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 murder!  Yes, another one.

Episode 2.3 “The Biggest Man In Town”

(Dir by Bob Bravler, originally aired on October 5th, 1985)

When Charles Lattimer (Gregory Itzin), a man with no criminal record, is found executed gangland-style, Hunter and McCall suspect that it was more than just random California violence.  After they find out that Lattimer was last seen alive while having a tense lunch at an expensive French restaurant, they decide to go undercover in Lattimer’s home town, an exclusive resort full of rich people and women in bikinis.

Hunter, pretending to be an oceanographer, meets Lattimer’s girlfriend, librarian Amy Lauton (Nana Visitor).  McCall, pretending to be an aspiring singer, meets the biggest man in town, insurance tycoon Raymond Bellamy (Stuart Whitman).

Now, we already know that Bellamy is the one who ordered Lattimer’s death.  Bellamy is the man with whom Lattimer had his final lunch.  Lattimer was blackmailing Bellamy over a case of insurance fraud.  We also know that the execution was carried out by Sheriff Johnson (Don Stroud).  We know all this because we saw it at the beginning of the episode.  There’s no real mystery here.

Then again, this episode isn’t about mystery.  It’s about Hunter and McCall getting away from Los Angeles for a while.  It’s about McCall getting to sing three songs at the resort’s premier nightclub.  It’s about Hunter getting distracted every time a woman in a bikini walks by.  Mostly, it’s just about the chemistry between Hunter and McCall.  It doesn’t matter how many people die, they’ve always got a quip to trade.

Actually, not that many people die in this episode. Lattimer dies.  His father is murdered.  But otherwise, this episode is almost peaceful by Hunter standards.  For once. Hunter and McCall arrest the bad guys instead of killing them.  Getting out of Los Angeles must have mellowed them.

This episode was entertaining but forgettable.  The story was nothing special but the Hunter/McCall chemistry was enjoyable.  Hunter and McCall are solving crimes and having fun!  Good for them.