I actually bought the Season 1 DVD maybe a couple years ago and am only now starting to watch it. I like the series episodes more than the Pilot. One of my favorites so far has to be SAMURAI, but why oh why is Ricardo Montalban playing a Japanese man? I know he's a good actor, but this show has had Asian actors before. Who in the world decided on this?
http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/
why is Ricardo Montalban playing a Japanese man? I know he's a good actor, but this show has had Asian actors before. Who in the world decided on this? - wallacesawyer
I doubt that anyone decided these guys would be good to play Asian characters. It had to be because they all had some contractual agreement with CBS to appear in a certain number of shows as guest stars, and CBS put them on just to fulfill those requirements. Keep in mind, this only happened during the first three years of the show. Montalban played a Japanese character once, Lenard and Opatoshu did in one show, Will Kuluva did in two shows, and Philip Pine in one.
shareContract stuff. I guess that's why he appeared on the show. But as an Asian character, wow. No thought to bring that up.
http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/
Montalban played a Japanese kabuki actor named Nakamura in the film Sayonara.
A bit of trivia, by the way (I have told this story before). Many years ago, I had lunch with the late James MacArthur when he was in Vancouver making a movie. I asked him about the use of whities to play Asian parts like the one under discussion. This was not a good idea, he got very annoyed, starting out with "Oh, it's that fu[you know what]ing political correctness again..." (yes, Danno actually used the word "fu[you know what]ing"!). This was pretty embarrassing, as I attempted to let him know that I wasn't trying to unleash some sinister PC agenda, but just wondered why no one had considered using real Asian actors to play these parts -- I'm sure there were SOME such actors around at the time! I guess he really wasn't that mad, since he paid for my lunch.
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The Hawaii Five-O Home Page - 1994-2014 - 20 yrs. on the WWW! http://www.mjq.net/fiveo
I remember reading a thread posted on this site back when I first joined IMDB years ago. The thread writer who happened to be Asian let it be known that he was highly offended by Montalban's characterization of a Japanese individual seen in the Season 1 "Samaurai" episode. The use of make-up and changing of Montalban's eyelids to make him appear to be Japanese in particular had this thread writer especially upset. He thought that at this particular episode was extremely poor and expressed surprise that the show, back after the completion of the first season in the spring of 1969 had been renewed by CBS for a second season.
I can only surmise that this individual was not a fan of Hawaii Five- O. He was also quite wrong, the show was renewed for a second, third, fourth, fifth. . . seasons.
Considering that many topic posts having remained dormant for awhile eventually get deleted by the IMDB administration, no doubt this individual's thread has long been removed, even though the guy was simply expressing his own opinion.
It isn't often about the subject of the post. What I read is that if there are more than a certain number of threads on a message board, the oldest ones get deleted. If this post was from the early 2000s, it would have been deleted for being too old. We did talk about white actors playing Asian characters in other threads, and those remained up for a while.
Even though that poster was offended, what I didn't like was how people made the assumption that it was customary for Hawaii Five-O to have white men play Asian characters. It was only in a handful of shows from the first 3 seasons where this happened, not throughout its run.
A stupid woman on Netflix said she lived in Hawaii as a child and that the population is 70% Asian - a fact anyone could have looked up, regardless of where they lived. She made it sound as though only people who live in Hawaii know that. She criticized the show as a whole, citing Montalban playing a Japanese man and using that to claim that the show did not utilize Asian actors at all. If this airhead lived in Hawaii as she claimed, she would know full-well that were Asian actors on the show. Did she not notice Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, Herman Wedemeyer, Kwan Hi Lim, Tommy Fujiwara, Elissa Dulce, et al?
I also came across a 57-year-old woman who claimed to be a tax assessor on Screen Rant who said she lived in Hawaii for 27 years, and that new Hawaii Five-0 was more realistic because it was set in Hawaii, while the original was set in LA. If this moron lived in Hawaii for 27 years, how could she claim the original series was not filmed there? Yeah, Iolani Palace and Waikiki are really in LA.
Vrinda81,
Far too often on IMDB and other public forums regarding other topics, people post threads and they don't know at all just what the hell they're talking about. I've been to Hawaii 6 times in my life, the last in the fall of 2012. The moron Colin Cowherd, who has a morning radio show on one of the ESPN networks claimed on one of his shows quite loudly that the average temperature during the day is 75 degrees throughout most of Hawaii. I was to write to this imbecile an email just to ask him if he'd ever been to Hawaii. 75 degrees is about the avg. overnight temperature, the guy was a complete moron. What does Colin think that it drops to 40 degrees and below in Honolulu each night? During the day, at least on the island of Oahu near Waikiki and Honolulu the average temps are in the upper 80's daily, even during the rainy season. Duh, Colin! You're so unbelievably stupid!
The woman that you mentioned, the one who was a tax assessor and lived in Hawaii for 27 years claiming that the original 5-0 was set in Los Angeles has a few rocks in her head, replacing brain matter. From my visits to Hawaii alone I could easily recognize background scenery in many episodes that were shot in various locales of not only the island of Oahu, but Maui and the big Island as well, (and even though the show dated back to the fall of 1968). What, was this lady standing in the wrong line when the Good Lord was passing out brains?
Some people just fail to engage their brains before opening their mouths, (writing out their thoughts in threads) too often in forums such as this one. They just don't realize how stupid they sound like every time they click on the "post reply" or "send" button, after composing the thoughts that come from their very empty minds.
I also meant to add, agreeing with what you said concerning that individual who posted his comments in a thread years ago saying just how offended he was with Ricardo Montalban's one characterization of an Asian individual in that "Samurai" episode. You can't look at one particular episode and damn an entire season of the show.
You're also correct, Vrinda81 in regards to one other very salient point that you made: The original 5-0 had many, many Asian actors who made multiple appearances on the show - as you mentioned Kam Fong, Zulu, Al Harrington, Herman Wedemeyer, Elissa Dulce, etc. Was that individual completely blind and unable to see what was on her television screen? That Netflix woman who got her nose all bent out of shape, and at the same time was completely wrong in her assertion of a lack of Asian actors on the show; much like Colin Cowherd and Miss Tax Assessor was a totally mindless and brainless freak!!
Thanks, Jeffman. You said it well. I always read and reread my posts before I hit send or reply. Sometimes, after seeing it posted, I think it looks okay, then I go back and reread it, and I think it sound awkward and then I edit it. I always try to check my facts, but I would never make such a claim which is so easily debunked like these three clods did.
I even came across someone on Yahoo! who said Jack Lord was not in every episode. Where did he get that nonsense from? Even if he didn't watch every episode, there are websites with episode summaries which mention McGarrett in every one. If he was not in even one episode, that would be mentioned somewhere. This was in comments' section of an article on the new show, so this person was making up stories just to make the new show look better.
I came across a blogger who told vicious lies about Jack - that in the years after Leonard Freeman's death, Jack picked scripts which gave McGarrett more screentime, rejected scripts which gave his co-stars more screentime, and picked scripts which made McGarrett look perfect in solving crimes and a ladies' man, prompting producers and writers to cry out within earshot of reporters that Jack was "difficult to work with."
Having read much of the magazine articles written about Jack during that time, I didn't come across any comments - anonymous or otherwise - from any producers or writers about him. The writers, from what I read online, never visited Hawaii because Lenny Freeman didn't want the scripts to look like travelogues. One group of writers visited Hawaii in 1968 to outline ideas. This was told to me by one of them. They knew Lenny from working with him on a previous show, Mr. Novak. This writer who spoke to me didn't even talk to Jack that much, because Jack was not involved with the scripts. That writer told me this directly. He didn't remember working with Jack, but said he was nice, just quiet and kept to himself.
McGarrett did not look perfect in every show, and he was hardly a successful ladies' man. The one girlfriend he had in the last six years of the show was killed, and the one time a women asked him out, he turned her down. He asked out one woman in one other episode, and she accepted, but that does not mean being a perfect ladies' man. Jack even said in an AP interview in 1976 that McGarrett's personal life was going to remain a mystery, so no romantic storyline would be written.
As for picking the scripts, they were chosen by the staff in LA, then edited by them, and sent to Jack and Bernard Oseransky for revisions. Oseransky said this in an interview with the Archive of American Television. Jack also spoke highly in newspaper interviews of the two producers who were hired for much of that time - Douglas Green and Philip Leacock. Green was going to direct the Hawaii Five-O reunion film in 1985, but it didn't get the go-ahead from CBS.
Vrinda81,
Regarding your comments about Steve McGarrett's character, (starring Jack Lord), I always had wondered why the young woman that he got along with so well, in the pilot episode and played by the actress Nancy Kwan never made an appearance again. I believe that her character was named "Rosemary Quong". Seems a shame as the two made a good couple in this episode, despite their age differences - McGarrett, I gather being at least 10 - 12 years older than her. She was an important character in the pilot two-part episode "Cocoon", first aired in 1968. They initially butted heads after McGarrett brought her into 5-0 headquarters to be interrogated as she was friends with the guy, and friend of McGarrett's, who was found dead after he had been captured by Wo Fat and subjected to that torture chamber, (which resembled a cocoon, thus the title of the series' pilot episode)during the opening scenes of this excellent episode. McGarrett thought Rosemary to be a hippie, which in reality she was. Rosemary thought McGarrett to be an example of the "square, righteous establishment". The final scene of the movie where they exchanged plenty of tongue in a French Kiss I thought easily would have led to a little "something-something", (a bit of exercise in bed naked) taking place later on that evening between the couple. But, probably taking the direction in which the script-writers and producer Leonard Freeman wanted the Steve McGarrett character to be starting with Season 1, there really was only small hints at what his private and personal life were during the series' long 12 year run. No relationship between McGarrett and Miss Rosemary Quong was ever developed.
McGarrett's professional life and his dedication to his job also came up with the one episode in which I believe you brought up, "Thanks for the Honeymoon" in which he was formerly in a relationship with Patty Duke's character's wedding photographer, "Margo", (I looked it up) played by Carol Lawrence. In that short 24 hour window in which McGarrett was tasked with protecting both Patty Duke's "Toni" character and her newlywed husband, (who was murdered anyway), his romance with Margo was briefly rekindled. Yet, because McGarrett was a cop 24/7 and knew of no other life that he could follow, he did turn down Margo's offer to quit his job, rekindle their previous romantic relationship and follow her around the world as she kept at her job as a famous photographer, something in which she was paid extremely well. Margo even hinted that she could temporarily support Steve monetarily in their relationship with just the earnings coming from her job. Yeah right! I don't think that McGarrett would have gone for that. Seems like she really didn't know him that well at all!
Also, when discussing the ladies who "dated" or previously were in a relationship with McGarrett, don't forget the Season 3 episode "Time and Memories" where he arrested his former lover, (played by Diana Muldaur) as she was to be implicated in the death of her much older husband; although later exonerated. That relationship with Ms. Muldaur's character, "Cathy Wallis" was never to be re-kindled as well. The team was to discover that the fiance, (played by Martin Sheen) of Cathy Wallis' step-daughter, (played by Catherine Cannon) was in reality the killer. As the episode concluded, instead of possibly getting back together with McGarrett, (and in flashback scenes it was revealed that he had asked "Cathy" for her hand in marriage at one time but she turned him down because she had another lover, secretly, on the mainland) Cathy instead along with her step-daughter got on a plane and headed back to San Francisco. She once again decided to walk away from a possible relationship with Steve McGarrett.
Ms. Muldaur in reality was a good 15 years younger than Jack Lord when he was alive. I detected a pattern that if anything, Lord's "Steve McGarrett" for the most part when in a relationship, went after much younger women than he was. Carol Lawrence who played "Margo" was about 10 years younger than Lord was when he was alive. The woman dating McGarrett, another "Cathy" and played by Camilla Sparv and who got brutally murdered early in the chilling Season 9 episode "Man In A Steel Frame" to which McGarrett initially was implicated in her murder; was despite the fact that she was a widow herself was much younger than he was. In reality, (looking up Ms. Sparv's bio) she was over 20 years younger than Jack Lord. I guess that Jack Lord's "Steve McGarrett" wanted to think of himself as being as young as possible. Nothing wrong with that, I guess!
It's interesting to compare Jack Lord's "McGarrett" with the current role portrayed by Alex O'Loughin, in the current and vastly inferior H 5-0. O'Loughlin until the very end of this past season had a somewhat long-term relationship with a woman, "Catherine" played by Michelle Borth, or at least for several seasons. I had always hoped that McGarrett could have "sealed the deal" with this gorgeous lady, asking her to be his wife. It was made clear in many episodes that they not only had an intimate, (sexual) relationship, but they even lived together in McGarrett's home over the last few seasons. At one point I'm convinced that Catherine would have accepted his proposal that the couple become husband and wife had he asked her. However it was not to be as late in the just concluded season, Catherine decided to stay behind in Afghanistan dangerously on her own to locate an individual who meant so much to her from the past. As it's known that Ms. Borth has chosen to leave the show, there's apparently no way that this relationship between the two will be rekindled. As a matter of fact I wouldn't be shocked if, at some point this upcoming season, viewers are to find out that Catherine's character will have been killed off.
Jeffman61,
Again, thank you for a wonderfully-written response. Again, going back to what Jack said in an interview, we were never to know of Steve's personal life. Very little information would be given, so I think it was a good thing that a steady girlfriend was not in the mix. What would she do? Meet him for dinner and dancing once in a while, or get angry at him for standing her up because he had to work late? It's hard when you have a character is seen through his work to create another aspect to his life in the form of a romantic relationship. It was better to have these individual episodes here and there.
Notice that while two of these women were involved in cases Steve was investigating - Wallis and Quong - and a third was the murder victim - Ryan, a fourth woman had no influence on the overall storyline - Margo. It shows the writers could work in a girlfriend and either make her part of the crime story or apart from the crime story.
Steve and Rosemary seemed more into the physical aspect of the relationship than the emotional one. It didn't look to me like they were serious about being a couple.
Some of these actresses were hired probably not so much because they were younger than Jack, but because they wanted to be on the show or were already in Hawaii on vacation and were asked to come. Actresses who appeared in just one scene had to audition.
"Man in a Steel Frame" is a heart-wrenching episode. It pains me to watch when Det. Matsuda handcuffs Steve. All the time, we're thinking, "He didn't do it! He didn't do it!" and someone is making it look like Steve did. Jack's portrayal of a distraught and shattered Steve McGarrett is so convincing, you almost forget it's an act.
I actually bought the Season 1 DVD maybe a couple years ago and am only now starting to watch it. I like the series episodes more than the Pilot. One of my favorites so far has to be SAMURAI, but why oh why is Ricardo Montalban playing a Japanese man? I know he's a good actor, but this show has had Asian actors before. Who in the world decided on this?