BIG ISLAND CRIME WITH CLASSIC 'HAWAII FIVE-O'

Honolulu hero: Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett in HAWAII FIVE-O. Image: CBS PARAMOUNT.

It may not be the greatest of weather in the UK at the moment, but fans of classic TV can at least get a daily fix of warm tropical action and adventure set within the glorious sun and sandy beach confines of the Hawaiian paradise, as the original and best incarnation of HAWAII FIVE-O, featuring that formidable crime-busting detective, and Horatio Caine of his day, Steve McGarrett, played with steel-eyed determination and likable trust by the late Jack Lord- an instant icon with his impeccably styled coolness who put his individual stamp on the show over twelve years and helped to make Hawaii an even brighter commercial holiday hotspot for millions of worldwide viewers to discover.

Starting right from the beginning, in daily strips and weekend compilations on the UK’s CBS ACTION channel, these colourful early episodes are great fun: bright, breezy and with a very late sixties groove that makes them fascinating to watch, with Lord’s youthful no-nonsense character far more in the thick of the action than he would be in later years, backed up with his squad buddies Danny “Danno” Williams (James MacArthur), the bulky frame of islander Kono (played by Zulu) and the amiable Chin Ho Kelly (played by once real-life policeman Kam Fong) . Intriguingly, McGarrett’s relationship with his team in these raw days is often quite spiky when things fail to materialize the way he wants them, especially putting young Danny through some verbal biting. Though by episodes end, and the case firmly closed, he’s back to being chummy with them all with no harm done.

Titles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9xfNn09eQ

Featuring tightly concentrated early episodes produced by MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’s talented Joseph Gantman, notable guest stars investigated, pursued or caught up in the drama of the premiere year include some of the all-time greats of the small screen, like Ricardo Montalban, Simon Oakland, Yaphet Kotto, James Shigeta, Kevin McCarthy and the lovely Marj Dusay. Rapidly approaching like one of those famed big kahuna waves, how can we not mention Morton Stevens familiar and exciting main title theme, which upon hearing the first few notes makes you instantly think of the programme, nor the brilliant main title visualization work handled by regular series director Reza Badiyi-though, with this first season, there’s no sign yet of those end credits featuring the perpetually wave crunching islander boaters!

Early seasons of HAWAII FIVE-O are also available in restored quality on UK DVD from CBS PARAMOUNT:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hawaii-Five-O-The-First-Season/dp/B000JU7M02/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1358771946&sr=8-3

GENERATION GAME! 'BLUE BLOODS' RETURNS

One family you don't want to mess with, personally or professionally. The Regans (Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Tom Selleck and Will Estes) are back in BLUE BLOODS. Image: CBS.

Blood truly is thicker than water when it comes to being within a family of Police officers, especially those based from within the long established, crime hardened state of America that is New York City. The solid foundations of the generational Regan family return for their third season of police procedural drama from tonight, as BLOOD BLOODS exclusively makes its stance on the UK's SKY ATLANTIC HD channel. Well-cast Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg and lovely Bridget Moynahan all return in their popular roles as pa Frank, cop Danny and prosecutor Erin, ready to serve and protect to the delight of the shows dedicated and loyal viewership. Certainly, Selleck is having a great time these days as a character actor, now long removed from the positive and negative aspects of having been linked to his iconic Hawaiian private investigation days on MAGNUM.

And this season looks set to have more strong cases and character interaction for the actors to grab a hold of: it's opening episode sees Danny taking on a dangerous criminal from his past (the always brilliant and intimidating Michael Madsen), followed by a clash with a corrupt councilman, the search for a vigilante shooter out for justice, a battle against a Malayasian drug cartel and even an investigation into a voodoo cult!

Blue Bloods Season 3 Promo #1 (HD) - YouTube

Blue Bloods 3x02 Promo "Domestic Disturbance" (HD) - YouTube

Blue Bloods 3x03 Promo "Old Wounds" (HD) - YouTube

ONE MAN ARMY! REMEMBERING 'THE EQUALIZER'!

The ultimate scum removal service! Edward Woodward is THE EQUALIZER. Image: CBS/ UNIVERSAL.

One of the more pleasing aspects of Hollywood is that you don't have to be young to be an international star. Take seasoned British actor Edward Woodward, well known and much loved in the UK for his four year role as the gritty British spy CALLAN in the sixties and seventies. He had appeared in numerous films (including noteworthy projects like the scary and iconic THE WICKER MAN, the Australian drama BREAKER MORANT and SAS action-hit WHO DARES WINS), and was also a very talented singer, but he had never at that time managed to make the transitional jump to big-time American success. But that was to change in the eighties. Enter rising star writer/producer Michael Sloan, who, obviously a fan of the actors intense and action-packed performance as moody but magnificent Callan, boldly cast him in a new series, co-created with Richard Lindheim, that would soon make Woodward a household name across the United States and beyond: the hugely successful thriller CBS running series THE EQUALIZER, with Woodward playing ex- spy Robert McCall, who, on a weekly basis, and with shades of his former British agent identity layered into his performance, begin his bold audience pleasing quest to turn the tide against the ever present criminal hordes, psychopaths and killers rampant in a then crime soaring America, most notably concentrated in New York. McCall would be the ultimate vigilante for hire, and right from the start, as he emerged from the shadows of a dimly lit alley, his aura captured in back lit car lights, his character and the series bold intentions struck a chord of hope and defiance into the hearts of Stateside viewers suffering from muggings, assaults, robberies and break-ins-at a time in history when citizens were often taking to the street in protest and resilience wanting to take the fight back to their assailants in the kind of way that hadn't been seen since the early seventies notoriety of Charles Bronson's original DEATH WISH movie. Remember those real-life red bereted Guardian Angels that would patrol the Manhattan subways?

The Equalizer. (Original Intro Music And Vid Extended) - YouTube

With his intelligence, cunning and often brute force, McCall would have been a god send in the then eighties New York, though fortunately, thanks to the heroism of real-life dedicated police officers and other vital law makers, the crime rate in New York would thankfully be cut down vastly in the years to come. Meanwhile, Woodward would make the most of his success in the lead series role, often hugged and cheered on by the enthusiastic and grateful public watching him filming on their streets, and becoming a sex symbol of sorts long before that other UK thespian Patrick Stewart came along as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Sadly and unluckily, after two huge rating seasons, major health issues and a very scary heart attack forced Woodward to seek time off from the hectic and very heavy filming requirements the show beget, with American star Michael Jordan filling in for him as McCall's partner-in-battle, Harley Gage, as well as the inspired guesting of the intimidating presence of film-legend Robert Mitchum. As the series went on, the vigilanted figure's storytelling gave way to other dramatic aspects of the characters history, namely in his interactions with his former spy masters at The Agency, enigmatically led by the mysterious Control (Robert Lansing, best known worldwide to TV viewers as the enigmatic alien/human spy Gary Seven in the original sixties STAR TREK).

Making a mark with its 88 episodes over four seasons, with an immense run of popular guest stars, including the likes of Christan Slater, Bradley Whitford, Steve Buscemi, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Cynthia Nixon and even Adam Ant!, there wasn't anything quite like THE EQUALIZER on American television at that time, and it would also be a solid hit with the stars many British fans, too. With its ultimate conclusion, Woodward would prove a popular guest star on many other US and UK TV series before his sad passing , but its as Callan and McCall that he would leave an indelible and long lasting mark in popular TV culture, so much so that a long rumoured film version of THE EQUALIZER, starring Denzel Washington in the title role, is apparently now in the works. It looks like the scales of justice will very soon be firmly back on the heroes side once again...

Season Four of THE EQUALIZER is now available on DVD from FABULOUS FILMS. Get it here:
The Equalizer - Season Four [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Edward Woodward, Laurence Fishburne, Ving Rhames, Stanley Tucci: Film & TV

COWBOYS VS MOBSTERS! 'VEGAS' ARRIVES...

Changing times for law and disorder in the new American period drama series VEGAS. Image: CBS.

They may not at first have believed their eccentric late comrade Bugsy Siegel's dreams of commercial enterprise avarice operating from the cattle filled, desert dunes of Las Vegas, Nevada, but by the 1960's it was soon a thriving melting pot of crime, gambling, entertainment-where the superstars of music, stage and screen mixed with other types of "personality"- with mighty vice generating profits for The Organisation (aka The Mob) that seemed just too good to be true, overlooked by on the payroll corrupted crime fighters. Dreams were made, empires were built, the beautiful people thrived, and the money flowed in- and anyone that got in the way of all of that...well, that wasn't a problem, either! Anything went and probably did, in a time and place where greed got greedier, and the bloodshed got bloodier!

Now, hot on the heels of popular and adult gangster TV and film dramas like BROADWALK EMPIRE, CASINO and GOODFELLAS, and having worn out the Vegas locale in modern series like CSI, TV producers have found a new way to tap the storytelling well of both aspects and create further mileage and strong characters by going back to the Golden Age of the Strip-its aura and iconism- with its emerging crime dynasty and the attempts by a small group of law-enforcers to fight back against them, blending it all together in a stylish and zippy PG audience friendly concoction. VEGAS is the result, from writer/creator Nicholas Pileggi and Greg Walker, whose prior September debut States-side proved a critical hit for its CBS makers (coming soon to the UK's SKY ATLANTIC channel).

Trailer: Vegas: sezon 1 - trailer #2 - YouTube

Law-breaker and law-maker: Michael Chiklis as Vincent Savino and Dennis Quaid as Sheriff Lamb.

Carrie-Anne Moss adds glamour to the glossy new series.

Having played the charismatic and uncompromisingly dangerous detective Vic Mackey in THE SHIELD, Michael Chiklis finally gets another hit series for his considerable acting chomps to wade into and enjoy (as well as making the most of a cool sixties wardrobe, too!) playing Vincent Savino, a man with ambition and plenty of attitude, based on the criminal exploits of a real-life boss of the time, Marcello Giuseppe Caifano. Facing off against Savino and his equally opportunistic family of devoted henchmen is stern rancher lawman Ralph Lamb, McCloud he certainly aint'!, played by the always-in-demand Dennis Quaid, a fine film actor with a diverse body of work (recently giving a brilliant performance as former president Bill Clinton in HBO's THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP), obviously enjoying the potential for this new series and the name talent of its creators, whilst, in a nice change, gamely taking the plunge into an interesting opportunity for some work on the small screen. Adding glamour and sex appeal to the male clash of good and evil is THE MATRIX's Carrie-Anne Moss, shedding her form fitting costumes as flying butt kicker Trinity to become law-following Assistant district attorney, and obvious love interest and dramatic confidante to Lamb, Katherine O'Connell. Cancelled series fantasy favourites amongst the mix include Sarah Jones, away from the dirty cells of ALCATRAZ, looking much more glamorous and feminine as savvy gangster daughter Mia Rizzo, whilst TERRA NOVA's lead hero Jason O'Mara wears a cowboy hat well as Ralph's younger brother and equally square-jawed deputy, Jack.

The Lambs have an early run-in with Savino and his boys.

Sheriff Lamb makes his presence felt in Savino's empire

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but with the evolving times, clash of ideologies, and shotgun blasting to come, I think we'll all be addictively caught in the dramatic crossfire soon enough.

THE NEXT "GOOD GUYS"! 'PERSON OF INTEREST'

Men of Numbers. The intriguing crime-fghting duo of Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson in PERSON OF INTEREST. Images: CBS.

Finally arriving on UK TV screens tonight via those US friendly show buyers at CHANNEL 5 (perhaps someone out there in the world of commercial entertainment suits-dom has finally been reading the KOOL TV site?) is the stylish cyber vigilante crime drama series PERSON OF INTEREST, produced and created by wunderkids of film and TV, LOST and FRINGE's J.J. Abrams and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Jonathan Nolan (brother of director Christopher)-as if you didn't know who they were?!

Title sequence: Person Of Interest Main Title on Vimeo

Receiving critical acclaim for its often ingenious and almost believable blend of sci-fi technology and action drama format storytelling set in a post 9/11 uncomfortable America still slowly and subtly building up its Big Brother is watching you style of surveillance - a trend also pretty much followed by the UK and Europe these days- lead series stars Jim Caviezel and LOST's ex-baddie, the brilliant Michael Emerson (a kind of psychopathic looking, real-life version of big eyed Droopy and a grown up Stewie from FAMILY GUY!), have won plaudits for their on-screen charisma together: a fine duo of action and technology whose characters, soon fugitives themselves by pursuant government and varying law enforcers for their shady but necessary work, right wrongs and stop the innocent becoming victims to crime and violence beyond anything predicted by terrorism. Mixing an overall high concept idea with audience friendly plots- think a bigger and probably more stylish version of THE EQUALIZER, with a hint of INCEPTION and LOST thrown into the cooking pot for good measure- you'll get the picture of what this tantalising main course is all about...

Check out our earlier feature on the show here: FUTURE CRIME! WATCHING OUT FOR THAT "PERSON OF INTEREST"...

Here's the official page: Person of Interest on CBS.com
and FACEBOOK site: Person of Interest

TROPICAL THUNDER! 'CSI: MIAMI' - THE FINAL SEASON...

Florida's finest, led by Horatio Caine (David Caruso), are back in CSI: MIAMI. Images: CBS.

Surviving a deadly gunshot wound to the chest, continued internal bleeding and diving into the Pacific to rescue friend and colleague Natalia (Eva La Rue) from a watery fate trapped inside a car boot, our superior television detective Horatio Caine, as uniquely personified by flame haired David Caruso, proved himself to be quite the dependable superman to the end-who needs Batman or THE AVENGERS, right?!- and finally put paid to the career of an escaped arsonist/serial killer in the premiere episode of CSI: MIAMI's tenth and final season, which began its exclusive UK airings on Channel FIVE from last Saturday night onwards.

So, in bidding adieu to the fine men and women in front of and behind the scenes of this always colourful, always fast paced, sometimes bonkers plotted, but always thoroughly enjoyable escapist television, here's a little pictorial taster of some of the last episodes to come:

Horatio and Natalia (Eva La Rue) are back in rue health in the series second episode, Stiff.

Trapped in a blazing fire, Calleigh (Emily Procter) tends to Delko (Adam Rodriguez) in Stiff.

More angst for Horatio and Eric as they tend to an injured Ryan (Jonathan Togo) in the tornado wrecking Blown Away.

There's a new baddie on the scene for Horatio. Ex-24 veteran Carlos Bernard as shady businessman Diego Bavarro in Look Who's Taunting.

Trouble in and out of court for Horatio and Detective Frank Tripp (Rex Linn) in A Few Dead Men.

Delko lashes out on guest star Taylor Cole in the search for an eccentric genius with a deadly weapon: Friendly Fire.

The lovely Bo Derek guests as a stable owner, and murder suspect, in The Last Straw.

Whilst another famous "body", the inimitable Raquel Welch, guest stars as a murder suspects influential supermom in Rest In Pieces.

The man who made MIAMI. So long and thanks for all the crime-fighting, Horatio!

Previous seasons of CSI: MIAMI are available on DVD from MOMENTUM PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT.

KOOL TV REVIEW: 'MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE '88 TV SEASON

One team of crime-fighters you don't want to mess with! Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) and his force are back in the new MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE TV series of the eighties. Images: CBS DVD/REVELATION FILMS.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE  - THE COMPLETE ’88 TV SEASON

Starring Peter Graves

Released on UK DVD by CBS DVD/REVELATION FILMS

Reviewed by Scott Weller

Prepare to feel genuinely sorry once again for all the warlords, overlords, henchmen, killers and blackmailers that get completely overpowered and defeated by the legendary master manipulator Jim Phelps and his Impossible Missions Force in the premiere UK release from CBS DVD/REVELATION FILMS of the first exciting and highly enjoyable 1988 season of the modern MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE TV series, based on the original and iconic seven-year series created by Bruce Geller.

The classic motifs, IMF team member skills and series technology are all nicely upgraded, and, though Jim Phelps may have silver hair these days, original series veteran and main star, the late, much-missed Peter Graves, incredibly seems to facially de-age as the nineteen episodes of the new season go on, ably assisted by a fine American/Australian cast including Thaao Penglis as face changing Nicholas, Antony Hamilton as all-action hero Max, Phil Norris as techno-wizard Grant, and lovely ladies Terry Markwell and Jane Badler as diversions and all-round helpers Casey and Shannon, in a time when eighties technology hadn’t yet become the size of an iPod, and when big hair and shoulder pads on women were still considered fashionable!

Replacing the original series mostly studio and backlot bound adventures, the all-filmed look of the series on location has held up pretty well, with the Australian behind the scenes talent, headed by Jeffrey Hayes Productions, having done a good job overall in taking over the heavy production burden of the American created series and the various worldwide settings it has to recreate, of which new and old talent from the original series generally mix well.

Picture quality-wise, these episode releases are the best you’re going to get (the series originally made on film but converted to video), and some of them look surprisingly good up scaled compared to the way they were transmitted in late nineties repeats on the UK’s GRANADA PLUS channel and very poor late eighties VHS rental tapes.

So, sit back and enjoy, as Lalo Schifrin’s great, pulse pounding MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE theme once more brings in a new set of adventures for fans old and new to enjoy.

Light the flame!

Titles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsjCoNWlFig&feature=related

The new IMF team: Casey (Terry Markwell), Max (Antony Hamilton), Jim (Peter Graves),  Grant (Phil Norris) and Nicholas (Thaao Penglis).

Here’s a KOOL TV look at some of the most notable episodes of the first season…

KILLER (SEASON PREMIERE)

Brought out of retirement, a revenge fuelled Jim Phelps, keeping the exploding video disc industry in business for a few more years, assembles a new IMF team to seek out the men responsible for the murder of one of his ex-team mates: the killer known as Scorpio (STAR TREK’s John de Lancie) and the unknown conspirator who hired him to do the job.

A solid start reintroducing the series, the decision to re-imagine one of the original series most popular episodes is a good one, and its realisation, now set in London rather than the US, is reasonably good. Our Aussie compatriots also get the look of British Taxi Cabs right, too, and in a far better way than Hawaii ever did for the British Empire in LOST!

Like father, like son. Phil Morris is the series new techno-wizard, Grant.

HOLOGRAMS

The team has to lure a dictator (Gerard Kenney) off his island stronghold by lure of a supposed long lost son.

THE CONDEMNED

Framed for murder by a corrupt police boss, classic series veteran Barney Collier has to be rescued from a lethal Turkish prison and the real culprit uncovered.

It’s great to have the late Greg Morris back in this series re-working of another classic seventies episode, though his characters involvement in the scenario feels a little bit shoe-horned at times.

THE PAWN

The team have to smuggle a Russian scientist/chess master (Brian Marshall) and his daughter out of Czechoslovakia via an international chess tournament, and through the use of both a little bit of magic and a genuine moment of inspiration! By no means a classic episode, but it has some notable moments of inter-action for our IMF team.

THE HAUNTING

A double task for the team this week as they have to locate the body of a missing oil sheik’s princess daughter, murdered and buried at a closed down Hawaii amusement park, and reveal the culprit, whom they believe to be a wealthy socialite and Ted Bundy-ish serial killer of wealthy women, Champ Foster (Parker Stevenson). Directed by BABYLON 5 veteran Mike Vejar, Tony Hamilton gets to have some fun portraying a fellow serial killer taunting Foster.

THE LIONS

The IMF team must stop the assassination of the young heir to his rightful throne of a Himalayan-type principality, of which the would-be king must also solve a clever and dangerous ceremonial test designed to stop any pretenders. Dangers all manipulated by the late king’s regent, his power greedy brother (James Shigita), who has ultimate plans that could threaten East/West relations, in this fun tale which, despite some wonky special effects and back projection work here and there, uses the whole IMF team generally well.

THE GREEK

It’s time to wear garish eighties suits and costumes and become shady businessmen again, as the team infiltrate and destroy from the inside out an international drug smuggling cartel, whose members include SPIDER-MAN TV series star Nicholas Hammond.

V's Jane Badler is a most welcome new addition to the series as Shannon.

THE FORTUNE

One of the season highlights. A veteran guest star of the original series, the glamorous Barbara Luna, plays a nasty Imelda Marcus type figure, Madame Berezone, living as an exile in Florida with her almost gaga dictator husband (Michael Pate), whom the IMF must recover stolen money from and destroy their credibility as returning leaders to their South American country. This episode sees the first appearance of ex-V star Jane Badler as new IMF member Shannon Reed, who assists the team when Casey is captured in a memorable and quite shocking for its time pre-title sequence, which sees her death at the cruel hands of Madame Berezone. The idea of an IMF team member being killed never happened in the original series and this was a clever surprise from the eighties series production team that certainly gives the series a dramatic boost in it’s mid-season…

THE FIXER

The team has to destroy the credibility of a powerful journalist/broadcaster, Arthur Six (Richard Romanus), who possesses a blackmail database that must be retrieved at all costs.

From this mid-point on, the series has found its feet. The productions feel comfortably better, the lead stars feel more relaxed and the villains much better written and cast.

THE DEVILS

Satanic worship and blackmail by British Lord Holman (John Stanton) on his Druid estate have to be exposed by Jim and the team in this daft but enjoyable episode, which sees our beloved Jane B. becoming a gypsy fortune teller who looks like she's escaped from an eighties Fleetwood Mac concert, whilst Jim become Lucifer himself to trap their opponent.

Australian star Tony Hamilton as the heroic Max.

THE PLAGUE

A deadly age accelerant virus is stolen from a secret Paris laboratory, which the team must retrieve from the clutches of a beautiful but deadly weapons merchant, played by Roger Moore's 007 friendly adversary, OCTOPUSSY’s leggy Swedish lovely, Maud Adams.

It’s not one of the series greatest episodes but it’s fun: Tony Hamilton gets to do some 007 style antics early on, whilst Jane Badler gets to start her soon real-life singing career in the villains Parisian nightclub lair.

REPRISAL

Female members of Jim’s earlier IMF team are bring killed off by a lunatic serial killer, Russell Acker (David Cameron), who has close past ties with the crime-busting organization and Jim Phelps. Can Acker and his accomplice be stopped from reaching their next victim: the now retired Lisa Casey? An enjoyable episode from writer Walter Brough that works around the series regular format yet manages to include its popular series elements, too. There’s also some nice continuity to the past with the return of popular early seventies team lady Lynda Day George as Lisa.

SUBMARINE

Another classic seventies episode gets an eighties upgrade as the IMF must trap a bitter and corrupt naval boss (Mitchell Ryan) from selling high-tech underwater canisters boasting a computer virus capable of destroying the worlds sea based technology. To do this, Jim must create another one of the show’s classic world catastrophe scenarios to ensnare their prey. Nicely directed by Australian series veteran Colin Budds.

THE BAYOU

Jazz and voodoo make an effective combo for the IMF team, as they take on a white slavery ring in the deepest depths of the Louisiana everglades.

Frank Thring does a fine impersonation of Sidney Greenstreet, whilst ex-dancer Paula Kelly is a fine second-in-command, Pepper Le Veaux, whom the team skillfully uses to destroy the criminal enterprise. Plus we get Jane Badler playing a sultry snake dancing Voodoo high priestess. Things don’t get better than that!

A fine season finale, confidently handled by by British TV series veteran director Don Chaffey.

Get the new MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE here: Mission Impossible 88 [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV

Look out for Season Two of the eighties MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE on UK DVD in the not too distant future.

With thanks to REVELATION FILMS for their help and assistance in the writing of this feature.