DAVID BANNER’S ACE
IN THE HOLE
by J. Brown LA
Times staff
Los Angeles Times
Mar 31, 1981
It took me a while
but I finally figured it out: “The Incredible Hulk” is “The
Fugitive” all over again. That’s right. If you throw away Lou
Ferrigno’s weekly turn as the menacing, growling, green-skinned
beast of the piece, you’re pretty much left with Richard Kimble
chasing the one-armed man with LT. Gerald in hot pursuit—only
this time, it’s scientist David Banner (Bill
Bixby) wandering around the country in search of a cure for his
split personality, with Enquirer-style reporter Jack McGee (Jack
Colvin) compulsively giving chase. Bixby even seems to have adopted
the late David Jassen’s rabbit-scared look of wary discomfort,
though he hasn’t taken on Jassen’s
uptight facial mannerisms.
I discovered something
else in my Friday nights visits with the Hulk on CBS. It isn’t
just for kids. To be sure the children can enjoy the transformation
of the mild-mannered Bixby into the raging Ferrigno, watching
the Hulk spin the villains around like so many tennis balls. But
the cartoon element is only part of it, and the series had made
judicious use of the Hulk’s appearances. He is, indeed, the embodiment
of the anger that exists in all of us. It’s just that it takes
a long time for Bixby to get angry.
Most of the Hulk’s
stories, instead, are finely crafted little morality plays in
which Bixby wanders into the lives of people in a crisis, separates
the good guys from the bad and, more often than not, leaves it
to the Hulk to dispense justice. The inherently good triumph over
adversity. The inherently bad, of course never have a chance.
The Hulk is a pretty large ace in the hole.
Last Friday’s episode
was a good example of this formula. David Banner is involved in
an accident that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. He’s
befriended by another paraplegic (Denny Miller)—a man who has
taken it upon himself to help others adjust to their disability.
A good man. But Miller is frustrated in his effort to re-enter
the world and open his own sporting goods store, a frustration
that leads him to the brink of tragedy. Banner intervenes,
is maddened into becoming the Hulk and everybody who deserves
it lives happily ever after.
Meanwhile, beneath
the week’s main plot, there’s the dogged Jack McGee who has made
it his life’s work to track down the Hulk. As McGee, Jack
Colvin has done more with this characer than it probably deserves.
McGee in a sense is the onimpresent villain—the manwould cut short
Banner’s odessey,and, along the way, make a big splash for himself
in the journalism world.
Yet Colvin and the
writers have taken the character beyond this stale single-mindedness
and given McGee some shading. In past episodes we’ve been
shown the price he’s had to pay for this quest. Like Banner, McGee
is a prisoner on the run—a prisoner of his own compulsion. We
might not like him. But we can at least understand a little bit
about what makes him tick.
This season, even
Lou Ferrigno--the body-builder-turned Hulk—has been allowed
to step out of his green make-up to appear in a dual role.
It was a bold step as Ferrigno has spent years in therapy to overcome
a speech impediment and this episode was his first speaking role.
He not only handled himself admirably, but in the process, gave
his main character--the Hulk—an added dimension.
But the bulk of the
series responsibility goes to Bixby, who seemingly has been on
television forever—first as the nephew in “My Favorite Martian”,
later in “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father” and now with the Hulk.
Bixby’s nice-guy image
has been given a moodier turn in this series. He’s still your
basic friendly presence who just can’t help sacrificing himself
to do good, but those years on the run have given David Banner
an edge of distrust. He just won’t go to the aid of everyone.
He’s looking out for himself first.
Essentially, “The
Incredible Hulk” goes well beyond its surface appeal. While the
kids can enjoy the cartoon shenanigans, its stories can evoke
far more complicated matter, such things as good vs evil and the
fact that people aren’t always what they seem to be.
But one thing still
troubles me. How can David Banner pay for all those shirts and
pants that he rips up after turning into the Hulk? He works these
odd, menial jobs and hardly ever travels by car, taxi, bus or
train. Yet each week, he’s walking around town in a nice outfit.
Perhaps he buys wholesale. Or perhaps I’m expecting too much from
a series that otherwise entertains us and occasionally makes us
think.
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