Butler, Robert

Hawaii Five-O - The Fourth Season

Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime murder assassination attempts foreign agents felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams with local actors playing members of the Five-O team.System Requirements:Running Time: 1215 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368920743 Manufacturer No: 892074

Could it be that with Hawaii Five-O's fourth season, a third of the way into its remarkable '60s-'70s run, the show has gotten... well, cool? Actually, there are signs throughout this six-disc set of 24 digitally-remastered episodes that point to yes. Let's not get carried away here; Five-O is still basically as square as Tiananmen and Trafalgar, and as long as Steve McGarrett (portrayed, as ever, by Jack Lord) is in charge, its groove factor will never rival that of, say, CSI: Miami, or any other glossy new millennium cop drama. Indeed, the show's corniness and utter lack of irony remain integral to its charm. But there are a few interesting developments in this '71-'72 season. There's a good complement of snappy dialogue (one particularly large perp is "so big he could go bear-hunting with chopsticks"). And although the pacing can be pretty stodgy, the editing is a bit more deft; many scenes flow more naturally, and in at least one instance ("I Want Some Candy, and a Gun that Shoots," wherein a sniper is picking off cops on a coastal highway), the entire episode is more exciting than the Five-0 norm. The direction and lighting are also more stylish, while the music (not just Morton Stevens' classic theme song but the incidental sounds as well) and location scenery, two elements that have always been among the series' strong suits, are as good as ever; in fact, the islands look so lush and inviting that one wonders why the bad guys can even get motivated to commit their dirty deeds.

But they do, of course, and McGarrett and his faithful team (James MacArthur as Danno, Kam Fong as Chin Ho, and, in what remains one of the great TV credits ever, "Zulu as Kono") are there to stop 'em. This time around they're dealing with everything from a big money travelers check scam ("3,000 Crooked Miles to Honolulu," with Jed Clampett... er, Buddy Ebsen as a guest villain), eco-terrorism ("Is This Any Way to Run a Paradise"), political assassination ("Rest in Peace, Somebody"), and racism-rape ("Skinhead"), along with the usual murders and encounters with Red Chinese nemesis Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh). McGarrett is for the most part still as stiff as his hair, but Lord occasionally displays considerable passion, as when he breaks down in tears upon being informed that a nasty car accident did not leave him paralyzed (in "The 90-Second War," a two-parter). As always, bonus material is limited to brief, previous-week promos for each episode. --Sam Graham

The Fugitive - Season Two, Vol. 1

Dr. Richard Kimble is accused to be the murder of his wife. The night before his execution he escapes. The only chance to prove his innocence is to find the man who killed hi wife. Kimble persecuted by the Lt. Gerard risks his life several times when he shows his identity to help other people out of trouble.System Requirements:Running Time: 771 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361327648 Manufacturer No: 132764

The relentless Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse) has always insisted that capturing fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) was just "unfinished business." But in "The Nemesis," an essential episode that is one of the highlights of this half-season set, it's personal. An unwitting Kimble has stolen Girard's car to make a getaway, not knowing that it contains Girard's young son, Phil, Jr. (Kurt Russell). Phil Jr. is a chip off the old block (he cleverly leaves a trail of his precious football cards to point his father in the right direction), but a selfless act by Kimble raises doubts in the boy's mind. "You and dad can't both be right," he questions. This is just one of the compelling human dramas at the heart of one of television's Most Wanted series. Now in his second year on the run after escaping from the Death Row-bound train, Kimble is "tired of looking over his shoulder… tired of running." In "Escape Into Black," he visits a small-town diner and loses his memory after the gas stove explodes. In "When the Bough Breaks," he hops a freight car that also carries a traumatized woman who has abducted a baby. Until he can find the one-armed man (Bill Raisch) he witnessed running from his home the night his wife was killed, he will have to endure "another shabby room, another lonely night." Not that Kimble doesn't have his champions. In the season-opener, "Man in a Chariot," a college law professor, argues Kimble's case before his students in a mock trial. In "World's End," the daughter (Suzanne Pleshette) of his former defense attorney contacts Kimble with potentially devastating news about the ever-elusive one-armed man and schemes to run away with him. In "Escape into Black," a compassionate hospital welfare caseworker (Betty Garrett) tries to find the one-armed man while Kimble recovers.

The episodes in this set maintain an unflagging pace, thanks to taut direction (the late Sydney Pollack directed "Man on a String," in which Kimble is a very reluctant witness in a murder case) and excellent scripts (George Eckstein, who wrote "Man in a Chariot" and "When the Bough Breaks" would co-write The Fugitive's final episode, a television benchmark). Among the great character actors who guest star in these episodes include Tuesday Weld as a manipulative and very twisted sister in "Dark Corner," Slim Pickens as a poacher in "Nemesis," and Ivan Dixon as a doctor who discovers Kimble's identity in "Escape Into Black." The Fugitive taps into the primal fear that was one of Hitchcock's favorite themes: What would you do if you were falsely accused? Janssen is unforgettable in his signature role as the man whose every instinct is to flee the scene and not get involved with the strangers whose paths he crosses. But we offer viewers the same advice the professor gives Kimble in "Chariot": "All I ask is that you stay around and see what happens." --Donald Liebenson

Hogan's Heroes - The Complete Series

Despite a historically and morally questionable premise the 1960s sitcom HOGAN'S HEROES was wildly popular during its premiere run and continues to be one of the great classic (not to mention utterly unique) comedy series. Set in a Nazi prison camp during World War II the series follows a group of Allied POWs--Englishman Peter Newkirk (a pre-FAMILY FEUD Richard Dawson) Frenchman Louis LeBeau (Robert Clary) and Americans Andrew Carter (Larry Hovis) and James Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon one of the first African-American actors to get equal billing)--led by the irrepressible Colonel Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) in their hilarious attempts to sabotage the Nazi war effort. Though often mischaracterized as a tasteless gloss on the real-life horrors of Nazi Germany (the series was set in a prisoner-of-war camp not a concentration camp) HOGAN'S HEROES was intended as parody and certainly pulled no punches in its unflattering depiction of idiotic Nazi officers such as the pompous Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperer) bumbling Sergeant Schultz (John Banner) and irascible General Burkhalter (Leon Askin)--in fact Klemperer Banner and Askin were all Jewish and Clary was a Holocaust survivor. This collection presents the series in its entirety for a total of six seasons.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361301648 Manufacturer No: 130164

Hogan's Heroes - The Complete First Season

Two years after 1963's The Great Escape thrilled movie audiences with a tale of Allied soldiers working cooperatively to flee a World War II-era prisoner-of-war camp, CBS found a hit situation comedy in the loosely similar Hogan's Heroes. Initially dismissed by critics as being in poor taste, the half-hour show starred Bob Crane (previously known for a supporting role on The Donna Reed Show) as Colonel Robert Hogan, leader of a resourceful band of French, British and American guests of the German Luftwaffe. Rather than sit out the war with his fellow captives, Hogan essentially used the POW camp, Stalag 13, as a base for sabotaging Nazi operations whenever possible, helping important prisoners escape, supporting the Resistance, gathering intelligence for the Allies, and generally screwing up enemy battlefield plans. The work was always dangerous, but Hogan's crew had a number of advantages: a network of underground tunnels beneath the camp (some leading to a nearby town), a flair for disguises, the complementary talents of Hogan's key staff, and the reliable idiocy of camp Commandant Klink (Werner Klemperer) and willful ignorance of lead officer Sergeant Schultz (John Banner).

Season one of Hogan's Heroes found all of these elements securely in place and the series balancing farce with suspense. Typical storylines include "Hold the Tiger," in which the boys smuggle a new German Tiger Tank into the camp, disassemble it to construct a blueprint, and then reassemble it under Klink's nose. "The Prisoner's Prisoner" finds Hogan kidnapping a Nazi general, sneaking him into Stalag 13, and tricking him—a la Mission: Impossible--to reveal troop plans. In "The Prince from the Phone Company," one of Hogan's most-trusted confederates, radio operator Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon), disguises himself as an African prince trying to secure money from the Third Reich. Half the fun of these shows is watching Hogan thinking quickly on his feet whenever things start to go wrong, or when one of Klink's more intelligent superiors becomes suspicious that not everything at Stalag 13 is as under control as it seems. Besides Dixon, the other players making up Hogan's elite squad include Richard Dawson as the slightly disreputable Newkirk (with a talent for thievery), Larry Hovis as chemistry whiz Carter, and Robert Clary as the charming LeBeau. --Tom Keogh

HOGAN'S HEROES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON focuses on a group of American soldiers, led by Colonel Hogan (Crane), who are confined in a Nazi prisoner of war camp called Stalag 13 during World War II. While trapped in Stalag 13, the inmates conduct an espionage and sabotage campaign right under the noses of their warders. Because the Germans, led by the bumbling Colonel Wilhelm Klink (Emmy Award™-winning actor Klemperer), are often gullible, the real strength of Hogan's men are the elaborate ruses and sometimes dangerous lengths they will go to complete their mission.

Hogan's Heroes - The Complete 2nd Season

A top 10 show in its first season (a top 20 show in its second), Hogan's Heroes, like Gilligan's Island, got little love from critics during its seven-year run, but it would come to be ranked among TV's guiltiest pleasures. Hogan's Heroes has gotten something of a bad rap. It is not a situation comedy set in a concentration camp. It is, instead, set in a P.O.W. camp, where Col. Hogan (Bob Crane, a former top radio jock, in his star-making role) and his men "trick the dumb Germans," to quote the late Crane's former wife, Sigrid Valdis, in her enlightening commentary on the episode, "Hogan Gives a Birthday Party." While Valdis reveals that the film Von Ryan's Express was a key inspiration for the series, the show seems to takes its cue from Billy Wilder's Stalag 17, with its blend of comedy (albeit more broad than darkly cynical) and espionage action. Though camp commandant Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer, who would win an Emmy for his career-defining role) was, in the words of one character, "a bubble-headed fool," Hogan's Heroes was not quite a burlesque of bad taste.

Seemingly in response to wide-ranging outrage over the show's misunderstood premise (a Mad magazine parody at the time was brutal), there are some bracing dramatic moments that cut through the comedy. In "Operation Briefcase," Hogan is recruited to assist an attempt to assassinate Hitler. Hogan disdainfully tells the German plotter, "It's the least you can do, considering you're the same bunch of guys who put him in business." In the episode "Will the Real Adolf Hitler Please Stand Up?" Hogan explodes at one of his men when he imitates Hitler. "Imitating that nut in Berlin," he fumes. "It's not all that funny." But somehow, Hogan's Heroes is, thanks to Crane and Klemperer ("You talk about two people born to play a part," remarks Valdis), not to mention John Banner as the jowl-cheeked buffoon, Sgt. Schultz, and the rest of the crack ensemble, including real-life concentration camp survivor Robert Clary as LeBeau, Richard Dawson as Newkirk, Ivan Dixon as "Kinch," and Valdis herself, who debuted this season as Klink's secretary, Hilda, she of the scene-stealing tight sweaters and low-cut peasant blouses, and whose chief dialogue consisted of "Col. Hogan to see the commandant." The extras are a retro blast. The most bizarre is a commercial in which Carol Channing is smuggled into the barracks to enjoy a Jello dessert with Hogan and company. --Donald Liebenson

HOGAN'S HEROES: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON focuses on a group of American soldiers, led by Colonel Hogan (Crane), who are confined in a Nazi prisoner of war camp called Stalag 13 during World War II. While trapped in Stalag 13, the inmates conduct an espionage and sabotage campaign right under the noses of their warders. Because the Germans, led by the bumbling Colonel Wilhelm Klink (Emmy Award®-winning actor Klemperer), are often gullible, the real strength of Hogan's men are the elaborate ruses and sometimes dangerous lengths they will go to complete their mission.

Moonlighting - Season 3

Hogan's Heroes - The Sixth & Final Season

Despite a historically and morally questionable premise the 1960s sitcom HOGAN'S HEROES was wildly popular during its premiere run and continues to remain one of the most classic (not to mention utterly unique) comedy series in television history. Set in a Nazi prison camp during World War II the series follows a group of Allied POWs--Englishman Peter Newkirk (a pre-FAMILY FEUD Richard Dawson) Frenchman Louis LeBeau (Robert Clary) and Americans Andrew Carter (Larry Hovis) and James Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon one of the first African-American actors to get equal billing)--led by the irrepressible Colonel Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) in their hilarious attempts to sabotage the Nazi war effort. Though often mischaracterized as a tasteless gloss on the real-life horrors of Nazi Germany (the series was set in a prisoner-of-war camp rather than concentration camp) HOGAN'S HEROES was intended as parody and certainly pulled no punches in its unflattering depiction of idiotic Nazi officers such as the pompous Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperer) bumbling Sergeant Schultz (John Banner) and irascible General Burkhalter (Leon Askin)--in fact Klemperer Banner and Askin were all Jewish and Clary was a Holocaust survivor. This collection presents every episode of the series' sixth and final season.Runtime: 310 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368515444 Manufacturer No: 851544

Just as the castaways were left to languish on Gilligan's Island, so, too, did cancellation deprive fans of seeing Col. Hogan (Bob Crane) and company finally liberated from Stalag 13. But at least this controversial series (again; it's a P.O.W., and not a concentration, camp!) went out literally with a bang, another successful act of sabotage of Nazi operations. The sixth season brought a new face to the barracks, Kenneth Washington as Sgt. Baker, replacing (without explanation) Ivan Dixon's "Kinch." Happily, some of the series' most entertaining recurring characters put in final appearances. Bernard Fox, as the hapless Col. Crittendon, enjoys his finest hour in the two-parter "Lady Chitterly's Lover," in which he must impersonate a look-alike British traitor, and Kathleen Freeman, as the dread Gertrude Berkhalter, upsets Hogan's plans to sneak a downed U.S. general out of camp in "Kommandant Gertrude." John Banner, as Sgt. Schultz, has one of his best episodes in "Kommandant Schultz," in which power goes to the cuddly buffoon's head when he is put in command of Stalag 13.

But mostly this season is business as usual, with Hogan and his men--Newkirk (Richard Dawson), LeBeau (Robert Clary) and Carter (Larry Hovis)--smuggling, hijacking, stealing, and otherwise disrupting the German war effort under the nose of clueless Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer, an Emmy nominee for this season). One standout episode is "Eight O'Clock and All Is Well," with guest star Monte Markham as a new prisoner with impeccable credentials whom Hogan discovers is actually a Gestapo spy. And in the episode "Look at the Pretty Snowflakes," Crane gets to demonstrate his virtuoso drumming as he attempts to cause an avalanche. Between the "krauts, lice, stinking food and bloody awful weather," life in Stalag 13 was no picnic. But, as Hogan tries to convince LeBeau not to return to France in the episode "Cuisine a la Stalag 13," let us not forget "all the fun... all the laughs." That is Hogan's Heroes' final legacy. --Donald Liebenson

Hogan's Heroes - The Complete Third Season

"What is this man doing here?" an increasingly agitated Major Hochstetter of the Gestapo demands of Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer) in "War Takes a Holiday," one of the best episodes of Hogan's Heroes' third season (or any season, for that matter). "This man," of course, is Senior P.O.W. Officer Col. Hogan (Bob Crane), who, by now, has the run of Stalag 13, and seemingly, all of Europe. The beginning of the episode, "D-Day at Stalag 13," finds Hogan in London to receive his orders on how his barracks operation will further "tie up" the German general command to distract them from the planned Normandy landing. "You have quite a reputation for the offbeat and the bizarre, and for pulling it off," Hogan is told. And he more than lives up to it over the course of season 3. In "War Takes a Holiday," Hogan and company convince their captors that the war is over. But sabotaging the German war effort is not all fun and games. In "One in Every Crowd," Hogan is threatened with exposure by a barracks traitor, and in "Two Nazis for the Price of One," a top Gestapo officer likewise learns of Hogan's operation, and demands information about the Manhattan Project. These excellent episodes belie Hogan's Heroes unwarranted reputation as a series that treated life in a prison camp as a lark.

This season welcomed back several recurring characters, most notably, Bernard Fox's Col. Crittendon, "the most incompetent British officer in the entire British Navy." Reprising her role as the very suspect White Russian, Nita Talbot was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in "The Hostage." For his commanding performance as Klink, Klemperer was honored with an Emmy this season. As lovable oaf Sgt. Schultz, John Banner enjoyed some of his character's most memorable episodes, including "Sergeant Schultz Meets Mata Hari" and "The Ultimate Weapon." (In "War Takes a Holiday," it is revealed that Schultz was the owner of Germany's biggest toy company!) This five-disc set contains a short but sweet excerpt from a Pat Sajak Show appearance by Klemperer, who reveals one of show business's most fascinating ironies; how a man whose family fled Hitler's Germany became television's most famous and oddly beloved Nazis. --Donald Liebenson

The inmates of a German World War II Prisoners of War camp conduct espionage and sabotage campaign right under the noses of their warders. While the enemy is often gullible, easily fooled or downright incompetent - the real strength of Hogan's men are the elaborate ruses and sometimes dangerous lengths they will go to complete their mission.

Hogan's Heroes - The Complete Fourth Season

The inmates of a German World War II Prisoners of War camp conduct espionage and sabotage campaign right under the noses of their warders. While the enemy is often gullible easily fooled or downright incompetent the real strength of Hogan s men are the elaborate ruses and sometimes dangerous lengths they will go to complete their mission.System Requirements:Runtime: 672 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 097368899049 Manufacturer No: 889904

Probably the most successful bad idea in television history, Hogan's Heroes took an appalling premise--the suffering of World War II prisoners-of-war played for laughs--and turned it into a hugely popular series that ran for six seasons. Wily Colonel Hogan (Bob Crane, previously a regular on The Donna Reed Show) and his merry multicultural band of P.O.W.s--including cocky cockney Newkirk (Richard Dawson, pre-Family Feud), softhearted Frenchman LeBeau (Robert Clary, later to appear on Days of Our Lives), clumsy explosives expert Carter (Larry Hovis), and steadfast radio operator Kinch (Ivan Dixon), one of the first black characters on television to be treated as an equal by his peers without any self-congratulatory comment--carried out spying and sabotage against the Third Reich, always back in the cozy confines of Stalag 13 by the end of the episode. But the good guys were not the show's real draw; Hogan (charming to some, smarmy to others) may have been the titular hero, but audiences loved high-strung Nazi commandant Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer, who won two Emmys for the role) and the adorably bumbling Sgt. Schultz (John Banner), whose cries of "I see nozzink, I know nozzink!" became the show's biggest catchphrase.

The fourth season finds the snappy one-liners, preposterous plots, oversexed atmosphere, and Nazi buffoonery all firmly entrenched. Brief bits of suspense help to balance the clownish antics. The missions change a little from episode to episode (instead of a bridge, they have to blow up an ammo dump; instead of a beautiful lady spy, they have to help...no, it's always a beautiful lady spy), but a reassuring sameness is what guarantees the success of any sitcom. It's interesting to speculate about why audiences embraced these goofball Nazis only a couple of decades after the revelation of the decidedly unfunny concentration camps. Perhaps, as the Cold War wore on and the threat of atomic annihilation felt increasingly likely, mocking the previous threat to the world made the Soviet Union less terrifying; or maybe Klink and Schultz are hapless 1950s parent figures, outwitted by their more worldly hipster children. Regardless, even contemporary viewers with a taste for daffy pranks may find Hogan's Heroes a bit of sweet comfort food. --Bret Fetzer

Hot Lead & Cold Feet

There's magic in the memories as great Disney moments are captured right here for you and your family to enjoy. A two-gun terror and his terrified twin brother turn an old cowtown upside down. A blazing, rip-roaring, riotous saga of brotherly competition in a winner-take-all battle for an inheritance. Jim Dale (PETE'S DRAGON, UNIDENTIFIED FLYING ODDBALL) stars in a triple-header of a role, pulling all the stops out as he plays three different people: Old Jasper Bloodshy and his two sons.