The Checklist: Airwolf (S2 Ep4) “The Truth About Holly”
Airwolf premiered on CBS on January 22, 1984. The show starred action movie veterans Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine. Three seasons (totaling 55 episodes) would air on CBS between January 1984 and March 1986.
The show would get a fourth season and second life on the USA Network with 24 first run episodes produced for the basic cable network, but featuring a new cast and new production company.
For whatever reason… I was never an Airwolf guy. Whether it was the first three seasons on CBS or the fourth season on USA, Airwolf did not capture my attention the way some of the other action adventures series of this time did like The A-Team or Knight Rider.
My not getting into Airwolf is a real mystery to me, so I thought putting an episode of Airwolf to The Checklist test might help me solve the mystery…
#1- Did Airwolf have a kick ass theme song/show open?
The answer to this is a definitive YES! The Airwolf opening theme may be the most 80’s theme of all the action adventure shows of the era. The opening theme was composed by Sylvester Levay. Some of Levay’s other musical credits include such action hits as Cobra, Navy SEALS and Stone Cold! 1/1
#2- Did the show have an interesting premise?
Jan-Michael Vincent plays Stringfellow Hawke. Hawke cuts a deal with a covert intelligence agency known as “The Firm” to carry out dangerous missions for them IF they will help find his brother who went M.I.A. in Vietnam. This is a classic formula with an over arcing story across the series that usually takes up a few minutes at most of each episode (other times it is completely ignored), but the individual episodes are made up of stand alone missions. The hook for Airwolf, is that Hawke is the pilot of the most technologically advanced helicopter in the world known as Airwolf. Batman, Starsky and Hutch, Michael Knight, The Dukes of Hazzard and The A-Team had already established how important it is for the good guys to have a sweet ride… and how sweet is state of the art helicopter with plenty of firepower?!?
This particular episode’s mission features Hawke veering away from a mission sanctioned by “The Firm” and instead helping out his friend Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine). Hawke rescues Dom’s niece Holly (Barbara Howard, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) from her abusive criminal boyfriend, Ed Aarons, in Mexico and brings her back to the US. And if you guessed Ed Aarons doesn’t take too kindly to this, you’d be right. 2/2
#3- Were there any notable guest stars?
Luke Askew plays Tony, one of the goons that Aarons sends to the United States to find Holly and bring her back to Mexico. Askew made the rounds on many action adventure series over the course of his career including The Six Million Dollar Man, Knight Rider and The Fall Guy.
Another notable guest star was David Ruprecht… now he may not be known for his action movie work, but he was the host of one of the most action packed game show of them all… Supermarket Sweep! Ruprecht played Carlson, the director of a movie that Hawke, Dom and the newest member of their team Caitlin (Jean Bruce Scott) are working on doing air stunts…. this is Hawke and Dom’s legit job when they aren’t Airwolfing. 3/3
#4- Do we get any helicopter action?
If your show is about the coolest helicopter in the world, then every episode needs some cool helicopter action… first there’s the stunt scene where Caitlin experiences some technical difficulties in a standard everyday whirlybird and her “stunt crash” nearly becomes a real one. But what about Airwolf?!?!
The story has an interesting twist and when Caitlin once again finds herself in trouble in the sky we get a whole damn air show with Airwolf and a couple of F-14’s! 4/4
#5- Does Stringfellow get the girl?
It is not uncommon for the action hero to get the girl, well Stringfellow does get to lock lips with Caitlin as part of the movie shoot… this really shouldn’t count, but there were definitely some sparks flying so partial credit for laying the groundwork for these two potentially becoming an item as the series goes on. 4.5/5
- Final Score = 4.5/5 (90%) A strong score for this episode of Airwolf, but after watching this particular episode I think I solved the mystery as to why I never got into this show… quite frankly, it can be terribly boring at times. The pacing was off and I never felt glued to the screen. And if I am saying that as a “sophisticated adult”, I can only imagine my younger self tuning out when I didn’t see the Airwolf helicopter on the screen. So despite having elements of what made so many shows favorites of mine, I don’t think Airwolf and I were meant to be.
