The Elmo Ziller Story (2.21)

[K Hale]

I watched this one again last night and they really gave the impression that this story was going to get re-visited. Elmo was confirmed to have gotten to Mexico, there was going to be a search by his daughter, the daughter promised to return with the rodeo, and the niece getting into Higgins' life for the first time all screamed of follow up episode. Does anyone know why they didn't ever bring it back?

I just watched this again, a very fun episode! And I totally agree Styles, I got the impression that this story would be rivisited/continued later on. I think it would have made for an outstanding episode to see Bronco Elmo "return from the dead" and for he and his daughter to head back to visit Higgins and TM. I still crack up at Rick and TC dressed as rodeo clowns when I watch this one lol. Fun episode, liked seeing it again.

This episode was tons of fun and well deserved a sequel, which it certainly sounded like they planned to do.

[thechickinthemiddle]

This episode was tons of fun and well deserved a sequel, which it certainly sounded like they planned to do.

Like with "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", it's very strange to not see the perp apprehended for their bigger crime. (It happened in "Deja Vu" too, but with Duncan Scott it made sense, given the organization he was a part of.)

[ENSHealy]

2.21 THE ELMO ZILLER STORY
Hawaiian shirts: 1 red with broad blue palm leaves
Island Hopper shirts: 0
Body Count: 0
Shirtless Thomas: 0
Little Voice: 1
I know what you’re thinking: 2
When I write HTBAWCPI: 0
Higgins musings: 3 (1919, D-day, polo in India)
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations: 0
Magnumometer: 8

To add to the Hill Country/El Paso flub, in the scene where Elmo is shot, they only fire the rifle once, but when describing the scene to Magnum, "Elmo" mentions 3 shots. Now obviously, "Elmo" wasn't there, so couldn't have known how many shots, but why have him say three shots without establishing some background for it? Maybe three shots were scripted/filmed but later edited out for time?

BTW, given the amount of flame shown in the cab of that pickup before they cut away from that scene...Elmo did not make it to Mexico, no matter how much darling Lexi wants to believe. I suppose he could have been thrown from the truck by the explosion, but it looked like he was wedged in there pretty good between the dash and the seat.

Hilarious that Higgins refers to his father as "the flower of British manhood" and I love that his mother "never allowed the beast to touch her again." Ahhh, marriage.

Last but not least, here are your "I know what you're thinking"s and the little voice:

I know what you're thinking, but this time you're wrong. Higgins was up to something, but as long as I knew
he was trying to trick me, I was ok, right? It's only when you don't know you're involved in a practical joke that you're in danger.

I know what you're thinking. Just because I couldn't pull off the moustache, even though I'd seen a bronc ride that would've killed a normal man, somehow I knew it was Higgins hiding under that 10-gallon hat. And I knew one way for sure to prove it.

There weren't very many Zillers registered at any of the major hotels. Not any named Marcella, anyway. I was headed downtown to the courthouse to check on her Hawaii residence, but at the same time, my little voice was also telling me I was headed on a wild goose chase.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I know what you're thinking. Just because I couldn't pull off the moustache, even though I'd seen a bronc ride that would've killed a normal man, somehow I knew it was Higgins hiding under that 10-gallon hat. And I knew one way for sure to prove it.

10-gallon hat? What is that... something like 38 litres? How big is that in cubic centimetres?

I always need to convert to metric to find out what the hell Americans are talking about.

[K Hale]

He should've taken into account the reality that Higgins is not a normal man.

[karolis]

As I stated in my post/rating for the episode "Billy Joe Bob"...I do not really like cowboy/western type episodes or movies! They're just too "hick/hillbilly" for my taste. I know usually they're supposed to be for humor purposes...but they're not funny--just stupid!

"The Elmo Ziller Story" was no different...it was so ridiculous and dumb that I usually end up thinking about something else while it's on. I think John Hillerman is an awesome actor and can play different roles very well. Ironically he also is in reality from Texas--so maybe that's why he wanted to play the dual role in this episode. But, I would hope he was not as ridiculously "hick" as he was in this!

Ironically this season started with a "hick" episode...and almost ended with one too. What saved season 2 is all the other awesome episodes in between.

I rated this episode quite high - 8.5, just because of funny Higgins/Magnum situations, but i prefer more balanced between serious and humorous episodes and i really don't like cowboy type episodes too. I didn't like Billy Joe Bob too, as well as Adelaide (it's not about cowboys, but i find it kinda similar type because of the horses). I like more views of Hawaii - T.C. flying the chopper, more backstories of Nam, better plot, more dramatic endings. Episodes such as "Italian Ice", "Tropical Madness", "J. "Digger" Doyle", "The Woman on the Beach", "Try to Remember", "Lest We Forget", "Never Again ... Never Again" and "The Last Page" is my type of MPI episodes

I conducted important research and found that the turtle is seen in at least ten episodes. Sometimes a second turtle can be seen on the opposite fence on the right side of the tennis court (it's clear now it's on the fence and not the wall). That one may have been up as long as the one on the left, but the right side is rarely seen. I didn't check prior to 2.11 or after 2.22 (which would be the next season). I just totally burnt out on looking for turtles.

Here's the list with one turtle appearance time for each episode:
2.11 (46:46)
2.12 (11:15)
2.14 (6:31)
2.15 (30:04)
2.16 (19:53)
2.18 (19:19)
2.19 (12:31)
2.20 (18:25)
2.21 posted above
2.22 (28:27)

It's already foggy in my mind since I did this a few days ago, but I think 2.13 and 2.17 didn't show the fence where the turtle(s) would be. I think we can assume they were there though.

2.18 (19:20) - additional turtle on the right side:


2.22 (25:13)


And the last one enlarged. Unfortunately the deerstalker is gone now, and the pipe seems to have turned into a... bill?


Higgins must have had Rick and T.C. put the turtles up for when elementary school field trips would come to the estate. That was never documented in an episode, sadly.

Here's the screenshot, cropped in and with enhanced contrast from this episode - looks like turtle to me too.



Here's the shot from the next (2.22) episode - when i started to analyse it i started to see a woodpecker with a nib and a racket in his hands, when i zoomed it in - it started to look like an inflatable elephant with a racket and instead of a nib - it's trunk.



But i'm sure it's a turtle, i mean it's clearly a green shell, yellow body, with a light hat, holding on the fence with his left hand and racket - in his right, his head is turned back to look towards the tennis court (inside). Now i can't even see an elephant no more. It still kinda looks a little bit similar to woodpecker.

One might think that Magnum -- who was already nearly certain that "Elmo" was actually Higgins -- would have been absolutely positive the whole thing was a hoax when he saw Agatha Chumley pretending to be Sylvia the front-desk clerk!

Was this Agatha's first appearence in MPI?

No, it was in "Mad Buck Gibson" where Buck crash lands on the beach.

BTW, given the amount of flame shown in the cab of that pickup before they cut away from that scene...Elmo did not make it to Mexico, no matter how much darling Lexi wants to believe. I suppose he could have been thrown from the truck by the explosion, but it looked like he was wedged in there pretty good between the dash and the seat.

Maybe by some luck he managed to wake up, open the door and get out? But it's hard to imagine him to be far enough from the explosion in so little time, especially being hurt.

-----

Here's my Season Two's Top up to this episode:

1. Tropical Madness (loved this one)
2-3. Memories Are Forever (1 & 2)
4. Italian Ice
5. The Last Page
6. Try to Remember
7. The Woman on the Beach
8. The Jororo Kill
9. Computer Date
10. Dead Man’s Channel
11. Wave Goodbye
12. Texas Lightning
13. Ghost Writer
14. The Elmo Ziller Story
14. The Sixth Position
15. From Moscow to Maui
16. One More Summer
17. Double Jeopardy
18. The Taking of Dick McWilliams
19. Billy Joe Bob
20. Mad Buck Gibson

[karolis]

Clearly Higgins/Ziller double trying to stand up:

[K Hale]

I'm a fifth-generation south Texas native, and my family owns some land out Highway 90 near Sabinal--and we drive through Hondo to get there. Someone must have really liked the name "Hondo," because it's mentioned again in Season 3...I can't remember the episode, it's the one with the pilot from Waco. Hondo is not at all a big city--it isn't now, and 30 years ago was probably less so...maybe it just *sounds* so Texan.

Probably because it was also the title of John Wayne western. I have a friend in Brackettville and have driven through Hondo a number of times. It is still little more than a wide spot on Hwy 90.

On accents, though. In south Texas--where Hondo is--the only accent you're likely to have is a Mexican one. Anglo speakers don't tend to have accents (I've been told many times that I can't be from Texas, because I don't have an accent)--I think it's due to the many military bases in San Antonio and the fairly diverse and changing population there.
West Texans (Midland/Odessa) have an accent, but the strongest accent in Texas is NORTH Texas--Dallas and environs. They aren't the same. (did I mention Texas is a big place?).

I’m a Dallas resident myself and you are correct with the addition of east Texas. North Texas and east Texas are heavily southern-influenced in culture and history. South and west Texas, not so much.

John Hillerman is from Denison, north of Dallas, and his native accent would have been North Texas. And when he's being Elmo, what he actually sounds like is a south Texan (no real accent, just some word usages that give it away), trying to affect a west Texas accent. All are authentic--but evidently (from the commentary) not all sound like what people expect from a "Texas" accent.

I guarantee he meant “Elmo’s” accent to sound affected and over the top – he is playing a British guy who is playing a Texan, after all. He shouldn’t have sounded legit. Hillerman said in an interview at some point that playing a character who is playing another character or being fake in some way is not an easy thing to do. And he was very good at it. He did the same sort of thing when he played a hit man in one of the episodes of Mannix that he was in, and also in the feature film The Nickel Ride, in which his character (a mobster) absolutely oozes insincerity. And come to think of it, he also did it to a little lesser extent in Chinatown.

If you want to hear Hillerman pull out his natural Texas accent, watch S7 “Murder By Night” when he plays the Texas lawyer Sam Caldwell.

Hillerman says [de-'tails] (with the emphasis on the second syllable, the British emphasize the first syllable ['dee-tails]) a few times throughout the series, I have noticed (unfortunately I haven't made note of it, but I may do so in future, if I notice it again).

In Texas, we also say DEEtails, not deTAILS. So I don’t know why he said it that way but he did it so often that I feel like he must have heard some English person pronounce it that way.

[KingKC]

My memory fails me sometimes but didn't Higgins use his Texas accent in an episode with Luther Gillis when they went into a bar to play pool??? I think they both got beat up and Magnum got a real laugh from it. I think Higgins may have mentioned something about Hondo, Texas in that scene as well.

[K Hale]

My memory fails me sometimes but didn't Higgins use his Texas accent in an episode with Luther Gillis when they went into a bar to play pool??? I think they both got beat up and Magnum got a real laugh from it. I think Higgins may have mentioned something about Hondo, Texas in that scene as well.

Yes he did. He gave his name as Elmo Ziller from Hondo, Texas but he didn’t play him the same. I saw a little John Wayne in that scene

[ENSHealy]

2.21 THE ELMO ZILLER STORY
Hawaiian shirts: 1 red with broad blue palm leaves
Island Hopper shirts: 0
Body Count: 0
Shirtless Thomas: 0
Little Voice: 1
I know what you’re thinking: 2
When I write HTBAWCPI: 0
Higgins musings: 3 (1919, D-day, polo in India)
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations: 0
Magnumometer: 8

The Magnumometer has evolved a bit since my last pass by this episode, and it now scores a 10 instead of an 8.
2.21 THE ELMO ZILLER STORY
Hawaiian shirts: 1
Tigers Cap: 1
Island Hopper shirts:
Body Count:
Bullet wounds:
Shirtless:
Little Voice: 1
I know what you’re thinking: 2
When I write HTBAWCPI:
Investigator corrections:
Higgins musings: 3
4th wall breaks: 1
Negotiations:
OMG/Extraordinarys: 1
Higgins Organizations:
Famous guest stars:
Magnumometer: 10

Potential magnumania usernames: Lexie Ziller

Magnumometer Moments: https://vimeo.com/374712356

Episode Guide correction needed:
(to Magnum)
"Elmo Ziller": You must bring me the head of Marcela Ziller.
Actually, he says “Just bring me the head of Marcella Ziller.”

CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS
Magnum: Hold it. Hold it right there. No one is going anyplace until I get a thorough explanation.
Higgins: Coexistence in even remotely the same environs with Elmo is aesthetically corrupting and intellectually life-threatening. You, however, are a perfect match, which is why I recommended that he hire you when he came to me with his appalling story.

Higgins:
The symbolism is almost too perfect, don't you think? The child of the weakness of the flesh in contrast with the child of perfect….

Higgins: Magnum!
Magnum: [Choking]Higgins, you're back.
Higgins: Your keen perception never fails to astonish me. Nor your proclivity for petty theft. Nor your wanton disregard for the dietary requirements of the lads.
Magnum: Why are you back?
Higgins: Because I knew. I just instinctively knew that you would take advantage of my absence to cavalierly destroy the entire moral and social fiber of this estate.

A minor flub was in the first scene when the two bad guys ride up on horses to the crashed truck. One of them gets off his horse behind the truck and goes to the passenger side to light the tank on fire. When he's done and goes to get on his horse, it's over by the driver side door along with the other horse...

I don’t think this is really a flub. The horse could have just wandered over there while its rider was busy stuffing the rag in the gas tank and lighting it. The shot focuses on him, lots could be happening that we don’t see.

This episode prompts lots of questions. Some have already been asked, some not.

If Higgins really is Elmo, how does he get from the guest house to the main house and change before seeing Thomas?
If Higgins is at the Belvedere Club, who’s at the newspaper office?
If Marcella thinks Elmo is really dead, why is the subpoena made out to Elmo and not Jonathon?
Who was it that Rick and TC thought was Bronco Elmo riding in the ring when Higgins arrived at the rodeo?
And how did all the other folks there not notice it was “not Elmo” riding in the ring?
Marcella lives in Hawaii?
The [so-called] assassins work for the rodeo?
What's with the full on mouth kiss for Thomas at the end from Lexie? Did something happen we didn’t get to see?

But again, all of this “flub spotting” and “plot hole” digging is merely a discussion of the brush strokes of a wall size work from an Old Master. It makes the viewer feel good about knowing the work so well they can spot the flaws, but is in no way actual criticism of the masterpiece as a whole.

Another good look at the colonnade through the front door (interesting in that this is the episode with the long interior shot that clearly shows the foyer leading into the sitting room).


Not a bad stunt double, actually:

[K Hale]

I watched this again tonight and noticed something. When the two bad guys are dragging the semi-conscious Higgins into the pickup truck, I swear I heard one of them say, “He’s a stout little bastard!”

[Higgins@Kokoda]

I love Higgins explanation of the (not an easy story to tell) of the conception of Elmo Ziller. To quote Higgins:

"It all began in the summer of 1919 when my father was in the Military Section attached to the British delegation...the old boy was stricken with the influenza and, not to make excuses...there was this American Red Cross Nurse, from Texas, LOUD, COURSE, VULGAR...a TART ACTUALLY..."

[Blackmamba]

I think Hondo probably has meaning to Donald P. Bellisario, since I’ve heard Hondo, Texas also mentioned at least once in NCIS, another show he created. Also, I may not be a Texan, but I used to work for a company that got a ton of business from Texas. Eventually I could usually guess what part of Texas someone was from by their accent. The Dallas area was the most refined and not as prominent as some other areas. And, all these years later, I couldn’t add to that, but at the time it was great fun guessing!
I enjoy this episode because it showcases Hillerman’s extraordinary talent as an actor.

[Sam]

Not a new location discovery but a better look at the house used in at least two mpi episodes and three hfo.

MPI. Foiled again and The Elmo Ziller Story

HFO...The Waterfront Steal, How to Steal a Masterpiece and Number One with a Bullet..

Seems to be little change seen in the Elmo Ziller Story to now..The listing does say it was remodeled in 1996..

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4615 ... 0591_zpid/