Lest We Forget (1.10)

[J.J. Walters]

This is the official MM thread for Lest We Forget (1.10). All discussions and reviews for this episode should go here. If you wish to rate the episode, please do so with the poll. The avg. score will be the official 'community rating', which will be used on the episode page (updated monthly).

This thread is also linked in the episode page of the Episode Guide.

Original Air Date: 2/12/1981
A Supreme Court nominee hires Magnum to find the woman he married on the eve of the raid on Pearl Harbor. At the time, he was a young Navy Ensign, she was a prostitute, and during the bombings they became separated. The Judge had presumed her dead - until recently, when he started receiving blackmail threats relating to an incident forty years ago.

[N1095A]

Anne has her own website that includes some recent photos.
www.annelockhart.com

[golfmobile]

Don't know if this would count as a flub, but in the early scene where Magnum is narrating that when he needs to think, he swims, he swims up to the big square stone slab in the tidal pool, and Zeus (or Apollo -- he doesn't know which one either) is waiting for him there -- and then does a very ungraceful leap into the water to follow Magnum to shore -- my question is: HOW did Z/A get UP on the slab? It looks too high for him to have leaped or scrambled/climbed up onto it from swimming in the water out to it. And it would be hard to believe that Higgins carried him out there and put him up on it, just to greet Thomas. It makes for a cute scene with Thomas and the dogs, but how did the dog get on the slab?

Also, Ensign Robert Wickes had an AWFULLY nice car in 1941. Would have ensign have had such a nice car at Pearl Harbor in 1941?

golf

[wilko]

This is one of the best episodes in the entire series. A great story line backed up by some polished acting.

[J.J. Walters]

Yeah, this is one of my favorite episodes from Season One. You've got two heavyweight actors in Jose Ferrer and June Lockhart (who's still around, by the way) and their respected children in Miguel Ferrer and Anne Lockhart. Miss Hawaii 1978 (Elizabeth Lindsey) can be seen. And the legendary Scatman Crothers makes a brief appearance! The story is intriguing. There are great flashback scenes. Lots of beautiful on-location shots. Zeus and Apollo even join in the fun. A great episode!

Also, there is a closeup shot of a newspaper article that is amusing.



First off, the picture of Judge Cain doesn't appear to be Jose Ferrer. Secondly, the text in the article is just a bunch of nonsensical words strung together! The first paragraph reads, "A former Los Angeles veterans young actress, a bone of contention feet wide and eight feet high. Powered by electricity, it carries its own won't even pay that".

I realize that in 1981, the production crew couldn't have imagined that someone would be able to freeze the closeup and read the text, but it's still amusing! I know that later newspaper closeups (the ones I've read, anyway) have text that actually makes sense, so it's somewhat of a mystery as to why they would take the time to create a fake newspaper article with gibberish text. Maybe they were just running out of time and slapped something together as quickly as possible.

[Steve]

Great shot James, reading the article is hilarious. Reminds me somewhat when I was in my first year of College and majoring in Architecture, we would have to turn in four solid pages of lettering every day to practice our style. I became so tired of doing it by the second semster that I found the nastiest erotic novel I could find and copied it word for word thinking that our instructor wasn't reading the words anyway. Man, was I wrong, one morning he read it in front of the class not saying who wrote it, but standing right in front of my drafting table when he did!!!
By the way, as far as the lad getting up on the slab, when I was there at low tide, the water was only just above my knees at that point. An easy leap for Zeus or Apollo.......

Steve
Chicago

[SelleckLover]

Great college experience story Steve!

[Carol the Dabbler]

The body of the newspaper article may be gibberish, but the photo caption is cute -- "Will Caine be Able?" I hadn't noticed that in the brief view during the episode.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Which reminds me, the ensign apparently chose his new surname, Caine, in reference to the Biblical story wherein Cain was exiled after killing Abel.

Oddly enough, the same analogy applies to Kwai Chang Caine of "Kung Fu" (who fled to America after killing the prince who was responsible for the death of his old master), even though Caine seems to have been his actual family name.

[golfmobile]

Steve,

The important stuff: What was the novel?



golf

[Carol the Dabbler]

Ensign Robert Wickes had an AWFULLY nice car in 1941. Would have ensign have had such a nice car at Pearl Harbor in 1941?

His parents gave it to him as a graduation present when he finished at the Naval Academy?

[IslandHopper]

This is one of the best episodes in the entire series. A great story line backed up by some polished acting.

This is also one of my favorite episodes. I thought the footage of the Attack on Pearl Harbor was very good. This looked very familiar to me. Was this footage used in the WWII movie, Tora! Tora! Tora!? I can’t recall. I loved the way Higgins is trying to suck-up to Magnum because he thinks Magnum is an expert Bridge player and wants him to play as the fourth the following day, so Higgins helps with Magnum‘s investigation. I also liked the rarely seen overhead shot of the KKC. This particular location appears to be on the coast and is not the Marks Estate. I’m not sure the name of this particular location. This location appears right after the scene where Magnum and Judge Caine are riding in the Ferrari.

The KKC is also the scene of a flub or multiple flubs depending on how you look at it. The flub occurs when Magnum and Rick are sitting at the bar with Moki as the bartender. Magnum is talking with Rick about his case and Rick sees Higgins walk in and thinks he is going to yell at him because Magnum is not wearing a jacket. As Magnum and Rick are sitting at the bar, notice that (1) Rick has his team ring on his right ring finger; (2) Rick also has a gold bracelet on his right wrist; and (3) Rick has his watch on his left wrist. Higgins walks over and asks Magnum how his investigation is progressing and so on. Higgins walks away followed by Magnum (Rick still has his team ring on his right hand, bracelet on right arm and watch on left arm). The camera cuts to a close up of Moki looking at Rick in shock because Higgins, rather than chastise Magnum and Rick, offered to help Magnum and even pay for Magnum‘s beer. The camera then cuts to a close-up of Rick (side view) sitting at the bar and his left hand is on the bar and you can clearly see (1) his team ring is now on his left finger; (2) the gold bracelet is now on his left wrist; and (3) the watch is on his right wrist. It doesn’t appear to be a reverse image because Rick is sitting in the same place, same background, etc. Higgins is great in this scene as usual, but Moki makes this scene very funny. In an effort to butter-up Magnum even more, Higgins says to Moki, “put Magnum’s beer on my tab.“ Moki replies, “I always do.“ The way he delivers that line is perfect, almost with a sense of surprise that anyone would think otherwise. Moki deserved an award for that delivery, or at least be allowed to continue employment on the show as the KKC bartender. Great scene, great episode.

[J.J. Walters]

I also liked the rarely seen overhead shot of the KKC. This particular location appears to be on the coast and is not the Marks Estate. I’m not sure the name of this particular location. This location appears right after the scene where Magnum and Judge Caine are riding in the Ferrari.

Do you mean this shot?



As Sam recently informed me, it's the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki. It was used as the KKC "establishing shot" in only a handful of episodes in the first two seasons.

[IslandHopper]

Yeah, that's it James. Thanks for posting.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I thought the footage of the Attack on Pearl Harbor was very good. This looked very familiar to me. Was this footage used in the WWII movie, Tora! Tora! Tora!?

I can't say which movie the footage is from, but it sure does look like it is from a movie, with the frames compressed horizontally in order to fit on the slightly narrower tv screen. This makes the airplanes look kind of chubby, and the splashes and flames look extra-tall.