They sometimes rerun episodes of this old series and it is interesting because, for instance in the one I saw recently, there was only one gun involved in a short scene and there were no car chases. It was about how these expensive coins could have been stolen from the safe instead of about spectacular explosions and violence.
However, what I don’t understand is 1)why is the hero is shown rowing a boat at the beginning, and 2)is this Los Angeles or San Francisco? He is a wealthy and suave self-made man from an ordinary background, a free agent who figures out crimes and has lots of romances with pretty ladies. He also smokes cigars because it was from that wonderful era before everything had to be correct, and he has art taste in home furnishing.
“Banacek” was set in Boston. At least that’s where Thomas Banacek lived. His insurance investigations took him all over the place.
All the other stuff you asked about it were just touches the creator of the show put in to give the character, well, some character. He was supposed to be suave. He was supposed to solve crimes through his intelligence, not through brute force.
And some of the endings of the show really defied logic, especially the episode where a football player is kidnapped during the middle of a game.
The “rowing a boat” beginning is actually rather a popular thing in and around the Boston area. Crew. And all that.
And, he was Polish!
Like practically eveyone who lived in Boston on TV, Banacek lived on Beacon Hill in Boston. He rowed in the Charles River, as noted above, a pretty popular thing to do. I did it myself for a time, until I fell in. I do not recommend this.
I actually liked a lot of the episodes, all of which seemed to revolve around people or things disappearing in ways or from places where it should have been impossible. Some of these were, I admit, ludicrous (like the disappearing jet engine that turned out to be (SPOILER!) a hologram. You try making a hologram in an exhibit hall!), but others were very clever, like the disappearing Greek Vase.
The true beauty to the Banacek series were the pearls of “Polish” wisdom, such as my favorite, “Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.”
Of the various shows that were cobbled together in the now unbelievable concept of the NBC Mystery Movie (in which three or four different shows rotated into the selected time slot, so that each week was a different show and to keep track of the different shows meant waiting three to four weeks for the next episode), Banacek tried to be the most clever, but never really managed the same devoted following that the original series did, especially Columbo. After limited success with eight episodes in the first season (1972-73), an unfortunate decision lead to the addition of Christine Belford as a regular semi-romantic interest and foil for Thomas Banacek. This decision, in my opinion, backfired because A) Ms. Belford wasn’t all that pretty, and B) Banacek’s ability to be showcased as a ladies man was diluted by the fact they couldn’t ever have him do anything that would truly piss off the good Ms. Carlie Kirkland, (played by Belford).
Banacek and the other shows shown on Wednesday nights were dropped after the second season in 1974. Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan and Wife, the heart of the Sunday lineup, lasted until sometime in spring 1977, at which time the concept was dropped, though ironically the last entry into the lineup, Quincy, M.E. was spun off into a stand-alone series.
George Peppard, of course, re-surfaced in the 1980’s on the much more successful, if somewhat less urbane, A-Team.
For more on the Mystery Movie, go to The NBC Mystery Movie. For more on Banacek, go to Banacek. For a listing of episodes and air dates, go to Banacek - Air dates.
Banacek’s flaw was that every mystery solution was the same.
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The “missing” object was never there in the first place.
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Different thread, but I see one of my favorite quotations here from Doctor Who, “Eldrad must live!” said by a being made out of silicon who looked exactly like Cher with a faceted dress on!
My dad always liked this show. It’s probably Banacek’s Polishness that appealed. Dad was born in the States, but my grandfather was from Poland and the family lived in a Polish neighborhood. This makes my dad something of an involuntary booster of everything Polish and, by association, I kind of am, too. (But Dad speaks Polish and I can’t, so if this tendency keeps up for another generation, it’s going to get downright ridiculous.)
I was pretty young when it was on, and I didn’t like cop shows as a kid. I still remember Banacek’s boss screeching, “Banacek!” but that’s about it. I do remember Columbo, which kicks ass! Peter Falk’s appearance in Wings of Desire was all the sweeter for it, too.
Yeah, but it was done in a different way every time.
Actually, your claim isn’t invariably true. In some cases (like the one with the stolen Museum Book in the Plexiglass Case, or the Guy with the Briefcase who Disappeared from the Elevator) it was simply hidden really well.
…except in the instances when the item in question was never really stolen, and had been inside the museum under everybody’s nose all the time. Like when the real gem was hidden inside the eye of that tacky fake plaster Zuni idol in the gift shop.
We should start a NBC Mystery Movie cliche’ thread.