The BEST episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick

#1 - Goin' Nowhere Fast

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/9/1983

A convict who has been having an affair with the warden's wife, escapes with her help. He then calls Hardcastle, which agitates him. He and McCormick go out to find him, clearly there is something personal between them but he is not saying what it is. Eventually, it's revealed that before Hardcastle chose McCormick, he gave this guy a try and he proved Hardcastle wrong. Now he is out and wants to get back at Hardcastle. He goes to the mansion and holds Sarah hostage but Hardcastle and McCormick arrive and apprehend him.

#2 - Rolling Thunder (2)

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/18/1983

#3 - The Crystal Duck

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/2/1983

Teddy, McCormick's cellmate in prison, is out on parole. He has been staying with Mark in the guesthouse, without Hardcastle's knowledge or permission. Now, his parole officer, Quinlan, informs him that due to a minor infraction, he has the power to send him back to prison, unless he pays him a thousand dollars a week. While at the guest house, he overheard Hardcastle telling McCormick that they are going to play cards with some other judges. While they are playing, someone breaks in a robs them, and he is wearing the watch that McCormick lent to Teddy. When Hardcastle and McCormick go home McCormick tells Hardcastle that Teddy's the robber and he has been staying with McCormick in the guest house, they also discover that the guest house has been robbed also. One of the judges discovers that the robber is Teddy and learning that he McCormick were cellmates, suspects that McCormick was in on the robbery, and has him arrested. Teddy returns and is caught by Hardcastle, who in turn gets M

#4 - Once Again with Vigorish

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/30/1983

Hardcastle & McCormick set out to assist a woman lawyer who is an old friend of Hardcastle's convict a mobster who is running stolen property in semi trucks.

#5 - Killer B's

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/6/1983

Hardcastle persuades an old friend, Buddy Ebsen to obtain a role in a movie in which the movie producer is using his films to cover up his drug smuggling operation.

#6 - Hotshoes

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/27/1983

Mark is thrilled when he gets a shot at racing in big leagues only to learn that his sponsor's auto parts business gets their inventory from stolen cars.

#7 - Just Another Round of That Old Song

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/11/1983

Keenan Wynn guest stars as an old bank robber who was recently released from prison who attempts to locate the armored car that he had robbed in the '40s.

#8 - Third Down and Twenty Years to Life

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/1/1984

A law student at a local college claims that her brother, who was sent to prison for 20 years by Judge Hardcastle, was framed for murder. He ignores her, but when someone tries to kidnap her, he reviews the case and sends Mark on an undercover investigation to the school as a football player.

#9 - Mr. Hardcastle Goes to Washington

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/15/1984

Hardcastle is up for a spot on the Supreme Court bench but some people don't want him to be chosen.

#10 - Rolling Thunder (1)

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1983

As the series begins, ex-race car driver Mark McCormick accepts a job driving the Coyote X, an experimental car designed by a friend of his named Flip Johnson. Mark loses his job, however, after Flip is killed in a car accident and ownership of the car is granted to industrialist Martin Cody. Barbara Johnson, Flip's daughter, refuses to accept her father's death as an accident and, believing that Cody murdered Flip in order to get the Coyote, asks Mark to steal the experimental car. Agreeing, Mark sneaks into Cody's compound and steals the car. The next morning, the police, who identified Mark when he stopped to save a police officer's life, move in and arrest the ex-race car driver. To Cody's regret, the police are unable to locate the Coyote. Brought before Hardcastle, who is presiding over his last case, Mark is given a choice: help the judge round-up two hundred men who walked out of the judge's courtroom on technicalities or go back to prison.

#11 - The Black Widow

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/16/1983

Hardcastle wants to investigate a woman named Tina Grey. It seems that a lot men die whom she was ""with"". When Hardcastle goes to the police for info, a Captain Filapiano, who doesn't like Hardcastle asks him to leave. Hardcastle then tells McCormick to get close to her. As they get closer, a gangster named Joe Beiber, whom she has been seeing, and who is insanely jealous abducts them. When Hardcastle goes to Filapiano to find out what's going, he discovers that she is The Black Widow, a former prostitute turned police informant. She works for Filapiano, and part of their arrangement is that in exchange for getting info on certain criminals, she frames someone close to the criminal she is working on, or someone who had access to the info she was going to get. Beiber was her latest target but her fall guy was killed by Beiber before she could get what she was suppose to. So Filapiano suggest that they use McCormick. Hardcastle saves McCormick and Tina's implicating Filapiano and Hardcas

#12 - The Prince of Fat City

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/13/1983

A gang member is remanded into the judge's custody only to stay in the guest house with Mark, while the judge and Mark go after a psychiatrist who has been taping private sessions with clients revealing vital damaging information.

#13 - The Boxer

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/23/1983

Boxer Kid Calico is told to throw a fight in order to keep his kidnapped father alive.

#14 - Man in a Glass House

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/25/1983

Hardcastle is quite upset when he is criticized in Without Sin, the autobiography of retired mobster Joseph Cadillac. Figuring that the mob, also the subject of Cadillac's criticism, will be angered as well, Hardcastle has Mark follow the author. Mark's surveillance turns into a full blown car chase after Cadillac realizes that he is being tailed. Based on his driver's reckless driving, Cadillac is pulled over by the police and his car is impounded. Later, Hardcastle is surprised when Cadillac comes to him for help. Upon learning that the mob has kidnapped Cadillac's innocent son (a priest) in order to get the evidence the mobster used to write the book, Hardcastle agrees to help. One complication: The evidence is in the car that the police impounded (pending a judge's ruling regarding the legality of a search). Deciding that a life is more important than the letter of the law, Hardcastle breaks into the impound yard and retrieves the evidence. With evidence in hand, Hardcastle and Cad

#15 - Surprise on Seagull Beach

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/4/1985

After finding strange German bullets on the beach, Hardcastle gets involved in an underground treasure hunt for World War II gold at the beach. Meanwhile, McCormick also gets involved with the hunt by being kidnapped by WWII Germans attempting to recover the gold.

#16 - A Chip off the Ol' Milt

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/5/1986

As the final episode begins, Mark, who has secretly begun attending law school, is offered a paralegal job by Kenneth Malcolm, one of his professors. Meanwhile, Hardcastle, realizing that Mark's parole is up, decides to buy a car repair business, as a surprise gift for his friend. Upon hearing about Mark's job offer, Hardcastle, not wanting to stand in his friend's way, lies and tells his friend that he bought the company for himself. For his first assignment at law firm Malcolm, Hughes and Dewitt, Mark is asked to reclaim the possessions of Elsey, a resident of the Sunset Acres Retirement Home. Arriving at the home, Mark makes the acquaintance of Mimi LeGrand, a retired actress. Immediately liking Mimi, Mark is more than willing to comply when the former actress asks him to open a bank account for her. To Mark's surprise, he discovers that someone has already opened an account in Mimi's name. Concerned, Mark decides to go to Hardcastle for help. Before the two men are able to really learn anything in the case, they end up in jail as a result of a mistake made by Leroy, Hardcastle's assistant at the car company. While awaiting their release, Hardcastle decides to tell his friend the truth about why he bought the company. In response, Mark reveals that he has been going to law school in an attempt to follow in his friend's footsteps. Once released, Hardcastle and McCormick discover evidence that Malcolm and resident home manager Leonard Porter have been killing the residents and stealing their money. (They were able to move the money by secretly creating bank accounts in the seniors' names.) Armed with sufficient evidence, the crime fighting duo stop Malcolm and Porter. Despite the fall of his professor, Mark vows to continue attending law school. After selling the car business, Hardcastle makes a generous bet with Mark: If the ex-race car driver can beat him in a game of basketball, the judge will pay the law school bill. Due in the most part to Hardcastle's generos

#17 - Undercover McCormick

Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/11/1985

Seeking Hardcastle's help on a case of corrupt cops, a young patrolman is killed before he or Hardcastle can seek higher help in the department. With the case dealing with bad cops who could recognize the investigators, McCormick is asked to go undercover to flush out the corrupt cops and find the patrolman's killer.

#18 - The Game You Learn from Your Father

Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/18/1985

A critically-wounded criminal admits to being paid to frame a former baseball player, Duke McGuire, for murder. Feeling responsible for his false incarceration since he was the presiding judge, Hardcastle tries to help McGuire become a baseball player once again. But his attempt at a comeback is threatened when drugs are found in his locker.

#19 - Angie's Choice

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/1/1985

After seeing reputed mobster Stevie Ray kill a man named Tommy Chen, former prostitute Angie Bloom goes into hiding. Before disappearing, she decides to leave Nicky and Lindsey, her young children, with Hardcastle for safekeeping. While the kids initially refuse to tell the judge their name, the judge eventually realizes that they are Angie's children. Meanwhile, Hardcastle and McCormick discover something is amiss when some men unsuccessfully try to kidnap the kids. Following a hunch, Hardcastle pays a visit on a former madam named Dolores. The hunch pays off and the judge locates Angie. Convinced that Hardcastle has her best interests in mind, Angie tells the judge the whole story. Recognizing that the best way to protect Angie is to put Stevie in prison, Hardcastle arranges for her to testify. To his regret, the officers that pick up Angie are actually Stevie's men. Upon learning the truth, Hardcastle and McCormick "convince" one of Stevie's men to tell them where to find Angie. Following up on their lead, the two men capture Stevie and rescue Angie.

#20 - She Ain't Deep, But She Sure Runs Fast

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1985

In the third season opener, Hardcastle and McCormick go on a photo exhibition with Buzz Bird, one of the judge's old friends. To their regret, Buzz, who is a pilot, has a heart attack while flying them over a stretch of Oregon wilderness. While Hardcastle and McCormick survive the crash landing, they are stranded miles from civilization and unknowingly attract the attention of Taylor Walsh, a mountain "pirate" who has made his living by robbing tourists. After suffering through a horrible rain storm, Hardcastle decides to tell Mark how much he appreciates their friendship. Although Mark pretends to be asleep, he actually hears everything the judge has to say. The next day, the two men come across the dead body of a murdered man. Realizing that they are being tracked, they decide to speed up their journey by white water rafting. Once the two men are in the water, Taylor and his men attack. Fleeing to land, Hardcastle and McCormick manage to evade the pirates. Turning the tables, the two men capture Taylor and his men. A month later, the judge and Mark, with their prisoners in tow, finally return to civilization.

#21 - Faster Heart

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1985

After race car driver Kiki Cutter is injured during a race, Mark, knowing her from his own racing days, decides to pay her a visit. Fortunately for Kiki, Mark arrives just as someone tries to kill her. Although the killer manages to escape, Mark does manage to get his license plate number. Believing that the attempted assassination may be tied into Kiki's crash, Mark sneaks a look at the car. Confirming his suspicions, Mark finds evidence that Kiki's car was sabotaged. Meanwhile, Hardcastle traces the assassin's license plate to Hal Jenkins, an insurance broker. Some of the pieces of the puzzle are tied together when a recovering Kiki reveals that she has been secretly planning on divorcing Sammy "Sidewinder" O'Connell, her race driver husband. Once, Hardcastle has stopped Jake Thomas, the man who tried to kill Kiki, as well as arrested Jenkins, Mark, with some financial backing from the judge, decides to challenge O'Connell in a major car race. Thanks to his superior driving skills, Mark defeats O'Connell and settles a longstanding rivalry between them. Afterwards, O'Connell, who had selfishly acted out of fear of how the divorce would impact his career, is arrested for his part in the attempts on his wife's life.

#22 - The Yankee Clipper

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1985

When Bill Bauer is declared dead after being MIA from the Marines for 10 years, Mark, the soldier's former best friend, is asked to handle the funeral arrangements. The funeral does have one positive result for it reunites Mark with old friends Patrick Burke, Jeff Steffan and Peter Trigg. To Mark's surprise, shortly after the funeral, Bauer turns up very much alive. Upon being confronted by his angered friend, Bauer explains that he had been in charge of destroying cash when the United States pulled out of Vietnam in 1975. Instead of following orders, however, he had waited for an opportunity to smuggle the money into the country. Continuing, Bauer relays how he used "his" casket as a way of transporting the cash. Bauer realizes that his plan is falling apart when someone tries to kill him. Seeing no alternative, Bauer decides to go after the men chasing him. Following Bauer, Hardcastle and McCormick discover that Peter Trigg, secretly the leader of a group of terrorists, is trying to get a hold of Bauer's money in order to buy weapons. Although Trigg temporarily manages to capture Hardcastle and McCormick, the two men are able to turn the tables thanks to Bauer's intervention. Later, the police are all set to take Bauer into custody when the ex-soldier decides to disappear again.

#23 - Something's Going on on This Train

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1985

Although Hardcastle is initially pleased to be invited to a party on a private train, his emotion changes to anger when he discovers that he has been lured onto the train under false pretenses. His ire is further raised upon discovering that the train is not scheduled to stop for another day. One small consolation: Mark, accidentally trapped on board the train, is around to help him find out what is going on with the trip. The mystery takes a deadly turn when one of the passengers is murdered. Although the unknown murderer temporarily manages to get rid of Mark by throwing him off the train, the ex-race car driver, who is unable to identify his assailant, pools his resources and returns to the train down the track. Another murder prompts Hardcastle to set a trap for the killer. While Hardcastle pretends to be a victim, Mark purposely lets slip that the judge had obtained evidence against the killer. Taking the bait, passenger Carl Sharples tries to search Hardcastle's "body". Exposed as the killer, Carl reveals that he has been eliminating the people (strict teacher, ex-girlfriend, army commander, high school coach, that he selfishly believes "ruined" his life. With Mark's help, Hardcastle stops Carl before he can hurt anyone else.

#24 - The Career Breaker

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/1985

On vacation, Hardcastle travels down to Canary Creek, California to participate in an annual fishing contest. To Hardcastle's surprise, Tina Cutter, the local sheriff's sixteen year old daughter, accuses him of rape. While transporting the judge to jail, Sheriff Dale Cutler tries to kill him. Thanks to Mark's timely arrival, the sheriff is forced to postpone his assassination. Realizing that the judge is in mortal danger, Mark, posing as a drunk, breaks his friend out of jail. Once free, Hardcastle begins to question why Tina framed him. Recalling an earlier meeting with the sheriff, Hardcastle, who has concluded that Tina's own father set up the false rape, realizes that he had mentioned a plane he came across while fishing. Returning to the fishing site, Hardcastle seeing the sheriff and some of the local residents dismantling the plane, ascertains that the sheriff had discovered a downed drug transport. Following the sheriff, Hardcastle and McCormick watch as the residents try to sell the drugs to a major dealer. With the help of a conveniently located forklift, Hardcastle and McCormick manage to capture the sheriff and the dealers. Later, once the sheriff's plans have been exposed, Hardcastle is cleared of the rape charges.

#25 - Do Not Go Gentle...

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/1985

Entering the hospital for a routine checkup, Hardcastle discovers that he is dying from an incurable disease. Not wanting to let his friend just fade away, Mark convinces Hardcastle to live his remaining days to the fullest, Taking Mark's advice to heart, the judge, using the money he inherited from his wife, buys a one million dollar boat. Hardcastle's boating career is short lived, however, for armed men steal the boat. Although Hardcastle is initially willing to let the police handle the crime, he changes his mind after discovering that the hospital made a mistake and he is not really dying.