User Reviews

Sean Penn's famous dad, Leo Penn directed this episode, who began his career in westerns and no doubt worked with Bill Conrad at Warner Brothers/ABC tv. Penn also had a hand in scores top cop shows, so he was right at home with this material.

Despite all the critical reviews, I disagree and tag this as a very interesting story, also taking a different slant for the series. It deals with the Chinese Tongs, a crime family, wrongly implicated in the death of a man. The victim here may have been killed by someone else, cleverly posing as a member of the group. There's also an heriress with lots of mazuma!

This story is similar to a KUNG FU or HAWAII FIVE O episode, and could have been a proposed script that was never completed. That said, with the 70s dominated with GODFATHER sagas and close knit Italian families, why not shed some light on Asian and Oriental crime families?

The supporting cast, without fail, is excellent. One of the best dramatic actresses around, Diana Hyland plays Nedra. Hyland had a recurring role (as Susan) on PEYTON PLACE, and before this episode appeared in HARRY O and MANNIX. Also Lithuanian born actor Kaz Garas plays Rod, often seen on HAWAII FIVE O. Look for Jenny Sullivan, popular on many tv shows.

Best of the best is wise old Keye Luke who Cannon seeks advice from. Keye, of course known as CHARLIE CHAN'S famous Number One Son, later played the Oriental detective on tv.

By the way, the Melting Man (no, not a science fiction character) is actually a melting snowman with a knife in it, meant to be a dire warning. Beware!

SEASON 5 EPISODE 10 remastered (2016) CBS dvd box set.

Back a century or more ago, Chinese Tongs were a problem in the USA. These Tongs were a bit like the Mafia....a crime family to which members pledged undying loyalty. By the time "The Melted Man" debuted, Tongs had apparently been extinct for decades...which make this a very unusual episode of "Cannon".

Frank Cannon has come to help some old friends. Apparently, their friend, Steve, is in trouble. He claims that a Chinese Tong is trying to kill him because years before he killed a Chinese-American and it was ruled a justifiable homicide. So is one of these Chinese gangs really gunning for Steve or is there something more happening here?

In many ways, this seemed almost like an episode of "Hawaii Five-O" and that series occasionally dealt with topics like this. At the very least, it's a heck of a departure from the typical episode of "Cannon"!

So is it any good? Well, it does seem a bit hard to believe...that's for sure. The two female characters in the show seemed a bit dopey and irrational at times as was the plot (which was too complicated and goofy). All in all, a watchable but weak episode...which is kind of sad, as the previous episode was pretty awful and I was hoping for more.