Reviews

Yes, you read that right. Here in 1975, some 13 years before Die Hard became a big hit Mike Connors and the Mannix crew did it first. Does this sound famiiar? Criminals attempt to break into a huge vault in a high rise building. It's a holiday weekend and the building is empty except for the hero and the bad guys, including a security guard who's in on the crime. The crooks become aware that the heros sneaking around trying to thwart their plans and systemically try to hunt him down floor by floor while keeping in communication on 2-way radios. For sure the writers and producers on this show deserve their names in the Die Hard credits.

All that being said this is a wonderful episode that is chock full of action and suspense. Every bit as good at keeping you on the edge of your seat as the aforementioned blockbuster Hollywood movie. Bill Bixby pulls double duty both acting and directing this one (He directed several episodes this season). His direction and camera angles and shots is fantastic. The heightened drama as Joe moves through the office building is all thanks to the director. There are some flat out great action scenes here, my favorite being when Joe is being pursued through the gym.

There's a couple of groan inducing moments. One is when Joe and Bixby are locked inside a vault and miraculously Joe knows all there is to know about this particular model of safe and can from memory pick the lock from the inside. Guess he'd been studying the instruction manuals on the side. Also at the end when there's bodies falling off the top of the building they're quite obviously mannequins from the local JC Penneys and are not a very convincing effect.

Go watch this episode. Whether you enjoyed DIe Hard or not you will love it. It's the best of the best of classic TV>

Not much to write home about here. As run of the mill, paint by numbers as they come.If you've been watching all 8 seasons you've seen this basic episode too many times to count.

Joe is hired by a rich powerful man to solve a mystery but things aren't always what they seem. Seems the guy is trying to use Mannix to set an elaborate alibi and cover his tracks but hey it's Joe Mannix we're talking about here. He can't be fooled! Smelling a rat at how easily the case initially wraps up Joe really digs in to find out what's going on. Keep a sharp eye out for Tom Selleck, or a sharp ear should I say. There's a character with a very small cameo being interviewed by a TV news crew and you'll recognize the voice immediately. Then you spot the mustache and there's no doubt.

I really wanted to like this show and I was initially intrigued but that quickly turned to boredom as it was all way too familiar. Even the ending induced yawns.

Now this is how it's done. From start to finish just a fantastic example of 70's TV drama and the best detective shows from the era have to offer.

When a ransom note is delivered for a kidnapped child we soon learn this is the 2nd time kidnappers have tried this. The first time was years earlier and when the ransom attempt failed the parents and authorities assumed the child was dead. Mannix is called in and works hard to make heads or tails of the unusual situation. This one is simply great. Great actors (Diana Hyland, Dabney Coleman & Howard Hesseman), great location shots in Griffith Park and the Observatory and a great story. This is definitely one of the highlights of the final season. The only nitpick I have is when Mannix miraculously deduces that the reason the kidnapper disappeared is because he was arrested for armed robbery of a gas station and sent to prison I went, huh? That's awful specific for a wild guess. Not surprisingly with this lucky guess Peggy is able to track down the perp.

Do yourself a favor and watch this one. You will thank me.

Pretty mediocre show with a decent little mystery. Unfortunately I found most of the actors to be dull and not engaging at all.

When a professor is murdered there's a long list of possible killers. The angry grad student, the student's father, fellow professors and the man's wife are all under suspicion. The student's father is an old washed up boxer that knows Joe which is the 3rd or 4th time they used that character archetype. I'd also be interested to know which SoCal college campus this was filmed on as I haven't figured it out. Also keep an eye out for a young Gerald McRaney with more hair than you're probably used to.

Not your traditional Mannix episode since there's almost zero action or violence and as mentioned earlier this doesn't help the dull story move along.

A total and complete dud. As mentioned by another reviewer this script just doesn't seem to fit Mannix. It's a weird mishmash of Mannix, Mission Impossible and Bond and it's really all over the place.

So a fellow from Joe's Korean war unit shows up and starts all sorts of trouble. This fellow was court martialed and blames Joe so he's out for revenge. For some reason his revenge plot is to drag Joe into some mysterious plot by telling him the name of an informant. Joe is then kidnapped and tortured to find out the info.

This is where things really take a left turn. The evil man behind it all is in a wheelchair and is a stereotypical hybrid of Dr. No, the wheelchair scientist from Rocky Horror and Blofeld. All he's missing is an accent and fluffy white cat. So the story from here involves the baddies torturing Joe harder and harder and eventually kidnapping Peggy. Then it's up to Mannix to solve the mystery and identify the real informant.

Apart from an interesting segment where Joe uses his powers of hearing and smell to figure out where the evil lair is this one is best left on the shelf.

I was so excited when this one started. An intriguing premise involving Peggy's family so looks like we're gonna get another Peggy-centric episode. Yes!! However it wasn't to be.

Peggy's cousin and husband are coming to visit. But when they stopover at a bus stop the husband runs into an old army buddy from Vietnam that quickly leads to him getting killed and Peggy's cousin almost run down. Once the episode really gets going Peggy and her cousin just disappear and aren't mentioned again. We also get to see Toby for the final time and boy has he grown! Toby is now a MAN!!! The story shifts to the army buddy and his autistic daughter who are mixed up in a heroin smuggling plot.

Not much else to report as this one wasn't very involving or interesting. There is a good action-packed scene where Joe is chased by chain-wielding thugs on motorcycles. There's also some decent expositions on the war in Vietnam and it's affect on soldiers but all in all a mediocre episode.

Now we're talking! This is an excellent and classic Mannix episode through and through. For the first time in a while I'm taken back to the classics in Season 3 and 4. A very intriguing premise that hooks you right from the start.

When a lone survivor from a plane crash mysteriously reappears his wife doesn't believe he is the same man. Literally. She hires Mannix to investigate and he opens a Pandora's Box involving shady business deals, the syndicate and the Feds. There are some terrific performances here especially by Carol Lawrence as the confused and scared wife. She keeps you guessing until the very end if this man is who he says he is or if she's losing her mind.

Admittedly the ending is rushed and more than a little preposterous but the journey to get there is fast, fun and extremely exciting. Recommended.

(BTW, I've noticed the Lieutenants, Malcolm and Ives have been demoted in S8 from the private office they've had all series to just a desk out on the open floor at police HQ. Maybe it's not a demotion but just budget cuts. Poor fellas.)