May 14, 2026 22:30
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Hunter, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1991. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
This week, Hunter and McCall investigate a mob hit!
Episode 1.5 “Legacy”
(Dir by Ron Satlof, originally aired on November 2nd, 1984)
Gangster John Vincent (Tony Girogio) has been gunned down in his own mansion. Detective Bernie Terwilliger thinks that it’s a case of burglary gone wrong. Rick Hunter thinks that it was a mob hit and that one of John’s sons is responsible. He and McCall search for Sandy Newton (Mary-Margaret Humes), the woman who was with Michael Vincent (Vincent Baggetta) the night that his father was killed.
I have to admit that I had totally forgotten that Rick Hunter was supposed to be the son of a mobster. This episode featured Rick associating with his childhood buddies and, if nothing else, it showed just how unconvincing Fred Dryer was as the scion of a mob family. Don’t get me wrong. Fred Dryer was great when he was gunning down a suspect and then saying, “Works for me.” And Fred Dryer had a fun chemistry with Stepfanie Kramer. But there was absolutely nothing about Fred Dryer that, in any way, said, “Mobster.” Surrounding Dryer with a bunch of tough-looking Italian-American character actors did nothing to change the fact that Dryer essentially looked like a former football player from sunny California.
This episode had a predictable story but it also had two good action scenes: a fight on a pier and a mob hit in a warehouse. It also introduced John Amos as Captain Dolan, who is the new police captain but who appears to dislike Hunter and McCall just as much as the previous captain. It’s hard not to feel that Amos will be entertaining as he yells at Hunter for not following regulations and costing the city money.
We’ll see how it goes!
Posted by Lisa Marie Bowman
Categories: Retro Television Reviews, TV, TV Review, TV Show
Tags: Al Ruscio, Alfred Dennis, Bill Capizzi, Bruce Tuthill, Farrell Mayer, Fil Formicola, Fred Dryer, Freddie Dawson, Harry Johnson, hunter, James Whitmore Jr, Jim Boeke, Jim Michael, John Amos, Jude Farese, Kip Gilman, Lisa Marie Bowman, Mary-Margaret Humes, Retro Television Reviews, review, Ron Satlof, show, Stepfanie Kramer, Suzanne Fagan, television, Tony Giorgio, Tony Longo, TV, TV Show, Vincent Baggetta
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