MovieChat Forums > Magnum, P.I. (1980) Discussion > Why the haircut?

Why the haircut?

posted 10 years ago by Kristeia
6 replies | jump to latest

On Season 7 Episode 15 Solo Flight. What is the reason why Magnum had a haircut? Is it in concurrent of a movie he was doing at the time? Just curious. Anyone?

[–] copperdeerborn 10 years ago

The only movie that Selleck was filming anywhere near this episode was "Three Men and a Baby". Also, his hair seems to be back to it's normal length in the next episode. "Solo Flight" was probably just shown out of order. It aired in February but was supposed to be a July 4th centric episode which doesn't necessarily mean anything. My theory... and it's only a theory, is that they may have taken a hiatus so he could film "Three Men and a Baby".

Wherever you go, there you are.

[–] Kristeia 10 years ago

But Three Men and a Baby was filmed a year later Magnum PI I think.

[–] Kristeia 10 years ago

But maybe you are right, I jiust noticed TMAAB was filmed in 1987.

[–] fred3290 10 years ago

Magnum cut his hair in that episode because he had just been fired from a case. The client had called him incompetent and at one point had told him to get a haircut. So, he cut his hair amongst taking other actions in an attempt to look and feel more professional and "get his s#i+" together. It goes along with the increasingly serious tone the series follows after that episode. Like in "Limbo" when Highins is looking for something in Magnum's famously junky closet yet everything in it is perfectly organized.

[–] pacwarbuff 10 years ago

It wasn't just Thomas Magnum getting shorter hair. A.J. Simon (Jameson Parker) of Simon & Simon got a short, "little boy" haircut in season five of that series (which coincides with season six og Magnum). Rick Simon (Gerald McRaney) cut what remained of his own hair and trimmed his mustache, too. It's quite a difference from what all three characters looked like in the early 1980s, when longer hair was still popular and sort of a leftover from the more liberal 1970s. By the time of U.S. President Reagan's second term in 1985, the continuing conservativism of the nation was evident in many a U.S. TV series, right down to the short haircuts.

[–] spasek 10 years ago

Virtually every time that there is a noticeable hair change on Selleck in Magnum, was because he was doing a film at the time. "High Road to China", "Lassiter", and "Runaway" were the most prominent. The first two films were period pieces and he played a cop in Runaway, all of which account for the hair changes.