Code Name: Diamond Head

1977
2.7| 1h18m| en
Details

A failed Quinn Martin pilot for a series starring a Hawaii-based government counter intelligence agency run by the indomitable Aunt Mary. In this, his only adventure, Diamond Head has to prevent the evil Tree from stealing a deadly nerve toxin gas and selling it to foreign powers. To help Diamond Head is the Dragon Lady and Zulu.

Director

Producted By

Quinn Martin Productions (QM)

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Reviews

Supelice Dreadfully Boring
HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Aryana Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Lee Eisenberg Quinn Martin was a noted TV producer who created shows such as "The Untouchables" and "Barnaby Jones". But in 1977, he aired a major stinker: "Code Name: Diamond Head". The plot (or whatever you call it) is a convoluted mess about someone trying to stop the theft of a deadly gas. No surprise that this failed pilot provided fodder for "Mystery Science Theater 3000", with Mike, Servo and Crow having lots of fun at the movie's expense. That's the only way to watch the movie and enjoy it. The only cast member whom I recognized was Ian McShane, who's probably spent the years since trying to forget that he participated in this.Is it the worst movie ever made? Dunno. I just know that you'll enjoy the movie if you watch MST3K's presentation. Either that or you could go to Hawaii to experience what the Aloha State really has to offer.
Aaron1375 I saw this television pilot on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Not the worst thing they have ever riffed, but then again, I find that the stuff that is not completely horrible oftentimes makes for the better episodes. Someone commented that they should not have riffed this because it has good stars in it, but I say anything can be riffed. It does not have to be completely horrid and nearly impossible to watch for the gang to bring in the zingers at a torrid pace. That being said, I can see why this never became a hit series that instead of being riffed for its pilot episode, was in syndication. It was not that good. Sure it had some rather credible actors in it, Ian McShane being the main one; however, for the most part this was kind of dull at times if not for the riffs. There were a lot of shows going on at this time that put this one to shame as it seemed to be trying to do a bit of Hawaii Five-O with more of a spy slant to it, but like a lot of television shows during this time, all it managed to do was make it on television as a pilot episode. Not sure if it went beyond that. There were a number of television shows that I really enjoyed as a kid that never really got many episodes such as the live action Spider-man show. Heck, that one had good ratings, but the president of CBS yanked it because he did not want his station to cater to kids. These days that demographic is all they cater too. This show simply did not hook the audience and it would have faded into obscurity if not for the gang of the Satellite of Love.The story centers around an agent who is undercover in Hawaii. A man who is like some sort of criminal and really bad guy comes to town to steal some sort of chemical explosive or something. The agent must try to out think this man known as Tree...he really should've gave himself a cooler nickname. At the agent's disposal, this big dude, an Asian lady who does some stuff and a cranky old pirate looking dude who wants his 50 dollars! It has its moments here and there mainly due to Ian as Tree, but it has a lot of stupid stuff too, like the music. At one point the music suddenly sounded like it was from the science fiction ant film, Phase IV.As an episode of Mystery Science Theater it is becoming a favorite of mine. I was not as wild about it at first, but it continually grows on me and I laugh at the jokes which by today's wimp standards would probably offend some people. One of the reasons I fear the reincarnation of the show is going to be weak is the fact people are so easily offended so I just think the show is going to lack the edge it had back in the day.So, another show that failed to become a regular on the prime time schedule. Who knows? If things were different it may have survived as for reasons unknown a good deal of people seem to have enjoyed this show and do not like the fact that it was done by Mystery Science Theater, but realistically, most of them would have completely forgotten this thing if not for them. It's still always kind of cool to reenter the 70's though and watch a blast from the past!
Michael H TV pilots, don't you love them? Quinn Martin tried this one out after being successful in a bunch of other TV detective movies, but this one goes nowhere except in the realm of MST where it belongs. Roy Thinnes is Diamond Head who takes orders from Aunt Mary to find super spy Lovejoy, I mean Tree. Zulu and Tso-Tsing are there for ethnic comic relief and not much else. Tree sucks as a bad guy despite all his disguises that makes him look exactly the same as he normally does. There's more unnatural clothing fiber here than you can ever imagine (required in the 1970's)and the show itself is so anti-climatic. Why did it not go to series? You figure it out, it's quite blatant. Again it's fun for MST, but not a lot else!!
quamp This series would have been a lot better if they had just done one simple thing: Made Ian McShane Code Name: Diamond Head instead of Code Name: Tree. Diamond Head the character needs someone who could handle the role of the lovable rogue, which McShane proved he could do with the Lovejoy series. Roy Thinnes, the actual Diamond Head, is really only so-so in the role. McShane is not really that good as the bad guy Tree. France Nuyen's character, Tso-Tsing, can't seem to make up her mind as to whether she's the hapless victim or the tough-and-ready-to-fight woman. She really earned her pay at the end when she had to play the role of Diamond Head's lover. After viewing an episode or two, I ended up not caring what happened to anyone. Tree gives us a lot to hate him, but Diamond Head gives us nothing to like him. Unfortunately, the spy genre in the 1970s was not quite as it was in the 1960's.

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