Apologies to the Walker Brothers. Couldn't resist it.
Much like the required boxing story, if a PI show lasts long enough, you get a horse story. I know Perry Mason did it a couple of times and Banacek found a stolen horse also. Even the first McHale's Navy movie had the PT-73 gang running a racehorse out to the track. I sure there are other examples.
This is a good Mannix episode. A husband-and-wife team named Greene own a prized racehorse named Sun and Sky. That horse and a second horse are being flown across country. The crew of the plane transporting the two horses are drugged into unconsciousness and the plane is landed in the desert. The horses are stolen. Joe is hired by the insurance company to investigate before the plane is even found. Joe finds the plane and the crew. Their coffee was drugged. Everyone assumes a ransom demand is coming so Joe (actually Peggy) does background checks on all the key players while everyone waits for the ransom call. Joe is visited by Paddy Wright (Richard Davalos) who tries to bribe him to go easy on this case. Of course, it doesn't work. Joe meets a trainer/owner friend of the Greenes named Sam Dallas (Alex Dreier) who is sure there will be a ransom demand because the horse has a tattoo inside his lip so the thieves could never run the horse in races themselves. Sam is a down on his luck but very friendly with everyone. The ransom demand comes in and the bad guys want $753. Hmmm. Joe delivers the ransom to an alley trashcan and gets beat up by Paddy's henchmen as Paddy watches. Joe wakes up with four hippies who had saved him by blowing a police whistle. The bad goons had run away and Paddy drops his address book. The hippies had demanded the ransom but had no part in the horsenapping. They give the money back. They settled on $753 because it was a cool number. Hippies! What can you do? Meanwhile, Peggy finds out one of the air crew was a bomber pilot in the USAF and worked for Sam Dallas when he had a horse business. Joe consults Paddy's address book and find a connection to Sam Dallas. Joe goes out to Sam's old ranch and catches the bad guys with the horse. A jeep-horse chase later, the cops show up and the case is over. Sam gives a speech about being a "real horse man" to those damn interlopers, the Greenes, and then he and Paddy are taken away.
A few comments. Why do any bad guys try to bribe Joe? Since he and Paddy know each other, Paddy should have told his boss that it wouldn't happen. How is it nobody knows Joe's reputation? I knew Floyd Brand (Harry Carey Jr) was the bad crewmember based on the "biggest guest star" rule. Harry had a long career and was in the cadre of John Ford actors. I can't see him taking a role that has two or three scenes and five lines of dialogue. The hippie interlude was a severe mood change for the episode, but they were fun. Paddy losing his information book and the hippies finding it was a serious stroke of luck.
Joe gets beat up but he does get paid. Peggy gives solid support. The cops show up in a timely manner, a rarity for Joe. This outing is well worth the hour.
Much like the required boxing story, if a PI show lasts long enough, you get a horse story. I know Perry Mason did it a couple of times and Banacek found a stolen horse also. Even the first McHale's Navy movie had the PT-73 gang running a racehorse out to the track. I sure there are other examples.
This is a good Mannix episode. A husband-and-wife team named Greene own a prized racehorse named Sun and Sky. That horse and a second horse are being flown across country. The crew of the plane transporting the two horses are drugged into unconsciousness and the plane is landed in the desert. The horses are stolen. Joe is hired by the insurance company to investigate before the plane is even found. Joe finds the plane and the crew. Their coffee was drugged. Everyone assumes a ransom demand is coming so Joe (actually Peggy) does background checks on all the key players while everyone waits for the ransom call. Joe is visited by Paddy Wright (Richard Davalos) who tries to bribe him to go easy on this case. Of course, it doesn't work. Joe meets a trainer/owner friend of the Greenes named Sam Dallas (Alex Dreier) who is sure there will be a ransom demand because the horse has a tattoo inside his lip so the thieves could never run the horse in races themselves. Sam is a down on his luck but very friendly with everyone. The ransom demand comes in and the bad guys want $753. Hmmm. Joe delivers the ransom to an alley trashcan and gets beat up by Paddy's henchmen as Paddy watches. Joe wakes up with four hippies who had saved him by blowing a police whistle. The bad goons had run away and Paddy drops his address book. The hippies had demanded the ransom but had no part in the horsenapping. They give the money back. They settled on $753 because it was a cool number. Hippies! What can you do? Meanwhile, Peggy finds out one of the air crew was a bomber pilot in the USAF and worked for Sam Dallas when he had a horse business. Joe consults Paddy's address book and find a connection to Sam Dallas. Joe goes out to Sam's old ranch and catches the bad guys with the horse. A jeep-horse chase later, the cops show up and the case is over. Sam gives a speech about being a "real horse man" to those damn interlopers, the Greenes, and then he and Paddy are taken away.
A few comments. Why do any bad guys try to bribe Joe? Since he and Paddy know each other, Paddy should have told his boss that it wouldn't happen. How is it nobody knows Joe's reputation? I knew Floyd Brand (Harry Carey Jr) was the bad crewmember based on the "biggest guest star" rule. Harry had a long career and was in the cadre of John Ford actors. I can't see him taking a role that has two or three scenes and five lines of dialogue. The hippie interlude was a severe mood change for the episode, but they were fun. Paddy losing his information book and the hippies finding it was a serious stroke of luck.
Joe gets beat up but he does get paid. Peggy gives solid support. The cops show up in a timely manner, a rarity for Joe. This outing is well worth the hour.