Amazon.com: Hawaii Five-O: Season 1 : Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Harry Endo, Gene Nelson: Movies & TV (original) (raw)

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"Hawaii Five-O" S1

"Hawaii Five-O" S1

My mother bought this for me from the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Simpsonville. I decided to try it out, starting with the pilot, a.k.a. "Cocoon." That pilot, by the time I got through with it, was 97 minutes well spent, at least as far as pilot films go. All the other episodes (from "Full Fathom Five" all the way through "The Big Kahuna") also held my complete and undivided interest all the way through. The color in this first season of "Five-O" is superb-- there aren't any dropouts, no pixelation, nada. It's just smooth sailing all the way through to the checkered flag. The menus (when I want to get to a specific outing) are easily navigable and are very well-designed to boot. The opening and closing themes of season 1 (matter-of-factly, of the series as a whole) stand as some of television's greatest music (this can be said of the pilot as well, and also the music within the stories). The opening and closing titles are some of television's greatest (the closing credits even included a longer version of the strobing police light from the opening). The season's 7 discs are superbly packaged as well. I even enjoyed seeing the 1996 documentary w/Emme Tomimbang and James MacArthur. Finally, the characters (from McGarrett through to Chin Ho and the weekly guest stars), the settings (the Iolani Palace and the entire state of Hawaii), and the stories (straight-up crime dramas of the late-'60's)-- all combine to make the first season's worth of "Hawaii Five-O" a must-buy. If you're looking for a great series to put in your television disc collection (especially if you're just starting), pass by "Friends", "Seinfeld", and "Everybody Loves Raymond", ignore them, and go right to "Five-O."

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Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2009
Why it took so very long for Hawaii Five-0 to come out on DVD still mystifies me. The show was a classic while it was still running, and it's remained a classic ever since.
One thing I want to clear up -- the show's title is Hawaii Five-0 -- that "0" is correctly a ZERO, not a letter. The show was named after the USA's 50th state.
Many people -- Amazon.com included -- incorrectly assume the title is Hawaii Five-O ["O" being the letter, not a zero], which makes searching for other seasons of the show difficult, because the only way what you're going to find what you want is to search using the "O" letter -- which annoys Five-0 buffs big time. I hope Amazon takes note.
One other item: during the entire 12 years that Five-0 ran on television, there was only ONE star: Jack Lord. All the other members of Five-0 were billed as "feature" players. No matter who showed up as a guest actor or actress, NOBODY was ever billed as "starring with" -- Five-0 meant Jack Lord. HE was the star. The ONLY star.
The best thing about the DVDs -- and I've got all of them that are currently available -- is that they take us back to the actual time when the series was being filmed. If a specific "issue" is treated in one particular episode, that issue was very specific when it comes to the history of the late 1960s and all of the 1970s. Many episodes were considered daring at the time they aired -- Five-0 tackles Vietnam, organized crime, the Soviet threat [and of course, that of Red China], and struggle for the Hawaiian people who were -- and still are -- trying to maintain their Polynesian identity, and the show sometimes got downright daring AT THE TIME THE EPISODE FIRST RAN ON TV.
Five-0 tackled such stuff as venereal disease, political corruption, drug use which was so very prevalent at that time, and aired one two-part episode focusing on the US military and its secrecy about trying to create our own weapons of mass destruction. Jack Lord was the first person in television history who ever uttered the word "bastard" on television.
Most folks who are new to the series do not understand what it was like to live in the late 60s and 70s, and not many know that much about the history of the period. What seems "tame" to us now created all kinds of furor when viewed on television during those years. Five-0 was forced to reinvent itself in the later years of its run, because of the nationwide furor about violence on television -- and if you've seen the show in recent years -- shows that have been badly chopped up, often to the point where the shows don't make a great deal of sense -- the DVDs will give you every single moment of what ran on television when commercial time was FAR less that what we put up with today. When
Five-0 was forced to tone down the violence [and there's lots of violence in the first 6 or 7 years] and to keep the show running and maintain viewer interest, it turned to character study as a way of filling that gap. Specifically, it became more cerebral -- but it worked.
So when you watch the first set of DVDs [and the later DVDs as well], keep in mind what life was like when leisure suits were "HOT" [they now look quite ghastly to me], disco music was sweeping the country [thanks to John Travolta] -- yep, McGarrett ends up in a disco himself, more than once -- and all kinds of other social matters were highly important, probably more important than they are today.
To watch Hawaii Five-0 [remember that zero!] is to remember history. And now, as in the first place, the show managed to do that in great style.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2013
In the title of my review, what I'm trying to say is that the original Hawaii Five-0 was the type of television we (the United States) used to export to the rest of the world. And it were characters like Steve McGarrett that epitomized the American ideal in regard to ethical law enforcement and strict dealings with the criminal element. This realization was the big take-away I had after watching the first season of this classic show, that and the fact that I wanted to watch more. I guess what I'm saying is that we no longer export this kind of entertainment to the rest of the world and because of that, we suffer for it.
This first season, originally broadcast in 1968, is interesting, quirky, and entertaining. Steve McGarrett, the head of Hawaii's Five 0 division, is of course the main focus with his no-nonsense approach to police detective work. He's willing to go to any length to catch the crooks. This includes some undercover work that sometimes borders on the ridiculous, yet succeeds because of McGarrett's boyishly honest sacrifice to put himself on the line. Check out the episode, "Six Kilos", where McGarrett teams up with the bad guys on a Mission Impossible-like heist to steal heroin for an unknown crime boss.
The scenery is of course beautiful, the Hawaiian settings, whether on the beach or in the city and suburbs, are lush with blowing palm trees and Southern Pacific skies. Its so very interesting to view the world of the late 1960's, with the cars, the clothing and the hairstyles. In particular, I found the female of this time period to be very alluring, despite or in fact because of the fact that the dress styles were more modest and appealing, more womanly I would say. McGarrett is obviously attractive to the ladies, but he doesn't mix police work with pleasure, unless he's putting on the act.
There are some strange moments in this season as well, such as Ricardo Montalbon playing a Japanese guy with very odd/fake looking eyes. They must have realized how silly it looked right? The depiction of the 1960's hippies was also quite amusing, such as in the episode "Up Tight", which includes some psychedelic drug scenes that are truly spaced out man. This counter culture topic was better handled in the episode "Not That Much Different" where a murder upsets the politics of a group of hippies running "Peace" magazine.
Overall, I had a fun time watching this show. Jack Lord as McGarrett and the supporting cast, were all very good. The Hawaii flavor and the 1960's time period were so cool, just like McGarrett, not the ugly American at all, rather the type of man that used to be the America hero.
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Top reviews from other countries

Reviewed in Spain on July 21, 2023
Estupenda serie policiaca de los 60, esta edición USA de región 1,es necesario un reproductor multiregión porque en algunos reproductores europeos no se podrán ver. Trae un buen doblaje latino además del inglés tal como se vió por la televisión en los 60

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2020
In my humble opinion this series stands up to the test of time - decent stories and production values that still look good today. Product received on time and in good condition - and i'm just as in love with Steve McGarrett today as I was then!

Reviewed in Canada on May 14, 2016
What fun it is to watch this classic TV series again, this time as an adult.
Jack Lord is wonderful! Such a talented actor and oh so handsome too. He WAS Hawaii 5-0, I can't picture any other actor doing this role as well, in that era.
Great supporting cast. And of course, the breath-taking backdrop of Hawaii ever present and a theme song that still rocks! :-)
The extra interviews with cast, crew, guest stars and tribute to Jack Lord etc...were great. Loved to see Dann-O again, as one of the co-hosts of that part of the DVDs. Older but still a cutie!
The only thing I didn't think was correct was the G rating for all of these shows. The pilot: Cocoon, in particular I would not recommend for children. Rather gruesome in parts, it even bothered me!
But other than that, everything about this set is first rate, including the excellent price, here at amazon.ca.

Reviewed in Germany on September 25, 2013
Ich würde mich den tollen Rezensionen ja gerne anschließen und bin auch sicher, dass jede einzelne Episode aboslut sehenswert ist . . . nur müßten die Dinger dann auf meinem Standard europäischen DVD Player erst mal laufen !
Schade drum ! ! !
NACHTRAG: nachdem ich durch einen neuen Player unabhängig von der Ländersperre wurde, kann ich endlich die tolle Rezension schreiben . . . .
Abgesehen davon, dass die Serie per se einfach Kult ist und bleibt, bin ich unheimlich begeistert von der erstklassigen Bild- und Tonqualität, die hier geboten wird. Bei der Aufarbeitung dieser 1968-er Staffel, wurde wirklich alles geleistet, was technisch möglich ist.
Für heutigen Geschmack mögen die Episoden etwas langatmig erscheinen - trotzdem . . . offenbar noch gar nicht so lange her, gab es tatsächlich noch Zeit: gab es tatsächlich noch Telefone: die nichts außer telefonieren konnten, gab es noch freie Parkplätze auf Hawaii; und vor allem gab es tatsächlich noch richtige Ami-Schlitten ! ! !
Mag von meiner Seite aus Sentimentalität sein, aber diese Serie spricht alles an, was ich einmal war, schätzte und wollte . . . . . heute einfach eine tolle Erinnerung mit erstklassig gemachter und gebotener Qualität in jeder Hinsicht !

Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2016
I'm a big fan of detective shows made during the late '60s to late '70s and I've never seen one episode of this classic series so I took a chance and ordered the first season of HF-0. I'm five episodes into this show and I got to say I'm not disappointed. I was surprised on how the gritty the show was for its time. Jack Lord was tough as nails but also calm and collective as Captain Steve McGarret leader of Hawaii's major appointed task force. He has good support from James MacArthur as young detective Danny "Book em Danno" Williams and who doesn't love the Hawaiin backdrop. Riveting action/mystery/drama all the way.