Season One:
"THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO PART ONE" The Scene: Teacher Ralph Hinkley is bringing his class on a field trip to the desert and they stop at a diner to get lunch. Some of the kids start copping a 'tude to the dude in the three-piece suit, and a confrontation ensues. Tony Villicana pulls a knife on the dude, only to be shocked when said dude has a gun in his hand, aimed at Tony, just as quickly. Hinkley attempts to mollify the agitated and distraught man, to no avail... "What do you want, a trip to Europe?"
Why it's one of the best in the series: The scene that started it all for the team. Incredibly fun first-time meeting of Ralph and Bill Maxwell, who end up being the best of friends and partners, after this unlikely encounter.
"MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COWBOYS" The Scene: Tracey tells Bill the plan to intercept a diamond smuggle, heist the rocks, fence them and go to South America.
Why it's one of the best in the series: It all boils down to one thing: Robert Culp. He does such an incredibly good job in this scene, without even saying a word! The expressions on his face as Tracey is telling him his plan, you can practically read the thoughts going through Bill's mind as he realizes Tracey, his hero and former platoon leader, is going bad, something Bill would never be able to conceive of. Worse yet, he's asking Bill to go along with him! My heart was racing when I first saw this, I was so knocked out by Culp's acting. And when Tracey leaves to fetch another pitcher of beer, the look on Bill's face is awesome!
"What the hell just happened here?" Bill's world is crashing around him as he realizes his hero has gone bad.
"FIRE MAN" The Scene: Pam and Bill run into one another at the L.A. police station, half the bureaucrats in town are following Pam... then Bill... and want Tony Villicana (including Bill.)
(This image was from the scene where the three are going 'round about Tony, and Bill's trying to cajole Pam into telling him where Tony is.)
Why it's one of the best in the series: It comes down to Ralph/Pam vs. Bill. Ralph & Pam are shielding Tony, even from Bill Maxwell. This is one of the early episodes, so their friendships are still being hammered out, and I think this is a strong testament to how it's going to go, when the three reach an agreement on how the Tony situation should be handled.
Season Two:
"OPERATION: SPOILSPORT" The Scene: Bill deliberately looks up, on the FBI computer, a man who's case had been ordered closed by "military intelligence," to make "them" come after him. While he's doing this, "Eve of Destruction" is playing, the black ops chopper is closing in, Ralph's trying to get to Bill, the MIB are buttoning Bill up, the tension's getting thicker and thicker... and Ralph gets to the roof, no Bill or chopper in sight. He's lost his best friend to places unknown.
Why it's one of the best in the series: This single scene impacted me so many years ago, on first-run, that I never forgot it. I'd never heard EoD before, till this episode, and the images combined with the song were very powerful. This was back in the day when you realized computers were going to run the world, and it was frightening, to me at least, to think just looking something up like that could bring Da Man down on you, and here Bill WAS Da Man. It pre-dated 1984 and Big Brother, and drove that sense home in a big way. The song makes the scene, as every GAH fan knows. Also as every GAH fan knows, the movie "Wargames" totally copied this episode.
"THE BEAST IN THE BLACK" The Scene: Bill, who was running to stop Tony Villicana from opening the doorway leading to The Black, is slammed from above by a 500 pound chandelier, and dies.
Why it's one of the best in the series: From the eps I've seen, I can safely say it's the best acting William Katt does in the entire series. The panic and dread he's feeling is palpible, the kindness and sympathy of the kids as they're watching Ralph work so desperately to revive Bill, is all very touching. The shots they show of the kids, esp. Rodriguez, are good too, when you realize that they, too, care about Bill Maxwell. Cyler's gentle insistance to Ralph that Bill's truly dead and gone is a good touch, how he seemingly takes command of the situation because he knows Ralph is too far gone to think straight, that all Ralph can think of is saving Bill and refusing to believe he's really dead.
"THE LOST DIABLO" The Scene: Bill insists to Ralph that they have to make a stop before they return to L.A., and it turns out it's Bill's first FBI partner, Harlan Blackford. Harlan is very old, and blind, and the man who taught Bill "to shoot straight." He'd given Bill an old map, supposedly leading to the fabled Lost Diablo mine, and when they find the mine, Bill brings all his gold to Harlan. From what Harlan says, "Don't tell me another week's gone by, Billy!" it's obvious Bill makes regular visits to his oldest and dearest partner.
Why it's one of the best in the series: Bill, in front of Ralph, Pam and the class, shows what an awesomely sweet and kind guy he really is. The shots of everyone watching while he's talking to his old partner are great, when they're realizing, Hey, this dude's not such a bad guy after all! You can tell how much Bill utterly respects his first partner Harlan, and it's touching when the old man finally accepts Bill's gift of the gold the map led them to.
Season Three:
"DIVORCE VENUSIAN STYLE" The Scene: Starting with "I'm filing for a divorce, honey." and ending when the song ends, with Ralph crashing into the light pole and Bill yells, "Would you stop clowning around??"
Why it's one of the best in the series: An incredibly good song, written just for Bill and Ralph. They've been through so much together, and the rift that seems to be forming is painful to them both. It cuts from Ralph to Bill and back and forth. Bill, who's trying to be cool and focused, is obviously upset, and Ralph is thinking hard as well. Bill sees the bad guys and calls Ralph and says, 'We can kiss and make up later, get your bones back here!' Ralph isn't pleased, but he does it any way, ending up crashing into the lightpost when he flies back.
"DIVORCE VENUSIAN STYLE" The Scene: Ralph, sans suit (which he's left with Bill), runs back to Bill when he hears a fire-fight starting. Before Bill can command Ralph to stay back, Ralph jumps in front of Bill and takes a slug for him. Bill manages to drag Ralph to the weiner-wagon, and on the way to the hospital, with Ralph clutching Bill's jacket, Bill says they're going to hang the suit up and make a hammock out of it, they got the job done. The scene ends when the van, which has been controlled by the green guys, ends up in the desert. Ralph opens the door and falls out, and says to Bill, "They're sending down another partner as good as me!" and Bill says, "I've got the best partner in the world, I don't want another partner!"
Why it's one of the best in the series: Let's be honest: Love. Ralph takes a bullet for Bill. Ralph clutches to Bill, very tenderly, for comfort. Bill's freaking that his partner and best friend has been hurt, saving him. Ralph and Bill realize their bond, despite their recent bickering. Bill, who's terrified of the green guys, doesn't even hesitate to bring Ralph under the ship for beamup.
"DIVORCE VENUSIAN STYLE" The Scene: Ralph, Bill and Pam crouched on the ground, peering into the sand for the now-minitiarized suit instruction book. As the camera pulls back, the song "We're Opposites" begins to play, and ends with "We're opposites, we're idiots, but we're still friends!"
Why it's one of the best in the series: Excellent portrait of the THREE person team, the Three Musketeers basically. They can laugh and cut-up one second, and bicker like siblings the next, and they all adore one another. The banter between the three in this scene, as the camera pulls away and the song starts, is funny.
(Okay, granted I haven't seen ALL of GAH, and only a little of Season Three... but I'm confident the ones I have not seen are NOT better than "Divorce Venusian Style.")
Additional: Two things I've noticed... Tony seems to crop up in more favorite scenes than I'd realized. And notice which episode I did NOT cite? "Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell." See? I'm not so much a Culp fan that I'd automatically include it.
"Ralph Hinkley, the walking talking lightbulb"
