Howling Mad Murdock

Howling Mad Murdock
The A-Team character

H. M. Murdock as he appears in the opening credits
First appearance "Mexican Slayride"
Created by Frank Lupo & Stephen J. Cannell
Portrayed by Dwight Schultz (TV series)
Sharlto Copley (2010 film)
TBC (TV series reboot)
Information
Nickname(s) Howling Mad
Gender Male
Title Captain
Awards[1] Bronze Star Medal
Air Medal
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Army Commendation Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal

Captain H. M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz, is a fictional character and one of the four protagonists of the 1980s action-adventure television series The A-Team.[2] The character of Murdock was almost written out of the series before it aired, as the producers found the character too "over the top". The popularity of the character among the test audience however convinced the producers to keep the part of Murdock.[3]

Murdock appeared on The A-Team from the series beginning in 1983 until its cancellation in 1987. South African actor Sharlto Copley played the character in the 2010 film, while Schultz appeared in a small cameo as his neurologist.

Character biography

The A-Team is a group of ex-United States Army Special Forces who were wrongly convicted of a crime during the Vietnam War. They fled to Los Angeles, where, as fugitives, the A-Team works as soldiers of fortune, using their military training to fight oppression or injustice. Murdock, along with Hannibal Smith, B. A. Baracus, and Templeton "Faceman" Peck make up the A-Team. Although Murdock was not convicted of any crime, as the other three were, he is still a full-fledged member of the team.

Considered the best chopper pilot of the Vietnam War, Murdock is officially declared insane (possibly caused by post-traumatic stress disorder) when the other three are imprisoned for robbing the Bank of Hanoi. Although he was alleged to be the A-Team's pilot during the robbery, he is instead committed to a psychiatric hospital. It is never made clear if Murdock truly is insane or only exceptionally good at pretending he is (or a combination of the two). He is stated as having paranoid anxiety, delusions, and intermittent memory loss. It is suggested one has to be insane just to do the stunts he does in his helicopter.

Murdock is committed to a Veterans Administration (VA) Psychiatric Hospital, although he routinely escapes (generally with the help of Face) to accompany the A-Team on their missions. The symptoms of his "insanity" vary from episode to episode, but include self-identification with fictional characters, hallucinations, and belief in the "intelligence" of inanimate objects, among others. Murdock often appears child-like and is shown playing video games in his room and watching cartoons like Woody Woodpecker or Looney Tunes. He often "channels" a certain character for the duration of a mission (much to the chagrin of B.A.) or becomes fixated on a particular subject to the point of obsession. He also frequently refers to his invisible dog, "Billy".[4][5] B.A., uneasy with Murdock's unusual behavior, is easily annoyed by Murdock and regularly refers to him as a "crazy fool".

Murdock is almost always seen in a ball cap, a customized A-2 leather flight jacket with a picture of a tiger and the words "Da Nang 1970" on the back, a pair of khaki pants, and a pair of black Converse sneakers. He also often wears a t-shirt with a comical caption or a picture of cartoon characters like The Jetsons on it. Schultz said in a later interview that he was the one who devised the captions on the shirts, saying it was his "one constant contribution to the show." Although Murdock was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, he is easily capable of flying any type of aircraft, including passenger planes, fighter jets, and even autogyros. It is mentioned in the pilot episode that Murdock flew with the elite United States Air Force Thunderbirds (by the mental institution's doctor to Col. Lynch just before he questions Murdock about the A-Team). In the episode "Bounty" (Season 3), it is revealed that Murdock served two tours in Vietnam, has three unit citations and a Silver Star, and was wounded twice. Interestingly, unlike B.A., the initials H.M. were never explained in terms of what Murdock's actual first and middle name were, and the nickname "Howlin' Mad" were simply attributed to them (although it is rumored that his name comes from World War II Marine Corps General Holland M. Smith, aka "Howlin' Mad", a nickname given by his troops). Not even his driver's license reveals what "H.M" stands for.[6]

It was revealed in the first season that Murdock and B.A. share the same blood type—AB negative, the rarest type. In the episode "Black Day at Bad Rock", B.A. receives a transfusion from Murdock, who was sprung from the hospital for just that reason, despite B.A.'s protests (fearing that Murdock's blood will make him "crazy"). This was again referenced in the second season finale "Curtain Call" when Murdock is shot and B.A. wants to donate his own blood to save him. This episode also has several touching moments between the two, as B.A. spends most of the episode caring for and comforting Murdock and showing that, for all their bickering and disagreements, he and Murdock are actually very good friends.

Due to his nature, many of the details of Murdock's life are unknown, or possibly embellished. According to Amy in the pilot episode, Murdock's mother died when he was five (although they "still keep in touch"). If he is to be believed, he was raised (or at least influenced) by his grandmother (who is supposedly named "H. Emma Murdock") and his grandfather. In one episode in the third season, B.A. says that Murdock went insane after his plane crashed. The exact state of his insanity is never made clear, though he occasionally implies that it is his ticket to his "room and board". Despite his purported mental status, Murdock is a thoroughly competent member of the team when needed to be. Indeed, because he is not actually wanted by the military, Murdock is often the only team member to evade capture by a given episode's antagonists (or the military police), and he has single-handedly rescued the other team members several times. On the other hand, his visibility and location as a mental patient make Murdock an easy target, and he is abducted twice from the hospital. The first time, in the episode "Bounty", Murdock was taken by bounty hunters who wanted to capture the rest of the team. In the episode "Wheel of Fortune" Murdock was drugged and kidnapped by thieves who wanted to use his expertise as a pilot to heist an armored car using a Russian helicopter.

Murdock has extensive knowledge of various subjects and keeps up on current events, showing a genius-level aptitude. He speaks several languages including Spanish, German, Vietnamese, Japanese, Russian (not too well though) and Mandarin Chinese. In the second season episode "The Maltese Cow", Murdock says, "What can I say? One day I had a gonzo headache and before it went away I could read and speak Chinese. And it was a bad afternoon, too, let me tell you." Murdock seems to possess a photographic memory and is also a talented actor and often accompanies Face on his scams. He is capable of impersonating the voices of famous individuals and mimicking many different foreign accents. It is also revealed in the Season 4 episode "Wheel of Fortune", that Murdock has worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on at least two occasions, once in 1969 and once in 1972. Details of Murdock's missions with the CIA are not revealed.

Murdock, as a Captain, has the second highest military rank in the team. In the team, nevertheless, Face appears to be the second-in-command (probably due to Face being a Green beret, while Murdock is a helicopter pilot), but in the 4th episode of the second season ("Bad Time on the Border") where Hannibal Smith is taken prisoner, it is Murdock who plans Hannibal's rescue and the rest of the team follow him as leader. In the episode "The Road to Hope", the rest of the team is captured by a cell of domestic terrorists and Murdock organizes a group of homeless veterans to rescue them.

One particular insight into Murdock's unique world view comes during the season five episode "Trial By Fire". Murdock is asked to take the stand at the A-Team's murder trial and give testimony about his helicopter flight following the Hanoi bank robbery. The testimony takes the form of a surreal flashback from Murdock's perspective in which Murdock himself (wearing a grey wig and Biggles-style flight jacket) and his female co-pilot come under attack from The Spanish Armada, a sea serpent, and a tribe of Native Americans mounted on horseback, while Murdock spouts melodramatic dialogue. His mental acumen, however had generally improved by the fifth season to the point that he agonized whether to tell Face that the team's current client, A.J. Bancroft, was in fact Face's real father, and that Bancroft's daughter was his half-sister.

Murdock was permanently discharged from the mental institution in the fifth season, supposedly having regained his sanity, which is consistent with the fact he possibly only pretended to be insane as a cover. Following this event, instead of a different mental fixation every episode, Murdock took a different menial job each week, including stints working as a dog walker and a waiter.

Romantic relationships

Awards and decorations

The following are the medals and service awards fictionally worn by Captain Murdock in "A Nice Place to Visit".

Personal decorations
Bronze Star Medal
Air Medal
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Army Commendation Medal
Unit awards
Presidential Unit Citation
Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation
Campaign and service medals
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Foreign awards
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Other accoutrements
Army Aviator Badge

2010 film

Sharlto Copley as H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock in the 2010 The A-Team film.

The A-Team film keeps many of Murdock's traits and characteristics intact, including his amazing piloting abilities, surprising knowledge of many topics, acting ability and fluency in other languages (in this case, Swahili) and accents (such as English, Scottish, Australian and South-African).

Unlike in the TV series, he is not a member of the A-Team from the beginning; he joins the other three during a mission when they need a pilot at the last minute while fleeing a renegade general, a patient in a mental hospital, but is released into Hannibal's custody. Like his TV counterpart, the film Murdock also leaves open the possibility that he's eccentric and simply pretending to be insane. However, he does mention he "feels sane" after a blow to the head before the end of the movie. Murdock's fixation on pop culture characters is also kept intact, specifically in one scene where he re-enacts Mel Gibson's portrayal of William Wallace in the movie Braveheart.

In the early part of the film, Murdock himself is shown to be the reason B.A. is afraid to fly, as Murdock's stunt-flying the first time they flew together almost caused him to fall out of their helicopter. He implies that he has an Army Ranger tattoo like B.A., Hannibal, and Face, but his uniform in the courtmartial scene doesn't have the RANGER flash that the uniforms of the other three do, showing only SPECIAL FORCES and AIRBORNE.

In a post-credits scene, Murdock is shown receiving electro-shock therapy, while two doctors look on. One of them (Schultz) comments on Murdock's mindstate, saying, "This guy Murdock is nuts." Adding onto his odd habits is "gunpower barbecuing", where he uses smokeless gunpowder taken from shotgun shells to cook steaks; he also offers to add "secret sauce", which is anti-freeze.

Awards and decorations

The following are the medals and service awards fictionally worn by Captain Murdock in the 2010 movie adaptation.

Personal decorations
Distinguished Flying Cross

Bronze Star Medal with one oak leaf cluster
Air Medal
Width-44 myrtle green ribbon with width-3 white stripes at the edges and five width-1 stripes down the center; the central white stripes are width-2 apart Army Commendation Medal
Width-44 ribbon with two width-9 ultramarine blue stripes surrounded by two pairs of two width-4 green stripes; all these stripes are separated by width-2 white borders Army Achievement Medal
Unit awards
Presidential Unit Citation
Joint Meritorious Unit Award
Width-44 Old Glory red ribbon surrounded by gold frame. The ribbon has a central width-3 Old Glory red stripe flanked by pairs of stripes that are respectively width-3 white, width-3 ultramarine blue, width one-half white and width-2 ultramarine blue. Valorous Unit Award
Service Awards
Army Good Conduct Medal
Campaign and service medals
National Defense Service Medal
Bronze star
Bronze star

Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars
Bronze star
Bronze star

Iraq Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Armed Forces Service Medal
Service and training awards
Army Service Ribbon
Overseas Service Ribbon
Other accoutrements
Combat Infantryman Badge
Army Aviator Badge
Parachutist Badge
Air Assault Badge
United States Army Special Forces Combat Service Identification Badge
Special Forces tab
Ranger tab

Parody

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dwight Schultz.
  1. Murdock's medals are shown in the season 1 episode "A Nice Place To Visit".
  2. "Dwight Schultz: Typecast As Versatile". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  3. Bring Back... The A-Team (2006), Justin Lee Collins and Dwight Schultz
  4. "Mexican Slayride", Pilot episode
  5. The A-Team: War Stories
  6. "Without Reservations", season five, episode thirteen (final episode)
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