Some of my favorites include "If you're not sure that it's potato borscht, there could be orphans working in the mines" and "Read the whole library, my son, but the cheese will still smell after four days."
) In almost every episode Banacek would come up with some outrageous "old Polish saying" that made little sense, at least until he explained them. (Ahh, the good old days, back before evil political correctness made it unacceptable to make fun of someone's nationality or race. Back in 1974 Poles were often the butt of jokes and characterized as being dumb and dirty. This irritates the investigators who are salaried employees of the insurance companies to no end, and it is marvelous fun to watch them sizzle.īanacek is also very proud of his Polish heritage, something that was a little unusual, but very refreshing. He's not only suave and wealthy (he drives around in a beautiful '41 Packard when not in a chauffeured limo and lives in a tastefully decorated townhouse filled with antiques and art,) but he's very confident of his abilities to the point of being arrogant. While the conundrums that Banacek comes across are the main draw to the show, his personality is what makes the program so fun to watch. Even if someone could get past the security, how could they ever dismantle and move a gigantic computer without the guards noticing? It's the size of a room, and is contained in a smallish building that is surrounded by a barbed wire topped electric fence and state-of-the-art alarms. Banacek is called in when a very expensive main-frame computer disappears. One of my favorite episodes is equally mysterious. With no secret tunnels or the like, how could someone just vanish in front of a million fans watching on TV? As the referee pulls the other players off he discovers that the running back has disappeared! He's not at the bottom of the pile, and only his helmet is left to testify that he was ever there. In the middle of a televised NFL football game, a star running back is tackled. The show wasn't so much as a who-dunnit as a 'how the heck was the crime even committed.' The first show that aired set the stage for the rest of the series. Running from 1972-1974, this detective show aimed to set itself apart from the countless other shamus programs that were populating the airwaves and it accomplished that with locked-room type mysteries that seemed virtually impossible. It may not sound like much, but when you're talking about a cool million in cash that disappears from a Vegas casino or a 2 million dollar coin collection that evaporates from a vault, pretty soon he's pulling down some serious cash.
For a mere 10% of the insured value he'll find anything. When some valuable coins or a test car turn up missing, and neither the cops nor the insurance company can locate it, they call in Banacek. Thomas Banacek (George Peppard) is a cool, smooth, and slightly arrogant freelance insurance investigator.
Banacek season 2 dvd series#
Previously released as two season sets, the complete series is now available in one handsome 5 disc set. Staring George Peppard as the unflappable Polish detective who was proud of his heritage and featuring mysteries that were down right impossible (or so they seemed) this program is just as engaging and mind-boggling as it was when it first aired. A short-lived series, only 16 episodes and a pilot were made over two seasons, but this was one of my favorite detective shows since I was first baffled by the mysteries 35 years ago.
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