10 Stars.
Who better to play a creepy syndicate lawyer than Barry Atwater? Atwater will always be remembered as the vampire (who scared the heck out of us kids) in the tv cult classic NIGHT STALKER (1971). Here, Atwater plays Prentiss, a lawyer for the mob who asks for Mannix's help ASAP to find a stolen briefcase containing evidence that will actually help his client. That alone is a neat twist.
Joe isn't exactly into this type of stuff, but he takes the bizarre case which leads to a lot of dead bodies.
There are some great action scenes, making this one of the most adventurous episodes. Production notes indicate this was partly filmed at Griffith Park, used many times by the series. After dark, it's a genuinely spooky place. Barbara Rhoades appears once again, playing Ruth, obviously to balance out all the villains in the cast. James Luisi is appropriately cast as Larkin, one of the bad apples.
This also marked Robert Reed's final appearance on the series as Tobias. The story goes he literally walked away from THE BRADY BUNCH tv series because he was dissatisfied with the scripts. The show may have continued for another season, but was soon after cancelled. Bottom line, because both shows were filmed at Paramount he was gone. I always thought it was a bad move on his part.
One episode not to be missed, exceptionally directed by Harry Harvey, Jr. Harry was actually a walking encyclopedia of the show, also serving as script supervisor for the entire run of the series. Good trivia question. His actor father also turned up in small roles.
SEASON 7 EPISODE 23 remastered color CBS dvd box set. 6 dvds. Released 2012.
Who better to play a creepy syndicate lawyer than Barry Atwater? Atwater will always be remembered as the vampire (who scared the heck out of us kids) in the tv cult classic NIGHT STALKER (1971). Here, Atwater plays Prentiss, a lawyer for the mob who asks for Mannix's help ASAP to find a stolen briefcase containing evidence that will actually help his client. That alone is a neat twist.
Joe isn't exactly into this type of stuff, but he takes the bizarre case which leads to a lot of dead bodies.
There are some great action scenes, making this one of the most adventurous episodes. Production notes indicate this was partly filmed at Griffith Park, used many times by the series. After dark, it's a genuinely spooky place. Barbara Rhoades appears once again, playing Ruth, obviously to balance out all the villains in the cast. James Luisi is appropriately cast as Larkin, one of the bad apples.
This also marked Robert Reed's final appearance on the series as Tobias. The story goes he literally walked away from THE BRADY BUNCH tv series because he was dissatisfied with the scripts. The show may have continued for another season, but was soon after cancelled. Bottom line, because both shows were filmed at Paramount he was gone. I always thought it was a bad move on his part.
One episode not to be missed, exceptionally directed by Harry Harvey, Jr. Harry was actually a walking encyclopedia of the show, also serving as script supervisor for the entire run of the series. Good trivia question. His actor father also turned up in small roles.
SEASON 7 EPISODE 23 remastered color CBS dvd box set. 6 dvds. Released 2012.