Men in Uniform

[Mr. Mike]

What are some episodes where people spoof being a member of HPD by wearing a uniform which they have gotten at a "costume store" (actually said in one show) or elsewhere? Bobbi and I discussed this, coming up with the following list, are there more?

Guys with uniforms who were not cops:
John Louisiana
For a Million...
Over Fifty, Steal
I'm a Family Crook
30,000 Rooms (a security guard?)
One Born Every Minute (Mossman)
Tsunami
School for Assassins (ugh)

Guys who were cops, might have kept their uniform:
Nightmare in Blue
Rest in Peace

Use of a military uniform (or not a cop):
Yesterday Died
R&R&R
The Ransom
Forty Feet High (did this involve uniforms?)

Pretending to be cops, no uniforms:
My Friend the Enemy
Welcome to our Branch Office

H50 guys pretending to be cops:
Target - A Cop

[Bobbi]

I could come up with a whole list of military uniforms. This isn't counting all those people wearing military uniforms in the course of their duties such as "Skinhead" (S04E18) and "To Kill Or Be Killed" (S03E17).

One was the Coast Guard fiasco with Five-O in S03E01 "And A Time To Die..."
S02E05 "Savage Sunday" also included the gun thieves in military uniforms - I believe it was supposed to be uniforms from their 'country'
And don't forget McGarrett as a Medic in S01E13 "King Of The Hill"
Another instance is Danno going undercover in S04E23 "Follow The White Brick Road"
There's also S10E09 "Deep Cover" with the double but I don't know if it really counts.
Of course, everyone has not only lost their minds, but they're in uniforms too in S10E19 "When Does A War End?"

Another grouping is for people in ambulance attendant uniforms:
S03E16 Ten Thousand Diamonds And A Heart (the guys were in uniform to take care of Orwell's fake heart attack)
S08E01 Murder -- Eyes Only (the CA cops played attendants to rescue Erica Walden)
S10E10 Tsunami (the kids also dress as ambulance attendants to pull off their fraud)

This doesn't include all the disguises both Wo Fat and McGarrett wore through the series, mostly in their cat and mouse chase. That should be yet another category.

[John Chergi]

There's Hunter R. Hickey in The Last Of The Great Paperhangers in NAVY uniform with the men that were hired in the convoy. Remember HRH cashes the large Government check. $200,000 or $250,000. Also, The Grandstand Play. The Security Guard at the ballpark has already killed Mr. Workman and Mrs. Workman and later tries to murder the young witness, Gary, and later McGarrett during the struggle. That's the best I can think. JC

[Bobbi]

You're right JC, HRH donned a Navy uniform to bilk the bank out of lots of cash.

The Grandstand Play falls into the category of the security guard uniform being worn in the course of duties. Even if the dude was a murdering slime ball.

[ringfire211]

I guess my question is... why the fascination with all these uniforms and why are we grouping/categorizing them?

[Mr. Mike]

This business started because I was redoing the gallery pictures for John Louisiana, where Stroud's character is dressed like an HPD cop (so the question was, where did he get this uniform from?), so I was wondering in how many other episodes was there this kind of deception?

This discussion is sort of like the "what are my favorite/least favorite episodes for the series/a particular season" threads which, in the old days, seemed to pop up whenever others had been exhausted!

By the way, without going back and watching Grandstand Play again, I don't think that Don Chastain's security guard character was being deceptive, wasn't he really a security guard at the stadium, because at one point this guy who is his boss tells him to quit goofing around and get back to work? It is kind of a weird coincidence that Chastain's girl friend, Josie Over, works at the hot dog stand in the stadium.

There are certain things that you "shouldn't think too hard about" in this show, I just realized. For example, Atwater's wife sounds like a nympho who was trying to "get it on" with people like a tennis club pro and was trolling guys at the stadium like Chastain, who ended up "doing it" with her and naughty pictures were taken. Fujiwara is a detective who was hired by Atwater to find out if his wife was fooling around, but was dismissed from the job after a couple of weeks. Later, Josie was blackmailing Atwater, though Fujiwara thought she was just a hooker...

[John Chergi]

You might remember in Journey Out Of Limbo the criminals constructed those dummies or mannequins. Hiding them in the bunker with the boat. Danno was chased by the group and leaped from an incredibly high cliff into the sand truck. He sustained a brain concussion. These mannequins were dressed in NAVY or sailor uniforms to strike the boat and cause an explosion. The signal was in the cigarette holder when it was moved. LOL! I was wondering Bobbi, Mr. Mike, Ringfire, and other HFO forum regulars...Do you think Danno's incredible leap into the sand truck was possible? Or do you think it was not possible due to the incredible height, flow of traffic, and the distance between the cliff area and the truck etc? Want to thank everyone for the excellent discussion and topics presented. JC

[ringfire211]

Obviously Danno’s leap of faith to land squarely in the back of the truck would have to be calculated precisely, especially since the truck is moving. So if he did land safely it’s because of extremely good luck, because he certainly didn’t have the time to calculate things precisely. But hey, it’s just a TV show. And in this case it’s hardly the most far-fetched thing we’ve seen on the show. Incredible episode!

[John Chergi]

Great answer Ringfire! I just was curious because believability or unbelievability can affect Final episode grades. JC

[John Chergi]

Ringfire
Sorry my cell phone was about 0. I've stated this on other posts but sometimes the believability or unbelievability can affect a final star grade. Case In Point: Deadly Persuasion Season 8. There's no way Stevens could know the TZ-40 gas was stored at Kern Industries. He wasn't a food or supply delivery man or an Intern at Kern. I also think his acrobatic climbing was impressive but again he's not a circus performing wire-walker or building worker on the large cranes. How would he have the skills to do this? Most of the episode he was a college student at class or trying to put his plan in motion. It also appeared quite easy to steal this deadly and volatile gas. No alarms or anything. It might have worked for me better if Stevens was a Chemistry student or something. Having an internship there and using his access to steal the gas. Deadly Persuasion was a solid episode I thought after the beginning. I also thought it was questionable how Danno believed it was just 1 person and not a radical group or fanatical faction of some kind. On Journey Out Of Limbo Question: I would say Danno jumping into the sand truck passed the believability test for me. He was cornered high on the cliff and noticed the large sand truck. He didn't have time to hesitate and jumped. It could have just as easily he missed and would have been severely injured or dead. In The Late John Louisiana, I think it stretched credibility that Nick The Iceman would not kill the attractive witness Julie. He seems to be a cold-blooded killer. In fact, he admitted to Julie that he killed a young woman around her age to make it appear he made the hit. Taking her watch and placing it on the body. Yet, it was a strong and believable love story and there was a great chemistry between the two actors. The Late John Louisiana is an episode that becomes more of a Classic with every watch. It appears to be a FAV with some of the Classic HFO Forum fans as well. In this case, I did not mark it down. The Late John Louisiana was very close to the 6 on my 6 star scale. Haven't graded it on the 4 star on this forum but it would be either a 3.75 or the 4 full stars. Thanks to Bobbi, Mr. Mike, and Ringfire for presenting great discussion and info here on the forum. JC