Trouble On Wheels - Episode 43

[amyk]

I'm watching this one now. And we get a good shot of fake BA driving the van. I'm surprised Rudy was able to take up a collection at the factory since I would think the bad guys would just steal the money and shut down the collection. I also think Hannibal was way too obvious stealing the carbeurators, which I don't know how to spell! At least even the bad guys say that he's a lousy thief.

I love the whole wristhingych thing, even though I really doubt those sounds would come into the vehicle so well and be picked up by the watch. I still chuckle over that itty-bitty little cassette tape! Love it!

One thing so great about this episode is that each of the team members really seem to get to shine and do what they do best for the team. Hannibal must have come up with the whole Crazy Willie plan and he also gets to plan a "reverse frontal assault", as well as getting to be the tough guy getting taken and beat up by the bad guys, which reminds me of what happened to him in BULLETS AND BIKINIS. Face gets to procure the auto parts sign and I also love how proud he is that he can immediately provide BA with what BA needs to listen to that little cassette. BA gets to be the mechanical genius, and Murdock gets to be Murdock, portraying Crazy Willie so well and getting to also save the team.

"Whenever you stand up against slimeballs you're doing the right thing."

I love it so much when Murdock pretends to be "just a dumb clerk" who had no idea he was working with The A-Team. But I do kind of cringe when he lets the garage door fall on the security guard.

How did they get that car up on the roof? Even more importantly, how did they get it down from the roof so quickly?

Love Murdock's crazed expression as he drives the car!

BA's foot seemed miraculously healed at the end when he's running after Murdock.

I give this one a 9 on the Sidney scale.

[sidney]

Murdock was pretty convincing when he turned it around and acted like he didn't know who the A-Team was. That was pretty funny. Don't think the guard really would have been knocked out by that storage door though.

I hate how often people get knocked out so easily. Take BA for example, how much brain damage would he have sustained by now?!?!?!

[amyk]

Yeah and how it seems very rare for anyone to get any bruising from all the fights....actually, in this episode, the client, Rudy, did get bruised up in the face after being beat up.

[kellie]

I'm surprised Dwight got called up in any gangster filmss after that! Alright it was a comedy part, but he still did a good gangster, voice and everything. I neoliberal Marlon Brando. Allied Dwight after he saw that to tell him he thought he was great doing that impression.
I like this because it has a good story to it and like someone else said, it shows them all together and what they can do separately. It is good when Murdock gets them out of it by pretending he didn't know who they were. I guess this is a good example of why it works with him being their secret weapon.

[HoudiniDerek]

I really enjoy the scene with the policeman believing Murdock had no idea he was working with the A-Team.

"I always had my suspicions about that one."

Crazy Willy is one of my favorite characters he portrays over the entire series.

"Especially while I'm eating a tuna fish sandwich."

[amyk]

I think each character really shines in this episode in their own way, but yes, Murdock as Crazy Willie may be the highlight.

[sprout1883]

Just finished this. Don't know you can't love it. Completely barmy.

Murdock is on fire here being the crazy bad guy, being in the vending machine and the dumb clerk.

Probably one episode that sums up what the A-Team as a show is

[amyk]

I'm not sure what "barmy" means, but it sounds like it must mean something good!

[sprout1883]

Jul 10, 2020 22:49:50 GMT -5 amyk said:

I'm not sure what "barmy" means, but it sounds like it must mean something good!

Means crazy really.

None of it makes a lot of sense, but it is good fun.

The plot its self isn't bad, but it seems far to easy for all these parts to get stolen, but that doesn't matter as it cracks on at a pace and gets sillier and brilliant at the same time with Murdock's antics.

How they get the car up and down from the roof again so easy. None of that makes any sense, but I think the episode tells it that way deliberately. You just assume because it's The A-Team and you aren't supposed to think about it to much and go with it.

I think that is the essence of the show and this episode catches it all in that regard. This is the 3rd season and a show that is in its stride at this point

[amyk]

I also don't know if it would be that easy for the bad guys to steal the auto parts, but if they had everyone working at the plant afraid of them, maybe they could get away with it. Also, there may not have been as much security back in the 1980s as there probably would be nowadays?

[HoudiniDerek]

Jul 11, 2020 22:33:12 GMT -5 amyk said:

I also don't know if it would be that easy for the bad guys to steal the auto parts, but if they had everyone working at the plant afraid of them, maybe they could get away with it. Also, there may not have been as much security back in the 1980s as there probably would be nowadays?

Especially if they were in charge of their areas. You could always say so many parts were damaged, etc. As long as the company was making money, it might not matter to most.

Makes me think of the song by Johnny Cash, "One piece at a time."

[Eclipse139]

Rewatched this one today - it's another great episode!

Like others have said, this episode allows each member of the team to shine. Murdock really plays his part well as Crazy Willie - extra impressive as it wasn't part of Hannibal's original plan.  It's quite sweet when he tries to tend to BAs injured foot (even though it was kind of his fault it happened in the first place) and he's also hilarious when he has to drive!  

I also love how Murdock has to think quickly when the security guard tries to arrest the team and act as though he has no idea who they are! I wish he hadn't knocked the man out with the garage door, though (although how he was knocked unconscious by being hit in the middle of his back I don't know?) - it seems unnecessarily violent when you consider we never really see the team hurting any baddies that badly and the security guard was only doing his job. Perhaps Murdock could have tricked him into getting locked in a cupboard, or tied up somehow instead?

Interesting that Hannibal's plan involved him getting himself beaten up - as has already been said in this thread, he does the same thing in BULLETS AND BIKINIS. You'd think he would plan not to get beaten up on the understanding that he might have to take a beating if his plan goes a bit wrong, but instead he's fully aware that he's going to get hurt. It's pretty brave, but also pretty reckless because he really has no way of knowing if he's going to end up badly injured (in which case he might not be able to carry out the next part of his plan), or even killed!

[amyk]

I figure that Hannibal has probably undergone torture in a Vietnam POW camp that was far worse than anything he thinks any of the bad guys in the show will ever do, so I think he's pretty fearless regarding getting beat up.

[HoudiniDerek]

I still wish we could have seen how Hannibal would have played Crazy Willie.

[hasford1978]

I watched this just recently and it's one of my favourite A Team episodes, we get a good clear view of the guy driving the van while Face is hanging out the side door to pick up the Stop sign..that guy MUST be the same who played Fake BA in Showdown and as far as I'm aware he was one of the guys who was a stunt double for Mr T??