User Reviews

The sheer charisma of Montalban is there in every scene however the casting of him is way off. I too thought the actor was 'Dr. No' due to the eye makeup, but the smooth diction of Ricardo corrected that belief in 15 seconds flat ! The more I see of him the more I like. That death on the witness stand is THE first time I've seen that portrayed. I was fooled into believing it was a ploy to cast doubt on her testimony. Good catch, McGarrett ! And yes the last three minutes show just how tight a script can be written. Nice job. 6/10.

Excellent acting and the writing represents what made this series enduringly great. Episode opens with a super-villain mobster who's seemingly always two steps ahead of the law. It takes a delicious turn into Five-O universe with plot twists involving samurai as well as the attack on Pearl Harbor. Really enjoyed it.

Wow, some people really do not like this episode! They can't stop themselves from pointing out every little thing that they think is wrong with it - from the (glorious!) miscasting of the great Ricardo Montalban, to the fact that "The Bushido" as a group is something that doesn't exist, to McGarrett not bothering to tell anyone that the 'faceless' man wasn't Tokura, to the high body count (in a cop show...!), and on and on.

Here's the deal: McGarrett is the toughest damn cop you'll ever find. He is clever, relentless, and if someone has done something wrong, he's the last person they will want on their tail, because he is going to bust them and bust them hard.

He instantly knew the dead body was a dupe, so he set out to prove it and bring Tokura (Montalban) down in spectacular and decisive fashion, and he accomplished that in spades. To see what I mean, watch the last five minutes, wherein Steveo shows how if you f around with him, you find out. A more "beautiful game of snooker" you will not find.

I couldn't be happier to have this fictional show about a fictional state police unit headed up by the legendary Jack Lord going up against a fictional villain who is so evil that he kills the star witness in his trial (not only before she could testify against him, but right there on the stand in the courtroom in front of everyone) and who is simultaneously dealing with assassins from a fictional cult/order named "The Bushido" that could kill him at any moment.

I'm not here to watch a samurai documentary, or to complain about TV violence or a Japanese character not being portrayed by a Japanese actor in a show made in 1968. I'm here to watch "Stoney Burke" Jack Lord kick ass and take names. And that's exactly what this episode delivers. If you're looking for something else, you've come to the wrong show, 10 out of 10.

Oh, and a random observation: given how much coffee McGarrett drinks on this show, I'm surprised he didn't already have a 22-cup coffee urn in his office. I'm guessing the show was sponsored by a coffee company at the time?

In retrospect, one of the more glaring faults of Hawaii Five-O is its continual use of non-Asians in Asian featured parts. Sometimes, it kind of works: Keigh Deigh wasn't Chinese - or Asian at all - but he was sufficiently "exotic" that he could pull off Chinese spy Wo Fat. Most of the time, however, it doesn't, and this episode features perhaps the worst of the lot; Ricardo Montalban as Japanese crime lord Tokura.

Montalban was a very charismatic actor and was always worth watching, but the very idea of the very Mexican Montalban as a former Japanese submarine crewman turned organized crime kingpin is unbelievable to the point of being surreal, and pretty much ruins the episode.

The actual story is pretty interesting, though, particularly the climax, where McGarrett tricks Tokura into confessing by convincing him that he's going to be assassinated by Bushido.

This might just rank as the worst episode of the first season of "Hawaii Five-O"--mostly due to terrible casting as well as a lack of research by the writing staff. However, despite being pretty dumb, it is entertaining.

Ricardo Montalban stars as a man who is supposedly of pure Japanese descent!!!! Gary Coleman might have been about as believable as this and it is a strange carryover from the silly Hollywood tradition of having Caucasians star in films like those from the Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu series. This is dumb...and rather racist...and Montalban really couldn't carry it off convincingly.

The plot involves men who have come from Japan in order to kill Tokura (Montalban). Why is unknown, though Tokura has a lot of enemies because he is a mob boss. However, this isn't just some gang-related affair and it's up to McGarrett and his staff to figure out why two men (so far) have been shot or blown themselves up trying to kill Tokura. As for Tokura, he's silent about the matter.

There are two subplots that are also tossed in which tend to cloud the plot. The first is a killing Tokura arranges of a woman testifying against him in court. The second, and boy did it have holes in it, involves Tokura pretending to be murdered to throw off the assassins. The problem is that although the men who supposedly killed Tokura in this fake attempt actually killed some innocent guy--and how could they make it look like Tokura?! Well, they shoot him in the face--making dental and facial identification difficult if not impossible. BUT, no one--not one person mentioned that the corpse DID have fingerprints!! Just checking the prints (standard procedure when identification is a problem) would have told them it was NOT Tokura. No one seemed to notice this problem!

Another problem that I noticed is that the writers knew little about Japanese culture. McGarrett and his men kept referring to how "the Bushido" were the guys trying to kill Tokura. In reality, there is no organization or entity called Bushido. Bushido is not a tangible thing but a philosophy roughly translated to "the way of the warrior"--a code by which samurai lived (kind of like the concept of chivalry for the knights in Europe). Now McGarrett could have said the assassination attempts were MOTIVATED by the code--but otherwise this just didn't make sense to blame "the Bushido".

So, aside from lots of action and plot twists, this is truly a dumb outing for the series. Thank goodness it was the exception to the rule--as otherwise "Hawaii Five-O" was a terrific show.

I'm watching a marathon of episodes on SPIKE TV. Hawaii- 50 is not a show I religiously watched and only caught a few episodes of it during the latter part of it's initial run as a kid. I saw a little more in rerun form and thought that the show was typical of the sort of detective show I grew up on.. Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, Rockford Files and on and on up through Magnum P.I. etc. It was an iconic show by the time I was aware of it. Seeing these first few episodes I too was shocked by the lapse of quality in this one. Of ALL actors to play a Japanese character.... though then again... perhaps Montalban violates the stereotype of the reserved Asian character and that is to the good.. but then a Japanese actor, free to play a Japanese-American a la "Harold" Sakata in his appearances in MASH or the Odd Couple, would have done this much better.

Curious to me is that Montalban's makeup here makes him strongly resemble Joseph Wiseman who played Dr. No... the James Bond film in which Jack Lord plays Felix Leiter so it must have been familiar territory for him!!! Also.. Montalban's character refers to escaping from or avoiding being rounded up by the authorities to be sent to an internment camp. Was it not the case that there was no mass roundup of Japanese in Hawaii. They made up 1/3 of the island population... their labor was considered too crucial to the island to have disrupted their lives thusly... and a large portion of young Japanese men on Hawaii enlisted in the military and fought heroically, some, like Senator Dan Inouye, becoming the most decorated American troops during the Italian campaign. Oh well.. can't win them all fact check wise.

I like the interplay between Danno and McGarrett early on too... McGarrett really jumps down Danno's throat in a way that is REALLY tough and probably a lot sharper than you'd see in a show today between characters who are supposed to like each other. Something I'd never noticed, but I think is one of the things we'll find different between the old show and the new one. More hierarchy back then and less of the all encompassing team we see today.

I am a huge fan of "Hawaii 5-0", but thank heaven the episodes started to improve as this silly episode could have cancelled the series all by itself.

Mainly, we have laughable casting. I challenge you to watch this episode without laughing at the figure of Mexican born Actor Ricardo Montalban playing a Japanese character. Even with the Charlie Chan ---style makeup attempting to give him sorta Asian eyes, he's still a major joke. Personally, I even think it's an insult to Asians, as we were long past the 1930's thing of hiring WASP actors to portray Asian characters (Chan, for example).

But, insult or not, the casting is laughable indeed and makes it impossible to take the script seriously. I suspect Ricardo did the role for a free vacation in Hawaii, and the producers only had this script ready for shooting.....I mean, I can't imagine Mr. Freeman reading the script and saying, "Wow, what a great part for Ricardo Montalban!"

The one really wonderful part of the episode is the use of Henry Kaiser's Estate Home in the beautiful Portlock area of the island of Oahu (East/past Waikiki). Thank you, Hank, for letting them use your house, as the house is an absolute masterpiece of Mid- Century Modern Design. This house is thankfully still standing, and remains one of the most special--and most valuable--homes on the entire Island. (Mr. Kaiser has since died and I believe the house is now owned by a local Asian-American billionaire).

If you cant remember Montalban--unlikely.....yes, he is the guy who went on to make "Corinthian Leather" famous in his commercials for the Chrysler Cordoba. Of course, he didn't use the Asian makeup in those ads.....thankfully.

The episode "Samurai" has been criticized because of the casting of Ricardo Montalban, who is Mexican, in the role of a Japanese-American businessman who is under indictment for racketeering, who is in fact a Japanese Kamikaze submarine pilot who deserted during World War II. Whether Japanese or Japanese-American, Montalban is indeed miscast, but a greater problem with "Samurai" is its hefty body count tallying 7.

Montalban is wanted by the law in Hawaii for racketeering and murder and wanted by the Bushido in Japan for deserting the Japanese navy during the war. Apparently, he could not go through with a suicide mission in which he would have had to have fired torpedoes into an American battleship at close range and been killed as well.

Montalban arrives at the courthouse to stand trial for racketeering. A Bushido runs up and shoots him down, his bodyguards in turn shoot the Bushido to death as he is running away. Montalban nonchalantly gets up and proceeds to the courtroom courtesy of a bulletproof vest-I did not buy it!

A secretary takes the stand to testify against Montalban, and she keels over dead of poisoning administered through lipstick. With Montalban's Bushido troubles dominating this episode you end up forgetting about this unrelated murder-that he is in fact guilty of-as the episode wears on.

Montalban's men drive up to a pool hall, pull out shotguns and blow away two enforcers who work for rival criminals and who Montalban therefore suspects tried to kill him in the courthouse. Another Bushido-armed with a grenade-waits for Montalban to arrive an office building in his car. When Montalban steps out the Bushido pulls the pin from the grenade, but one of Montalban's bodyguards charges him, and as they are wrestling the lever dislodges and they are both blown to bits. These two scenes amount to a total of 4 deaths (bringing the overall body count to 6) and were totally unnecessary! The first was to illustrate that Montalban initially suspected that a rival criminal tried to have him hit but he was mistaken since in fact it was the Bushido as McGarrett would later explain to him and show him that Bushido's hara kiri sword, although Montalban feigned ignorance of all things Japanese to hide his identity. This scene should have stood alone because then Montalban would have known who was out to get him and he would not have wasted time, energy, and ammunition, i.e., the pool hall scene would not have been necessary, and the episode would not have been as violent. The second was to illustrate to persistence of the Bushido, but all it does is add to the body count unnecessarily. Again, having McGarrett explain to Montalban that the Bushido were out to get him should have been enough, i.e., it should have taken place before four more bodies piled up, thus nullifying any need for those respective scenes. Montalban desperately needs to go into hiding, so he stages a Bushido siege on his home with McGarrett there to witness it. A Montalban double, wearing his clothes and a ring (that does not fit), is killed by a shotgun blast to the mouth that disfigures his face. When the ring falls off the finger of the body, McGarrett knows that it is a double...just like we the audience do. Withal, the boy count is up to 7. Eventually, Montalban comes out of hiding after McGarrett uses the latter's daughter as bait. Then all the authorities can charge him with is illegal entry to the United States, dating 26 years earlier when he deserted the Japanese navy by scuttling his sub off the coast of Molokai and swimming ashore into U.S. territory. Why could they not have charged him with the murder of his double? After all, was it not him who ordered that that man be killed by his men in the bogus assault on his home to fake his own death and go into hiding? That was clearly murder!

In the end McGarrett stages a sting in which the authorities are forcing Montalban to board a ship for Japan with apparent Bushido lying in wait (they are in fact the authorities as well). Montalban is petrified but McGarrett says the only thing that can keep him from their clutches is confessing to the murder of his secretary. Montalban kicks and screams as they drag him aboard the ship, but he gives in. At this point you recall: "Oh, yeah...now, I remember...he killed his secretary!" I mean...it was six dead bodies ago!

Also, this was not the first time Ricardo Montalban was miscast as a Japanese: 11 years before "Samurai" in the film Sayonara (1957), he was cast unconvincingly as a Kabuki actor.

"Samurai" was first aired on television October 17, 1968.

While a Honolulu crime boss faces prosecution, McGarrett and his squad have the deadly task of protecting the gangster from a society of Japanese assassins.