Mannix (TV Series) Search for a Dead Man (1975) User Reviews

John Hillerman...hitman?!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 24 September 2018]

I like the casting of John Hillerman in this episode of "Mannix". He plays an assassin...and a cold and capable one...a far cry from his more patrician roles on "Magnum PI" and "A Very Brady Sequel".

The show begins with Norman Thompson (Hillerman) making a hit with a high powered rifle. However, although you see him make a head shot on his victim, later he's told that the man was NOT killed and was okay...and Thompson's employers are mad and seem like the sorts who might kill him because they think he failed. Oddly, to prove he was NOT mistaken, he approaches Mannix to find the body....but of course he won't tell Mannix he killed the guy. Instead, he pretends to be a nice guy who witnessed the shooting but doesn't know what to do because the body went missing. Will Mannix find the body AND will he realize that his client is a liar?

Having Mannix being hired by a lying client is nothing new. Heck, the previous episode ("Design for Dying") had such a plot. But fortunately, this one is a lot better (it couldn't be much worse)....and it all is about an Angel. Well worth seeing.

Which way did he go?

[DAshton1918 · 9/10 · 19 September 2020]

A hitman (John Hillerman, excellent as always) assassinates a mob boss but can't find the body...did he miss? Is he still alive? His employers aren't exactly happy so he hires Joe to find him.

An excellent set-up for this next-to-last ep of a truly great detective series. Peggy plays a big role in unlocking the mystery...too bad it's her last go-round (To answer the reviewer's question, they had no idea Mannix would be cancelled...a dispute between Paramount, ABC and CBS over reruns led to CBS pulling the plug.)

This one will keep you guessing until the end...worth a watch!

Intriguing story; were the producers prescient?

[cpotato1010 · 9/10 · 19 September 2020]

I liked this story, it kept you guessing.

Plus very nice performances from John Hillerman and Mary Charlotte Wilcox, even if her part was not very big.

There was a minor glitch, using a car to chase a dirt-bike across, well, dirt. Really? Plus the continuity error of the sprung hood, which is later perfectly closed.

Also, I do wish Gail Fisher (Peggy) had a better send-off. Maybe they did not know the series was ending?

Interesting casting, though. The previous episode had Tom Selleck (in a much smaller part), and this episode has John Hillerman. They would star together in Magnum, P.I. (1980), five years later! Co-incidence?

Very interesting

[VetteRanger · 10/10 · 29 September 2017]

In the next to last episode, the Mannix writers came up with a very interesting concept. A hit man makes a hit, and the body disappears. He can't get paid until he proves the target is dead, and he hires Mannix to prove the target is dead!

John Hillerman plays the hit man, and does a fine job. Still, you can't help but see Higgins. LOL

Hidden agendas and a stunning femme fatale make this a show not to miss.

Good original plot as series winds down

[Guad42 · 8/10 · 16 December 2022]

As already covered, a hitman hits his target, but the body disappears. Masquerading as a potential murder witness, Norman Thompson (John Hillerman) goes to Mannix to get to the bottom of it. Joe takes the case and finds a spent bullet at the scene. Peggy gets the lowdown on who lives in the building there and then adds her own assessment of a high salaried model living there that she has never heard of (and she knows them all). Joe figures out the model Hope 'Angel' Campbell (Mary Wilcox) is the kept woman of a crime boss named Coleman. He seems like a candidate for the disappearing victim, but Angel says he is alive and well. A big, fat lie. Thompson was hired by two partners who front one of Coleman's businesses, Mark Wayborn (Paul Mantee) and Robert Ingram (Robert Symonds). They want Coleman out of the way and Wayborn wants Angel. The two guys tell Thompson that Coleman is in Las Vegas with Angel and Thompson heads out of town in his car with Joe following him. A second hitman, on a motorcycle, shoots and kills Thompson. Joe gives chase but the guy gets away. Investigating Thompson's car reveals he is the original hitman on Coleman. Meanwhile, the second hitman kills Ingram in a parking garage. He leaves a pistol registered to Coleman, so it looks like Coleman is getting revenge as the same pistol was used to killed Thompson. Then a stoolie appears out of nowhere to tell Joe the second hitman is on a boat at the marina. Joe goes there and finds Coleman's body and he beats up the hitman. The hitman talks off camera and Joe goes to Angel's place and rats her out as an accessory to three murders as she and Wayborn had set this up. Coleman would be blamed and then his body would wash ashore, and the case would be over and the two lovers would be free. Who killed Coleman in this scheme was not explained. As Joe finishes his story, Wayborn shows up and then the police come in to clean it all up.

The acting is first rate. Hillerman is especially effective as he puts on a show for Joe as a mild mannered, befuddled witness to a possible murder. When you look at his body of work, you have to conclude he is a better actor than he generally gets credit for. Did you know he is the second cousin of author Tony Hillerman? Wilcox, Mantee, and Symonds are quite good also. The two guys have done this role plenty of times in their careers.

Stray thoughts. As always, some gaps in logic. Why would Joe go to the second hitman's boat by himself and then go to the woman's place alone. I realize the series is called "Mannix" and not "Mannix and the Cops" but show some smarts here. Not the first time Joe has acted alone but it would, alas, be the last. The sudden appearance of Willie the stoolie is out of the blue, but it does advance the story. It comes to light that Thompson was a sniper in the military and his CO was then Captain Ingram but the interaction between Thompson and Ingram is strictly business and has none of the 'war buddy' comradeship that one would expect to see. Seemed odd.

The characters interact slightly differently than in a routine episode. Joe and Art discuss an upcoming golf match. They get hotdogs at the pier. Joe is shown drinking water from a paper cup. He wants coffee and then doesn't. Everyone is a little busier than normal doing routine things and it works. Kudos to the director, Paul Krasny. Beats watching everyone sit around while they move the plot through conversation.

This is an original story but has the same outcome in some ways. Joe has a lying client and no paycheck. See this outing. Well worth the time.

HOW TO PROVE YOU KILLED SOMEONE???

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 15 December 2022]

Daniel Ullman, long associated with MANNIX, obviously rolled up his sleeves and had some fun. This was a writer who knew all about weapons, having spent a good deal of his lengthy career writing tv and movie westerns. This is a very clever story, one you have to watch from start to finish. Ullman reversed the usual mechanics (if you so will) placing a killer in the victim's chair, at least making him vulnerable beyond normal tv show standards.

Who better to play a hitman than the most deadpan John Hillerman, best remembered for MAGNUM PI. Here, he plays Thompson, a professional hitman, who may or may NOT have killed his victim. This makes him a walking target. Of course, he hires Joe to prove HE IS a killer so he won't be eliminated. What a wonderful life!

This is as wild as it gets and extremely original for the last season, with some fine acting on everyone's part. Veteran 1930/40s actor Eddie Quillan also makes an appearance as Willie. According to the last reviewer, this was Gail Fisher's final appearance, however this may have actually been the last series episode -- but aired out of sequence. Episodes, for one reason or another, were rearranged, and sometimes at the last minute. That's primarily why all us reviewers always complain about season premier episodes, which should have run in the #2 spot instead.

Filmed --as usual -- at Griffith Park, about as good as it gets for a remote, hilly area to play hide and seek with bad guys. SEASON 8 Episode 23 remastered CBS dvd box set.

Intriguing story, decent action, but why?

[pnolname · 5/10 · 15 December 2022]

I wanted to like this one more, but from the time his client got killed and Mannix had no hope of getting paid, I kept wondering why he was risking his life to solve a crime in which everyone involved, including his client, was a bad actor. I kept thinking "Just let them kill each other." True, the main characters on these shows do often seem to end up working for free, but it's usually to help a deserving underdog, not to protect some perps from other perps. I also found the notion that a hit man would hire a detective with a reputation for integrity just to prove that he had really murdered his victim more than a little far-fetched. Mannix, no doubt, would have turned this guy in as soon as he caught on to the reason for the assignment.