My sister and I were really little when this show aired, used to lie on the floor to watch on our parents' big color set (which was encased in a piece of wooden furniture & low to the floor, back in those days). As soon as the theme song commenced, we'd jump up and get in position right in front of the screen, giggle, wait for it (the camera to do its jarring, dizzying spin up to the condo's balcony as the music crescendo-ed), & then compete to see who could do the dramatic Jack Lord spin-around the best! Fun times.
As everyone says when Jack Lord turns around has to be the coolest thing ever! The whole intro was amazingly glamorous back in the day and still is now !!
And you notice that when Jack Lord spins around, his bangs blow gently and erratically from a true Hawaiian breeze -- not the high-speed fans that TV shows later trained on models to make their hair look wind-blown!
Holds up backwards too - the Greeks and Romans woulda loved it !! Ahead of its time and timeless… transcendent in time and place - in fact I use it as a litmus test for intimate compatibility - love it longtime or fuhggedaboutit!
Lot of great theme songs for TV shows. I don't mean iconic ones, I mean musically good ones. Mission Impossible, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (the instrumental version, not the sung one), SWAT (the 70s TV show), CHiPs, and many more ... and I would even say Laverne & Shirley, and Underdog (the cartoon from the 60s or 70s). But I agree that Hawaii 5-0 is the best of them all.
Every second of this opening was perfect. The waves, the zoom in to the top of the high rise, that Garrat turn, the aircraft, the girl turning her head, the dancer. It blew my mind as a kid.
at the end....the solo bike with the teardrop blue light flashing rushing thru kalakaua ave......I heard long ago there was a blooper shot although I forgot what part/
I love the opening of The Rifleman, The Untouchables, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission Impossible, and Secret Agent Man. However, I must say that the opening of Hawaii Five-O is at the top of my list.
The high rise building was the 30th floor of The LLika Hotel. The girl running on the beach then turns her head to the camera is Elizabeth Logue, the hula dancer's name is Kaneohe Oahu..
@Kevin Counihan , If you know the history, do the Research, The Rock Group, Venture, made the Original idea, and CBS produced the TV 📺 hit ,Part of Song 🎵, with Orchestra, Hawaii Five 'O in 1968 , Staring ', Jack Lord , And James McArthur And I never said, 5/31 / 2020 The best TV dama , Police 🚔 Dama from, 1968 - 1981
So unbelievably epic, greatest theme song EVER, end of subject. Jack Lord's hair should have won a boatload of Emmy's. Loved Five-0 as a kid, never missed it.
I remember watching this as a kid....my Dad was really into it. I think it is the first TV show I can remember seeing. I agree with every single comment that this is the best intro of any TV show....editing, music, photography....just great.
If it ain’t broke... Today’s tv shows can’t even touch the good oldies. Jack Lord and so many other passed stars would be ashamed to even watch today’s prime time tv or dramas. These shows, like Hawaii Five-O and so many others of their time, are still classics and will never be forgotten.
@@gloriaannopperman2734 Have to disagree. Alex played McGarrett. Jack Lord WAS McGarrett. Nobody could top him and his coolness in that role. The reboot may have lasted a while but it can't touch the original. It doesn't have the flavor.
Must be one of the best TV theme tunes ever. I also love the extensive use of “sunburst”, “fast cutaways” and “fisheye” shots so typical of late Sixties and early Seventies films and TV...
Whenever I watch the reruns , I have to catch the intro or I wont watch it . I grew up in the 60's and always loved that quick camera shot up to Lord on that building and the quick editing to this powerful theme song .
I remember my first trip to Oahu. The tour bus driver showed us the Ilikai Hotel. He said that was where they filmed Jack Lord in the opening. I just melted. I just love that part of the opening. I have to come back to RU-vid from time to time to watch it.
Best theme and opening sequence bar none. My brother and I used to get so excited when this theme tune came on that we used to jump up in our PJ's and pretend to be surfing ! Jack Lord is and always will be The Man!
What a very busy and amazing opening to look at in a short period of time, coupled with the an amazing musical score, powerful, interesting, and beautiful all-in-one! They don't do them like that today!
I actually love that opening wave, which is incredibly majestic. I read where it was actually filmed like in 1962, a couple of years before thr series. Stock footage.
Best TV themes: 1. Hawaii Five-O ( best theme EVER )! 2. Mission: Impossible. 3. SWAT. 4. Baretta. 5. The Streets of San Francisco. 6. Starsky & Hutch. 7. The Rookies. That's all I got for now.
Elizabeth Logue was the legendary woman running on the beach while brushing her hair back as well as the last girl turning to face the camera. The late Helen Kuoha-Torco was the legendary Polynesian dancer. Her full dance was shown in the pilot episode.
TAKE ME BACK TO THE TIMES WHEN THIS WAS ON TV! ....The theme tune was enough to tell me it was probably bed time but I loved watching the and listening to the Intro. Ahh nice simple times.
At 1:38 , Prof. Erich Stoss is played by Theodore Bikel. Bikel was a master of languages, dialects, and accents, and often played ethnic roles, such as a German officer and Serbian king. Extensive stage, film, and film and television roles since 1950. Played Work’s Adoptive father, Sergey Rozhenko, in Star Trek: The Next Generation
I had the good fortune of being a pre teen and teen and living on Oahu during those years . I was a military brat but I loved, and still do, Hawaii. Something MUST be done to help local and native Hawaiian's because the real estate market is pricing them out of their homes and homesteads . This is wrong and has to be dealt with NOW !!
Reza Badiyi created the intro --superb editing and shots--the zoom in from ground to top of the the Ilikai Hotel with chopping angles is something you don't see today--ahead of it's time then and still today.
Composer: Morton Stevens. Theme performed by The Wrecking Crew! To their credit the new show's producers brought back the same musicians to record the current theme, without ruining something so iconic like so many producers would have done.
Lots of shots of United Airlines DC-8s in the opening credits which always excited me because my father was a United DC-8 pilot. We even stayed a month at the Ilikai (the hotel Jack Lord is on the top floor of) when my dad retired. The aircraft interior and flight attendant uniform where also United.
Amazing memories of watching HAWAII FIVE O with Mum in Ireland during the 1970s, excellent American TV drama production - Jack Lord was excellent and the theme tune intro is simply unbeatable.
and the film crews then would NOT hog a whole block just to reserve for the crew trucks and staff!!! few years ago....driving in old Kalaeloa military section.....came past one of the film trucks owned by a movie production company.....was torched, as in arson.
+Steve Wilkos Agree. I wanted to be like him and do that. Evidently someone else named Nora Louise Kuzma liked him so much she took his last name as her screen name. She's better known asTraci Lords.
When Jack Lord turns around and the bongos come up (which wasn't in most of the other season's versions of the theme) is my favorite moment of the title music. Morton Stevens' greatest achievement!
The classic Second Season rerecording of the theme to add more percussion and the big bongos when Jack Lord makes his turn-around. THE BEST! Thank you!
Book him Danno..Murder One! Best theme tune of all time with a great brass sound. Mr Lord was so cool when he turns around dropping his left eyebrow and lifting his right at the same time. My favourite part of this however is at 0.40 when that beautiful lady makes an all too brief appearance....oh how I was in love with her!
Always loved this intro as a kid. The wide angled lens, the zoom ins, pauses on the dancing Hawaiian chick! All of it!! I can't remember any other intro like it!!!
My mother must have watched this show a lot. It was never my choice, but the intro and outro never left my head. From the brief shots of an aircraft to the dancing woman, I remember all of it, like yesterday.
@@gretchennelson9965 Jack Lord and Elvis Presley were best friends. Elvis Presley, like Lord, gave most of hide fortune away to family, friends, charities and random strangers.
I learned the percussion part in elementary school way back when and can stilll play it - even though I'm not a badass anymore. Damn...rhis song is one that makes me still feel alive! Mahalo!
Oh that look in the intro when Jack turns around................after all these years it still sends shivers down my spine..............................................
This was one of those shows our whole family would watch we lived in a drab Midwestern town and we would watch just to see beautiful Hawai’i now decades later I’ve actually made it to Hawai’i and I’m watching this now!
HANDS DOWN !!! COLD SMACK!!!!!!!!LORD IS THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BEST COP SHOW EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!THOSE FRIDAY NIGHT DUPES COULDNT CARRY JACKS HOLSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone on here who remembers watching this show is near my age and i always loved the theme music, and who doesn't remember jack lord saying " book em' danno, and danno would say what's the charge steve ? And jack lord would say murder 1 , 2 counts or 1 count, whatever" now that was classic t.v.
I have all the original Hawaii Five-0 dvd, my favorite collection... also the current ones. What can I say, love Hawaii Five-0 :-). right now, we are staying for our 2 week vacation here, and guess where?_______ :-)
I Born 1971 ! Was A Little Boy 👦🏽 😂😂🙏🏾But My God !! My Dad Wanted Total Silence When That Was On !! 😂 Was His Favorite Show 😂! Got It As A Ring Tone 😂😂😂
In many ways this a music video. The quick cuts and angles was what early videos were like. The intro was ahead of its time and, along with mission impossible, one the coolest intros of all time
