50th of "Paniolo"

Fifty years ago tonight, S03E15 "Paniolo" aired on CBS.

It's a story of progress encroaching on the land and takes place on Maui. An old rancher Frank Kuakua (Frank Silvera) is trying desperately to hold onto his ranch but is severely in debt and is being pressured by a slick con man Lester Cronin (Bill Bigelow) to sell. Frank refuses to the point of pushing Cronin down some steps and the con man hits his head on a tree stump instantly dying. Frank's buddy Hody (Royal Dano) is the bearer of bad news in this category. Cronin bought out an IOU Frank signed to Harry Pawai (Robert M. Luck) who owns the local bar. While the death is an accident, Five-O becomes involved due to Cronin being indicted by a grand jury on the East Coast and they're charged with picking him up. Problem is that Cronin has disappeared because he doesn't show up when expected back in Honolulu.

Danno makes the trip to Maui to search for Cronin and eventually finds his car crashed over a cliff. McGarrett then involves himself when wood splinters are found in Cronin's head. This is after they discover Cronin stopped at Harry's bar due to a parking ticket. Harry then tells them about the IOU Cronin bought but it was not found on his body because Frank took it before pushing the car over the cliff.

When it's all said and done, Frank dies due to multiple gunshot wounds from the posse that was brought together to bring Frank in alive. So much for that idea. McGarrett winds up shot in the arm by Frank when it looks like Frank will surrender but he fires and the shooting gallery commences.

Mr. Mike does a much better job, as usual, than I do. And you guys know I have to always plug his reviews. :) His "Paniolo" review is here: http://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log3.htm#63

There are a few things I like about this episode and there are things that get on my last nerve. Among the things I like: the relationship between Frank and his grandson Bud (George "Keoki" Awai) is warm and realistic. Frank has visions of the ranch being handed down to Bud one day but alas, that will probably never happen. While his relationship with his daughter Dorothy (Marilyn Chris) is tense, they still have some common ground as seen with her calling him to warn him that the police are closing in. Again, pretty realistic.

Another thing I like, after Frank shoots his horse (it's a painful decision and I don't like the 'shooting') but when the posse approaches the horse, it's breathing! Yay Five-O!! Nice animal training for this scene because the horse remains laying down.

The parts that get on my last nerve: one, McGarrett tries to be hero but fails miserably. As Mr. Mike points out, McGarrett's lecturing comes off wrong and patronizing. He's trying to relate to Frank on a human level but instead just comes across as preachy in a really bad outfit. What's worse, he had a sharpshooter at his disposal but called him off! The is the second point that gets on my nerves because Danno can take Frank by probably only wounding him but McGarrett tells Danno to back off. The helicopter goes away and we're left with a bunch of BS and one dead Frank. It's a failure in leadership because you're supposed to use all the capabilities you have and sometimes that means other people.

Other than the ending, this is a really good episode and one I just re-watched the other night without hesitation. As Mr. Mike notes as well, Frank Silvera passed away on June 11, 1970, six months before this episode aired. We would see something similar when Stephen Boyd passed before the episode he guested in (S10E01 "Up The Rebels") aired.

Also of note (and JeffH beat me to it), this episode aired on the night of Jack Lord's 50th birthday. :)

Happy 50th Paniolo!! :cool:

Excellent episode overall with the exception you mention about the annoyingly preachy nature of McG's sermon at the end. This tendency to long speeches seemed to worsen as the seasons progressed, especially as Jack Lord gained greater creative control over the show.

One big plus is that they actually filmed it on Maui, a nice touch, they could have easily filmed it on the west end of Oahu which back then still had enough open land for the effect they wanted. From some of the panorama shots I'd say it was filmed along highway 37 and Keokea in the hill country east of Wailea-Makena. The coast down there is full of resorts now but that hill country hasn't changed.

Here were my thoughts on Paniolo, which I re-watched in October 2019: https://hawaiifiveo.org/forum/showth...ll=1#post84808