Episode 5: Live a Little.... Kill a Little

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Honey is hired by a highfaluting tax attorney (Warren Stevens) to find and protect Karen Kelly (Maurine Dawson), a woman supposedly on the run from a homicidal ex (Harry Millard).


Neat trick: Honey stops a rooftop sniper at night by shining a hand-held lamp in his eyes. (She just happened to have a big hand-held lamp in her car.)

Honey traces Karen to a "taxi dance hall" where a man can buy tickets that entitle him to dance with a  "taxi dancer." Honey goes undercover as a taxi dancer (a.k.a., "hostess") to get close to Vicky (Mary Murphy), a hostess who knew Karen before she left the dance hall without notice. 

Notes: 1) Taxi dance halls were popular a century ago but were already on their way out by the 1960s. Although I've read that a modified version of the taxi dance hall still exists in some places, it has largely been supplanted in popular culture by the more explicit business of strip clubs, with the "lap dance" as a more overtly sexual (and more expensive) replacement for the taxi dance.

2) Warren Stevens previously appeared with Anne Francis in the sci-fi classic "Forbidden Planet" where he played Lt. Doc Ostrow and she played Altaira.

The climactic fight scene gives Honey the chance to practice her judo in high heels; meanwhile Sam relies more on traditional fisticuffs, although not exclusively. 

Earlier in this episode, Sam gets slugged on the back of the head, and Honey ministers to his wound. She is not too sadistic, but I get the impression it isn't just her lack of empathy; she's basically not that good at nursing.

Warning: All ratings are graded on a curve because “Honey West” is a guilty pleasure that doesn’t get better.

Overall rating: 3/5

Martial Arts rating: 3/5









Episode Five: Live a Little.... Kill a Little (You are here already)











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