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Banacek - The First Season Posters
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Rating:  -
I've always been a Banacek fan. George Peppard is perfect as the insurance investigator who sees what other people cannot. He lives the good life surrounded by expensive artifacts in a beautiful home. Yet he is very down-to-earth when it comes to catching the bad guys. Banacek is the "Polish detective" everyone who loves mysteries should watch.
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George Peppard deilvers for Thomas Banacek. The stories are well written, tightly directed and a pleasure to view over and over. The scenery is in line with the story lines and the plot always has a good conclusion.
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Very underrated whodunit...after seeing these episodes again, I still can't understand why this series didn't last longer than it did.
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I remember watching this show live when I was a teenager and being totally fascinated by it! This was a great "who dunnit" show that always came down to the last 5 minutes of the show where Banacek would explain how some totally inexplicable crime was committed. Highly recommended!
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Like a magician's illusion, each episode of Banacek opens with the unveiling of some sensational happening that seems to defy logical explanation. Typically something extremely valuable has disappeared, leaving an insurance company on the hook for a huge loss. Faced with a case too challenging for their in-house staff to handle, Boston based investigator Thomas Banacek is the man that insurance companies turn to. Brilliant, affluent, handsome, and refined, Banaceck is the best at what he does, and he knows it. For a ten per-cent recovery fee, he takes on these unusual and perplexing cases, with a low-key style and a quiet confidence that is disarming, and which his competitors find completely aggravating. Totally self-assured, tags like `The Polish Vulture' from his fellow investigators just roll off his back, as Banacek smiles all the way to the bank. Banacek's father was employed at an insurance company for many years, only to be replaced by a computer. Holding a bit of a grudge, Banacek derives great pleasure from making his living from the insurance industry, and letting them squirm whenever possible.
Definitely not politically correct, what separates Banacek from the pack is the unashamed and open display of his libido. A man who appreciates women, when Banacek is interested, he makes his intentions crystal clear. Always a gentlemen, he approaches the female sex with the same confidence that he has working on a case. While some may play the ladies man, Banacek scores in nearly every episode. Based on his apparent success, a crude but perhaps not inappropriate nickname might be `bang-a-chick'. Such amorousness was part of James Bond's movie persona, but it quite unusual for a prime time TV lead in 1972. `Male chauvinistic pig' was a tem in vogue back then, and it is used more than once in reference to Thomas Banacek.
While the beautiful women and sexual innuendo are a provocative element, it is the outrageously executed crimes, and clever detective work that make the series worth watching. Banacek travels around the country, driven by his chauffeur Jay (Ralph Manza), and strategically aided by his friend, book dealer Felix Mullholland (Murray Matheson). Some of the technology and methods employed to commit the crimes, may not have held water too well even back then, and may be even less credible today, but like a magic trick, often it is the presentation, executed with style and panache that provides the entertainment.
The eight episodes in season one include:
Let's Hear It For a Living Legend: At the time, it was hip to feature NFL players as TV actors, and this episode about a vanishing football player, includes John Brodie, Gene Washington, Ben Davidson and Deacon Jones to name a few. While idea that a running back could disappear in a pile after being tackled is memorable, it is frankly absurd. That aside, the story proceeds well enough, with Robert Webber and Stephanie Powers as guest stars. Fortunately, after this, the credibility of the plots is at a much higher level.
Project Phoenix: A flatbed train car transporting an experimental vehicle, vanishes from a moving train. Joanna Pettit is a lovely automotive engineer under suspicion. This well-written tale of industrial espionage, with an inventive credible solution, is one of the best of the series.
A Million the Hard Way: A million in cash on display in a Las Vegas casino mysteriously vanishes. Banacek is summoned to Sin City to work for a reclusive Howard Hughes type to find out how it happened. Featuring guest stars are Margot Kidder and Don Porter.
No Sign of the Cross: A former gangster (Broderick Crawford) seeks to ease his conscience by donating a valuable cross to the church. When it vanishes, Banacek is asked to recover it. Another great episode with lots of misdirection.
To Steal a King: A valuable coin collection disappears from a hotel room safe, just prior to their being auctioned. Thomas is brought in to recover them. Brenda Vaccaro, Kevin McCarthy and Janis Paige head the guest cast.
Ten Thousand Dollars a Page: A priceless book vanishes from a museum with an elaborate security system. In this locked room mystery, Banacek must deal with the museum's abrasive owner (David Wayne), his hostile assistant (Stella Stevens), and an irritating fellow investigator (David Doyle). Good help is indeed hard to find. Poor David Wayne is a victim of a bad makeup job.
The Greatest Collection of Them All: A truckload of valuable paintings disappears in transit from New York to a gallery in Boston. It is up to Banacek to discover how this large scale sight of hand was accomplished.
The Two Million Clams of Cap'n Jack: Stock certificate plates are stolen from a guard in an elevator while traveling between floors. Banacek finds intrigue surrounding a family owned clam chowder business, as he attempts to get the plates back. Jessica Walter, Andrew Duggan and William Shallert guest star.
Definitely a lover rather than a fighter, Thomas Banacek, Polish proverbs and all, may be too much for some to take. George Peppard is spot on, as a man with no false modesty, who never doubts his ability to discover how the impossible was done. Reasonably priced, this gem from the early 70's is highly recommended to mystery lovers.
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