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(More customer reviews)This series is a baby boomer must. It was the only really successful detective spin-off of the 77 Sunset Strip phenomena in that it lasted more than just a couple of years (Oct. '59-Apr.'63). The original two leads, Robert Conrad and Anthony Eisley, were molded from the ultra-cool Bailey & Spenser genre that worked so well on the Sunset Strip--replete with mandatory sidekicks, babes, booze and bad guys.
I have collected many of the episodes from various classic tv video resources and can confess that the plot lines are all pretty simple, the sets are vintage backlot Warner studios (many "locations" are duplicated in Surfside 6 and 77 Sunset Strip episodes)and only stock film and backdrops were actually Hawaiian-generated. On rare days only did the film crew venture out to an actual location off the WB lot. Fortunately, L.A. also had palm trees and beaches. Yet the snappy theme song and tiki-soaked opening credits always duped one into thinking Waikiki was just around the corner. The opening credit scenes of Conrad, Eisley and Connie Stevens actually surfing a wave in unison is just awe-inspiring. It must have required a hundred takes minimum to pull off that shot.
You could always tell which car company was sponsoring one of these Warner classics. The 77 Sunset Strip guys all drove Ford convertibles, the Surfside 6 hunks buzzed around in Pontiacs, and the Hawaiian Eyes all drove massively chrome-laden Oldsmobiles (with car radio phones!). Nary a BMW in the lot. If you're lucky enough to have some of the episodes that didn't edit out the original commercials, you can stare in amazement at hip people smoking Old Golds and Winstons or waxing down their hair with "little" dabs of Brylcreem.
The show is set at the Hawaiian Hilton Village, which still exists today. The Shell Bar, where pixie Cricket Blake warbled reverb-enhanced pre-recorded tunes to moon-struck audiences, is still around albeit many times renovated since (the bamboo tables have been replaced). The detectives operated from a way-too-cool office off of the hotel lounge that had its own swimming pool and eternally-lit tiki lamps. One can understand why they beat feet to the office every day. Unfortunately, the series began an early decline once Eisley left for what he thought would be a burgeoning movie career, and certainly "jumped the shark" in its last year when the ever-available Troy Donahue joined the cast as the hotel's social director. The writing became a little stretched in order to justify this rather unexplainable addition.
There's been enough buzz directed towards Warner Bros. for them to consider releasing these classic detective series on DVD. I haven't seen any release dates yet, but I guess they're coming soon. It figures, now that I've spent untold dollars collecting so many episdoes with varying degrees of quality and editing. I suggest you snap up a disk as soon as it becomes available, then settle back in your easy chair with a straight-up martini and a smoke and lose yourself in about 55 minutes an epidode's worth of pure hip private eye fluff ala early '60's Hollywood.
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