Sledge Hammer!/Comrade Hammer

Comrade Hammer
Season 1, Episode 20
Airdate	February 21, 1987
Production Number	119
Written by	Tony DiMarco, David Ketchum
Directed by	Bruce Bilson
← 1x19 Sledgepoo	1x21 → Jagged Sledge
Sledge Hammer! — Season One

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Comrade Hammer is the twentieth episode of the first season of Sledge Hammer!.

Starring:

Guest Starring: Lisa Long (Sexy Lady), Carl Ciarfalio (Sokolsky), Richard Reicheg (Mashov), Lee Garlington (Sara Johanssen), Mark Blankfield (Professor Vronsky)

Co-Starring:

Plot Overview

Hammer and Doreau are assigned to be bodyguards on a train trip, accompanying a Russian scientist targeted by the KGB.

Trivia

Allusions and References

During a fight on a train, KGB agent tries to strangle Hammer with a garrote hidden in wristwatch. There was almost identical scene in "From Russia With Love" movie featuring Sean Connery as James Bond. This title is also mentioned by Hammer in the episode.

The mysterious figure appearing shortly after Hammer shoots down the model plane is a dead ringer of the late Alfred Hitchcock, director of many thrillers, including "Strangers on the Train".

After one of the KGB agent jumps off the train, Hammer says 'so much for glasnost'. Glasnost <rus. clarity, openness> was a public policy of open discussion over political issues introduced in 1985 by First Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.

In the scene with Hammer and Professor Vronsky trying to remove their jacket while ciffed, professor says "Logic must prevail... It is impossible". This may be an allusion to topological problems stated by Russian mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevski who commonly illustrated such issues with real-life examples like taking off the vest without removing jacket etc.

Hammer being chased by the toy plane at the beginning of the episode...it's similar to Cary Grant being chased by a real plane in a famous scene from Hitchcock's classic "North By Northwest".