MovieChat Forums > Daughters of Satan (1972) Discussion > Magnum before Magnum ???

Magnum before Magnum ???

posted 16 years ago by rock_bustin
10 replies | jump to latest

If you've seen this film please respond to confirm.
In at least several scenes in this film, Tom Selleck;

1. Wears short-shorts, a tropical shirt, loafers w/o sox & a 'stache.

2. He motors around a tropical island (Luzon) in a *red* sports car
with a rag-top that's always down. (Actually, a VW Carmen Ghia or
possibly a Porshe - but I don't think the movie had that kinda budget).

3. He tries to solve a "mystery".

4. He lives in -or frequents- a large wealthy house with a vaguely
Spanish Colonial design.

Does this sound familar people? I'm not kidding. This was Magnum
before Magnum. I wonder if anyone else has ever noticed this.

[–] randygilpin 16 years ago

Me & one of my friends just got through watching this movie on Hulu, and we noticed every one of the things you mentioned plus the fact of the big dog that chased him & didn't like him (just like on Magnum). This is NOT coincidence. The writer from "Daughters Of Satan" was a man named "John C. Higgins (like the character of "Jonathan Higgins" on Magnum P.I.). So, evidently he was payed homage to. by having a character named after him. So, I guess it can be said that Thomas Magnum, is loosely based on the Jim character from "Daughters Of Satan" (without the whole witch aspect of course).

Also something funny, when he is getting ready to go outside & check out the noise his wife heard, he takes his gun out of the nightstand & tells his wife it's a.... what?

You guessed it..... he actually says ".357 Magnum." Lol!

[–] knight_sentinel 15 years ago

I believe that it's all just a coincidence, because long before Tom Selleck played private investigator Thomas Magnum he had played a private investigator Lance White and I believe that shortly after Hawaii Five-O had ended their run on CBS in 1980, and there was talk at the time to do a spin off of the Rockford Files with the Lance White character.

CBS had the production studio's in Hawaii, and were shopping around for a show to replace Hawaii Five-O, The spin off with Lance White never happened, there was a spin-off with another PI called Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, the name coming from one the alternative names for the Rockford Files, known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator, and if you look up some of the writers on The Rockford Files, you see that some of them worked on a series called Hawaiian Eye, and Chas. Floyd Johnson was one of the co-executive producers of The Rockford Files, and Magnum P.I.. There was trend to use one name in the title of some television series e.g. McCloud which also had some of the same people from Magnum and Rockford, and a show called Quincy, M.E. which was aka as just Quincy.

You might as well say that they partially took the title of another horror movie that John C. Higgins wrote called The Black Sheep, that had nothing to do with the Robert Conrad television series. but John C. Higgins, who also co-wrote Hold Back the Night with Walter Doniger one of the writers for Baa Baa Black Sheep, which starred Robert Conrad the star of Hawaiian Eye.

A lot of these guys are friends and hang out together. Stephen J. Cannell and Babs Greyhosky once wrote a series called J.J. Starbuck, Babs Greyhosky worked on Magnum, P.I. with Glen A. Larson, the creator of the original Battlestar Galactica, and one of the stars of the series was named Starbuck and was played by Dirk Benedict who also played the character Face on the series The A-Team written by Cannell, Greyhosky, and Frank Lupo who also wrote on Magnum, P.I. and Battlestar Galactica.

One of the other writers on The Black Sheep along with John C. Higgins was Gerald Drayson Adams who wrote for the the James Garner series Maverick along with Roy Huggins who also wrote for The Rockford Files along with co-executive producer/writer Chas. Floyd Johnson of Magnum P.I.

Although the character of Jonathan Higgins has appeared in four separate television shows: Magnum, P.I., Simon & Simon, Murder, She Wrote, and Quantum Leap. Which are all shows that writers, directors, and producers who have worked with some directly or indirectly with John C. Higgins.

I've come to the conclusion that they all drank at the same watering hole and bounced ideas, characters, and stories off of each other, and that would be the only coincidence. It also reaffirms my belief that Hollywood doesn't necessarily come up with new ideas and stories, they just recycle them and eventually you can find similarities in story lines.

I believe with sites like and the ability to put in names of people to see what projects they have worked on with other people, you start to see that they're careers and projects overlap with other people in the entertainment business, more people are starting to come to the same conclusion. Others have pointed out several series where writers have worked another series only to see a similar story done years later in a television series or movie, where someone who knew someone, has worked or worked with someone on some project whether it be a movie or in television, and sometime even on stage.

It is amusing to see the similarities, but even Tom Selleck thought he was either going to be Lance White, Indiana Jones which he audition for but couldn't do, because he had already contracted to do Magnum, P.I..

Barra Grant does bare a slight resemblance to Tom Selleck's current wife Jillie Mack a former dancer who was performing on a London theatre production of Cats when she and Tom Selleck met, Barra Grant is now a writer and director in New York doing theatre.

There was an episode of Magnum P.I. where Magnum goes to visit a woman in the states played by Dana Delany, and he's chased by two Rottweilers.

[–] willydoe71 15 years ago

[I believe that it's all just a coincidence, because long before Tom Selleck played private investigator Thomas Magnum he had played a private investigator Lance White]
Actually, wasn't the Lance Whit character on the Rockford Files only like 2-3 years prior to Magnum P.I.? This movie was 8 years prior.

But I agree with your theory about the writers all being acquainted and bouncing ideas around. Plus, let's not forget, Magnum was supposed to be a suepr detective that always got the girl and the job done right. It was Tom Selleck himself that didn't like that and insisted that they change the character so he was simply human, with flaws. So parts of Magnum's persona, I'm sure, were the results of Selleck's input, and not the writers.

[–] knight_sentinel 15 years ago

Yeah he was, but Tom Selleck said in an interview that they were planning on using that character at one time in a spin-off, actually I believe Stephen J. Cannell ended up spinning off two other show from Rockford. Besides Brockelman one he did one with another character, but it didn't last either.

Actually it's not a theory, you can input the names of anyone listed on IMDb in a search they have to see if they worked on other projects, and with sites like this, I've found other people have been making similar point like this also.

I watched an old episode of The Outer Limits the newer series that was on television a few years ago, and there is an episode with aliens that look like the aliens from Stargate SG-1, I came over here and input names of writer and special effects people sure enough, several of the people who worked on that episode, later went onto work on Stargate SG-1 one in particular was the animatronics/puppeteer they had also worked on The X-Files, and Farscape.

What's interesting about Stargate SG-1 someone else pointed out the similarities of that show and Sliders (Which was on before Stargate Movie), Stargate were similar to a show called Fantastic Journey which had a group of people traveling through different dimensions of space and time on Earth.

This what he wrote.

11 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Striking Similarities..., 2 April 2005
Author: arion1 from Livermore, CA

This show has some striking similarities to other television shows, which did become successful series, Stargate SG-1 & Sliders. Moreover, the formats are quite similar as well: 1. The viewer "travels" with the hosts to different worlds.

2. All involve scientific experiments which produce danger.

3. Both Sliders and Fantastic Journey are about travel to parallel universes.

4. All three involve different planets accessible only to a select team.

5. Both Sliders and Fantastic Journey are about people trying to find their way home.

6. Both Fantastic Journey & Stargate SG-1 have an alien in the cast.

7. Both Fantastic Journey and Stargate SG-1 are scripted by Katharyn Powers.

8. All three shows have a movie actor in the cast who played a supporting role in a big picture but was never an outright "star".

So for those who would like to see Fantastic Journey on TV again, don't fret! Technically, it did come back, just in a different skin!

If you look up Katharyn Powers bio, she has also worked on Wonder Woman, Charlie's Angels, Star Trek:TNG, and Star Trek:DS9 which ironically had a worm hole as a focal part of that series, she also worked on Fantasy Island a show where people could be transported to different places in time.

Katharyn Powers has also worked with Walter Doniger who worked with Roy Huggins on Maverick, where he worked with Gerald Drayson Adams, who work on Black Sheep with John C. Higgins., it's not just the writers either, but the actors as well, writers write specific parts for actors. The late Lew Ayres worked on several of Katharyn Powers projects.

James Garner was the star of Maverick and The Rockford Files which Tom Selleck guest starred twice.

Katharyn Powers also worked on some of the same projects with Casting Director Mary Jo Slater a few being Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits, and The Jesse Stone series of movies starring Tom Selleck

Just like anything else in life it's all about how you NETWORK.

[–] Darknessviking 13 years ago

wow thats a pretty deep investigation :D

[–] knight_sentinel 13 years ago

Actually it didn't take much investigation, producers usually work with the same production crews, and they also use the same directors and writers, once you sale a script and get into SWG you can basically submit scripts to anyone for any type of project.

I can always tell a Stephen J. Cannell, Glen A. Larson, Frank Lupo and Donald Bellisario production and years before those guys came along it was Irwin Allen, Quinn Martin, and Aaron Spelling as well as productions form Desilu Studios which did "Mission: Impossible", "Mannix" and "Star Trek", they used not only the same production style but many of the same actors and some writers, so the look and feel of the shows is always the same.

Tom Selleck worked with Stephen J. Cannell on the "The Rockford Files" and Frank Lupo is friends with Cannell and Bellisario, Bellisario went onto do "Magnum P.I.".

Lupo also wrote some episodes of "Magnum P.I." he later did a series a few years after "Magnum" started called "Riptide" which had a similar feel to "Magnum P.I." except one of or maybe two of the three guys lived on a boat, they solved crimes together and they were ex-Vietnam vets, and one of them drove a red convertible sports car, sound familiar?

Magnum, T.C. and Rick were all ex-Vietnam buddies and they helped Magnum out solving crimes.

Let's not forget "Hawaiian Eye" with Robert Conrad, drove a convertible sports car, ex-Korean War vet, "Mannix" ex-Korean War vet, PI, drove various sports cars.

After I left my post, there was a columnist who did and article where he stated the same thing, over time a viewer will subconsciously recognizing certain styles even down to the network they originally aired on.

It's like watching a television series or even film and recognizing rock formations, houses and streets and experiencing deja vu.

CBS had produced "Hawaii Five-0", when they canceled that series, "Magnum P.I." was basically a re-tooled version of that series they even used the same production studio as well as some of the same actors, they even wanted Jack Lord to guest star on "Magnum P.I." as his old character Steve McGarrett, they even referenced Five-0 in a few episodes "Magnum P.I."

There was series called "J.J. Starbuck" by Cannell, I assume his friend Glen Larson liked the name Starbuck and used it on his later series "Battlestar Galactica".

There isn't a lot of originality when you think about it. these guys borrow things from each other all the time. Even "Hawaiian Eye" was one of 4 PI series that were similar in theme even one of the the producers and creators of one of those series pops up on "The Rockford Files".

I guess if the new "Charlie's Angels" is successful, we'll see the return of the PI series.

Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] knight_sentinel 13 years ago

How about the fact that the gin he uses is a "magnim"? Cant dismiss that so easily, can you?

Yes I can, on another board about "Stargate SG-1' another poster also pointed out the same things as one of the writers on that series worked with the writer of this film and she has talked about her collaborations and influences, she also worked on Stephen J. Cannell's "21 Jumstreet" series along with some of the producers and writers who would later work on the Stargate television franchise.

You can see the influence of the four to five person team, started with Cannell and used by his friend on "Magnum" you had Magnum, Rick( The connected guy), TC (The big black muscular guy and pilot), and Higgins (the worldly father figure), the same type of format was used on Cannell's "A-Team", it was used on "21 Jumpstreet" and since most of the writers, producsers and some of the actors would eventually appear on "Stargate SG-1" basically sticking with the four person team of characters with a fifth or sixth supporting character.

The reason Tom Selleck was cast as Thomas Magnum was because he had worked with Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins on "The Rockford Files" as detective Lance White at one time there was talk of a "Rockford Files" spin off featuring the Lance White character but earlier that year they had went with the spin off series "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye" a character that also appeared on "The Rockford Files", "Magnum, P.I." was a take on that name used for the Richie Brokelman, Private Eye", "The Rockford Files" are also known as "Jim Rockford, Private Investigator", hence you get Tom Selleck in "Magnum, P.I.".

You also had the fact that CBS had canceled "Hawaii Five-0" the year before and had production studios that were not being used so they came up with the Magnum series and they even wanted Jack Lord to appear on the series as McGarrett but he refused, the guy who played Tanaka on "Magnum, P.I." had played a semi-regular role on "Hawaii Five-0" but had a different name. Magnum even mentions Five-0 in one of the early episodes.

You might also consider the fact that both Stephen J. Cannell and Donald Belisarius worked on "Black Sheep Squadron" and may have also got the idea to do a detective in Hawaii from working with Robert Conrad who starred on their series "Black Sheep Squadron". Earlier in his career Conrad had played the character Tom ( Note same first name as Magnum) Lopaka on the series "Hawaiian Eye".

The character drove a nice convertible sports car, and the principal client is the Hawaiian Village Hotel, which in exchange for security services, provides the agency with a luxurious private compound on the hotel grounds. "Hawaiian Eye" aired from 1959 - 1963 long before this film.

The principal client on "Magnum P.I." was Robin Masters and Magnum was hired as security and got to stay a on a private compound, and drive a nice car.

I would say those factors played a much bigger role influencing the decision to do the "Magnum, P.I." series, since the creators of "Magnum, P.I." had worked with Stephen J. Cannell and followed some of his creative process for developing characters. The actor who played Rick on "Magnum P.I." was also a regular on "Black Sheep Squadron".

You can dismiss whatever you like, you have a few coincidences and speculation, and I have facts and time lines as to how the series was developed, as well as a lot more reasons why the Magnum series was developed.

"Nothing tastes as good as the man I married. It's the sauce that does it." - Omaima Nelson

[–] Boogalow 15 years ago

I noticed all of the same things too, and I stifled a laugh at the gun scene. It has to be said that Tom Selleck looks even more gorgeous than usual in this. To be honest, it's a bit heavy going at times and I keep stopping it to do other things, like make dinner etc and come back to it. I was only 12 when this was made all the way back in 1972, almost a full ten years before Thomas Magnum, but oh boy, is Tom Selleck drop dead gorgeous in this movie or what ... on my way for a really cold shower now :)

[–] 15 years ago

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