show" based upon viewing primitive, slipshod episodes like this one. At times what we are seeing looks like it was gleaned from a bad after school special storyline. At other times what we are seeing looks like a cheesy public service announcement. I would much rather have seen Pamela Shoop and Miguel Fernandes in a better episode.

The propensity Hooker had in the series for finding violent criminals seemingly wherever he went was something that the viewer either accepted or rejected. If you wanted to believe it was plausible you could come up with explanations.

Perhaps crime in the city was so bad that he couldn't help but stumble over it. Since almost every cop we see portrayed in this fictional setting, other than Hooker and those he works closely with, are either obscenely dumb or corrupt, crime in the city might very well be that bad.

It has always been my theory that this episode was written with Ricardo Montalban in mind as guest-star in the role of the sympathetic doctor which was instead filled by Henry Darrow but that Montalban was too busy with Fantasy Island to appear.