Episode 1: The Swingin' Mrs. Jones

Previous: "Honey West" Redux: Introduction                  Next: Episode Two: The Owl and the Eye

Honey kisses a microphone disguised as an
 olive before dropping it in Sam's martini.







Private detective Honey West (Anne Francis) goes under cover as a rich widow at a resort where blackmailers take juicy pictures of rich widows being made love to by a local lothario who lives with his scheming mother. Honey's partner, Sam Bolt (John Ericson), poses as a competing lothario. Guest starring Ray Danton as the handsome loser-villain.

The gang of blackmailers fall for the detectives' act at first but are tipped off that Honey is a P.I. They set a trap for Honey and Sam, who manage to turn the tables in the end and roll up the whole gang.

No, these are my sunglasses, and I gotta put you
 on hold so I can answer my regular glasses.






Honey and Sam talk into their radios-disguised-as-eye-glasses, rather obviously to anyone carefully watching them. Hell, obviously to anyone carelessly watching them. 

A so-so episode, perhaps chosen as the pilot because of the pool-side shots of scantily clad women (as scantily clad as they dared in 1965), including Honey herself. Or perhaps because of the gadgets, which include exploding tear gas earrings and a garter belt that turns into a gasmask.








The epilogue includes Honey and Sam sparring at judo.

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: 4/5




Episode One: The Swingin' Mrs. Jones (You are here already)
















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Honey West" Redux: Introduction

Image
     NEXT:   Opening Theme and Images of "Honey West"                 Episode One: The Swingin' Mrs. Jones     ANNE FRANCIS AS HONEY WEST, WITH BRUCE, HER PET OCELOT Who is Honey West? If you have to ask "Who is Honey West?" perhaps you are not among friends here, but I will humor the question, nonetheless. Honey West was a fictional private detective first seen in print in 1957, having been created the year before by Forrest "Skip" Fickling and his wife Gloria (under the nom de plume G.G. Fickling, the "G.G." standing for Gloria Gautraud, which was her maiden name). The saga of Honey West began in 1956 when [Skip] Fickling was talking to his friend, mystery writer Richard Prather.... “One day,” Fickling recalls, “I said, ‘Why don’t you do a female private detective?’ He said, ‘I’m too busy. Why don’t you try it?’ ”                            ...
Read more

Episode 19: It's Earlier Than You Think

Image
 Previous: Ep. 18  King of the Mountain                                        Next: Ep. 20 The Perfect Un-crime Just like last time, we begin with a suburban house and somebody crashing outwardly through glass doors. And, again, gun shots ring out.  But this time the defenestratee is not Sam. It is a man (Bill Catching) dressed in a dark, 1860s-style suit. He wears a stove-pipe top hat and sports muttonchop sideburns. (Note: Catching was a professional stuntman; so, even though you cannot see his face at all times, this is likely to be his own stunt, but that is not certain. Still, expand the second picture below and tell me that is not Catching.) He falls over the railing of the porch and tumbles to the ground. (Note the pistol in his right hand.) With his long-barreled revolver now in his left hand, he puts his right hand over an apparent wound on his lef...
Read more

BONUS: "Burke's Law": "Who Killed the Jackpot?"

Image
Previous:  Introduction                                                     Next:  Episode 1: The Swingin' Mrs. Jones Anne Francis as Honey West on "Burke's Law" (April 1965) “You can get into trouble trailing strange guys.” - Tony Peterson, Atty. at Law,  "Dark Shadows" (November 1967) “Small town, bright lights, Saturday night,                                                                                   “ Pinballs and pool halls, flashing their lights.” - "Donald and Lydia" by John Prine   “Who Killed the Jackpot?” is the episode of “Burke’s Law” that introduced Honey West to television.  Opening: The long shot of a cit...
Read more