I happened to catch this one, which was the second of a two-part story involving a gang of jewel thieves who were all scuba divers, and used that ability in their capers. I wish I'd seen part 1!
The guest cast for the gang was very impressive: Christopher George as the leader, with Don Stroud, always an effective bad guy, and Sal Mineo! Who I didn't recognize until I saw the credits. Another member of the gang was Lesley Anne Warren, beautiful as ever, and with shorter hair in this episode than in her earlier Mission Impossible days. She was clearly having fun being a villain, bringing a sexy energy to the part.
SPOILER ALERT: The plot of this episode definitely reminded me, at points, of the classic James Bond movie "Thunderball"! There's a climactic underwater fight scene, where our SWAT guys are all suited up and battling with the baddies--who, of course, go for the spearguns! Meanwhile, the SWAT officers are equipped with long poles with a loop on the end: kind of like a blunt-nosed spear, in a way; they didn't seem like much of an offensive weapon to me.
We're not done with the action after that, as Christopher George and Leslie elude the underwater SWAT guys, and try to escape in a speedboat! Then we really get into some far-fetched (though highly enjoyable) action, in which SWAT leader Hondo is picked up from the water by a helicopter; climbs a rope ladder up to the chopper; and the chopper chases the speedboat around.
Hondo yells to the pilot: "if they make it to the shack, we'll never catch them!" (Really? Why not?) But they had to justify Hondo's decision to drop from the helicopter to the speedboat, so he could have a mano-a-mano punchout with Chris George!
Oh, and earlier, when the speedboat is racing around, Leslie is just sitting in the back with a little grin on her face, grooving on the exciting boat ride!
So, we had a big budget in this outing! Helicopter, speedboat, big underwater fight scene between two teams in scuba gear--great action for a 1970's TV series! I was impressed by this episode. It's well worth seeing.
The guest cast for the gang was very impressive: Christopher George as the leader, with Don Stroud, always an effective bad guy, and Sal Mineo! Who I didn't recognize until I saw the credits. Another member of the gang was Lesley Anne Warren, beautiful as ever, and with shorter hair in this episode than in her earlier Mission Impossible days. She was clearly having fun being a villain, bringing a sexy energy to the part.
SPOILER ALERT: The plot of this episode definitely reminded me, at points, of the classic James Bond movie "Thunderball"! There's a climactic underwater fight scene, where our SWAT guys are all suited up and battling with the baddies--who, of course, go for the spearguns! Meanwhile, the SWAT officers are equipped with long poles with a loop on the end: kind of like a blunt-nosed spear, in a way; they didn't seem like much of an offensive weapon to me.
We're not done with the action after that, as Christopher George and Leslie elude the underwater SWAT guys, and try to escape in a speedboat! Then we really get into some far-fetched (though highly enjoyable) action, in which SWAT leader Hondo is picked up from the water by a helicopter; climbs a rope ladder up to the chopper; and the chopper chases the speedboat around.
Hondo yells to the pilot: "if they make it to the shack, we'll never catch them!" (Really? Why not?) But they had to justify Hondo's decision to drop from the helicopter to the speedboat, so he could have a mano-a-mano punchout with Chris George!
Oh, and earlier, when the speedboat is racing around, Leslie is just sitting in the back with a little grin on her face, grooving on the exciting boat ride!
So, we had a big budget in this outing! Helicopter, speedboat, big underwater fight scene between two teams in scuba gear--great action for a 1970's TV series! I was impressed by this episode. It's well worth seeing.
