Mannix (TV Series) Mask for a Charade (1974) User Reviews

Someone besides Joe has a concussion?

[steelblue55 · 9/10 · 11 October 2017]

Agree with the other two reviewers on the merits of this one. Although there are plenty of hints it's not over when it might be, it keeps the twists going as it continues. It also features one of the funniest lines in the series. At the lake scene Joe is fighting with a guy and they punch back and forth and then when he grabs Joe he gets his arm twisted and thrown over to land in a couple of feet of water. Other things happen then to end the fight, and his buddy comes over and says are you okay, and he says something like "Yeah, but I got a concussion".

Did the writers put that in as an inside joke? By now Joe has been knocked out 187 times and hit over the head an addition 243 times and has never shown any signs of wear. This guy gets thrown into shallow water and gets a concussion!!!! Hilarious....

Read some of "Planktonrules"'s well written reviews and he mentions the concussion issue in a number of reviews, so was pretty surprised that he did not comment on it this time!!

It sure looks like Sgt. Reardon did it! Yet this one will keep you guessing.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 3 April 2017]

Sgt Reardon (akins) insists he needs Mannix, not a lawyer when a guy is murdered and it appears as if he did it (it sure looked like him in the beginning)

When the show begins, you see a guy in a car shoot someone and smash into a car while getting away from the scene of the crime. The guy in the car LOOKS a lot like Claude Akins. In the next scene, the police arrive at the home of Sgt. Reardon (Akins) and arrest him for the murder. Instead of asking for an attorney, Reardon asks for Mannix and hires him to investigate. Eventually, he's able to find evidence that says Reardon wasn't guilty after all. But there's much more to it than this...and instead of celebrating a successful conclusion of a case, he should keep digging deeper.

This is a pretty good episode...mostly because the three just before this turned out to be pretty poor. Plus there are enough twists and turns that it keeps you guessing. Worth seeing and rather original...which is tough considering there have been nearly seven episodes so far (and a final season coming up).

An excellent outing!

[Guad42 · 9/10 · 14 May 2021]

As stated by other reviewers, this has a fast paced, intricate plot and you must pay attention throughout. To me, the frame on Sgt Reardon (Claude Akins) falls apart fairly quickly. People who identify Reardon as the killer fold under Joe's questioning and the truth comes out. At least part of the truth. A nice aspect to this is that the bad guys orchestrated it all. I did not see that coming. I thought it was Joe's doing.

A couple of things you shouldn't think about too much. The first is Joe goes back to Helen the singer (Marj Dusay) and she ends up telling him the whole plot about the escape to come and who will get killed. How does she know? Why would the bad guys tell her since she is just a pawn in all of this? The second thing is conversation between Joe and Reardon at the very end. Joe says he will keep his mouth shut about Sgt Reardon's part in the escape plot. He might do that but of course he has to say he learned of the plot from Helen. When the police question her, Helen isn't going to keep her mouth shut so Reardon might easily go down. I hope Joe got back to Helen and convinced her to be quiet so she can stay out of it and walk away clean. Joe can just tell the police he had one of his many incredibly correct hunches about the future and he moved to stop the escape attempt. They never get the lookalike hitman and don't even mention him after he is established as the bad guy.

In addition to the good story line, the guest cast make it a memorable show. Claude Akins was everywhere back then, but this is only appearance on Mannix. Surprising. He brings his "A" game here. His character has much more going on than is obvious at the start. This is Marj Dusay's second and last appearance on Mannix and she gets a better story than "A Gathering of Ghosts". It took guts to sings a few lines on a couple of occasions but she gets through it fine. Dennis Patrick does the bad guy leader well. I always get him confused with Kevin McCarthy. All the supporting players are excellent. Our old friend Charlie Picerni is the hood who fights Mannix by the dirty pond. He can't hide behind that mustache! His bio says he did 15 Mannix episodes, it seems like a lot more. The snitch who is shot should have played by Eddie Firestone, just for the homecoming aspect of it.

A couple of stray thoughts. Is Lt Malcolm always on duty? He shows up at Reardon's house at night to bring him in. The guy never rests. Good to see Reardon is a police sergeant. It seemed like everyone was in uniform or a lieutenant on the police force. I thought something was strange when they were making Mannix dig his own grave with Helen and the hood (Charlie Picerni) tells his partner that the ground is too loose and then sends his companion away to find a more suitable place, thus leaving him alone with Joe. First time I have ever heard that on a TV show. I have to admit the "concussion" remark was hilarious! Kiddos to the writers and Charlie's delivery! Last, but not least, is Joe's incredible shooting. He gets two hoods in the aircraft hangar with ease. Those are fantastic shots and Joe always does them routinely.

Joe gets in a fight, gets wounded, and probably doesn't get paid. (Reardon can't afford it.) He did get to the truth and save a friend. You have to take your solace where you can get it. Well worth watching.

A terrific and exciting episode, but with a lot of short tempers!

[pkfloydmh · 10/10 · 22 April 2015]

This is a superb and very entertaining episode and is one of the best episodes of the season and of the series overall. It features a great mystery, lots of action, an intriguing and intricate plot and some nice twists.

It's about a syndicate hood who is killed in a hit and run accident and the person accused of killing him is a police sergeant (played by Claude Akins), who hires Joe to dig up information to prove he's innocent.

Gloria LeRoy's performance as mob wife Jenny Dobbs is terrific. She plays the part of a drunk perfectly and she's funny too. Claude Akins' performance as the police sergeant is stellar too, as is the performance by Joan Shawlee as an informer named Annie, or "the Duchess" (she's referred to by both names). Of course, as always, Dennis Patrick plays the villain and is excellent as syndicate hood Frankie West. Marj Dusay is top-notch as Helen Layton and even does some singing. Charlie Picerni makes another appearance as one of West's goons.

There's lots of excitement as there are some great fight scenes, action sequences and stunts, and one of those stunts is a difficult one that happens during the fight scene in the mud that Joe actually does himself!! It's definitely him - it's not a stuntman! Great job by Mike Connors in trying to keep the show authentic by actually doing a difficult stunt himself.

There are some hot tempers too. Around the middle of the episode, there are three straight scenes where someone completely blows their top and lashes out at someone else. In the first one, Joe busts through the door of syndicate hood Frankie West and really gets in his face and lets him have it after a couple of West's thugs jump him in a bar. Then in the very next scene, Malcolm totally loses his cool and blows up at Joe, which is very unusual as there are hardly ever any heated exchanges between the two of them, so this is rare, but at the same time it's also refreshing because it's not something you see very often. What's especially funny is that at one point during his tirade, Malcolm says that "the D. A. blew his stack" over something that Joe did, so he's yelling at Joe about someone else blowing their stack while HE HIMSELF is doing the same thing with Joe!! Great stuff. Then in the next scene, Joe and his client get into a heated shouting match. Really great sequence of scenes here.

Two different characters get clobbered in the head, which is rare, and what's remarkable is neither one of them is Joe. This is the second episode this season (after Walk a Double Line) where characters other than Joe get clobbered in the head.

On a hilarious note, check out the green and white plaid pants Joe is wearing at the beginning! Gotta love it! Classic '70s!

This is a classic Mannix episode that has it all - action, suspense, tension and a great plot. There are also no clichés. This one is excellent.

HOW MUCH TROUBLE CAN ONE GUY GET INTO?

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 9 November 2022]

Frank Telford was writing for HAWAII FIVE O at the time, so you know this was gonna' be good. He also had previously been writing for IRONSIDE.

10 Earned Stars.

"Mask for a Charade", and an appropriate title, begins with a man looking very, very much like Claude Akins running over a guy. The victim is a crook who should have been bumped a long time ago, however... it doesn't alter the fact that Akins is a man of the law and what's his connection? He flatly denies everything and Joe has to back peddle through a well constructed mystery.

I agree with the last reviewer, there must have been some sort of inside joke among the writers as someone else (other than Joe) says HE got a concussion after a knock down drag out fight. REALLY? Not to miss a super cast. Aside from Claude Akins there's Marj Dusay (playing Helen), an excellent supporting actress in dramatic roles. Dennis Patrick (looking suspicious) plays Frankie. Gloria LeRoy (who had some great roles on ALL IN THE FAMILY) appears, along with veterans Joan Shawlee (DICK VAN DYKE SHOW) and Jeanne Bates (as Mary), whose career went back to 1940s B movies.

Sutton Roley directed, also credited for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and many other cop shows. Can you figure this one out? Applause if you can.

SEASON 7 EPISODE 21 remastered color CBS dvd box set. 6 dvds 2012 release. Very similar front cover design to CANNON Season 5 dvd box set. Both classic photos.

Two performances raise this ep of Mannix to great heights

[belanger75 · 10/10 · 19 July 2019]

The first is guest and popular actor Claude Akins in double role as Cop Al Reardon and the lookalike hit man. ( I do wonder if the lookalike hit man is ever caught for the loanshark's murder at the beginning.) Reardon is a man of much dimension. It turns out he is not a self-pitying drunk of a cop ( which we first thought) but a man concerned for his institutionalized and highly disturbed wife. The other great performance is by great beauty Marj Dusay as a nightclub singer caught up in the murder. She is mysterious, slightly guilty and highly appealing in her smaller in number but still significant scenes.