Customer Reviews

Banacek: The Complete Series Box Set

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Those of you looking for a traditional whodunnit may be disappointed in this series. "Banacek" is more like waiting for a magician to explain his trick than finally knowing who committed the crime.

What makes the series amazing is how the writers came up with such elaborate robberies.

As I rewatched the episodes, not only did I appreciate this complexity, but I also started laughing at the hysterical Polish proverbs Banacek quotes and the dry and occasionally double entendre humor that George Peppard delivers perfectly.

When you add the humor and complexity to the great guest stars (Anne Baxter, Linda Evans, Dick Van Patten, et al.), you get a series that's a absolute treat.

So ... I last saw BANACEK in my early teens. Now a vague memory. Yet this CD box set has it all there and I am sharing with my 16 yr old (youngest) daughter all the (sometimes) improbable plot lines. The world has changed a lot since the 1960s ... but this is an example of very good American television that still works today ... some 40 years later. A very worthwhile buy. Andrew B - Australia.

I slightly remember this series from the 1970s. Seeing it again is wonderful. Thomas Banacek works with insurance loss agents to recover property that has been stolen or lost. And it's always this impossible situation i.e. a football player from the middle of a huddle; a huge scientifc gizmo; a be-jeweled wedding carriage; a rail car carrying an auto prototype; a thorougbred horse from a racetrack. Only late actor George Peppard could pull off the character. He is so smug and overly-confident, but funny in a sexy way. It's also interesting to see what the styles and buzz were decades ago.

Great for nostalgia nuts. This series only lasted two years, which is a shame. I thought that I had seen all of the episodes and the endings came right back to me. But there were two episodes that I had not seen before which made this purchase worth it.

On the whole of it was great to view the whole series, well almost the whole series. When on Season Two, Disk 2, Episode 6 : Rocket to Oblivion there was definately a copy problem when they made the disk. Amazon has been great sending a replacement, but alas the replacement had the same video playback problem. ( I have tried on three seperate players to see if I could overcome the material defect). With no luck. I had to send both sets back to Amazon (Even though they had me download return labels for both sets: One Postal Service & One via UPS Ground) I opted to send back at my own expense as overnight UPS PAC. This way I can get my money back. I however really liked the series, just wish they could have replaced the defective disk. They did say however they would pull the sale item off the net until they can check the stock over. Now just waiting for a full refund (No way I will accept a partial refund when it was defective goods)

The rest of the series was just great, George Peppard as well as many other famous actors and actresses in the series brought back many memories from the early 70's

Hopefully Amazon will contact the maker of the recording (It says TV Guide on the cases) and have that problem fixed so I can buy it again.

I grew up watching this with my dad, and watching it again after 2 decades is just great. Banacek is so cool. Absolutely great fun, sure wish they had made more episodes. I think Columbo will be on my shopping list soon, these old mysteries were so well made. It's also neat to sort of step back in time seeing the cities, cars, and fashions.

A master of solving impossible robberies,Banacek recovers,the unrecoverable.. for a handsomely large fee at 10% of the stolen property for insurance companies, enables him to live a lavish playboy lifestyle.

If you enjoy a good puzzle,...mystery... a show that makes you think, George Peppard makes this series fun by delivering cool Polish proverbs,(not to mention he was very handsome at this time)humor,Banacek's impish smile like he knows something you don't(He actually does know),good acting, suspenseful & intricate plots that will keep you guessing, All reasons these dvd's are a good purchase.

Critics gave this show rave reviews...

"A wiseman never plays leapfrog with a unicorn"..

Amazon needs to promote this series better...because those that have never seen
this series are missing good entertainment.

P.S. a bit of trivia..the reason no third season George Peppard was going thru a divorce and didn't want his soon to be ex to take most of his income..however
she did do quite well at it.

Here's the short version of my review.

* Buy it, it's fun and entertaining and Peppard is great as a self employed bounty hunter of missing or stolen highly-insured items.

* His sexual behavior is reprehensible and meritless, but.. nobody's perfect.

* It's fun to see if you can figure out these impossible thefts before Banacek does. The video is in good condition, not the highest quality, but good enough to be enjoyable.

* Not only does he solve impossible thefts, he tells how it was done. Banacek is probably on every magician's blacklist.


Now, here's the longer version of my review;

Until episode five, ( To Steal A King ) I didn't hear anyone mention Banacek's first name. He typically only goes by his last name, even among his friends. Thomas Banacek is a private detective, sort of a suave mod seventies version of Sherlock Holmes in a turtleneck jersey, but with much less character background. George Peppard does an above average job of making the character entertaining to watch, but having more backfill to his past would have lent more scope to his character. Banacek is probably the opposite of Columbo, if you are familiar with that series. At first glance Banacek comes across as a gilded snobbish yuppie riding into the midst of crime scenes with an vein attitude in his personal limousine. But appearences are decieving. Banacek is not an antagonist and is never rude, quite the opposite he typically makes an effort to be polite and friendly to those around him without being pretentious or patronizing, and what people take for a super ego is simply a high level of confidence in himself. He has a refined sense of humor and always has a coy but snappy comeback when someone makes a crude or imptertinent remark. Mostly he's very easy-going and cool in his approach to his work and the people he enounters during his investigations, the only time he really seems to get perturbed is when someone remarks crudely on his Polish heritage or mispronounces his name, which happens a lot more frequently than it should. Banacek limits his investigations to complex cases of thievery in which a highly valued object insured at great cost has gone missing under truly baffling circumstances. He attempts to recover the missing items or items, thus saving the insurer from having to pay, and and draws a commission of ten percent of what would have been paid out by the insurance company. Because of this, he often describes himself as being in the business of "recovery". He bristles at the idea of working for anyone but himself, and refuses to be "hired". High profile wealthy businessmen, politicians and private citizens who know of his reputation for success often ask thier insurance companies to bring Banacek into their cases. He shows up, makes an assessment of the situation, determines if it's worth his time to investigate. The friction in most episodes comes from other investigators who are direct employees of the insurance companies. They resent his presence because it bruises their egos and puts their own expertise into question. Banacek travels just about everywhere via his personal limousine driven by his chauffeur Jay who is loyal to Banacek but also adds comic relief to the episodes as he proffers his own rather strange ideas about how the crimes might have been perpetrated. Apparently Banacek offered him an ongoing deal that if Jay could figure out how a crime was committed before he did, he would cut him in for ten percent of his ten percent commission. If there is anything controversial about the show it would be Banacek's overt womanizing. Early on, beginning in the first season there is more than enough innuendo in his various personal rendezvous with a new and different sexy female lead in each episode, that he has been running a string of one night stands. Commitment in a relationship is not foremost on his list. Also , this is a show produced at the height of the woman's liberation movement, so women make plenty of references toward Banacek as a "male chauvinist", which he definitely is not, though he might more aptly be defined as a male version of a nymphomaniac. On the other hand , the women he meets are not exactly reluctant to take a tour of his bedroom. I'm not sure if these episodes are shown in the orginal edited-for-television version, but I would say probably not. For example, in the pilot episode which is titled "Detour To Nowhere" at one point he is in a rented motel room where he has laid out some small peices of electronic equipment that he found in a shack, ( which later turned out to be a metal detector)... and is trying to figure out what they make and how they fit together. A woman who shared his room the previous night and is still lying there in bed,( Carlie Kirkland a very attractive lady who works directly for the insurance company who is trying to recover the same missing armored car as he is ), coyly remarks , "maybe it's a Polish vibrator". I don't think that would have passed the network censors of the early 70's, so I suspect these are unedited or uncut. There are episodes which also show the racial conflicts of the time. Also in this series we see some of the early appearances of stars who will come into their own later. For example , Mike Farrell ( later played BJ Hunnicutt on M.A.S.H), appears in episode seven, he plays a significant role but does not get co-star rating in the show's credits. You might also recognize Garry Walberg as a police lieutenant in one episode, ( he later played the role of Lieutenant Frank Monahan on the Quincy M.E. series ). Gregory Sierra stars as a co-culprit in one episode..., ( he had many different roles later including on twelve episodes of Sanford and Son, and 35 episodes of Barney Miller as Detective Chano Amenguale.) Here are how the episodes basically play out. A very mysterious robbery takes place that seems to be impossible. For example, at a casino a public display of one million dollars cash under a sealed glass dome suddenly ends up empty right in front of everyone's eyes. In comes Banacek. Whoever the company insurance investigator is, resents him,and lets him know it. Banacek looks around, asks some questions, calls his friend Mulholland who is a cultured erudite bookworm with an unparalleled knowledge of history to look up some information for him, talks a beautiful woman into a late night meeting, figures out the how the crime was done and then... either confronts the perp directly ( which is not always a good move for Banacek since he doesn't carry a gun and confronting the crook sometimes ends up in a violent struggle), or gets together with the victim and the insurance rep and fills them in on how it was done and where the object is located. It's rather formulaic, but it works. It's entertaining and fun to see how the crimes were committed. That's basically where the most enjoyment comes from , seeing how the impossible crime was actually pulled off. There is also lots of great Boston scenery, if you happen to be from New England and are familiar with Boston you'll recognize many of the landmarks, maybe even some of the street signs. It looks like they used real footage of the outdoor Boston area rather than a set, and of course the opening credits of each episode when he is rowing on the Charles River. It's a short lived series, only Two seasons, but they are entertaining enough to own as a collection and simply to enjoy watching. As for the video quality, it's okay. Not the best ever, but about equal to what it probably looked like when it was broadcast on television during the 70's. Very watchable , the sound is good. I encountered no problems with viewing or listening to the DVD's.


- Mike S.

There's nothing like an old 70s detective show. Shows like Banacek, McCloud, McMillan and Columbo are nothing but clever and enjoyable. I never get tired of these shows. Banacek will make you think about the crime in a way you could not have predicted. Give it a try and enjoy the cheesy music and photagraphy coupled with clever plots and characters.

Love watching the show, but stumbled when watching Season 2, Episode 3 "Rocket to Oblivion" - the DVD programming for playback had a hitch and would not play the show past the 4th scene. Our temporary fix: Load the DVD into a computer and open as FILES (not as a dvd), then drag the .VOB files for the episode (one at a time) to DVD player to finish watching the episode (InterVideo Win DVD on a PC, MPEG Streamclip on a Mac).