User Reviews

I have been working my way through all the "Mannix" episodes. After all, I find an old crime show is great company when I'm on my treadmill and I long ago finished all 12 seasons of "Hawaii Five-O". I'm up to the middle of season six of "Mannix" and liked this show but also felt it was best seen by someone who hasn't already watched all the episodes of the series. After all, in season two's "End Game" the plot was very, very similar to this one...too similar to be believed if you've watched all the shows. BOTH shows feature an angry guy Mannix knew during the Korean War who's out to kill EVERYONE who served with him!! Back in 1973, this wasn't so bad...after all, this second episode came out four years later and many fans wouldn't have recognized that the shows were in many ways virtually the same. But for folks watching on DVD, there will certainly be too many similarities between the shows. Fortunately, at least, "The Man Who Wasn't There" is better made...so at least it marks an improvement in the original idea.

The show begins with Joe and his friend, Lt. Tobias (Robert Reed) at a boxing match. Suddenly, some nut up in the rafters shoots one of the boxers and makes his escape. When I heard it was a 9mm bullet, I thought the writer screwed up as this is NOT the sort of thing a sniper would use--it's more a bullet for a handgun or an Uzi. However, when it turned out the guy was NOT trying to kill anyone but was doing it all in an elaborate plan to torment Mannix before killing him, this made a bit more sense. What follows is a cat and mouse sort of game that often was exciting to watch...mostly because the baddie, played by Clu Gulager, was extremely menacing and effective. His laugh was nightmare fodder! So even though the show isn't too original and had a few logical flaws (such as, once again, Mannix shooting like an expert marksman while using a snug-nosed .38--and a person with a decent knowledge of guns will tell you his hitting folks at 100 yards and the like is utterly ridiculous), it is engaging and worth seeing.

America went up against a big mass-murdering, conquering North Korean tyrant named Kim II Sung in the Korean War (they never mentioned this on TV's Mash). Mannix's character is supposed to be a long ago returned Korean War vet. This ep is about one of his military company cohorts not adjusted well back into society. Clu Galager (sp?) plays the maladjusted murderous vet who knew Mannix in Korea. This medicore show is not as well-done as the other reviewer says as the psycho's vet's scenes are not as chilling as they should be. Also, Mannix eps usually have Joe introduced to a new pretty girl suspect or witness or accessory to crime or victim and there is no such girl in this ep. Peggy Fair is attractive to look at but we have seen her lots of times before this ep. Another minus.

We're in the middle of season 6 so it is reasonable to assume some plots would be redone with minimum changes. Unfortunately, the recycled plot is episode 2/19 where Steve Ihnet boobytraps a building. That episode was over the top but it was original. This story is lifted from that - right down to the "traitor in the prison camp" as a motive. Many of the Mannix clichés make an appearance here. Joe interacts with an ol' military "comrade" (for the 7th time), Peggy is kidnapped, Peggy's friend suffers an injury, Joe freezes out the police information-wise, Joe turns down protection, Joe is the best shot in the world with a snub nose revolver, Joe doesn't get paid. If the writers could have figured out some way for a child to hire Joe then it would have been a grand slam.

Clu Gulager, as Lyle Foster, is the bad guy here. The crazy laugh is a bit much but Gulager is an intense actor who seemed to play the tightly wrapped bad guy throughout his career. He is out to kill Mannix as revenge from their POW experience. We're not quite sure why it is Mannix's fault that Foster is a traitor. He makes a little speech about wondering if he would ever be recognized etc etc. Since he is officially dead, that doesn't really wash. How he got away from the North Koreans, got back to the U. S. and been busy for twenty years is never explained.

In the Season 2 episode, Ihnet killed off several prison comrades and said Joe and then-Sgt Malcolm were the last would-be victims. Apparently, that wasn't true as Foster killed off two men before getting to Mannix. Anyway, Foster toys with Mannix for awhile and then, in the ultimate showdown, Mannix triumphs and poor Lyle dies due to an amazing gunshot.

There is a nice supporting cast who all seem to have one scene each. Robert Reed is Lt Tobias in this one. He has a few more lines than normal but the police lieutenants are all interchangeable by now. The last three outings have been Malcolm, Ives, and now Tobias. Did you really notice?

This isn't a good episode at all. Logic is not a strong player in this one and originality decided to sit this one out. Joe should have joined the Air Force and been stationed in Japan or Germany.

In don't remember the details but I know there was another episode where some old war buddy was killing off old friends. How many different groups of old war buddies did Mannix have? Seemed like a tired re-hash of an old story. Poor Peggy; she should get hazard pay for all the times she's been kidnapped.

I used to like Clu Gulager, and thought he was a pretty good actor. Boy, was he bad in this. He over-acted, made ludicrous faces, kept panting while he talked, kept yelling Joe's name, and that stupid annoying laugh was over the top ridiculous. He missed Mannix the first time he shot at him, why not just try again? Instead, he goes through this long, drawn-out ridiculous story to put Mannix back where they began. This one is really unwatchable.