Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset?
So soft. So peaceful.
Something bad has happened to him.
Is his surf ski gone?
Yes. I believe it is.
I usually trip over it going to the garden in the morning.
Magnum insists on leaving it across...
You're gonna tread water to Alaska if you have to.
I can't make it.
Rick!
I've always felt at home on the ocean. Even as a kid.
Maybe that's why I spend so much time alone on it.
Even on the Fourth of July.
I know, the Fourth should be spent with your buddies, drinking beer...
and eating hot dogs at the ballpark...
or hopping in a potato sack race with your best girl...
or barbequing in the backyard with your folks.
Maybe for most Americans.
For me, the Fourth has been a day to spend alone.
To remember.
So, here I was. All alone on the ocean...
starting my annual Independence Day remembrance.
At least I wouldn't get my fingers blown off by a cherry bomb.
You turkeys!
Great. A $120 pair of goggles.
My cap.
You owe me, you turkeys!
You could tell I had been a long time out of Nam.
I'd let my anger push aside all other thoughts,
including survival.
My surf ski had to be just a swell or two away.
Only question was, which way?
I was about three miles from shore, an easy swim for me.
But I was also close to the Molokai Express...
a high-speed current that runs between Oahu and Molokai.
If I got caught in it, without a surf ski...
my next landfall would be Alaska...
9,000 miles away.
I didn't want to lose $1,500 worth of surf ski.
Then again, I didn't want to lose my life, either.
It's not the distance one swims that's memorable...
it's the smell of the goose grease.
How disgusting.
Yes, but quite necessary if one is to survive the cold of the Channel.
You swam the English Channel?
Not all the way, I'm afraid. I had to give up. Nosebleed.
Poor dear.
A Higgins boat picked me up two miles off Pas de Calais.
I didn't know your family had boats. We didn't.
Oh, it was called a Higgins boat after the designer...
some other chap named Higgins.
I did design a boat once, before the war.
A dual-purpose vessel to ferry people across the Channel...
and fish at the same time.
How positively brilliant!
Yes, that's what I thought.
It had a double hull with a sieve in the bow.
Not very fast, of course, but then those were more civilized times...
when speed wasn't everything.
English accent] I say, old chap.
Ready for a thorough trouncing, what?
And who is this fair young maiden?
Lady Di?
Oh, my, no.
Agatha Chumley. Goffrey Bonner, of the Maui Polo Club.
Delighted.
Oh, my.
Don't you think it's rather ironic?
What?
Playing for an inter-island polo championship...
on the Fourth of July weekend.
I don't see what the date has anything to do with it.
You wouldn't, old stick. Ta-ta!
I believe he was referring to the American Revolution.
It began on the Fourth of-
I know when the American insurrection began.
The first match...
of this Fourth of July weekend will begin...
Sorry, Agatha.
No, no, it's my fault.
I should have realized you understood his reference...
and simply didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
Agatha, I promise you, The Prince of Wales Sandwich Islands Polo Team...
will show up these pompous colonists this bloody weekend.
In the immortal words of Sir Winston Churchill...
♪ Take me out to the ball game ♪
♪ Take me out to the crowd ♪
♪ Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks ♪
♪ I don't care if I never come back ♪
♪ 'Cause it's root, root, root ♪
♪ for the Konakapiolani Street Tigers, that's us ♪
♪ If we lose it's a shame ♪
♪ For it's one, two, three strikes you're out ♪
♪ In the old ball game ♪♪
Hey, wait a minute.
Time out! Time out!
I get the feeling you guys don't like my voice.
It's not your voice, Mr. Calvin. It's the song.
It's kind of, well...
It's cornball.
Cornball?
Take Me Out to the Ball Game, cornball?
Yeah.
I've been singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game...
since I was three.
You were three?
Don't get cute, Tobius.
Hey, that goes for the rest of you.
Maybe if we had a little more good old-fashioned singing...
we'd get some good old-fashioned teamwork on the ball field.
Maybe even win some games.
Yeah, yeah, that's it.
The Konakapiolani Street Tigers...
are gonna sing together to win together.
Either that, or we can hit the practice field...
instead of going to the Islanders' baseball game.
Give us a break.
All right.
♪ Take me out to the ball game ♪
♪ Take me out to the crowd ♪
Sing it, fellows.
♪ Buy me some ♪♪
Ono and mahi-mahi? What kind of meal is that...
on the Fourth of July for the club?
Would you prefer opakapaka?
I prefer cheeseburgers and fries, or hot dogs and onion rings, or...
For dinner?
Wong, in America there is only one meal on the Fourth.
It starts at noon and it goes until dark.
Now come up with something American.
How about sautéed frog legs in California wine?
What do you expect from a French chef?
Hey, hey!
Sorry, Rickie.
I guess the ocean brings out the kid in me.
I noticed.
You know, my stepdaddy used to take me fishing...
in the Chesapeake for stripers.
Did you ever catch any? All the time.
I caught an 18-pounder once.
Oh, that's small fry compared to what lives along this reef.
Tuna, swordfish, shark... Speedboats!
Hang on!
You turkeys!
Look, they cut our lines.
Here, see if you can get a name or number.
Idiots like that got to be stopped before they kill somebody.
"Hot and..."
Heavy.
The name on the stern o f the boat was somethin g "and Heavy."
It wasn't much, but I was going to look those turkeys up when I got to shore.
If I got to shore.
I'd been swimming steadily for half an hour...
and I was further from shore than when I started.
There was no doubt about it.
I was in the Molokai Express...
with no way to get off.
After five hours, I realized my only hope of survival...
was to be picked up by a boat, any boat.
God knows there are enough of them in the islands.
Sailboats, fishing boats, outriggers...
tugs, container ships, yachts, naval vessels...
Coast Guard cutters.
They'd be out looking for me now...
if anyone knew I was missing. But no one would.
No one would miss me for at least 72 hours.
And 72 hours is a long time for anyone to tread water.
Even...
The 1950 San Diego water-treading champion...
is just 30 seconds away from a new world record.
I wanna stop.
Come on.
20 seconds away from a new record.
I'm tired.
You can do it, Tommy. You can do it. Keep going.
Dad, I can't do it.
Just keep going.
Keep going.
Dad, I can't do it.
Hey, you know something, you just did.
Hey, Tommy Magnum.
1950 water-treading champion hits the beach.
Attaboy! He did a good job out there.
13, 14, 15. 15 minutes.
I treaded water for 15 minutes.
By the time I get back home, you're gonna be strong enough...
to tread water for an hour.
I will.
Yeah, you'll be 6 years old, that's awfully grown-up.
Dad, are you gonna be in Korea for a whole year?
Well, you don't know how long you'll be gone in a war, Son.
Don't worry. I'll take good care of Mom.
You will, huh?
Yes, sir. Till you come home.
You do that and I'll bring you a watch just like mine, huh?
You will?
Will what?
Dad's gonna bring me a watch just like his.
Just like that?
Mmm-hmm. No.
First I'm gonna earn it by... By...
By breaking his own water-treading record, right?
Yes, sir.
Why do I have this funny feeling you two are hatching something?
Well, maybe that's because we are, huh?
Mom sure does cry a lot lately.
Guess that's 'cause you're going to Korea, huh?
Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.
Hey.
You think you can break your record for me when I come home?
Yes, sir. That's a promise.
Okay.
Come on, let's go and cheer up Mom, huh?
Don't cry, Mom.
Come here, you.
Dad!
I just set a new water-treading record.
Six hours. Great, huh?
I wonder what...
the water-treading record really is?
Maybe no one knows.
Maybe it's held by some guy like me who treaded water for days...
and then went belly-up.
Stop it. Stop it.
Don't even think like that.
You're gonna tread water to Alaska if you have to.
Planes. Not just ships, planes could spot me.
No. They're too high.
They couldn't see a 50-foot boat from up there.
But flying low like T.C.'s chopper.
Maybe T.C.'s already out looking for me.
No, why would he?
He knows you spend the Fourth alone.
He's known that since Nam.
You're bucking for a Section Eight, you know that?
It's the Fourth of July.
The USO is planning a big bash in Da Nang.
Rick's got some nurses lined up from the 6577th.
And you're gonna spend the weekend in the middle of the ocean...
where Charlie can plink at you.
Charlie doesn't come out in the ocean.
That's not the point.
It's not natural to be by yourself on the Fourth.
It is for me.
That's far enough.
I'll get a good workout paddling to that island about five miles back.
Five miles in the open ocean...
on a long board, just a "good workout"?
Look, I'm gonna camp on the island. You can pick me up in two days.
About 1400 hours.
Yeah, if there's anything left to pick up.
That boy is definitely bucking for a Section Eight.
What's a Section Eight?
What's a Section Eight, Mr. Calvin?
Oh, I was just remembering something that happened a long time ago.
That's what I'm talking about.
That's teamwork. That is teamwork.
I bet they didn't learn that singing corny songs.
What was that, Tobius?
I said, I bet they sing real good songs.
That's what I thought you said.
Goal by number three,
Goffrey Bonner of the Maui Polo Club.
Too bad, old stick.
Looks like the last goal would have tied the game, what?
And the final score of the match...
- 5, - 3.
Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you...
who wish to see these two fine teams in action again...
please join us tomorrow at 1:00.
The gates will be opened at 11:00, however...
for those wishing to brunch and merely enjoy the grounds prior to the match. Thank you.
Rotten luck, Jonathan.
But I've fixed us a nice pot of tea.
Tea. You expect me to drink tea at a time like this?
Yes. A spot of tea can make the most frightful circumstances seem brighter.
Tea has held the empire together.
You're absolutely right.
Of course, I am.
Besides, as I see it...
your strategy is being brilliantly executed.
It is?
Yes.
If you had to lose a game to the colonists...
better to lose it early on the first day.
Get them overconfident.
That is your ploy, isn't it?
Well...
Agatha, you're a wonder.
It's nice to know you're beginning to realize that.
You're right. I should look on the bright side.
Magnum's not here to ogle and sneer at me.
What is it?
I don't know.
I suddenly felt sorry for saying that.
I've certainly heard you say worse about him.
I know, but it...
felt as if I'd spoken ill of the dead.
Of course, it's dead.
It doesn't even have a head.
I thought you went fishing with your stepdad.
Well, I did. But we used lures. Not live bait.
When the head's cut off, Sandy, it's dead bait.
I don't know. Maybe we should use lures.
I can't understand why we haven't caught anything yet.
I can.
Oh, no.
It's following us.
You've seen too many movies.
Oh, I don't like this, Rick.
Stop playing with it.
Who's playing?
We lost him.
That's right, sucker! Go find something else to eat!
12 hours.
A new record, Dad.
Hey, Dad, every second is a new record now.
See, 12 hours and 10 seconds...
12 hours and 12, no, 13.
A new record-
I could have been bumped...
by any of 100 harmless ocean fish.
A tuna, a yellowtail, a mackerel.
But I wasn't.
I'd been nudged by a shark.
From the distance between his dorsal fin and his tail...
I'd say he was no more than 8 feet long.
Not huge as sharks go, but big enough to ruin my day.
I'd had one follow me once for miles on my surf ski.
He just hung a few meters off my rudder.
I know I had set a personal speed record to shore that day.
I'd bet I could beat it now...
if I had my surf ski.
Oh, God. I'm scared.
You're scared of what?
Monsters.
What kind of monsters?
Big ones.
Oh, I think I remember those.
You do?
Sure. They were around when I was a kid.
Let's see. There's the one with the big eyes and teeth. That's Herman.
Then there's the shaggy one. His name's Ralph.
Then, of course, Theofulous.
Theofulous? Yeah.
He got that name because he is the awfulest monster you ever saw.
You're kidding, Dad.
Well, maybe just a little bit.
But if you give funny names to things that scare you...
then they won't be half so scary.
Now, what monster's out there?
The one with big eyes and teeth.
Oh, yeah, Herman.
Why don't you give Herman a call?
Go on. Go on. Come on.
Hey, Herman!
What do you call this game?
Ring Around the Rosie?
That's a girl's game, Herman.
I know!
I bet you'd like hide-and-seek.
It's a great game.
You just close your eyes and you count.
Oh, yeah...
you don't have eyelids, do you?
Well...
I'll tell you what.
I'll close my eyes...
and you go hide.
What do you say?
Come on, Herman. You're being a jerk!
Okay.
I'm gonna figure...
you really wanna play, but you're just too shy to say so.
So...
I'm gonna count to 10...
and when I open my eyes...
you're gonna be gone.
Okay?
Here I go.
One...
two...
three...
four...
five...
six...
seven...
eight...
nine...
ten!
Ready or not, here I come!
Thanks, Dad.
Saved you, again, did he?
That's what white knights are for, Jonathan.
Yes, quite.
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset?
So peaceful. So soft.
So...
romantic.
Agatha, my dear.
Yes, Jonathan?
I know what you're thinking.
You do?
You're trying to capture my queen by sacrificing your knight.
Oh, Jonathan!
Sometimes you're a royal ass!
I need some tea.
Sometimes I think I shall never understand women.
What's wrong?
Huh?
You look kind of strange.
I do? Oh.
I've got a kind of a funny feeling in my gut.
I guess I ate one hot dog too many.
I know I did.
Magnum.
If that's Magnum, will you introduce me?
Me, too.
Yeah, all right.
Come on!
I don't wanna be stuck here all night.
Afraid we don't have much choice. The port engine threw a bearing.
It'll take us half the night to limp home...
and I don't want to go through the reef in the dark with one engine.
You're not lying to me?
Why would I do that?
Spend the night out here alone?
You know...
Do I look like the kind of guy that would pull something like that?
Mmm-hmm.
Sandy, I'll drop the anchor.
We'll have a nice bottle of wine.
We'll watch the sunset and then we'll talk about going back in, okay?
What kind of wine?
I've got a '61 Margaux that I've been saving for a sunset just like this.
I don't like that French stuff. It's too heavy for me.
Do you have any rosé?
I love rosé on ice with a chunk of pineapple in it.
Rosé on ice with a chunk of pineapple?
Mmm-hmm.
Of course. The wine locker's down in the galley right above the counter.
You get the wine and I'll set the anchor, okay?
Is the shark back?
No, the shark's not back.
What are you looking for?
I don't know.
I just don't know.
Are you trying to scare me?
Oh, no, no. It's nothing. Forget it. I'm sorry.
Well, I didn't know we had rosé.
Oh, you didn't.
I mixed a little red with a little white.
Oh-oh.
♪ Anchors Aweigh ♪
♪ Sail Navy down the field ♪
♪ And sink the Army ♪
♪ Sink the Army Grey ♪
♪ Blue of the Seven Seas ♪
♪ Gold of God's great sun ♪
♪ Let these our colors be ♪
♪ Till all of time be done ♪
♪ Done, done, done ♪
♪ By Severn shore we learn ♪
♪ Navy's stern call ♪
♪ Faith, courage, service true ♪
♪ With honor over, honor over all ♪
I can't make it, Dad!
Don't give up, Son.
Come on, Tommy. Don't quit.
Attaboy.
You can swim.
Swim!
I can't.
Yes, you can.
Come on, Tommy.
That's it.
That's it!
Now, think of something.
Concentrate on something, Tommy.
Concentrate!
With this ring, I thee wed.
Then under the eyes of God...
and by the powers vested in me...
by the Holy Roman Catholic Church...
I pronounce you man and wife.
And I got one more toast.
Yes. No.
And this one is going to kill you.
Did you arrange this?
Of course. What's a wedding without fireworks?
Oh, Thomas, I'm scared.
So am I.
At least if we both died now, it would be okay.
We'd die happy.
I'd rather live happy.
Attaboy, Son.
It won't be long now.
Scuttlebutt has it that the Princeton's going to relieve us...
and we'll be home by the Fourth.
I hope so, 'cause I don't know if I can wait till then, I miss you two so much.
Sometimes, coming back from a mission...
I'm tempted to just keep flying until I reach San Diego.
Don't, Dad! You'll run out of gas!
Well, there's only a little tape left, so I better sign off.
How's that special mission coming, Tommy? Everything okay?
That special mission again, huh?
Good.
Well, God bless...
and keep you both.
I love...
Don't cry, Mom.
Dad said he'd be home by the Fourth.
That's only-
Two days.
You mean, you haven't seen him for two days?
I am not his keeper.
Although his quarters do resemble a cage at the zoo.
And his car is still here?
Mr. Masters' Ferrari is here, yes.
As are all the estate vehicles.
Now, would you please tell me what is going on?
I- I've had this feeling that...
That Magnum is in terrible danger.
Yeah. How'd you know?
I've had it, too.
It happened to me once before, you know. In Pakistan, just after the war.
Teddy Fabershaw and I.
He was a young lieutenant then. Good officer.
But he had this uncontrollable desire to worship lizards.
Cost him his commission when he was caught with Colonel Meecham's daughter...
and an iguana behind the regimental stables...
committing what could only be described...
as the most abhorrent act of perversion known to man or reptile.
Is his surf ski gone?
Yes. I believe it is.
I usually trip over it going to the garden in the morning.
Magnum insists on leaving it across...
You don't think Magnum has been on the ocean for two days on a surf ski?
I hope he's on it, 'cause if he's in it-
He's in big trouble.
Who?
Magnum. Something bad has happened to him.
I gotta go in, Sandy. I'm sorry.
I thought we couldn't go through the reef in the dark.
On one engine.
Engines are funny things.
They have voices, just like people.
After I'd served in a task force a month or two...
I could identify every ship in the dark by the sound of its engines.
That's why, after 20 hours in the water...
as impossible as it seemed...
I knew the yacht coming towards me...
was the King Kamehameha II.
I'm gonna make it, Dad!
I'm gonna make it!
Marine operator.
555-2100.
Thank you.
Well, I guess it wasn't a bearing after all.
Rick!
Hey!
Shh.
Turn the radio off.
That's my favorite.
I think I heard something.
Mr. Masters' estate.
Higgins. Yes, Rick.
Is Magnum there?
Don't go!
Please!
I can't hang on if you go. I can't.
Please...
Dad.
Dad, do something.
Higgins, I'm in the Molokai Channel...
16 miles off of Koko Head.
Bearing 051 from the Diamond Head lighthouse.
We assume Magnum went out for his usual workout...
and had some sort of an accident.
He could be anywhere within 1000 square miles.
We've notified the Coast Guard, they're launching a search at dawn.
Perhaps you'd best come up channel toward the estate.
No. What?
Tell Rick to stay right where he is.
For God's sake, man, why?
I don't know. A hunch.
Tell Rick we'll be in the area by sun-up, in...
One hour.
All I have to do is tread water for one more hour...
then the sun will be up and they'll see me.
Any 6-year-old can tread water for an hour.
Right, Dad?
Dad?
He'll be so proud of you, Tommy.
How much longer?
30 minutes! Okay, Mom.
I can hang on for 30 minutes.
Just don't move, Rick.
How much longer?
Five minutes.
Dad!
I'm gonna make it, Dad!
I'm gonna make it! Two minutes.
One minute!
There's the yacht.
There he is.
Undo me.
30 seconds!
Now, go, Higgins.
I've got you. No!
Magnum.
I gotta do it for Dad!
I got 10 seconds.
I'm gonna make it!
I made it, Dad!
I made it!
I made it, Dad.
Why didn't you?
To most Americans...
this Fourth of July is a day of picnics and fireworks.
Of ball games and potato sack races...
of political speeches and parades.
But to us, the friends and family of Lieutenant Thomas Magnum Senior...
this Fourth of July, 1951 will always be remembered...
as the day he came home from the sea.
God bless and keep his wife and son.
Alert!
Aim!