Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Forty Feet High and It Kills! (1969) User Reviews

Trivia Note!

[mnh747 · 8/10 · 10 June 2008]

For all of you Magnum PI fans out there, it's interesting to note that the second scene in this episode was shot at the mansion known as "Robin's Nest" in the Magnum series. This scene was taped in the mansion's front yard area, and filmed about 11 years prior to Magnum PI debuting on American television. I also found another interesting coincidence in this scene. When McGarrett first meets an acquaintance at the mansion, the acquaintance mentions that McGarrett was a retired naval intelligence officer turned cop. Thomas Magnum was a retired naval intelligence officer turned private investigator! I wonder if this really is a coincidence or an ode to Hawaii Five-O!

Yet another good episode thanks to Wo Fat...and a guest appearance by Will Geer.

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 16 November 2009]

Wo Fat is back, and boy does he have an interesting plan. A group of his agents take over a station on the island and generate a fake tsunami warning--saying that there is a tidal wave heading towards Hawaii. Since tidal waves had caused serious catastrophes in the past on the islands (the last one in 1960), the locals and police are naturally scared. But, when this wave never hits, McGarrett is sure that the whole thing was a hoax. They don't realize that McGarrett's old nemesis has returned and that this fake warning is a chance for Wo Fat and his men to kidnap a top genetic scientist (Will Geer).

As for Geer, he is a great character in this episode. He is NOT just some passive kidnapping victim and his sharp mind enables him to mess with his captor's minds--like he's playing a mental game of chess with his captors. Using some quick thinking, he forces Mr. Fat to change his plan a bit...and that's enough to give McGarrett a chance...a slim chance...to rescue him.

Overall, a very well-scripted show. It's much more intelligently written and complex than most episodes and because of this, the viewer can ignore the fact that none of the Wo Fat episodes are believable. After all, why is one of the greatest Red Chinese agents ALWAYS battling against a local cop (McGarrett) for the fate of the free world?! Still, it's dandy viewing and Geer's nice guest appearance makes it more so.

Did they ever even make a BAD Wo Fat episode? I sure can't recall one.

Good guest stars Wo Fat and Professor Lochner

[lukebernstein3 · 10/10 · 4 December 2019]

A professor is kidnapped by McGarretts nemisis wo fat. The scenes between Wo Fat at the professor are very good. Probably the best part of the episode. McGarrett flirts with the professors daughter but this goes nowhere. She also accuses mcgarrett of being willing to sacrifice her father so Wo Fat can't bring her father back to China. Her father studies genetic engineering and this is useful to Wo Fat becausr he is a spy for China. Anyway you can see mcgarrett get as cold as ice at the daughters accusation. It is a great charector moment for Steve McGarrett. No body accuses him of willing to sacrifice someone without him shooting them down right away. To accuse Steve McGarrett of such a thing is a mistake that most people would only make once. He's as dedicated a fictional cop ad you can get and doesn't let comments like that slide. Professor Lochner Is a great guest charector who delights in playing a deadly game of chess with Wo Fat, with his own life on the line. He has diabetes and smashes his own insolin bottle and tells Wo Fat that he will never get him back to China. Eventually McGarrett and five o find wo fat and rescue Lochkner. Then we get a scene with Mc and Wo Fat. It was well written. Mc gives Wo Fat safe passage in exchange for Lockner. Its basically a chess game between them. The one thing I don't like is that Wo Fat is a criminal and mcgarrett just runs into the building with a loudspeaker to talk to wo fat and tell him he is surrounded. This is the one thing I find unrealistic. Surrounded or not if Wo Fat had a gun he could have decided to shoot Steve if he wanted. Oviously that didn't happen. But in real life no cop would just run in with a louder speaker to talk to a criminal. Wo fat has a mission and maybe he just accepted defeat this time. But still realisitcly if a cop runs in like that they would usually get shot. So that's the only thing I didn't like. But it's still a 10 out of 10 for me.