The Return of Luther Gillis (4.16)

[K Hale]

Lots of humor makes this very watchable for me. The debate over getting the mail, the reaction to Luther and Blanche showing up, Higgins and Blanche teaming up, Big Sally, you name it. But Luther IS a heel for leaving Blanche at the altar.

When TM and JQH are trying to dissuade Luther and Blanche from staying at the estate and Higgins says two plane loads of flight attendants are going to be occupying every single room, while Magnum emphatically nods as if to say "Yep! They sure are! Honest!", does anyone else think Higgins made that story up on the spot?

[KingKC]

"Higgins, I can explain" from the mail scene was a priceless quote in the series. Priceless also describes Eugene Roche as Luther Gillis. I did notice that the chronology seemed to be off in a spot or two. At one point I thought they said Blanche had been with Luther for 25 years but she was talking about cases from the early and mid 1950's which had to be about 30 years prior. Sheree North is a fun actress to watch as well.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Hi Guys,
I think it is pretty apparent that Donald Bellisario is a classic film buff, especially film noir/gumshoe flicks. I just saw for the first time the four star classic
"The Late Show"(1977), with future Magnum veterans Eugene Roche and Howard Duff. Art Carny stars as a past it old style private eye with terrible taste in clothes, his patter out of a old Bogie movie. All thru the flick I kept thinking either Bellisario used the Carny character as the basis for Luther Gillis, or Eugene Roche did, it is just too much of a coincidence.
The Late Show is full of goodies for the film buff, down to the wryly amusing ending shot of a ad on a bench as the bus pulls away.
Co-star Howard Duff starred on radio as Sam Spade, a beau coup entertaining series from the golden age of radio plus it had a sense of humor; come to think of it Bellisario might have borrowed from that series for aspects of Magnum. Probably the Sam Spade connection is why he cast Duff on Magnum, another wink to classic PI's.
Eugene Roche plays a bad guy in the film, he really crackles onscreen.
Eugene might have inspired Bellisario to create another Magnum trademark. In one scene Roche is climbing out of his pool in almost transparent "Magnum"
style shorts, talk about a full moon, lady Magnum Mania fans may want to check it out. Others, avert your eyes!
Hopefully with such a successful career Bellisario will write his Bio one day and answer a lot of questions. Hmm, does anyone know if Bellisario has written any articles,or commented in depth, on Magnum?

"If it's important I'll get back to you. If I don't you'll know why"...Rick's answering machine

[brianw]

Not a huge LG fan, this one was pretty average. There were some funny moments though (the jail cell scene). I love Geoffrey Lewis, he was in a lot of great movies (especially with Eastwood).

[K Hale]

"If it's important I'll get back to you. If I don't you'll know why"...Rick's answering machine

I need to steal this for my voicemail message.

[Chris109]

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Hi Guys,
I never saw Sheree North's early work, first taking note of her as Lou Grant's sultry club singer girlfriend on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Recently I tuned in to "The Lieutenant Wore Skirts" (1956) starring Tom Ewell and Sheree and beautifully shot on a very rich color stock.
It was a sort of sequel to The Seven Year Itch starring Ewell and Marilyn Monroe and references it in a in joke.
Sheree was being groomed as the often unstable Monroe's replacement and this was her big intro.
It starts out showcasing North's legs, then about every 15 minutes shows her in ever more sexy outfits, culminating with her gyrating to a very snappy
"Rock Around the Island" song that will make every male in the audience start panting.
Holy Smokes, she makes Monroe look like somebody's still developing annoying kid sister!
Also in the cast is a young Rita Moreno who ain't exactly chopped liver either. Plus future Combat! star Rick Jason who is aces as a roue trying to bed Ewell's
wife North. The last shot of the film has Jason waving from a plane's window, mouthing "you son of a bitch" to Ewell on the tarmac.
This is a average service comedy and it stretches the imagination that a homely, middle aged guy like Ewell could land North in this flick and Monroe
in Seven Year Itch. But it did let all the regular schnooks in the audience feel that they too could score someone like Sheree, if Ewell could.
Poor Sheree, starting out with Tom Ewell, then on to Ed Asner and Eugene Roche's Luther Gillis.
Tom Selleck they ain't. Or even for that matter "Scrung-o", the cellmate Magnum and Luther drove to a suicide attempt with their non-stop bickering.

[ENSHealy]

4.16 THE RETURN OF LUTHER GILLIS
Famous guest stars:
Hawaiian shirts: 1

Tigers Cap: 2

Island Hopper shirts:
Shirtless Magnum:
OMG: 1
Higgins Organizations:
Higgins musings: 1
Negotiations:
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Little Voice:
I know what you’re thinking: 1
When I write HTBAWCPI: .5
Investigator corrections:
4th wall breaks: 1 Higgins - I’m on the fence about this one. Not 100% sure Higgins is looking into the camera. (25:23)
Magnumometer: 7.5
Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/393273335

Potential magnumania usernames: Nick the Stick, Bertie Farnbush

Tom Lupo is everywhere.

[MachoTaco]

When I first started watching MPI, I didn't like the Luther Gillis eps. Now, I love them! Luther has so many good and funny lines. I would have loved a re-hash montage of Luther Gillis: File #521 in the trailer. Scrung-o, from File #521, demanding another cell was a priceless payoff! I really like how TM and Luther can't stand each other, but they really are so much alike; cut from the same cloth, but from different parts of the pattern. So much so that while riding together in the Ferrari thinking to themselves, they answer each other's thoughts, and Luther even asks Magnum, "did you say something?"

I do agree with everyone about Luther leaving Blanche at the altar was a pretty low thing to do. That was the only disappointment of the episode for me.

Also, on the Magnumometer score: Doesn't Sheree North count as a famous guest star? And doesn't Luther's "brother" getting shot in the hand in the opening scene count as a bullet wound?

TM: Where's Doc lbold? How did you know to get to Hotel Street?
LG: Let's just say that Sawbones got a taste of his own medicine. You know what l mean? And if you wanna know how l figured out how to follow you to Jo's well, you'll just have to wait till my next book comes out!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

When I first started watching MPI, I didn't like the Luther Gillis eps. Now, I love them! Luther has so many good and funny lines. I would have loved a re-hash montage of Luther Gillis: File #521 in the trailer. Scrung-o, from File #521, demanding another cell was a priceless payoff! I really like how TM and Luther can't stand each other, but they really are so much alike; cut from the same cloth, but from different parts of the pattern. So much so that while riding together in the Ferrari thinking to themselves, they answer each other's thoughts, and Luther even asks Magnum, "did you say something?"
I do agree with everyone about Luther leaving Blanche at the altar was a pretty low thing to do. That was the only disappointment of the episode for me.
Also, on the Magnumometer score: Doesn't Sheree North count as a famous guest star? And doesn't Luther's "brother" getting shot in the hand in the opening scene count as a bullet wound?

TM: Where's Doc lbold? How did you know to get to Hotel Street?
LG: Let's just say that Sawbones got a taste of his own medicine. You know what l mean? And if you wanna know how l figured out how to follow you to Jo's well, you'll just have to wait till my next book comes out!

Hi MachoTaco,
Hmm, no matter what, you just have to post something - 3 posts in 5 years - every 20 months. But it's worth it, good post from a fellow Lutheran, er Lutherite.

"cut from the same cloth, but from different parts of the pattern. So much so that while riding together in the Ferrari thinking to themselves, they answer each other's thoughts"

Thats darn insightful. TV writers put these goodies in hoping we catch it but sometimes it takes awhile. I didn't care for "Way of the Stalking Horse (6.17)" at first but several viewings later I realized it
is the best directed - a quick shot of Magnum entering his hotel, his ragged condition and the hookers there signaling both his degraded new world and ethics - episode
of the series, at least in my humble opinion. The writing is superb, there is so much going on and being commented on, Magnum and the assassin slowly becoming mirror images of
each other, both trained killers, former sniper Magnum regressing to the tortured man he came to Hawaii to escape. Only TC it seems is understanding the situation.

Now Thomas also has his mirror image from 25 years in the future Luther to contend with. It's not nice he jilted Blanche? Well TM, check out your record with the ladies, at the end of
the day they are in your rear view. The creators sneakingly weaving these themes into different episodes in different ways, they probably designed the characters course
from the start when they laid out the series "bible" and stayed true to it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Higgins: You're simply to be his "legman" as he describes it.
Luther Gillis: Yeah, yeah. The day I'm Tom Magnum's "legman" is the day I sit on the street corner selling pencils and drinking cheap pink out of a paper bag.

[MachoTaco]

Hmm, no matter what, you just have to post something...

Hi Luther's nephew Dobie and fellow LG fan!

Yes I should, so here goes. I love reading all the posts from this community after each ep we watch. Everyone is so insightful and I'm most of the time so late to the game that my comments seem like they have already been said by others.

Wow, you are so right! The writers really did portray TM out to be the mirror image of the killer. I'm sure I'll have more comments once I rewatch it. Sooner than 10+ months hopefully? But yeah, couldn't agree more. We just finished Echoes of the Mind 1 & 2 --WOW--, so now I'm off to read that!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Hmm, no matter what, you just have to post something...

Hi Luther's nephew Dobie and fellow LG fan!
Yes I should, so here goes. I love reading all the posts from this community after each ep we watch. Everyone is so insightful and I'm most of the time so late to the game that my comments seem like they have already been said by others.
Wow, you are so right! The writers really did portray TM out to be the mirror image of the killer. I'm sure I'll have more comments once I rewatch it. Sooner than 10+ months hopefully? But yeah, couldn't agree more. We just finished Echoes of the Mind 1 & 2 --WOW--, so now I'm off to read that!

Macho Taco,
Look forward to more of your posts. When I found Magnum Mania the best part for me was reading the comments in the threads dedicated to a particular episode. Learned so much I never knew before,
and the byplay between posters was fun as well. Also I know bupkis about Hawaii and the guys who visited or lived there filled in a lot of the blanks. Especially concerning the estate.
The Hawaii 5-0 thread also enlightened me as to the many times that series filmed at the Pahonu and that the name is Hawaiian for 'turtle area" - if I recall correctly.
If I ever get to Hawaii visiting the site is number two on my list of things to see after the USS Arizona Memorial.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alf - "I wasn't called the whiz kid on Melmac for my scholastic ability."
Moe - "When Shemp pours on the charm no dame can resist him."

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

The Return of Luther Gillis

Saw this one for the very first time and really enjoyed it. Actually even more (I think) than the first Luther Gillis episode. The first one just had Eugene Roche but this one also has the added bonus of Sheree North as Blanche. I didn't even count on enjoying her as much as him but she was every bit as memorable as ol' Luther. Her back and forth with Higgy in the shack while they're tied up is a hoot. He keeps blasting her and she thinks he's paying her compliments. Then he agrees with her and she thinks he's disagreeing. Her stories from the past aggravate Higgy, yet he himself is the biggest offender ever in this department - telling long-winded stories that no one cares about. Plus all the other great gags - Dot Matrix, Big Sal with the frying pan, Geoffrey Lewis with his hot dog shirt, the return of Scrung-O, Higgy's karate chop, and so many great lines really put this one above the first Luther episode. This is clearly an all-out comedy episode so you can't take any of it seriously and you'll have a blast!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

The Return of Luther Gillis
Saw this one for the very first time and really enjoyed it. Actually even more (I think) than the first Luther Gillis episode. The first one just had Eugene Roche but this one also has the added bonus of Sheree North as Blanche. I didn't even count on enjoying her as much as him but she was every bit as memorable as ol' Luther. Her back and forth with Higgy in the shack while they're tied up is a hoot. He keeps blasting her and she thinks he's paying her compliments. Then he agrees with her and she thinks he's disagreeing. Her stories from the past aggravate Higgy, yet he himself is the biggest offender ever in this department - telling long-winded stories that no one cares about. Plus all the other great gags - Dot Matrix, Big Sal with the frying pan, Geoffrey Lewis with his hot dog shirt, the return of Scrung-O, Higgy's karate chop, and so many great lines really put this one above the first Luther episode. This is clearly an all-out comedy episode so you can't take any of it seriously and you'll have a blast!

Ivan,
You have now compelled me to go back and watch this episode today. If there was a Scrung-o emoji, I would give you five out of five on the Scrung-o scale for your post.

Somewhere on these boards somebody once claimed that the actor playing Scrung-o appeared on a Hawaii Five-0. I have yet to spot him.
Maybe he appeared on one of the last two seasons' episodes that are never rerun?
Who knows perhaps his Scrung-o character originated on Hawaii Five-O, as I recall wasn't there also a minor cop character who appeared on both series?
I would have loved to have seen McGarrett collar him and say, "Got ya, Scrung-o, book him, murder one!"

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

In my above post, I was wrong concerning the "minor cop character" appearing on both the original Hawaii Five-O and the original Magnum PI in the same role. I was thinking of the below -

"Actor Dennis Chun has appeared in the original Hawaii Five-0 and the reboot. He has also appeared on both Tom Selleck's Magnum PI and the current remake.
One of his roles is HPD Sergeant Duke Lukela, starting on the Hawaii Five-0 reboot and now on the new Magnum.
Wearing a Honolulu police uniform runs in the family, his dad Kam Fong Chun was an actual Honolulu police officer, working his way up to detective.
No one at Magnum Mania has to be told he later went into acting, playing Steve McGarrett's trusted team member Chin Ho Kelly.
The senior Chun witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
In 1943 two B-25 bombers collided directly over Chun's house, his wife and two young kiddies perishing in the resultant inferno."