Gist, Robert

Hawaii Five-O - The Fourth Season

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

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

The Untouchables - Season Two, Vol. 1

The Untouchables chronicles the campaign of Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) the young U.S. Prohibition Bureau agent to smash the beer and booze empire of Al Capone in 1920s Chicago.System Requirements:Running Time: 806 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361319445 Manufacturer No: 131944

In Billy Wilder's classic, The Apartment, a sleazy corporate exec tries to schedule an after-hours tryst with one of the company's switchboard operators. "Thursday?" she protests. "But that's The Untouchables with Bob Stack." "So we'll watch it at the apartment," the exec placates her. "Big deal." As Wilder's shout-out indicates, The Untouchables was a big deal. Hot off Robert Stack's Emmy-winning performance as Treasury Agent Elliot Ness, The Untouchables blasted its way into the Nielsen Top Ten in its second season, which begins in a blaze of glory with the episode, "The Rusty Heller Story," featuring Elizabeth Montgomery in her Emmy-nominated role as the "no good" showgirl who plays two mobsters and a corrupt lawyer against each other (Bewitched fans will note that the lawyer with whom she gets very chummy is portrayed by David White, the future Larry Tate!). More than four decades later, with its film noir sensibility, smart-writing, hard-boiled dialogue, and plenty of what Rusty Heller calls, "boom-boom action," The Untouchables is still as potent (but not as deadly) as a bottle of ginger jake. The 16 episodes contained on this four-disc set tell some great (albeit suspect) stories of the kingpins, criminals, and hoodlums who thought they had "the guts" to move in on Al Capone's tottering empire. Among the most arresting are "The Big Train," a gripping two-parter featuring Neville Brand reprising his role as Capone, who plots his escape while en route to Alcatraz, "Jamaica Ginger," featuring James Coburn and Brian Keith as a couple of "torpedoes" hired by a gangster to kill his rival, a plan complicated when one falls in love with a schoolteacher, and "The Purple Gang," about Detroit's feared gang that kidnaps an underling (Werner "Colonel Klink" Klemperer) with Capone ties. Joining Ness's incorruptible squad this season is Paul Picerni as Agent Lee Hobson, but it's Stack's show all the way. He gets to slap wiseguys around ("Answer the question, punk") and deliver the best lines. When one goon tells him he has no respect for the dead, Ness replies, "Sometimes, even less for the living." His relentless war against the underworld sometimes comes at a terrible price. When one innocent woman is gunned down, the killers taunt, "Satisfied, Mr. Ness?" But, of course, that just steels his resolve. As for this set, we're satisfied, even without any bonus features, and the now common (and criminal) practice of season splitting. --Donald Liebenson

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

The Untouchables - Season 1, Vol. 1

The Untouchables chronicles the campaign of Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) the young U.S. Prohibition Bureau agent to smash the beer and booze empire of Al Capone in 1920s Chicago.System Requirements:Run Time: 644 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361227740 Manufacturer No: 122774

Though certainly tame by The Shield standards, the inaugural 14 episodes from The Untouchables' 1959-60 season are still as potent as a shot of Al Capone's bootleg whiskey. Dames get slapped around. Mugs are mowed down in a hail of wall-pocking, mirror-shattering bullets. Upstanding citizens are brutally terrorized by thugs. Incorruptible Feds are brazenly rubbed out. Sometimes, criminals have the last laugh. It has the visceral kick of watching one of those pre-code Hollywood movies produced before the Hays Office stepped in to sanitize objectionable content. This set opens with the theatrically released version of the two-part pilot episode that set the noir sensibility of the series. Robert Stack (in his iconic and oft-parodied role) stars as Elliot Ness, a straight-arrow Federal agent who forms a special squad of "reliable, courageous, dedicated and honest" men who initially take on Al Capone's corrupt criminal empire in 1929 Chicago. Ness is "a real man," (as a "burly-q" stripper observes). He's just not exactly loaded with personality. Nor do any other of the squad members stand out, except perhaps for Martin Flahrety, and that's only because he's played by a pre-Dick Van Dyke Show Jerry Paris. But from Neville Brand's Al Capone and Claire Trevor's Ma Barker to an unbilled Harry Dean Stanton as a suspect blind newspaperman, it's the legendary criminals and their henchmen (and the great character actors who portray them) who give each episode considerable moxie.

Produced by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's Desilu Studios, this groundbreaking series is based on the book The Untouchables: The Real Story by Ness and Oscar Fraley. Real? Not quite. Despite Walter Winchell's signature rat-a-tat narration that gives the proceedings a documentary-like tone, liberties were taken in retelling the sagas of Capone, Dutch Schultz, Lucky Luciano, "Bugs" Moran, "Mad Dog" Coll, and others. But the episodes are so pulpishly good that even if Ness was never really involved in a shootout with Barker (and he wasn't), more forgiving viewers will be of the opinion that he should have been. --Donald Liebenson

Naked City - Prime of Life

Naked City - Set 2

Twelve exciting tales from the city that holds a million incredible stories!

Naked City - Spectre of the Rose Street Gang

Naked City - New York to L.A.

Naked City - Set 1 [TV-Series 1958-1963]

Gritty and realistic, this is one of television's finest police dramas. Filmed on the streets of New York City, this ever-popular series puts a human face on crime, going beyond a simplistic portrayal of good vs. evil to delve into the complex personal dramas of the people involved. Filled with swift-moving action, the stories are often violent and tragic but also contain their share of humor, absurdity and even fairy tale romance. Starring Paul Burke and Horace McMahon, this landmark collection features many top film and television actors in guest-starring roles. Episodes include: The Fault in Our Stars; A Memory of Crying; Make-Believe Man; Take and Put; The Fingers of Henri Tourelle; Which Is Joseph Creely?; Requiem for a Sunday Afternoon; Ooftus Goofus; The Face of the Enemy; The Contract; Let Me Die Before I Wake; To Walk Like a Lion.

Naked City - Set 3

More gripping tales from the crime series that pulls no punches! THE VIRTUES OF MADAME DOUVAY: A woman plans to blame her husband for a murder and run off with his stepbrother until Adam Flint investigates.

KING STANISLAUS & THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE: Longtime friends Pete (Jack Klugman) and Steve follow an old Polish custom to resolve a bitter argument.

HER LIFE IN MOVING PICTURES: After a wealthy man's home is robbed, police find important clues in a diary belonging to the maid, Virginia Cort (Eileen Heckart).

ROBIN HOOD AND CLARENCE DARROW, WENT OUT WITH A BOW AND ARROW: Recent widower Earl Johannis (Eddie Albert) faces a gang of thieves when he tries to reach out to his sons, Jack and Chris (Christopher Walken).

THE APPLE FALLS NOT FAR FROM THE TREE: Walter Gerrick would do anything to keep his cherished son, Les (Keir Dullea), out of jail, even if he must risk arrest himself.

THE HIGHEST OF PRIZES: Richard Calder (Robert Culp) is gleeful after being found not guilty of murdering his wife but might be celebrating too soon.

ON THE BATTLEFRONT EVERY MINUTE IS IMPORTANT: Korsica (Kurt Kasznar) bungles a major robbery, which erupts into violence. Meanwhile, Detective Adam Flint gets a lucrative job offer.

NO NAKED LADIES IN FRONT OF GIOVANNI'S HOUSE: Hanging out in a college town, Ben Giovanni is enjoying an extended adolescence and will do anything to avoid marriage, even socking his tenant (Al Lewis) in the eye.

THE S.S. AMERICAN DREAM: George Paraskis feels he can make his lifelong dreams come true by restoring an old cargo ship, but when things go horribly wrong, he robs a loan shark (Roger C. Carmel). ONE, TWO, THREE, RITA RAKAHOWSKI: Stock boy Gorilla (Tony Franciosa) sets off a riot after vying with the business owner for the affection of Rita Rakahowski.

GOLDEN LADS AND GIRLS: After two men are arrested for wife-beating, the judge (Tom Bosley) orders them to get much-needed therapy, which they continue to resist.

BAREFOOT ON A BED OF COALS: Barber Stanley Walenty desperately wants to be a cop, donning a patrolman's uniform to wound a holdup man and facing off against a killer.