Relive the ‘80s, Hawaiian-style

One film fan’s guilty pleasure is another’s homage to Hitchcock.

Consider the different guilty pleasures of 2003, as listed by that Godard-is-god publication Film Comment. The choices ranged from Marcus Nispel’s remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (“Guilty because it’s a slick, repellent, soulless work of degenerate nihilism. Pleasure because it’s a slick, repellent, soulless work of degenerate nihilism.”) to the Merchant-Ivory effort “Le Divorce” (“the film is actually urgently boorish”).

Surprisingly enough, each film had its defenders.

Detroit Free Press critic Terry Lawson wrote of the “Chainsaw” remake, “It is nearly as tense and nasty as the original and, to be fair, features far better acting, most notably by Jessica Biel, who is compelling even when she isn’t about to burst out of her wet T-shirt.”

Even?

As for “Le Divorce,” the Washington Post’s Desson Thomson, gushing over this ode to Freedom Fries, called the film “a relaxed delight, a series of delicately tongue-in-cheek musings about the clash between American and French cultures.”

No wonder people refuse to trust film critics. With wide divergences of opinion such as these to confuse us, we might as well listen to such shameless cheerleaders as Joel Siegel or dogmatic ideologues as Michael Medved.

The trick is to trust your own instincts.

Which is why I’m not ashamed to admit how glad I am that “Magnum P.I.” is finally out on DVD. Universal Home Video has released the complete first season of the television show, which ran from 1980-88 on CBS. The four-disc set features more than 18 hours of material, including all 18 original episodes as well as bonus material featuring such guest stars as Sharon Stone and the “Simon & Simon” twins, Jameson Parker and Gerald McRaney.

As with all television programs, “Magnum P.I.” began to lose its freshness as the years went on. But at least at first it was a fun blend of TV detective show, quirky characterization and Hawaiian shooting locales.

Tom Selleck, who until then was best known for starring in the 1970 exploitation film “Myra Breckenridge,” plays Thomas Magnum. A former U.S. Naval intelligence officer, Magnum works as a private investigator while living on the vast estate of reclusive millionaire Robin Masters. Managed by the British-born Jonathan Higgins (Jonathan Hillerman), himself a former military man, the estate is a paradise – though any idea that Magnum has of making it his private play area is regularly frustrated by the ever-officious Higgins and his “lads,” Dobermans Zeus and Apollo.

Magnum’s two best friends, T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and Rick (Larry Manetti), served with him in Vietnam. And they are always prepared (if sometimes reluctantly) to aid their buddy in his investigations, T.C. as the owner and chief pilot of his helicopter- tour company and Rick as the over-eager, would-be muscle.

It takes many things to make a show a hit. What worked for “Magnum P.I.” was, most of all, the charm that Selleck displayed with such ease. He was handsome, in an ‘80s sort of way, and he had a boyishness that softened the fact that he stood 6-feet-4 and could handle himself physically. That boyishness also made him naïve, which was why he repeatedly acted like a chump with every actress from Morgan Fairchild to Dana Delany.

Selleck was such a natural that he attracted viewers of both sexes. During its first season, “Magnum P.I.” was the 14th-most popular show on television. Its high point came in 1982-83 when it tied with “M*A*S*H” for third.

And while the show was based on the occasional action sequence (often featuring Magnum driving Masters’ red Ferrari), it successfully blended comedy with suspense and underlying seriousness. The two-part episode “Did You See the Sunrise?” that opened season three was a case in point. It shows Magnum’s struggle to choose between justice and the law, with his selection being one that made the episode’s ending one of the most surprising ever for a weekly prime-time show.

But that would be in the future. The first season was simply a time for us to get used to Magnum and his buddies, to the beauty of Hawaii and to the easy feel that was the essence of the show’s success.

A minor-league success? Pure escapism? Carrying about as much depth as a Petri dish?

True, sure and hell yes. “Magnum P.I.” is all that and more. But I take comfort in this.

Wet T-shirt or no, at least it isn’t “a slick, repellent, soulless work of degenerate nihilism.”