Howling Mad Murdock

H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock

info

"I did not crash this plane. We simply landed without the customary accompaniment of forward thrust or lift."

H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock is the helicopter pilot for The A-Team (NBC, 1983–1987). The A-Team is a group of ex-U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers wrongly convicted of a crime during the Vietnam War who fled to Los Angeles and work as soldiers of fortune. Murdock, along with Hannibal Smith, B.A. Baracus, and Templeton "Faceman" Peck, make up the team, though unlike the other three, Murdock was never tried and serves as the group's unofficial secret member. Before the war, Murdock was a member of the Thunderbirds.

He is officially declared insane and lives in a VA Psychiatric Hospital, routinely escaping, usually with Face's help, to join the team on missions. Because he is not wanted by the military, he is often the only member to evade capture, and he has single-handedly rescued the rest of the team on multiple occasions.

personality

Murdock's "insanity" ranges from self-identification with fictional characters and hallucinations to a firm belief in the intelligence of inanimate objects. It is often unclear whether he is truly unwell or simply an exceptional actor. He is officially described as having paranoid delusions and intermittent memory loss.

In practice, Murdock is warm, energetic, and deeply creative. He loves cartoons, old movies, animals, cooking with unorthodox ingredients, and annoying B.A. Baracus at every available opportunity. He also has a genius-level aptitude across many subjects and stays current on world events, making him far more formidable than he appears. Hannibal frequently uses Murdock's unpredictability to unsettle their captors.

Notable quirks include referring to his invisible dog "Billy," quoting Looney Tunes characters, especially Porky Pig's "th-th-th-that's all folks," acting out characters from whatever TV show or movie he was watching before a mission, talking to plants, animals, and tanks, and believing he can turn invisible.

abilities

Murdock's primary role is as a pilot. He claims he can fly anything with wings, and the show consistently bears this out. Beyond aviation, he can drive a semi, a tank, and operate heavy construction equipment like cranes and tractors. He can also pilot a sailboat, ride a horse, parachute, and SCUBA dive.

He is fluent or functional in multiple languages: Chinese (Mandarin), German, Japanese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and some Russian. He can communicate in Morse code, has a photographic memory, and is a talented actor and voice impressionist capable of mimicking famous individuals and a wide range of accents. He can pick locks, though not as well as Face.

It is revealed in the Season 4 episode "Wheel of Fortune" that Murdock worked with the CIA on at least two occasions, once in 1969 and once in 1972, though the full extent of those missions was never disclosed.

relationships

TEAMMATES

Hannibal Smith
The A-Team's commanding officer. Hannibal regularly calls on Murdock's unpredictable behavior as a tactical tool against enemies. He refers to Murdock as "Captain."
Templeton "Face" Peck
Murdock's closest partner in mischief — Face is usually the one who breaks him out of the VA hospital, and the two frequently team up on cons and scams together.
B.A. Baracus
The team's perpetual straight man to Murdock's chaos. B.A. most often calls him "crazy fool," yet has been shown to worry about him. Annoying B.A. is, by all accounts, one of Murdock's favorite pastimes.

story

When the A-Team was convicted and imprisoned following the Vietnam War, Murdock was not. Instead, he was declared insane, possibly as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, and committed to a Veterans Affairs Psychiatric Hospital in Los Angeles. His stated symptoms include paranoid delusions and intermittent memory loss, though it is widely speculated, both in-universe and out, that his stunts as a helicopter pilot were what originally got him labeled as insane.

Because he resides at a known address, the VA hospital, Murdock is an easier target than the other A-Team members, and he has been kidnapped from there at least twice. This happens once in "Bounty," where bounty hunters used him as bait to lure the rest of the team, and once in "Wheel of Fortune," where thieves drugged him and pressed him into service as a pilot for an armored car heist using a Russian helicopter.

The meaning of H.M.

Murdock's actual first and middle names were never revealed in the series. Not even his driver's license gives them away. The nickname "Howlin' Mad" was simply attributed to the initials. In the Season 3 episode "Road Games," Hannibal calls him "Henry," which may be his real name or just part of in-scene acting. In Season 2, Murdock himself introduces himself as "Mack Murdock," though B.A. immediately dismisses this as more foolishness.

In the French dub of the series, he is referred to as Henry Matthew Murdock. It has also been rumored that his name is a nod to real-life WWII Marine Corps General Holland M. Smith, who shared the "Howlin' Mad" nickname, given to him by his troops.

memorable quotes

  • "See, people who are paranoid are easily manipulated if you play on their very fears."
  • "This is garbage. Smell this. An ambrosial delight for the olfactory system."
  • "Colonel, I'm afraid I have some terrible, terrible... terrible news. I have been found sane."
  • "I guess I bobbed when I should've weaved."

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