This episode is a little different, as the majority of the show was shot outside, and not in the studio.
I am trying to remember what the area looked like 45 years ago, but I think it was the Littlerock area of the Antelope Valley.
Joe is on his way to TURTLE Lake (not Toluca Lake, which is in the south side of the San Fernando Valley, west of Burbank). There is even a sign saying "Turtle Lake, 65 miles" when we first see Joe's rental car.
Unfortunately, his rental car has a bad water pump, and Joe walks up the road to find a some very suspicions-looking guys in a small oasis in the desert.
Oddly enough the two women there besides Elena (Barbara Luna) soon disappear, never to be seen again. Just a little bit of eye candy?
In a change of pace, they knock Joe out with a spiked drink, not a hit on the head.
It is a little odd that the top hit-man, Harry, knows who Joe Mannix is, and even odder, that Joe knows who the hit-man is. Did they attend a convention together?
OK, so Joe escapes (twice), the second time taking Elena (Barbara Luna) with him into the desert. No mention is made how they got over the fence that is supposed to surround the compound. I think the only fence was just there where the gate was.
Anyway, four of the bad guys get in a Jeep and take off after Joe and Elena. No idea how they are tracking Joe, they move pretty fast to be looking for footprints.
Then, as the Jeep is closing in on Joe and the lady, he takes a shot with a small automatic pistol, hits the windshield, and the Jeep overturns. Good shooting!
A funny moment - the driver appears to have injured his foot/ankle when the Jeep overturns, and the other three look uninjured. They send the injured guy to limp back to the compound on his own!
Another minor oddity - the bad guys stop several times to drink water from their canteens, but Joe and Elena run on without the benefit of any water at all. Yet they don't seem any worse for wear, even though much of this chase is in the middle of the day, in the desert. (Perhaps a small cheat - if this was Littlerock, it would not have been THAT hot in October. But it would have been dry.)
I do give props to the camera work and editing. If this was indeed shot around Littlerock, they had to be very careful not to show any of the major roads in the area, such as Soledad Canyon Road and Sierra Highway/Pearblossum Highway when they were showing the train.
Even with the little oddities, this was a good episode, with fairly constant suspense during the chase. The acting by the main characters, Barbara Luna, John Hillerman, and Frank Langella was great.
I am trying to remember what the area looked like 45 years ago, but I think it was the Littlerock area of the Antelope Valley.
Joe is on his way to TURTLE Lake (not Toluca Lake, which is in the south side of the San Fernando Valley, west of Burbank). There is even a sign saying "Turtle Lake, 65 miles" when we first see Joe's rental car.
Unfortunately, his rental car has a bad water pump, and Joe walks up the road to find a some very suspicions-looking guys in a small oasis in the desert.
Oddly enough the two women there besides Elena (Barbara Luna) soon disappear, never to be seen again. Just a little bit of eye candy?
In a change of pace, they knock Joe out with a spiked drink, not a hit on the head.
It is a little odd that the top hit-man, Harry, knows who Joe Mannix is, and even odder, that Joe knows who the hit-man is. Did they attend a convention together?
OK, so Joe escapes (twice), the second time taking Elena (Barbara Luna) with him into the desert. No mention is made how they got over the fence that is supposed to surround the compound. I think the only fence was just there where the gate was.
Anyway, four of the bad guys get in a Jeep and take off after Joe and Elena. No idea how they are tracking Joe, they move pretty fast to be looking for footprints.
Then, as the Jeep is closing in on Joe and the lady, he takes a shot with a small automatic pistol, hits the windshield, and the Jeep overturns. Good shooting!
A funny moment - the driver appears to have injured his foot/ankle when the Jeep overturns, and the other three look uninjured. They send the injured guy to limp back to the compound on his own!
Another minor oddity - the bad guys stop several times to drink water from their canteens, but Joe and Elena run on without the benefit of any water at all. Yet they don't seem any worse for wear, even though much of this chase is in the middle of the day, in the desert. (Perhaps a small cheat - if this was Littlerock, it would not have been THAT hot in October. But it would have been dry.)
I do give props to the camera work and editing. If this was indeed shot around Littlerock, they had to be very careful not to show any of the major roads in the area, such as Soledad Canyon Road and Sierra Highway/Pearblossum Highway when they were showing the train.
Even with the little oddities, this was a good episode, with fairly constant suspense during the chase. The acting by the main characters, Barbara Luna, John Hillerman, and Frank Langella was great.