Technical Information

First Broadcast: Friday, January 22, 1988, 9:30 PM

Production Code: B-87517

Number of bullets fired by Sledge: 0

Critical Info

TV Guide summary: Hammer plots to unmask a killer whose dastardly deed was committed during a corporate war game.

Ph episode rating on the Hammer scale (1 to 6 bullets): 2. With three dumb guys and one perky lady, even I could see this one coming from a mile away.

Episode references:

• Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (movie)

Opening Credits

Produced by Thomas Kane
Supervising Producer: Ron Friedman
Executive Producer: Alan Spencer

Guest Stars:

• John Paragon (as Derwood(?) Monroe)
• Roderick Cook (as Edmund Bryce(?))
• Anthony DeLongis (as Arvind(?) Swenson)
• Lisa Robins (as Tina Claton(?))
• Leslie Morris (as Officer Mayjoy)
• Patti Tippo (as Officer Daley)

Created by Alan Spencer
Written by Chris Ruppenthal
Directed by Dick Martin

Act One

In a corporate paintball game played in the woods, Edmund Bryce outwits all of his opponents except one. This combatant not only shoots him with a paint pellet but also with a real bullet.

In his office, Trunk informs Hammer and Doreau that Bryce, 49, was the president Vectrocon, leading computer company in the country. Hammer takes a disdainful attitude toward the war games played by Vectrocon executives.

Doreau: Well, according to the articles I've read, war games help sharpen business skills -- strategy, tactics, risk-taking...
Hammer: Risk-taking. Hey, I risk my life every night of my life, rain or shine. That's risk-taking.
Doreau: Being a cop?
Hammer: No, eating those pork nuggets. You don't know what's in those things...
[94 KB WAV file]

At the war game venue, Hammer and Doreau look for clues. Mayjoy points at some tire tracks, while Daley finds some bootprints. Daley notes that the prints appear to have a monogrammed "S" in the soles. However, before she can cast a mold, Hammer drinks her plaster thinking it was a cup of coffee.

Despite Doreau's warning, Hammer trudges through bushes full of poison ivy searching for clues claiming he's immune.

In the Vectrocon skyscraper, Hammer and Doreau ask to speak with Bryce's business associates: Swenson, Nakamishi, and Monroe. Bryce had disconnected all the elevators for people to stay in shape, so Hammer and Doreau are forced to take the stairs to Swenson's office on the 28th floor. Tina Claton(?), Bryce's private secretary leads the two up the stairs. Constantly scratching himself, the out-of-shape Hammer struggles to keep up with Doreau.

When they finally make it up, Swenson tells Hammer and Doreau that many people hated Bryce, including Vectrocon's Japanese competitors. Just as Swenson says he was recently denied a promotion, Doreau notices the "S" on the bottom of his boots. Swenson counters with the receipt that he just received them today.

When leading the officers around the building, Tina is asked by Hammer if she joined in on Vectrocon's war games. She says they were strictly "a male affair".

On the 10th floor, Nakamishi says Bryce wanted him to cheat on the books even though he didn't want to. Doreau notices a toy 4x4 truck on his desk, and he confirms he has a real truck also. Hammer confronts him about the tire tracks, but Nakamishi deflects the accusations that by saying his truck has been in the shop since Tuesday.

Back at the precinct, Hammer is befuddled about how two suspects leave evidence pinning them to the crime scene, yet have alibis that check out. Mayjoy then tells Hammer he has the murder weapon, a gun registered to Monroe.

Act Two

Hammer and Doreau confront Monroe at Vectrocon about the murder weapon, but Monroe says he reported the gun stolen a month ago.

Hammer has received an anonymous invitation to the next Vectrocon war games, so at the police station, he studies "a map of the war games playing area where Bryce bought the big, green banana of death".

In the woods, Hammer begins the game in this usual jacket and pants, refusing to don the fatigue.

He catches his first victim, Monroe, by suspending his jacket.

Monroe: (after being hit 4 times) Hey, what is this? You only had to shoot me once.
Hammer: Overkill. Besides, every paint job needs a second coat.

Hammer uses his pants to lure Nakamishi into a trap (paintball 5) and swings on a vine to nail Swenson (paintball 6).

A fourth player is seen shooting live ammunition at Hammer's stuffed shirt. Dressed in only a tie and shorts, Hammer confronts the killer, Tina, from behind.

Unable to escape the babbling Hammer, Tina repeatedly tries to shoot him until she no long has any bullets.

(During the pursuit sequence, we witness the usual "explanation of the crime by criminal and inspector".)

Tag

After Hammer detonates a grenade he didn't get to use during the game, an exasperated Trunk yells at him to "put some pants on".

Closing Credits

Associate Producer: Robert Ewing
Creative Consultant: Leonard B. Stern
Executive Story Editors: Mert Rich & Brian Pollack
Story Editors: Mark Curtiss & Rod Ash
Story Editor: Chris Ruppenthal
Featuring: Glen Chin (as Sho(?) Nakamishi)
Co-Producer: Jim Ragan
Director of Photography: Chuck Colwell
Production Designer: Gregory Melton
Music Composed by Lance Rubin
Theme by Danny Elfman
Unit Production Manager: Jim Ragan
1st Assistant Director: Louis Race
2nd Assistant Director: Nancy King
Film Editor: Briana London
Set Decorator: Michael Parker
Construction Coordinator: Raymond Camaioni
Property Master: Christopher Amy
Location Manager: Rene Botana
Stunt Coordinator: Ed Ulrich
Sound: Tom Koester
Camera Operator: Michael Levine
Key Grip: Dylan Shephard
Gaffer: Walter Stewart
Make-Up Artist: June Rudley Brickman
Hair Stylist: Robert Hallowell
Costume Designer: Nancy Fox
Script Supervisor: Nancy Friedman
Transportation Coordinator: Eddie Lee Voelker
Special Effects: Chuck Dolan
Casting: Cathy Henderson (C.S.A.), Barbara Hanley (C.S.A.)
Assistant to Alan Spencer: Tracy Yeager, Sherry Gamlin
Assistant to Thomas Kane: Nancy Edwards
Production Coordinator: Bonnie Jordan
Production Auditor: Erica Fox
Post Production Supervisor: Larry Levin

Electronic Laboratory: Pacific Video
Post-Production Sound: West Productions, Inc.
Filmed at Valencia Independent Studios
Cameras and Lens Provided by Ultravision
Alan Spencer Productions in association with New World Television