The Incredible Hulk (TV Series) Nine Hours (1980) User Reviews

Godfather Hulk

[Chase_Witherspoon · 6/10 · 19 December 2011]

With a scene lifted straight out of "The Godfather", "Nine Hours" is a mafia-inspired episode that sees David (Bixby) working as an orderly at a hospital in which a wounded mob boss (DeKova) is recovering, while his neighbour's son (who witnessed the crime), is kidnapped to prevent any leaks. Alcoholic ex-cop (Alaimo) who also lives in the building, gets a shot at redemption when David enlists him to help protect DeKova, and recover the boy before both are assassinated.

As usual, a number of social comments and cultural observations underpin the narrative: Alaimo is pretty good as the broken ex-cop, haunted by a fatal encounter on the job, for which he attributes the blame to himself, losing his marriage, livelihood and dignity to the drink. Veteran film actor DeKova has a bed-ridden role as the recovering crime boss, whose close shave with mortality has convinced him to go straight, but not before two professional hit men plan his execution, while former Hollywood supporting actress Doris Dowling (The Lost Weekend) is the hospital matron unimpressed that scum like DeKova are given special treatment.

No doubt inspired to some degree by the hospital scene in "The Godfather", the Hulk-outs are fairly tame (bursting from a manhole and destroying a hospital ward - been there, done that) and the plot lines don't evolve to their full potential, nevertheless, it's hard to resist.

The Kidnapping

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 21 November 2014]

David Banner(Bill Bixby) works as an orderly at a local hospital near his current apartment, where he has befriended a nice lady(played by Sheila Larken) and her son. Unfortunately, there is an ailing gangster staying at the hospital that rival mobsters want to kill, and they decide to kidnap the young boy to force David to use his job as orderly to let them in the hospital in order to kill him, as he is being guarded. David enlists the help of a former policeman, now down-on-his-luck(played by Marc Alaimo) to help, which would mean his redemption. Mostly fine episode is nothing new, but has good direction and performances, particularly from frequent guest star Alaimo.

What happens when you watch too many westerns

[flarefan-81906 · 6/10 · 30 November 2017]

This time David's sharing an apartment building with Joe, an alcoholic ex-cop who resigned after his partner was killed due to his inaction, and Timmy, a ten-year-old boy whose parents recently divorced. One of the series's more tragic touches is that David can't have kids, since he's consistently shown as an ideal father. He's successfully brought Timmy out of his shell by, among other things, taking him to an old western film festival. David and Timmy's repeated quipping "Pilgrim" and "Yuhp" wear out their welcome well before the episode's end.

On the job front, David's a custodian at a hospital where a mafia boss named Sammy is under protective custody. Sammy's nephews went him dead before he can testify, so they kidnap Timmy to coerce David into opening the hospital door for some hired assassins at 2 a.m.

Curiously, the titular time frame isn't introduced until over halfway through the episode, and even then, there's little focus placed upon it. The idea is that Joe and David have to rescue Timmy before 2 a.m. so that Sammy won't be killed, but we're not given much sense of the passage of time, and they don't make the deadline, so the episode's most intense moments happen well after the nine hours have expired.

That said, this is a very solid if not exemplary episode. Sammy is characterized eloquently and believably enough that you want him to be saved, regardless of his testimony. Timmy's a likable kid, too, even with all the "Yuhp"s. The deadly hunt through the hospital is rife with tension, and more than balanced off by good human moments, like Joe's interactions with Timmy, or his mother's impassioned pleas for Joe to help. Not a grand slam, but a winner nonetheless.