Episode module created Tuesday 22nd July 2008
Last update Monday 22nd September 2008
Guest Stars CLIFTON JAMES (Warden Beale)
WILLIAM SMITH (Jase Tataro)
PAUL KOSLO (Deputy Chip Sneed)
RED WEST (Lieutenant Leo Trask)
HUGH GILLIN (Sheriff Norm)
And KEN NORTON ("Jackhammer" Jackson)
Special Guest Star MEENO PELUCE (Joey Tataro)
Co-Starring ELSA RAVEN (Dr. Marian Ericson)
MICHAEL GREENE (Deke), PHIL PROCTOR (André)
Featuring DAVID PENHALE as Maitre D'
RANDY PATRICK as Deputy (Billy Robertson)
DUANE TUCKER as Guard #1
NICK SHIELDS as Guard #2
EDDY C. DYER as Guard #3
Written by STEPHEN J. CANNELL
Directed by RON SATLOF
1st season, © 1982
Production # :1102 60 minutes Mono
AIRDATES
First broadcast:
U.S. : Tuesday 8th February 1983 (NBC)
U.K. : To be confirmed (ITV)
Click to jump to:
Plot Summery (Act I) (Act II) (Act III) (Act IV) (Epilogue)
Costume (including Murdock's T-Shirt)
Good and Bad Points and Memorable Moments
Final Word and Hannibal's Cigar Rating
BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW:
The A-Team head behind bars to rescue an old friend of B.A.'s, who is being held in a Florida prison where the crooked warden is arranging gladiatorial to-the-death boxing matches, then setting the winner free and giving them short lived freedom before having his men hunt them down…
PLOT SUMMERY:
Act I:
Strikersville, Florida: A pitch-black night. Inside a barn in a remote country area, a brutal fight between two muscle-bound men cuffed together is in full swing. A horde of over-weight, beer swilling, cigar smoking spectators watch on from the ring-side seats and stands surrounding the fighting area of the cleverly converted barn, cheering and placing their bets. The organiser of the barbaric event, Warden Beale, excitedly watches the fight, saying this may be Jase’s best fight yet, as his sidekick Lieutenant Trask films the whole thing. Eventually, one of the men, Jase Tataro – the man the Warden is gunning for, finally gets the upper hand and with a quick, skilled combination of punches gets the better of his opponent and knocks him to the ground, barely conscious.
Warden Beale steps into the centre of the ring. He calls for the crowd’s verdict on how to finish the fight, and the crowd call unanimously to finish him. Drawing his gun, the corrupt Warden orders Jase to finish his opponent off; but Jase refuses. Warden Beale raises his gun – for a second it seems as if he may aim it at Jase, but he lowers it, pointing at the floor, to the downed, barely conscious opponent.
Soon after, a prison truck, driven by Trask and Beale, stops in the middle of nowhere. They open up the back, and let Jase out. Warden Beale tells Jase that he’s giving him one-hour head start before he reports prison break, and sends him off. Beaten and dazed, Jase takes off as fast as he can into the night. No sooner is Jase out of sight, than the Warden decides that an hour has passed, and has Trask call in his men.
Trask gets onto the radio to Deputy Sneed, who is waiting ready back at the barn, where he has deputised the men who were watching the fight. Sneed tells the men the direction Jase has been seen heading in, and they prepare for some “good hunting”.
Meanwhile, Jase is running for his life, insisting to himself that he’ll make it.
A day or so later in L.A., B.A. is working at the local day care centre, making ash-trays out of clay, trying to get one of the boys, Joey, interested in the project, but Joey is restless gets up to leave. B.A. asks what he and his mother have heard from Jase – Joey’s brother - to which the boy snaps that they’ve heard nothing and takes off.
Just outside, in plain clothes, are Trask and Sneed in a car, who see Joey leave and follow him. But B.A., suspicious by the young boy’s behaviour, also discreetly follows him.
The boy heads to some wasteland under the freeway, to an old makeshift ramshackle shelter, where Jase is hiding out inside. Jase asks where Joey has been. No sooner has Joey let him know that he had to go and see B.A. than the giant black man lets his presence be known. Jase and B.A. know each other from their childhood, where they grew up on the same rough streets of Chicago.
Jase briefly tells B.A. of what’s been happening to him - how he was initially jailed for 30 days for a bar-room brawl but the Warden trumped up additional charges - but the reunion is short lived. Joey inadvertently has also led Trask and Sneed to the hideaway, and now they have the place surrounded.
Jase asks B.A. to look after Joey and makes a run for it, much to the distress of Joey, who screams that they’ll kill him. Jase doesn’t make it far away at all before he is brutally captured. B.A. just manages to keep Joey quiet and the pair of them out of sight.
A little later, in a restaurant, Hannibal is in disguise as his own agent, trying to persuade a film producer called Andre to let John Smith (himself!) play the part of the martian in an upcoming movie, called ‘Sinbad Goes To Mars’. The producers is very reluctant, after the last film Hannibal was involved in, ended in disaster thanks to him. Suddenly, B.A. comes marching in and tells Hannibal that he needs him. Hannibal tells Andre that he’ll call him, and quickly leaves.
Outside, just around the corner in the A-Team van, are the rest of the team, with Joey. B.A. explains to Hannibal the trouble Jase is in, and – as only B.A. can – convinces the rest of the team to help! Hannibal tells the much-relieved Joey that he’s just hired The A-Team.
The team’s first stop is at the local library. While Amy and Face go in, Joey gives more information to Hannibal what’s been happening to Jase. Warden Beale picks out prisoners that are tough, and has one of the other prisoners “test them” in the yard by picking a fight with them. If they do well, he separates them from the other prisoners and trains them, and then makes them fight to the death. The winners of the fights are then set free before Beale has his men hunt them down. Jase was the first one ever to get away.
Face and Amy return with a book written by a Doctor Dwight Pepper about prison reform. This will be Face’s cover for getting into the prison. The team drop Joey off at home and set off for the Florida prison.
On the way, using a mini printing press in the back of the van, Face and Murdock replace the photo of the book’s original author with one of Face.
Upon arrival in Strikersville, Face lays out the team’s plan. Hannibal, B.A. and Murdock are to rent a car and get arrested. Then he and Amy will go to the prison in order to get them the things they’ll need to escape. They’ve got to break out of prison with Jase before the fight. Amy is worried that Hannibal and B.A. will be separated in the prison so won’t know what is going on, but Hannibal’s got a plan to keep the pair of them together. They all get back into the van and head off to save Jase.
Soon, B.A., Hannibal and Murdock are sitting inside a rented car. Hannibal cheerfully smiles, saying that getting arrested is the easy part.
B.A. revs the car into action, and it screams wildly through the town, dangerously weaving in-and-out of other vehicles and swerving all across the road. Within moments, they have the local Police on their tail. The local Sheriff and his Deputy pull them over.
The trio stumble out of the car, playing their guises of drunk drivers to the full.
Hannibal goes the whole haul at winding up the tubby Sheriff, who in no time at all is screaming at his Deputy to call “Judge Beale” and tell him they’ve caught some yankees speeding through town. But the Deputy calms the irate Sheriff down, reminding him that the judge is going to send an investigator down, and the pair of them could get in trouble. They get back in the patrol car, and head off back to the station, leaving the three members of The A-Team standing, rather bemused.
B.A. is concerned that Jase could be getting murdered while they’re trying to get arrested. Hannibal’s got a way to change the Sheriff’s mind.
With the Colonel taking the wheel this time, they race of again in the direction of the Sheriff’s office. They race along, and as they arrive outside the office, Hannibal doesn’t slow the car down, but instead ploughs it right through the wall into the office!
The Sheriff, barely believing his eyes, enters the office, in which the car is now sitting, and bellows that they’re all going to jail. Hannibal just smiles and says “Thank you”…
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Act II:
Hannibal, Murdock and B.A. arrive at Strikersville Prison in the back of a prison truck. As the other prisoners are led out of the truck, B.A. remains sitting motionless inside. Sneed yells at him to get out, but Hannibal explains that his friend is a deaf mute, with whom only Hannibal can communicate with in sign language. He says that if he wants him to talk B.A. for him, he’ll un-cuff him. Trask reluctantly agrees, and after some highly dubious ‘sign language’ from Hannibal, B.A. finally responds and lumbers out of the truck, and the three are led in.
Watching down from his office, Warden Beale immediately notices the muscular B.A., commenting to Trask that he looks like a candidate for the fight programme. Reading from his file, he is surprised to learn that he is a deaf mute, to which his friend John Smith is the only one who can communicate with him. Reading more from the file, Beale laughs out loud as he sees that Smith is a hair-dresser – the “animal” B.A. travels around with a hair-dresser. Beale tells Trask to arrange for “Jackhammer” Jackson to try B.A. out to see if he’s as tough as he looks. If he is, they’ll upgrade his charges to 2 years for assault.
Murdock is taken for psychiatric evaluation. He is given ink-blots to try and find the picture in them by the head of the hospital ward, Dr. Ericson, but he just randomly guesses them, not even trying to guess the picture. Eventually he wears down the starchy Doctor’s patience, by saying that one of the blots looks like an empty garbage bag, at which she gives a nod to Trask to lead him out. As he is lead out of the room, Murdock starts asking for a trash bag…
Amy arrives to see Warden Beale, under the cover of being there to cover Dr. Pepper’s ideas for reform within the prison.
Down in the prison yard, Hannibal and B.A. are met by some of the undesirable prison inhabitants. First character to try it on is a character called Deke, who appoints himself as their “boss” and orders them to turn out their pockets to him, helping himself to one of Hannibal’s cigars. Hannibal refuses and, taking his cigar back and Deke’s pack of cigarettes with it, asks for information on Jase Tataro. The silent threat of B.A. is enough to keep Deke from laying into Hannibal, but the man refuses to answer any questions. Tossing Deke’s cigarettes back to him, Hannibal and B.A. walk off.
Mere moments later, it is B.A.’s turn for the initiation, this time from the muscular “Jackhammer” – the prisoner instructed by Warden Beale via Trask to pick a fight with B.A. to see just how tough he is. Standing face-to-face with B.A., Jackhammer orders him to “turn out his pockets”, but B.A., playing the deaf mute, just stands motionless, staring at him. Hannibal, ‘helpfully’ steps in, explaining that his friend is deaf and a mute, and can’t even read lips, but says he’ll be happy to translate for Jackhammer. Hannibal follows with another highly dubious set of ‘sign language’ hand movements, to which B.A. responds. Demanding to know what B.A. said, Jackhammer is met with a long string of ridiculous insults as ‘translated’ by Hannibal. With that, Jackhammer takes a swing at B.A., and a fierce fight ensues, but it is relatively short lived as B.A. soon takes care of his opponent.
Watching through binoculars from his office, the Warden is ecstatic about B.A.’s performance, saying he may be even better than Jase. Trask points out that the only problem is that they can’t talk to him without Smith. For now, Beale says to keep them together, to put B.A. on the fight programme, and to get on the phone and spread the word – Saturday night, there’ll be a fight to the death. $1000 for one seat…
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Act III:
Face arrives at the prison in the guise of Doctor Pepper. But Warden Beale has no time from him and his radical ideas on prison reform. Face tells him that he’s been commissioned by the senate to write a thesis on several prisons, including Strikersville, and that he is appalled to learn in the last 18 months there have been 7 prisoner deaths in “mysterious causes”. Not to mention the number of prison breaks that have resulted in the death of the escaping prisoners, as Amy chips in – to which Face goes on a rant that while he’s grateful that she’s there, and that her coverage of his reforms will be sold to 70 syndicated newspapers, but he’d like to handle matters in his own way.
Concerned on hearing that Amy has reach to 70 papers, Warden Beale becomes slightly more co-operative, and Face insists that he’s not there to make trouble for him. He goes on to say that he’d like to start some cooking, and hairdressing classes. When Warden Beale mocks him asking if he wants him to start a ballet class as well, Face, very matter-of-factly tells him that in other prisons, dance class, and painting class, have proven rather effective. The Warden has heard enough. He won’t hear any more of it, and sends Doctor Pepper on his way.
As Amy goes to leave after him, she comments out loud that it’s fascinating that the Warden is unwilling to try new prison reform techniques, before turning off a mini tape-recorder that has been running in her bag the whole time. Realising that the whole scene has been caught on tape, and knowing what unwanted exposure Amy could put on him and the prison, Warden Beale calls Face back. He tells him that they’ve had a prisoner come in today with hair-styling experience and says that they could give the scheme a shot, and asks him what he needs…
Meanwhile, Murdock’s curious want for garbage bags has grown, and in his cell down in the prison’s psychiatric ward, he is hollering and screaming for “Terrrassshhh Baaags”. Eventually, Dr. Ericson has Trask give him one just to keep him quiet, commenting that maybe he’ll put his head inside and suffocate. Upon being given the object of his obsession, Murdock grabs hold of the bag and goes quiet as in a daze.
In the prison gym, Hannibal and B.A. enter, to find Jase there, practising on a boxing bag. Jase is visibly confused to B.A. there, but goes to smile and talk to his friend. But B.A. discreetly raises his finger to his lips to indicate for Jase to keep quiet. He whispers to Hannibal “…That’s Jase Tataro… He’s alive…”
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Act IV:
As part of Face’s reform ideas, Hannibal and B.A. have been given hair-dressing equipment to start up a hair-dressing salon for prisoners. Playing up his camp hairdresser part to the full, Hannibal is complaining about all the equipment they’ve been given to work with. The Warden is obviously annoyed but has no choice other than to go along with the programme. Face assures him it will work, and asks to see the hospital facilities.
They are shown around the hospital ward by Dr. Ericson. But as they go into her office, she reveals that she got a copy of Dr. Pepper’s book from the prison library – with the real author’s picture on it! For a moment, it seems as if the game’s up, but quick wittedly, Face suddenly acts as if to loose his temper, getting angry at his book publishers, as he spins her a yarn about a mix up at the printers. Face gives the story his all, and it pays off; Dr. Ericson believes him, and Face takes the offending book cover with the real publisher’s picture on to get rid of. The matter resolved, Face suggests that they take a look at “the trash-bag fixation”.
Murdock is still hollering for trash bags, of which his is now building up a small collection. When Sneed gives him another bag through the door to shut him up, he promptly gets on his bed and climbs inside it! Face says he’d like to spend some time with Murdock later to evaluate him.
Back in the gym, Hannibal is helping B.A. to work out, when the Warden enters with Trask and Sneed and tells Hannibal to get B.A. to hand his hands up – he’s leaving. When Hannibal asks why they’re leaving, Beale tells him it’s not him, just B.A. He’s going to be fighting Jase Tataro. Hannibal has no choice but to instruct B.A. (in the dubious sign language) to be cuffed. Hannibal’s plan has reached a hitch – the team assumed that the fights took place in the prison. As Sneed leads B.A. out, Hannibal acts all lost. Trask starts to mock him, asking if he misses his playmate, but Hannibal says it’s just he hates violence – before suddenly swinging around and knocking the off-guard Trask out, and taking his keys.
Hannibal uses to the keys to get to the hair dryers and make-shift barbers chairs assembled in the would-be hair-dressing saloon, and dumps them outside.
In the back of the prison truck on the way to the barn, B.A. tells Jase that he’s got some help, but Jase gloomily tells him neither of them will be getting out of this one.
Amy discreetly follows the prison truck and the Warden’s car in B.A.’s van, a little distance behind and with the head-lights turned off so not to be seen.
Hannibal heads to the psychiatric ward. Dr. Ericson demands to know what he’s doing there, and he tells her that Warden Beale sent him to give Murdock a hair-cut. From inside Murdock’s cell, Face confirms that he arranged it with the Warden earlier. But as soon as Dr. Ericson opens the door to the cell, Face grabs her and bundles her inside, as he and Murdock spring out, before Hannibal quickly locks the door shut with the Doctor trapped inside.
Hannibal tells the two about the error in the plan. He tells Face to get out of the prison and says to Murdock they’re going over the wall. Face says Amy was waiting outside in B.A.’s van and that hopefully she had the instinct to follow the prison van - if she didn’t, they’re dead!
Outside in the prison grounds, Hannibal and Murdock use the equipment Hannibal took from the make-shift hair-dressing salon to prepare their escape. At the front gate, Face goes to leave, but the guard on the gate has to check on the phone with the main desk for clearance before he can let him go…
At that moment in the hospital ward, the imprisoned Dr. Ericson’s yells for help have finally been heard by the prison officers, who free her. She warns them of the escape attempt, and that Dr. Pepper’s in on it. But the warning is not in time, and the gate guard has got clearance, and Face is allowed to leave. No sooner has Face left, than the alarm is raised, and the prison swings into full alert.
Hannibal and Murdock’s contraptions are now complete – they’re home-made hot air balloons, with the garbage bags inflated with hot air from the hair dryers, and the chairs sitting underneath. The chairs take off over the prison wall. The guard in the turret over-looking the prison spots them and starts taking pot-shots with his rifle, but this merely helps to get rid off the inflated bags as they begin to set them free, bringing the chairs back down to ground on the other side of the wall. As they land, Face races up in a car, and they pile in and take off.
From outside the barn that she has followed the prison truck to, Amy gives Hannibal directions over the radio how to get there. At that moment, the doors on the barn shut, as the event inside gets ready to commence.
Inside, Warden Beale is giving the fight a big build up, saying that B.A. has got the fastest hands he’s seen for 20 years. With that, he sets the fight off. The rowdy spectators start cheering and placing their bets, and Jase and B.A. have little option than to fight.
Outside, Face, Hannibal and Murdock race up in the car. Amy warns them that there’s about 50 or 60 in the barn and some of them have got guns. Face says that they’ve got a surprise for them!
Back inside the barn, the savage fight continues. Both men struggle, but eventually B.A. gets the upper hand. Warden Beale steps back into the ring and is just about to make B.A. finish Jase off, when the A-Team van suddenly comes smashing in as it reverses through the side of the barn. B.A. grabs Warden Beale in a tight neck-lock as the back doors of the van fly open and Hannibal lets loose a spray of bullets from an automatic rifle over the heads of the guards and the spectators. Murdock and Face rush over and disarm the guards and the armed members of the crowd. As Murdock unchains him from Jase, B.A. releases his neck-lock on Warden Beale, and says he knew his friends wouldn’t let him down. The Warden, struggling for breath, is amazed that B.A. isn’t a mute any more – B.A. tells him it’s just like he isn’t a warden any more, before knocking him out with one punch!
Hannibal tells Murdock to grab the camera that was used to record the fight, and get all of the men attending the barbaric event on film.
With that, the team and Jase pile into the van. With another burst of gun-fire from Hannibal, the van races off into the night.
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Epilogue:
The A-Team are gathered at Jase and Joey’s home for a ‘welcome home’ party for Jase. Since Warden Beale and his men’s barbaric racket has now been exposed, Jase is now a free man, since Warden Beale had faked up the extra charges against him. Hannibal just asks that he doesn’t say anything about their identities, as they don’t want to leave a trail for Colonel Lynch. Jase says that it’s a promise.
With that, the team leave to go about their individual business. Amy has to get back to the paper - she’s got front page with the story tomorrow. Murdock needs to be dropped back at the hospital, and Hannibal has another meeting with Andre the film producer. B.A. makes a deal with Joey – tomorrow, they’ll learn to make ashtrays, before bidding the boy and his old friend Jase farewell and going on his way.
Later, back at the bar, Hannibal is in disguise, meeting with the film agent once again. Interrupting him, the agent sees the story of the breaking up of the illegal fight on the news, along with the film of the spectators that the team recorded, and comments that he’d love to have the rights to the story, and would give anything to be sitting across the table from one of the guys who pulled of the caper. For one brief moment, Hannibal has a mad idea…
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COMMENTS, REVIEW & NOTES :
Actually the first regular episode of the series to be produced after the Pilot, ‘Pros And Cons’ is an classic, and a key episode for any level of A-Team fan to see.
The second hour-long episode to be originally broadcast, after ‘Children Of Jamestown’ (which was the third produced), this episode is in many ways one with the episode with the closest feel to the Pilot, in terms of what the series was about and the sort of audience it was aimed at. Being produced early in the 1980s, it is also one of the early episodes with somewhat of a still distinct late 1970s feel about it (which always suited the series well, in my opinion).
It is also the only episode that – other than the opening credits – that uses the same 1970-style font.
The story, as with many of the best A-Team stories, is somewhat simplistic, but, as with all great A-Team stories, that doesn’t matter in the least in many ways works in it’s favour. In a way the overall plot is little more than a close-line to hang some great gags and set pieces on.
The script is by series creator Stephen J. Cannell, and has many of his hallmarks with the numerous quirks of this episode.
Murdock’s craving for trash-bags, Hannibal’s delightfully camp hair-dresser, Face posing as a character named of all things “Dr. Pepper”, escaping over the prison wall on home-made hot air balloons – all top notch classic A-Team that has a distinctive mark of Cannell.
Although ‘Children Of Jamestown’ was the first hour-long episode originally shown after the Pilot, some may not realise that, with this being the first regular episode produced, ‘Pros And Cons’ is actually Dirk Benedict’s first time playing Face. To watch the episode, you would think he’d been playing the part for years, as he hits the ground running, proving that – although I often defend original Face Tim Dunigan – ultimately Cannell and Lupo’s original choice of Benedict is the right man for the part.
Just about anyone who’s ever seen this episode at any point in his or her life can recall it. When mentioning ‘The A-Team’ in casual conversation (and fellow hard-core fans will know how much we like to do that!), chances are that this will be one of the episodes that more casual viewers will remember – normally summarised as “the one with the trash bags”.
Mention the character of Murdock, and chances are that anyone that’s ever seen this episode will recite “Terrash Baag!” Years after this episode was originally shown, school playgrounds everywhere still had chants of the line.
Several very early episodes are evident of Dwight Schultz quickly being “written back into the series” (as originally, Murdock was only intended to be a re-occurring character), and while ‘Children Of Jamestown’ can generally be seen as the most evident episode of this, ‘Pros And Cons’ does have that feel as well. Despite his memorable trash bag routine, he does somewhat feel tacked on a little (his couple of sentences of exchanges with B.A. in the A-Team van is his only dialogue for the whole of the first act), and generally feels much less involved than the character would be in later episodes.
As the series became more formula produced later on, the characters of each episode became much less memorable. But here we are treated to some of the greatest guest characters in the entire show’s run.
Warden Beale is a well written, memorable nemesis for the story, and a nice change from the standard corrupt businessman / mobster that would become so regular later on in the series. Reliable TV guest star Clifton James is perfect for the role.
Jase Tataro seems almost too good to be a one-off character. Brought to life by the excellent William Smith, who again is absolutely perfect in the role, it’s a real shame that Jase was never seen again in the series, as he’s a great character. In the screen time he has with B.A., there’s a good rapport between the two characters and it would have been nice to have to have this played upon some more in another episode.
Some people have commented that Joey seems a little young to be Jase’s brother. Possibly so, but there sometimes does lie large age gaps between siblings, and there’s nothing to say that they’re not just somehow step-brothers, or one of them is adopted or fostered. In the final act, we see a quite elderly lady which can be presumed (though is never stated) to be (one of their) their mother, or the woman who adopted (one of) them.
It is not clearly indicated just how many of Warden Beale’s officers are in on the illegal fights, but from the number of them we see at the fights, it appears to be quite a few. Trask is the Warden’s “right hand man” in both the running of the prison and the organising of the fights, with Sneed third to that, but in total it seems that there could be as many as a dozen officers in on it at least.
It generally can be read that Dr. Ericson doesn’t know about the fights. Although appearing somewhat of an old battleaxe, she does seem to have a more slightly caring, humane side.
As a side thought, it seems rather curious that Elsa Raven, who plays the character (again, very well, I might add), only gets billed with the ‘Co-Starring’ cast, as she plays quite a central figure in this episode. The character, by the way, is never named on screen, but called Doctor Marian Ericson in the script.
The title of the episode is kind of clever – ‘Pros’ (The A-Team) and ‘Cons’ (the criminals). But you worked that out, right?
The violence in this episode, while nothing outstandingly extreme, is a more brutal than the more comic-book violence generally associated with the series, particularly in later episodes.
One of the things that stands out about the plot of this episode is just why the team would be so willing to go inside the prison anyway, especially all of them. Surely they would have been fingerprinted and things after they were arrested. In the third season's enjoyable episode ‘Breakout!’, when Murdock and B.A. are arrested after getting caught up in an armed robbery, the pair are fingerprinted and B.A.’s prints soon end up on Colonel Decker’s desk. So how come no trace of them got back to Colonel Lynch in this episode? But, as with many great A-Team stories, it’s best to just over-look the obvious and sit back and enjoy the adventure.
People often reminisce about the time a big film was in production or something. If I could go back to see any one episode of The A-Team being produced, it may well be this one.
I watched this episode over and over as a child and it has so much nostalgia attached to it for me. It probably had more influence on my childhood than any other single episode. I remember one time, a friend and I had even built a hideout in one of our gardens out of “junk”, and were playing pretending to be Jase and B.A., being forced to live rough and hiding out from Warden Beale’s men. Ahh, memories. (Ahh, twisted childhood)
What more can I say. I could probably make a whole web-site dedicated to this episode alone! If you’ve never seen this episode – watch it. For all those people who don’t rate ‘The A-Team’ too highly (memories tarnished by later season’s so many formula-based by-the-numbers stories, and the ultimately doomed fifth season revamp) – just point them in the direction of this episode! I dare it not to change their opinions at least a bit at least.
All in all, a classic. What else can I say?
TO BEALE OR NOT TO BEAL?
The spelling of Warden Beale's surname varies in different sources; some spell it with an 'e' on the end, others do not. The Complete First Season DVDs are no help, as the spelling varies in subtitles of different languages. I have spelt it here with an 'e' on the end, as this seems to be the most common and accepted spelling.
THE ELUSIVE MAITRE D'
The credits for this episode include David Penhale as the Maitre D'. But he doesn't appear to be in the episode! I believe there may have been a scene featuring that was dropped in post production, presumably due to time restraints. I think it is in the scene where Hannibal is in the bar with Andre and B.A. comes marching in; if you watch the episode, Hannibal is busy trying to convince Andre to cast him his next movie, and then suddenly the conversation breaks down. I'd imagine that in the original filmed version, there was a short scene between B.A. and the Maitre D' at the doorway.
THE REAL DR. PEPPER
Some viewers have speculated that the picture of
the 'real' Dr. Pepper on the back of the prison reform book is in fact of series co-creator and episode writer Stephen J. Cannell. I'm not sure. What do you think?
QUOTES:
Coming Soon!!
FIRSTS:
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This is the first episode to use the 30 second abridged version of the standard theme tune, using it on both the opening trailer and the closing credits. This version was the most often used piece of music on the opening trailers. |
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This is the first of many adventures where the team aren't specifically hired. |
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This is the first time we see Murdock without his cap for an entire episode (though, unlike future such occasions, it’s not because he’s in some other costume – i.e. ‘the Range Rider’, ‘Pat-Finder Murdock’, etc.). |
LASTS:
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This is last time, and the only time after the Pilot, that we see the rather 1970s-looking font on the series (outside of the opening credits) |
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This is the last episode where we see Melinda Culea with long, straight hair (see ‘Hair Today, Different Hair Tomorrow’ under Costume section) |
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This is the only episode of the series (bar the Pilot, where it had not been introduced yet) where the credit ‘The A-Team Van Furnished by GMC TRUCK’ does not appear on the closing credits. In future, the credit would appear on all episodes, even in ones in which the van itself was not seen. (The previous broadcast episode, ‘Children Of Jamestown’, being the third one produced, carried this credit). |
CONTINUITY:
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Hannibal is trying to persuade the film producer that he should have the part in the upcoming film after “the whole Aquamaniac disaster”, referring to the events in the Pilot. The part he’s trying for here is “the martian” in ‘Sinbad Goes To Mars’. |
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The news reader seen in the final scene of the episode, is also seen in ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas’. |
FAMILIAR SHOTS:
There are a number of familiar shots originating from this episode.
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Face a red t-shirt, from the scene where he’s laying out the plan, is used on Dirk Benedict’s credit on the first season opening credit |
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The shot of Face putting glasses on, as Dr. Pepper in Warden Beale's office, is used on the opening first season opening credits, and again was a sometimes used publicity still. |
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The shot used on Melinda Culea’s credit, of her smiling, in Warden Beale’s office. |
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Most memorably of all – the shot of the car smashing into the front of the sheriff’s office, used on the first and second season opening credits (and a sometimes used action still). |
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A shot of Face holding up a gun in the barn was a sometimes used publicity still. |
GUEST CAST BACKGROUND:
Playing crooked Warden Beale is Clifton James. Born 29th May 1921 in New York, James is a very familiar guest star, popping up in countless popular TV and films, very often cast as Southern lawmen. James is a distinguished performer with over 80 film and television appearances, stretching back to the early 1950s, He has talent for playing both comedic and straight roles, and is more-often-than-not is seen playing either corrupt or bumbling law officers. Indeed, he appears again in the series in such a role, playing corrupt Sheriff Jake Dawson in the more average second season episode ‘The White Ballot’. On that appearance, he merited ‘Special Guest Star’ status.
Clifton James can also be seen as:
As bumbling redneck Sheriff J.W. Pepper in the 1972 Roger Moore James Bond film 'Live And Let Die' (one of my personal favourite Bond films). The character was considered popular enough for him to return the following year in the next Bond film, 'The Man With The Golden Gun'
As Temporary Sheriff Lester Crabb in the second season 'Dukes Of Hazzard' episode 'Treasure Of Hazzard' (1979), one of the several Temporary Sheriffs of the season in place of regular Sheriff, Rosco P. Coltrane, when James Best left the show for a few episodes
As a Sheriff in 1980's 'Superman II'
William Smith plays B.A.'s old friend Jase Tataro. Born 24th March 1934 in Columbia, Missouri, Smith, like Clifton James, is a distinguished and familiar performer. He has over 250 TV & film credits dating back as far as the early 1950s, working through to the present day.
He is normally seen in tough guy, action-related roles, often playing cowboys or a bikers, and has also appeared in many horror films. He has also worked as a writer and producer.
Asides from appearing in one of the series’ best episodes, Smith (not to be confused with ‘Fresh Prince Of Bell Air’ Will Smith!) also appears in one of the weakest, playing Dimitri Shasta Kovich in the fourth season's uncommonly dull ‘The A-Team Is Coming The A-Team Is Coming’.
Amongst his MANY other appearances, he can be seen as:
Adonis in ‘Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires’, the 1968 third season, final ever story of classic 1960s ‘Bat-man’.
Jerry Grimes in the Pilot of Cannell's 'The Rockford Files', a.k.a. 'Backlash Of The Hunter' (1974)
Michael Adams in the "CHiPs" third season episode 'E.M.T.' (1980_; Stan in the fourth season's 'Satan's Angels' (1980); and as Sheriff R.J. Bolt in the sixth season episode 'Fast Company' (1983)
As 'The Trebor' in the late first season 'Buck Rogers In The 25th Century' episode 'Buck's Duel To The Death' (1980)
Hitman Jason Steele in 'The Dukes Of Hazzard''s fourth season two-hour / two parter '10 Million Dollar Sheriff' (1981)
As Salem in the two-part first season 'Fall Guy' episode 'License To Kill' (1982); and another character in the second season episode 'Manhunter' (1983)
Harold T. Turner in the very average first season 'Knight Rider' episode 'Short Notice' (1983)
Cady in 'Simon & Simon''s third season episode 'I Heard It Was Murder'; as well as playing jailbird Jeramiah Quint in the fifth season episode 'Quint Is Out' (1985), where he is credited as Bill Smith
Thug Carter Champan in the first season 'Riptide' episode 'The Hardcase' (1984)
In 'Hardcastle and McCormick''s second season episode 'There Goes The Neighborhood' (1985)
R.K. "Blood" Henderson in the fourth season 'T.J. Hooker' episode 'Outcall' (1985)
As villain Steele in the take-it-or-leave it third season 'Airwolf' episode 'The Girl Who Fell From The Sky' (1986); as well as another bad guy, Patterson, in 'Welcome To Paradise' (1987) in the final episode of the terrible Canadian-produced fourth season
Paul Koslo, who plays Deputy Chip Sneed, has the distinguishment of appearing in two of 'The A-Team''s very best episodes, appearing in this story, as well as playing bounty hunter Tannon in the third season's fan favourite 'Bounty'. Born Manfred Koslowski in Germany on 27th June 1944 and raised in Canada, he appeared in many 1970s and 80s productions, and while very occasionally playing a good guy, was more typically cast as unlikable villains. In more recent years, he has appeared in a number of low budget straight-to-video movies. Koslo can also be seen as...:
Dutch in the cult 1971 Charlton Heston movie 'The Omega Man', remade in 2007 as 'I Am Legend' starring Will (not William!) Smith, based upon the novel of the same name
"Whispering Willie" Green in the third season 'Rockford Files' episode 'The Family Hour' (1976); as well as playing Dittson in the fifth season episode 'The Return Of The Black Shadow' (1979)
Verne in the second season "CHiPs" episode 'Ride The Whirlwind' (1979)
Commander Reeve in the 'Buck Rogers In The 25th Century' first season episode 'A Dream Of Jennifer' (1980)
Retired biker Carl Rivers in the likable third season 'The Incredible Hulk' episode 'Long Run Home' (1980); and as Doug Hewitt in the fifth season's 'Veteran' (1981)
A Henchman in the third season 'Fall Guy' episode 'Pleasure Isle' (1983)
As diamond thief Lyle Austin in the reasonable third season 'Knight Rider' episode 'The Ice Bandits' (1984)
Jesse James in the "flashback to the old days" seventh season 'The Dukes Of Hazzard' episode "Go West, Young Dukes" (1984)
"Pyro" in the fourth season 'T.J. Hooker' episode 'The Confession' (1984)
Red West (Lt. Leo Trask) is another experienced, familiar guest cast performer.
Born Robert Gene West in Memphis Tennessee in 1936, he regularly appeared in series such as ‘The Wild, Wild West’ and ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’. 6’2 West is a former bodyguard to Elvis Presley, and also wrote music and acted as a body double for The King. Son John Boyd West (born 1970) is also an actor. West is one of the 'The A-Team''s most re-used actors; appearing in no less than four episodes including this one. He can also been seen as bigoted storekeeper Sinclair the second season’s ‘Semi-Friendly Persuasion’, as Texan henchman Red Avory in the fourth season’s ‘Waiting For Insane Wayne’, and as corrupt Sheriff Brooks in the fifth season’s ‘Alive At Five’.
You can also spot him in as...:
As a Truck driver called upon to stop Michael and K.I.T.T. in the Pilot of 'Knight Rider' (a.k.a. 'Knight Of The Phoenix') (1982)
As killer "Bull" in the first season 'Magnum, p.i.' episode 'All Roads Lead To Floyd' (1981); and as the present day Billy Cockrell in the time-shifting fifth season episode 'Let Me Hear The Music' (1985)
Frank Dawson in 'Simon & Simon''s early, first season episode 'A Recipe For Disaster' (1981); and as Construction Foreman Lou Harper in the sixth season's 'Ancient Echoes' (1986)
Ace Madden in the early second season 'Fall Guy' episode 'The Ives Have It' (1982); Pete Williams in the third season episode 'Pirates Of Nashville' (1983); "Wild Bill" Hillman in 'Tailspin' (1984); and as 'Winner' in the fifth season episode 'Tag Team' (1986)
Paul Connors in the first season 'Hardcastle & McCormick' episode 'Scared Stiff' (1984)
Hugh Gillin plays the Sheriff Norm who pulls Hannibal, B.A. and Murdock over when they’re posing as drunk drivers (I've been trying to make out his surname on his badge, but can't quite read it). Born 14th July 1925 in Illinois, Gillin (sometimes credited as Hugh Gillin Jr.), like Clifton James, was often cast as lawmen (in fact, he bears more than a passing resemblance to James). He passed away on 4th May 2005. His many other roles included appearing as...:
Mr. Christal in the enjoyably silly fourth season 'Dukes Of Hazzard' episode "Coltrane Vs. Duke" (1981)
The Bartender in the fourth season 'Mork & Mindy' episode 'My Dad Can't Beat Up Anybody' (1981)
Chief Rupert Craig in the second season 'Knight Rider' episode 'White Line Warriors' (1984)
Sheriff Frank Dudley in 'Airwolf''s second season episode 'Inn At The End Of The Road' (1985)
Phil Resnick in the fan-favourite third season 'Riptide' episode 'Home For Christmas' (1985)
Mayor Hubert in 'Back To The Future Part III', the final part of the classic time-travelling trilogy (1990)
The Contest Judge in the third season 'Quantum Leap' episode 'Miss Deep South' (1990)
Ken Norton plays “Jackhammer” Jackson, the thug who picks a fight with B.A. in the prison yard.
Full name Kenneth Howard Norton, born 9th August 1945 in Jacksonville (appropriately!), Illinois, he was the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion of 1978. Since retiring boxing, he has since had occasional guest spots on various TV series and in films. His son, Ken Norton Jr., is also an actor .He also can also be seen as...:
Bo Keeler in the weak fourth season ‘Knight Rider’ episode ‘Redemption Of A Champion’ (1986), which also features Jerry Quarry, who Norton beat in 1975, and boxing promoter Don King
Maybe rather strangely with two such distinguished guest performers of Clifton James and William Smith as part of the guest cast, it is young actor Meeno Peluce as Jase’s young brother Joey that gets ‘Special Guest Star’ status in this episode. Born 26th February 1970, Peluce was regular child / youth performer of the 1970s and '80s, including appearances in several sit-coms of the time. He can also be seen as...:
Abused child Guy Mayer in 'moral message' third season 'Starsky & Hutch' episode 'The Crying Child' (1975)
In "The Boy" in the feature-length / two-part second season opener of 'The Incredible Hulk', 'Married (1978), released as a feature film titled 'Bridge Of The Incredible Hulk' in some countries
Miller, a boy on Arnold's football team, in the third season ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ episode ‘Football Father’ (1980)
Another Joey, this time in an eighth season 'Happy Days' episode, 'Potsie On His Own' (1981)
Corky Morgan in the episode ‘Scrimshaw’ of the short-lived ‘Manimal’ (1983)
Elsa Raven, who plays prison psychiatrist Dr. Marian Ericson, also appears as a cleaner, Clara Dickerson, in a memorable scene in the third season episode ‘Sheriffs Of Rivertown’, where she is mistaken for being Hannibal in disguise! In a TV career stretching back to the early 1970s, Raven, born 27th December 1935, she often plays 'battleaxe' roles. Raven can also be seen as...:
The lady collecting to save the clock tower at the start of the classic 'Back To The Future' (1985)
Michael Greene, who plays prison bully Deke, can also be seen as...:
"Matches" in the two-part first season Riddler 'Bat-man' story 'The Ring Of Wax' / 'Give 'Em The Axe' (1966)
Vic in the third season 'Dukes Of Hazzard' episode "By-Line Daisy Duke" (1981)
Doctor Tom in 'The Fall Guy''s fifth season episode 'Trial By Fire' (1985)
Ray Stone in the early second season 'Quantum Leap' episode 'Disco Inferno' (1989)
Phil Proctor plays Andre, the Film Director that Hannibal, posing as his own agent, is trying to convince to cast him in his next monster movie. Born 28th July 1940, Proctor's television career spans back to the 1960s. He is particularly experienced as a voice artist, working on many animated shows.
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David Penhale, who plays the Maitre 'D in this episode (or does he?! See 'The Elusive Maitre D'' section), also appears playing Sergeant Burlow in the average third season episode 'Cup A' Joe' (Where he is credited as David A. Penhale). He also appears as...: |
Dean in the take-it-or-leave-it third season 'Riptide' opener 'Wipe Out' (1985)
Randy Patrick, sometimes credited as Randal Patrick, who plays Deputy Billy in this episode, also has another small part as a Gateman in the second season episode 'Deadly Maneuvers'. Making a number of guest spots on various 1980s and '90s U.S. series, Patrick can also be seen as...:
Crewman #1 in the third season 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' episode 'Evolution' (1989)
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Duane Tucker, who plays Guard #1, was born 17th February 1948, New York. He made a number of bit part appearances in films and TV shows of the 1970s through to the mid 1990s. He can also be spotted as....: |
A Motor Officer in the fourth season "CHiPs" episode 'Karate' (1981)
Marty Czabo in 'Simon & Simon''s first season episode 'Matchmaker' (1982)
The amusingly named Officer Woebegone in the first episode 'Miss Of The Spider Woman' in cop comedy 'Sledge Hammer!' (1986)
Bewtell Ogilvey in the episode 'Brisco For The Defence' of one-season wonder 'The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.' (1993)
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Nick Shields, who plays Guard #2, can also be seen as...: |
Norman in the fifth season 'Dukes Of Hazzard' episode "Big Brothers, Duke" (1983)
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Eddy C. Dyer, who plays Guard #3, can also be seen as...: |
Foreman in the fifth season "CHiPs" episode 'Ice Cream Man' (1982)
BLOOPERS, CONTINUITY ERRORS, NITPICKS AND THINGS TO SPOT:
A LOT for this episode! ....
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Not really a double spot as such, but
Jase's fighting opponent at the start of the episode is Mr.
T's stunt double, Tony Brubaker (He also played the fake B.A. in the memorable third
season episode '
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When B.A. goes to the restaurant to get Hannibal, he is wearing his dungarees. When the pair leave, he is suddenly wearing his denim sleeveless jacket over them. |
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When B.A. leads Hannibal from the
restaurant to the van, for a brief second before he slides
the side door open, the reflections of the filming crew can
be seen. (Freeze frame the scene to see this)
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When the van arrives at the library
and Amy opens the side down, the back doors are obviously
open as light is shining through (presumably so the interior of the van isn't too dark for filming), and you can see the shadow
of Face waiting to get out.
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The sequence of the Sheriff’s car, as it races off after pulling B.A., Hannibal and Murdock over, was re-used (from a slightly different camera angle) near the start of the season’s closing episode, ‘A Nice Place To Visit’. |
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There is no front license plate on the car
that B.A., Hannibal and Murdock race around in, when the car
goes to crash into the front of the Sheriff's office, it
suddenly has one. When the shot changes to the inside of the
office, it has suddenly disappeared again.
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Also, as the car is racing towards the Sheriff’s office, we see a shot of it that is quite clearly taken from the previous section where it was racing through the town street. |
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As the car races along, about to smash into
the front of the Sheriff's office, as it turns, the shot is reversed - the license plate (the one that disappears and reappears!) is back-to-front.
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....Furthermore, on the exterior shot
of the car crashing into the front of the Sheriff's office,
the ramp can be seen to slide forward - a piece of wood from
it is visible in the bottom right corner.
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Nitpick: We all know that The A-Team never kill anyone, so how did Hannibal know that no-one was on the other side of the wall when he crashes the car into the Sheriff's Office? Another thing that's not to be asked! |
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The car smashing into the front of the building was re-used, in a previously unused angle, for the flashback of the team robbing the Bank of Hanoi in the fifth season's 'Trial By Fire'. |
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When Sheriff Norm comes into the wrecked Office, the film is reversed back-to-front - notice that his
Sheriff's badge is now suddenly on the other side of his uniform!
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Nitpick: How come no report of members of the team being arrested got back to Colonel Lynch? Surely they were fingerprinted at least after they were arrested – in the third season’s ‘Breakout!’, when B.A. and Murdock are arrested, B.A.’s fingerprints soon reach Colonel Decker. Oh well, such questions are not to be asked! |
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Furthermore, Beyond the risk of being arrested, they even use their real names (Hannibal and B.A. are definitely referred to as “John Smith” and “Baracus”). |
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When Amy is in Warden Beale's office
before Face arrives and the Warden learns towards her,
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The exterior shots of the prison are standard stock footage shots, which pop up in many other series and films (such as the 1979 Clint Eastwood film 'Escape From Alcatraz', and which turn up in several episodes of ‘Knight Rider’). Some are used again in The A-Team in the fourth season episode ‘The Heart Of Rock ‘N Roll’. |
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In the scene in
the prison yard, where Deke tries to get Hannibal
to turn out his pockets, in the shot of B.A.
after Hannibal’s
line “He’s the tough guy…”, the men standing behind B.A.
completely change position. The man standing to the right behind him is
right across the other side of the shot on the more far-off shot!
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In the scene in the prison gym where Warden Beale tells Hannibal that B.A. is leaving, Hannibal's arms jump from down at his sides, to having one on his chest, between shots. |
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When Face and Hannibal lock Dr. Ericson inside Murdock's cell, her cry of "Hey, what's going on?!" is clearly ADR'd. |
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Several of the shots as the
prison goes onto alert as the alarm of escape is raised, are quite
clearly stock footage shots. The shot of the huge search light being
aimed down from the top of a wall clearly is, as the officer by it is
wearing a completely different uniform to the officers seen in this
episode (it’s black, not grey, for a start).
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After Murdock and Hannibal have escaped from the prison on their 'hot air chairs', it is quite clearly doubles of them being used when Face picks them up in the car. |
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A minor continuity error: when Warden Beale is just about to start the fight between Jase and B.A., the man on the far left of the front row behind him can see bending over, betting with the man in front of him. This shot cuts to a close up shot of the front row cheering as the fight starts; in this shit, the man is back crouching over his seat. |
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When Face, Hannibal and Murdock arrive
outside the barn where B.A. and Jase are being forced to
fight, Hannibal has his jacket on. Yet when he goes to the
van to get a gun, he (or rather, a double) has no jacket on.
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In addition to the above blooper, we see Hannibal walk round to the side of the van and hear the side-door slide open (we can’t actually see as the camera shot is from the other side of the van), yet in the next shot (with aforementioned body double) we see him open the box under the back seat which houses the guns, which would be accessed through the back doors of the van, not the side-door. |
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In the scene in the barn after the A-Team van has burst in, where Face says “All you boys in the front row, you wanna sit down, face the camera?”, followed by a shot of Murdock holding the camera, with Face still visible in the background. Face adds “We wanna give everyone a chance”; visually, we see his mouth move briefly, but has stopped when we hear this line! It was obviously looped in post-production. My lip-reading skills aren’t super, but it looks like he’s saying something like “Face the camera”. |
MUSIC:
Both the opening trailer and the closing credits of this episode use the 30 second abridged version of the standard version theme tune. It is the first time this version is ever used on the series.
This is the only time until the third season that the version is used on the closing credits. It later was used on the third season’s ‘Skins’, ‘Knights Of The Road’, and the fourth season’s ‘Blood, Sweat And Cheers’, though on those occasions had a slightly different drum lead in so could be a slightly different recording (or just a different edit).
Three pieces of music used in this episode have re-recorded versions that appear on The A-Team CD:
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The music heard as The A-Team van is heading to Strikersville, Florida, is track 12 on the CD, titled ‘Murdock’s “Face”’. |
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The music heard as Hannibal, B.A. and Murdock race around trying to get arrested, is track 11, titled ‘Let’s Get Arrested’. |
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The music as Hannibal and Murdock escape over the prison wall is also on the CD, track 7, titled ‘The A-Team Escape’. |
Re-used music:
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The music as B.A. follows Joey, is heard again, slightly abridged, in ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas' |
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The music as Hannibal tells Joey he’s hired The A-Team and the van races off, was also heard in the final act of ‘Children Of Jamestown’ (that use may possibly have been another recording, but if so, was so identical to this version that I couldn’t definitely tell them apart). |
OTHER NOTES:
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When the team arrive in Strikersville, Florida, and they all get out of the van, Hannibal quite clearly drops his cigar wrapper on the ground. Litterbug! |
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The licence plate of the car that B.A., Hannibal and Murdock race around to get arrested in (in the shots when it’s actually on the car!) is: YSW 272, Florida plates. |
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The sequence of Hannibal and Murdock going over the prison wall on their “hot air chairs” was seen, slightly abridged, in flash-back form, in the second season’s closing episode, ‘Curtain Call’. (In that version, we do not see Face leaving the prison or Dr. Ericson being found locked in the cell, simply the alarm being raised and Hannibal and Murdock taking off over the wall) |
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The time-span of this episode is not made particularly clear, but when Face goes to look at Murdock in the psychiatric ward, Dr. Ericson comments that he’s been keeping everyone up all night with his yelling, suggesting the events have spanned over one night at least. |
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There is (or was) a long-running typographic error that spells Jase Tataro’s name ‘Jose’ that seems to have been passed down through many sources. |
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When George Peppard passed away in 1994, shots from this episode were used on the report on ITV’s ITN news. (I dutifully recorded these items, but accidentally recorded over them a couple of months later; about the only thing I ever accidentally taped over in my life. D'oh!). |
MURDOCK'S FIXATION:
Of course, Murdock's "fixation" in this episode is trash bags!
COSTUME:
Hannibal’s often worn cream / grey jacket, with black collar and cuffs, is seen for the first time in this episode. B.A. wears his classic sleeveless denim jacket with the collage of different colours across the upper half (seen in many of the publicity shots for the series), and the regular Face is seen wearing his leather jacket for the first time in the series.
HAIR TODAY, DIFFERENT HAIR TOMORROW:
Amy's hair in this episode is straight, as it was in the Pilot. From the next produced episode, 'The Rabbit Who At Last Vegas', until the end of
the season, it would have a curly, permed look. This causes a slight continuity error, as she had already been seen on-screen with permed hair in the previous broadcast episode, 'Children Of Jamestown'.
MURDOCK’S
T-SHIRT:
Murdock’s t-shirt isn’t fully visible in this episode, but it is black with some kind of curvy outline design on in white (no evident slogan). In the final act, he is wearing a plain red t-shirt.
SIMILAR:
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The A-Team have another prison-bound adventure in the fourth season episode ‘The Heart Of Rock N' Roll’. |
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...and B.A. and Murdock wind up as prisoners again before that, this time on a chain-gang, in the excellent third season episode 'Breakout!'. |
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B.A. ends up helping another boy from a day care centre, in the fourth season’s ‘The Trouble With Harry’, one of the series' weakest episodes. |
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Murdock has another equally doomed attempt at ink blots in the fourth season episode 'Waiting For Insane Wayne'. |
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Colt and Howie go undercover in a prison, only for the plan to go sour and them becoming real inmates, in the enjoyable early first season episode of 'The Fall Guy', 'That's Right, We're Bad' (1982) |
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Devon Miles is arrested on trumped up charges and sent to prison in the first season 'Knight Rider' episode 'No Big Thing'. |
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...And Michael Knight goes undercover in a prison at the start of the second season 'Knight Rider' episode 'Brother's Keeper' (1983). |
CUTS
& BROADCAST NOTES:
This episode was one of the all-time heaviest edited for content by ITV when shown on U.K. terrestrial television.
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The opening trailer was never shown on any of the times it was shown (though to note is that, until quite late on in the original broadcasts, the opening trailers were seldom, if ever, left on anyway – as was the standard practice with most series run at that time. In America, the main reason for trailers is to try and “hook” the viewers as there is an ad break straight after the opening credits; in the U.K., this is not the case, so the opening trailers used to deemed unnecessary. It’s still nice to see them though, it gives a taster of what’s in store (as well as often containing some curiosities!)) |
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The first scene was cut down to practically eliminate the brutal opening fight; in it’s ITV edited state, it plays that from outside the barn, to just showing briefly a couple of Jase’s punches before his opponent goes down. This resulted in the entire Guest and Special Guest cast from after ‘William Smith’ until ‘Co-Starring Elsa Raven’ being completely skipped. 52 seconds was lost in total as a result. |
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After the fight is over and Warden Beale enters the ring to talk to Jase, the several shots of the fallen opponent on the floor are cut out. And as Warden Beale goes to aim his gun, he only brings it down as far as level with Jase before cutting into the next scene, not aiming it down at the floor as in the complete version (suggesting in this version that he doesn't shoots the man on the floor as it leads into the next scene) |
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B.A.’s fight with Jackhammer in the prison yard was cut-down by about 6 seconds; in the complete original version, B.A. knocks Jackhammer back until he’s up against the wall before Jackhammer manages to fight back a bit, before B.A. defeats him. In the ITV copy, BA fights him over to the wall before it cuts into the following scene of Warden Beale and Trask watching down at them, seeing Jackhammer go down on the floor. The sound noticeably jumps with this edit |
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In the scene where Face, Amy, and Dr. Ericson are watching Murdock in his cell, the sequence where Sneed gives Murdock a trash-bag through the door, and Murdock lays down and climbs into it, was cut, presumably because the ITV censors were worried that little children would imitate the act and climb inside plastic bags (risking suffocation). While I hate editing of all kinds, at least they had a semi-reasonable argument for doing so on this occasion (unlike so many other times!). Amy’s line to Face “What do you make of that, Doctor?” is the last bit lost before things cut back in with Face’s next line, “Well, I think I’d like to take a look at him before I leave this evening”. 8 seconds is lost in total. The shot at Murdock at the tail end of the scene where he wiggles his feet inside the bag is also taken out. |
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The barn fight between Jase and B.A. was cut down slightly, though surprisingly not as much as the previous two fights. The main shots that were cut were when B.A. and Jase get punched in the gut. These edits are a bit harder to spot, and were covered by cutting to shots of the rowdy crowd watching. Roughly 4 or 5 seconds were lost in total. |
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On 18th May 1985, this episode turned up in a 'one-off' showing at 11 am on a Saturday morning before the Cup Final (a couple of regions didn't take this repeat episode, and some may have substituted a different episode). It was the first ever UK episode to be a repeat of the series. In addition to the above standard ITV edits, the scene outside of the restaurant in the A-Team van was cut out. This version ran from Hannibal saying to his agent "I'll take care of the cheque. I'll call you, Andre" as he and B.A. left the restaurant, cutting to the A-Team van driving off as the team headed to the library. 2:00 minutes were lost in the edit. |
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When the episodes went into regional variations in the 1990s, this was the first one of a scattering to be repeated by LWT (London Weekend Television). The same as the standard edited ITV version, it had the above scene at the A-Team van re-inserted, but had the final act shortened. In the scene at Jase's welcome home meal, Hannibal mentions Colonel Lynch to Jase and asks him not to reveal anything about the team. After Jase says "That's a promise", it cuts to the final scene with Hannibal and his agent in the bar, skipping the section as the team leave Jase's house and go their separate ways. |
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As a side-note, the next week's billed episode was 'The Beast From The Belly Of A Boeing', but in the week before the first Gulf War began. ITV felt that the plot, with terrorists hi-jacking an aeroplane was unsuitable, and replaced the episode with (a heavily edited version of) the second season's 'The White Ballot', meaning that Clifton James appeared two weeks in a row. |
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U.S. Syndicated edits to be added. |
VIDEO AND DVD:
This episode was
released along with the Pilot in the U.K. by Universal Playback, on 1st May 2000, rated PG. It was also available on VHS in the U.S. around year 2000 or so.
It has since been released on Regions 1 and 2 as part of the Complete First Season.
All releases of this episode play as the original US broadcast version.
INTERNATIONAL:
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The German dubbed version of this episode is titled ‘Auf Leben und Tod’, which translates as ‘Of? Lives And Death’. |
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The French dubbed version of this episode is ‘Les Gladiateurs’, which translates as ‘The Gladiators’. |
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The Italian dubbed version of this episode is titled ‘Pro E Contro’, which translates as ‘Pros And Cons’. |
PROS:
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Hannibal cheerfully ploughing the car right into the Sheriff’s office – classic A-Team action |
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Murdock’s classic “Terrash Bag” scene |
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Hannibal’s wonderfully camp hairdresser |
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Hannibal’s line of insults to Jackhammer which he “translated” from B.A. (made even funnier by the fact that B.A. only did a couple of sign movements, there’s no way he said all those!) |
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Going over the prison wall on DIY hot air balloons |
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Much more mature than some of the silly stories later on.
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CONS:
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Maybe a couple of the prison sets look a bit basic, and it's not made overly clear why Hannibal, Murdock and B.A. don't get arrested on their first attempt, but other than that, I'm hard pushed to think of anything - I love this episode! |
MOST MEMORABLE FOR:
Murdock's "trash bag" routing
BEST MOMENT:
Hannibal and Murdock floating over the prison wall on their hot air chairs
FINAL WORD:
An absolute classic episode. So many classic elements; an episode that any grade of A-Team fan should make it top priority to see if they haven’t seen it already, and showcases the characters at their best.
HANNIBAL'S CIGAR RATING:
10/10
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'The A-Team' was created by Frank Lupo & Stephen J. Cannell,
Copyright 1982-86, Universal / Stephen J. Cannell Productions
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Please do not reproduce any material from this site, in whole or in part, without
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