Tag Archives: Kathryn Litton

Late Night Retro Television Review: Hunter 1.15 “The Beach Boy”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, someone is killing criminals in Los Angeles and, for once, it’s not Rick Hunter!

Episode 1,15 “The Beach Boy”

(Dir by Richard Colla, originally aired on April 6th, 1985)

A Hawaiian drug lord is angered when five Los Angeles drug dealers decide to stop dealing his product.  So, he sends his main assassin — Wes “Beach Boy” Kapano (Brett Clark) — to L.A. to kill all five of them.  Hunter and McCall find themselves in the strange position of providing productive custody to the dealers while trying to stop Kapano.

This was a typical “chase-em-and-shoot-em” episode of Hunter.  Dee Dee even managed to get shot for the second time this season.  (And, once again, it didn’t seem to actually hurt her.  “I’m fine!”)  For the first season, at least, Hunter kept things simple.  In between the flirtatious Hunter/McCall banter, there would be at least one car chase and three shootings.

What sets this episode apart is that Hunter and McCall are protecting drug dealers.  While McCall makes it clear that she doesn’t actually care what happens to the dealers, Hunter’s feelings are a bit more ambivalent.  He’s been chasing the dealers for so long that he’s developed a grudging affection for them.  When one of them is killed while helping the police, Hunter’s actually upset about it.

The other thing that sets this episode apart was Brett Clark’s intimidating turn as the assassin.  The Beach Boy, as he’s called, doesn’t waste too much time with conversations.  He doesn’t brag about how clever he is or go to a lot of trouble trying to fool anyone.  Instead, he just shows up and starts firing.  He wears a bulletproof vest, as well.  McCall shoots him twice and he barely flinches.  He’s a scary dude!

That said, Hunter still manages to kill him.  How many people have been killed by Rick Hunter so far?  I’ve lost track.  Most officers are suspended after a shooting so that the shooting board can rule whether or not it was justified.  Hunter is always back on the streets within an hour of killing someone.  Considering how quick he is with a gun, I probably wouldn’t want to tell him he was suspended either.

Much like Hunter and McCall, this episode was brutal and efficient.

So, I Watched Cheerleader Camp (1988, Dir. by John Quinn)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

My sister asked me to watch and review this one.  I’ll have to remember to thank her for that.

A group of cheerleaders go to a cheerleading camp for the summer.  In between all of the usual camp shenanigans, someone is killing the cheerleaders.  Alison (Betsy Russell) seems like the likeliest suspect because she keeps having weird dreams and is really possessive of her unfaithful boyfriend, Brent (Leif Garrett).  Is Alison the murderer or is she being set up?  Cheerleading is a cut-throat business so anything is possible.

As a former cheerleader, there were a few scenes that I could relate to.  Alison has the same nightmare that I used to have all through high school, where you show up for the game late, you have to put on your uniform in such a rush that you don’t even have time to put on a bra, and then you run out on the field and no one’s there.  I had that dream a hundred times.  And the movie was right about everyone making fun of the mascot.  I felt bad for Cory (Lucinda Dickey).

Overall, the movie left me with some questions.  The main one was whether or not these were supposed to be high school or college cheerleaders.  Some of them looked really old to still be in high school.  Brent had a receding hairline.  I also wondered why there was a pervy fat guy on Alison’s cheerleading squad.  There’s nothing wrong with male cheerleaders but I would not be comfortable with a male cheerleader who kept trying to see all of the other cheerleaders naked.  Finally, I wondered how everyone at the camp could be so stupid.  Why would anyone stay after the first dead body is found?  I liked Alison but even I groaned when she picked up a bloody meat cleaver.  Girl, that’s evidence!  Don’t get your fingerprints on that!  I also figured out who the murderer was after the first fifteen minutes.  It was pretty obvious.

I enjoyed cheering but I’m glad I never went to that cheerleader camp.  Most of the routines were awful and everyone ended up dead.  It’s not worth it.