Mannix (TV Series) A Small Favor for an Old Friend (1974) User Reviews

After all, what are old friends for after all?!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 16 April 2017]

This episode begins with perhaps the sloppiest mid-air explosion sequence, as you see a small airplane flying along...and what explodes is a helicopter! So much for special effects! Fortunately, the rest of the show really is quite good.

Soon Mannix arrives back from a three week fishing trip in the Sierras. During his absence, his old Korean war vet buddy, Harry Endicott, was reported killed in the explosion. When Mannix heads up to San Francisco, he finds that lots of people there know him and he has an apartment there!! That's all news to him and obviously somebody worked hard to create this false Mannix image. The problem is both an investigator with the insurance company insuring the plane as well as mobsters are after Mannix, as they think he was Harry's partner in some scheme! Can Mannix straighten all this out and get everyone off his butt?!

The plot worked well and the only slip up was the craptacular explosion....otherwise I would have given this one a 9. Very good and worth seeing.

Location, location, location.

[oneklt · 9/10 · 21 June 2023]

Mannix returns from a long vacation yada yada yada. You know the set-up. I loved this show as a kid. Several years ago I found seasons 1-4 on dvd. Hadn't seen it in years. Still enjoyable. And I just discover the whole series steaming on Amazon. Now I'm watching some of the higher rated episodes from seasons 4-8. I gave 'Hardball' a 9. Great script, lots of action, kept me guessing. Same here. Fabulous San Francisco locations on this one - I just knew they splurged for November sweeps - earns it an extra star in my book. SF is a beautiful city. Go there. And happily, even in season 8 Connors refused to phone it in. (Hello William Conrad!)

HAVEN'T I SEEN YOU BEFORE THE BEFORE??

[tcchelsey · 9/10 · 23 November 2022]

Another one of those old war buddies with a past to contend with, but this is pretty good stuff. Credit veteran writer Harold Livingston, who recently passed at the age of 97. Livingston did a lot of work for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, and Joe has a very strange mission to accomplish.

Rule No. 1: Make sure your friends don't have mob connections, or anything to do with the goons. Mannix is mistaken for arranging the theft of the gang's money, and all thanks to his old war buddy.

The story, though not supernatural, reminded me of an episode from ONE STEP BEYOND; the creepy theme where everyone knows you, BUT you don't know them??? Filmed in San Francisco, also around Alcatraz Island, some super on location work and chase sequences. Top directing by Paul Krasny, another MISSION IMPOSSIBLE alumnus, also QUINCY and HART TO HART.

Keep your eye on Val Avery, usually found playing bartenders and the like, this time in an impressive role as a gent named Vanamen, one of the "suits" who drives up in a Rolls Royce. Not to shabby. Val was a very popular actor as he could do so many different roles. Sondra Blake plays Kit and has some good scenes with Joe. This episode is reminiscent of some of the earlier stories, with a touch of noir to it, which Mike Connors always said was the underlying theme for Mannix.

Pipe smoking Ben Hammar (as Schaefer) is excellent, sort of the mystery man here. Ben acted for years, playing distinguished types. He was a great catch for this type of episode.

Another late show fave. SEASON 8 CBS dvd box set, and remastered.

Fantastic ep

[belanger75 · 8/10 · 2 March 2019]

Mannix has hands full in this when he returns from fishing and finds another old Korean War buddy of his died in a plane explosion. He goes to Frisco to investigate. ( some great location footage) and he meets a beautiful woman he had never seen before who says he had a date with her. Soon Mannix goes to an apartment in Frisco in his name (!?!). Who is going around Frisco posing as Mannix? Interesting adventure but two curious points. 1) Why does Joe seem to carry no weapon in this? 2) Why when he is threatened with legal trouble does not make a call to his good mutual friend Lt. Malcolm down south at the LAPD? (Realize that Kim II Sung of North Korea began the Korean War in 1950 and the American men who fought his brainwashed communist forces did in fact a good and noble thing saving South Korea from His clutches!

Stop me if you've heard this one, Joe has an old Korean War buddy and...

[Guad42 · 7/10 · 28 May 2021]

Each season has an episode where Joe is hired by a kid and Joe has a case involving an old Korean War buddy. The former usually ends well. The latter usually ends badly. It ends badly here for a lot of people.

San Francisco locations make a nice change for this outing. Joe goes there to unravel the case of his old friend, Harry Endicott (Jim Antonio), being blown up in his plane. Seems he was transporting a criminal to a meeting in Mexico so there are unsavory people with an interest. They are led by Mr Vanaman (Val Avery). He tells Mannix he wants back his money, 1.5M, that was on the plane as he thinks Joe has the dough. There is an elaborate scheme to make it seem Joe has been in SF for days. The scheme worked and the bad guys think Joe was in on the plane explosion. Joe chases down the truth while being pursued by Vanaman's henchmen. With the help of Endicott's wife, Joe goes to a meeting with Endicott. Before he appears, the hoods show up and the wife gets run over as she runs away. Joe goes out to Alcatraz to meet Endicott. After a foot chase, Endicott goes over a cliff.

At first, I assumed there was an impostor but there wasn't. The bartender was in on the scheme. Conveniently, he had a key to Joe's apartment so he could give it to the real Joe. How would anyone know Joe would show up at that particular bar is beyond me. A long shot at best. In the epilog, the insurance guy explains the bartender was caught with money trying to board a plane and he had impersonated Joe at the airport where the bad guys saw him. Tying up loose plot ends.

The cast is good but again lacks the star power usually seen on Mannix. Val Avery played the bad guy throughout his career and does it well here. Ben Hammer as the insurance investigator Shaeffer is a little too "Scotland Yard Inspector" type for me but it's okay. The guy has access to a lot of information so should have been able to confirm Mannix flew up from LA when Joe said he did so would know Joe was not in on the plot.

By the way the ol' war buddy had a great record. He was an ace and still managed to pull Joe from a burning halftrack. The guy got around on the battlefield. If you put all of Joe's war experiences together, he really got around on the battlefield too.

Joe doesn't get paid, gets hit over the head and loses a friend and the friend's wife. Not a happy ending but a good episode if you can live with one more war buddy adventure.

The last four episodes have recycled plot devices from earlier shows. At the 8 year mark the series is running out of ideas. Still a damn good run.

So-So

[zombiemockingbird · 5/10 · 9 July 2023]

The best part of this episode was the scenery; always a pleasure to see San Francisco.

The story was pretty implausible, although I guess it could have been done. Does Joe have any actual friends? He sure has a boatload of old war buddies, who all seem to be really horrible people. The ending was somewhat abrupt; but I guess they pretty much tied up all of the loose ends.

Once again, the acting wasn't great. Don't remember the blonde's name, but she was bad. Sondra Blake (Kit Endicott) was awful. Jim Antonio (Harry Endicott) was mediocre as was Ray Reinhardt (Art Butler). Val Avery (Vanaman) and Ben Hammer (Shaeffer) were pretty good. Not the worst episode.