Category: Green Hornet

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Green Hornet

The Silent Gun

The Green HornetAfter informing police that he knows something about his father’s death, a young man is murdered in plain sight before the eyes of 20 people, shot at point-blank range…and yet no one around him heard the shot fired or saw a muzzle flash. This catches the attention of Daily Sentinel publisher Britt Reid, who spends his off hours fighting crime in the guise of the Green Hornet, his faithful butler and martial arts expert Kato at his side. When another murder is committed, the Green Hornet and Kato begin closing in on likely suspects, including rival organized crime bosses. They both want a gun that can kill without being heard or seen…but only one of them has it. And they both have it in for the Green Hornet.

written by Ken Pettus
directed by Leslie H. Martinson
music by Billy May

Green HornetCast: Van Williams (The Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato), Wende Wagner (Lenore Case), Lloyd Gough (Mike Axford), Walter Brooke (District Attorney Frank Scanlon), Lloyd Bochner (Dan Carley), Kelly Jean Peters (Jackie Cameron), Ed McCready (Detective Olson), Al McGranary (Minister), Breland Rice (Policeman), Charles Francisco (Al Trump)

Notes: Not so much a spinoff of Batman as a new show taking place in what may or may not be the same “universe”, The Green Hornet – based on a 1930s radio serial – was made by many of the same personnel as Batman, and was intended to be a bit more gritty and less campy than its superhero stablemate. If The Green Hornet is a spinoff of anything, it’s actually a spinoff of a fellow radio show, The Lone Ranger, as both were created by George W. Trendle, whose original radio scripts specified that Britt Reid is the son of Dan Reid, the Lone Ranger’s nephew.

Green HornetThis TV adaptation was also the western audience’s introduction to rising martial arts star Bruce Lee, who performed his own stunts (and, by many accounts, inadvertently but repeatedly injured stuntmen in fight scenes). By the end of the show’s single season on the air, the popularity of Lee and his character threatened to eclipse the show’s nominal star. Despite that popularity, since ABC scheduled it on Friday nights against the more established series The Wild Wild West, The Green Hornet was cancelled early in 1967.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Green Hornet

Give ‘Em Enough Rope

The Green HornetThe Daily Sentinel publishes an artcle about racketeering operations in the area, and one misplaced word draws a libel lawsuit from one of the men named in the article. While Britt Reid prepares to fend off the legal action, he suspects something else is going on – the Green Hornet and Kato, who the police and press (including one of Reid’s own reporters) identify as criminals – will have to infiltrate the insurance fraud racket to discover who’s really involved and shut the operation down.

written by Gwen Bagni & Paul Dubov
directed by Seymour Robbie
music by Billy May

The Green HornetCast: Van Williams (The Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato), Wende Wagner (Lenore Case), Lloyd Gough (Mike Axford), Walter Brooke (District Attorney Frank Scanlon), Diana Hyland (Claudia Bromley), Mort Mills (Alex Colony), Joe Sirola (Charley), David Renard (Joe Sweek), Jerry Ayres (Pete), Ken Strange (Big Bruiser)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Green Hornet

Crime Wave

The Green HornetA daring heist on an airplane still on the tarmac is blamed on the Green Hornet – after all, his calling card was literally left at the scene of the crime. Britt Reid is stunned when a letter, postmarked over half a day before the heist, is delivered to him, describing the crime in detail. The sender, a man named Marcus, claims to have a computer that can predict crimes before they happen, and provides Reid with a detailed account of another crime yet to be committed. Marcus is almost certainly the perpetrator, but coming up with evidence to that effect will prove difficult…unless the “criminal mastermind” known as the Green Hornet tries to horn in on Marcus’ action. Marcus, of course, wants the loot from his crimes to himself, and tries to set the Green Hornet up for a fall…but the Green Hornet and Kato don’t need a crime-predicting computer to know when they’re being set up to take the fall.

written by Sheldon Stark
directed by Larry Peerce
music by Billy May

The Green HornetCast: Van Williams (The Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato), Wende Wagner (Lenore Case), Lloyd Gough (Mike Axford), Walter Brooke (District Attorney Frank Scanlon), Peter Haskell (Abel Marcus), Sheilah Wells (Laura Spinner), Gary Owens (Newscaster), Jennifer Stuart (Stewardess), Dee Carroll (Woman), Ron Burke (Joe), Wayne Sutherlin (Clown), Jack Garner (Guard 1), Ken Strange (Guard 2)

LogBook entry by Earl Green