Mannix (TV Series) The Cost of a Vacation (1967) User Reviews

WHAT WERE YOU DOING? REGAINING CONSCIOUNESS!

[tcchelsey · 8/10 · 24 December 2022]

A few reviewers complained about this episode, but for the rest of us dedicated fans it's still fun. The inside joke is that Joe was experienced in karate, which should have put everyone on notice -- yet he still managed to get slugged.

That could be a debit or a plus, depending on how you look at it. Series regular Chester Krumholz wrote this adventure, but he made Joe's Client, Joyce (played by Marlyn Mason) rather careless, at least in her choice for a companion. She hires Joe's company to find her new boyfriend, who is quite elusive. There's good reason because the guy is a hired assassin. This puts Joe in a real tight spot as his warnings to Joyce are brushed aside. Now what??? This is what you call series fine tuning.

There is action, though... Make no mistake.

The cast does their best, lead by Marlyn Mason, who is always good, and would actually co-star in another detective series called LONGSTREET, all about a blind private eye. Canadian actor Donnelly Rhodes plays Ramon, who will always be remembered to us big kids as the kooky escaped convict, Dutch, who appeared on the sitcom SOAP. He also was a regular on the YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.

Veteran Dick Miller, popular in many 50s cult films (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS) has a bit as a fashion photographer. Miller always seemed to get smaller roles on tv, and that's a shame because he was a versatile actor. It could be casting directors didn't do their homework. Fo' shame and not surprising. My job is to give 'em some extra credit.

Why not?

Give it a watch, and you can't argue with the title. SEASON 1 EPISODE 6 CBS remastered dvd box set.

A very good plot ruined by too many poorly written details.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 12 April 2013]

"The Cost of a Vacation" has the basic plot points needed to make for an excellent episode of "Mannix". However, the writer really seems to drop the ball when it comes to the details.

The show begins with a model noticing her old boyfriend nearby--but that's strange, as he's SUPPOSED to be living in some Hispanic country. He disappears about as quickly as she saw him and she then goes to the detective agency to get help finding him, as she KNOWS (a bad cliché) that he's in trouble. Mannix's trail leads him to eventually believe that this boyfriend is actually a famous assassin. Can he stop the killer before it's too late or convince a VERY stupid lady that she needs to be very careful? I liked the plot. It seems that ANYONE who can identify this killer is eventually killed. But, at the same time, despite Mannix warning her and ample reason to believe he's a dangerous man, the model steadfastly believes he's innocent and places herself in harm's way! It makes you wonder if anyone can be that stupid! And, a plot that required people to be THAT dumb are just not especially well written. A few other dumb things are Lenny's accent (which appears and disappears) as well as the murder of Lenny--which is way too ridiculous because the killer gives the guy ample opportunities to possibly escape!! Sloppily written but an intriguing episode in spite of this. Not one of season one's shining moments.

Why was Dick Miller wasted?

[grizzledgeezer · 5/10 · 7 October 2017]

This is a "petty" review, and I wouldn't blame the editors if they dumped it.

I'd finished watching "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and was about to find something else, when "Mannix" came on and I spotted Dick Miller as a fashion photographer. "Why would they cast the wonderful Mr Miller if they weren't going to use him?" ("Perry Mason" often cast familiar character actors as the murderers.)

I waited another 20 minutes and nothing much happened. Any residual interest evaporated when we learned that the person Mannix's ex-girlfriend was looking for didn't really exist. (I think that was it, but who cares?}

This might be a good episode, but it got pointlessly complicated. Definitely not "Rockford" material.

Love Marlyn Mason and not much else

[Guad42 · 4/10 · 30 June 2021]

Marlyn Mason, as Joyce Loman, has the female lead as the client here and she is always watchable, especially in a bathing suit like she is in for a great deal of this outing. She plays a former girlfriend of Joe's who happens to see her recent boyfriend (Donnelly Rhodes) who disappears on her. She wants Joe to find him because she is sure he is about to kill himself. Why? No idea but she is sure he is. After Joe does a convoluted search that includes a dead PI, a knock on the head, a run-in with the cops, a talk with old coyote Lenny (Henry Beckman) and a conversation with a Latin business leader (that leads to another punch), Joe is convinced the old boyfriend is a hired killer out to get the businessman. Joe vows to get him first. Lenny the coyote get shot by the boyfriend assassin as Joe shows up. Anyway, the assassin gets the businessman and Joe shows up too late. He and Wickersham catch up to him and he uses Joyce for cover. Joe shoots him and it is all over. Joyce still doesn't think the assassin would have hurt her. I can see why Mannix and Joyce failed to make it. She is an idiot.

Cast is good and everyone plays their parts well. The businessman target is well played by Henry Calvin. The limitation is the script is complicated and a bit disjointed. The finale has the target getting shot and killed by a sniper at a business convention and nobody seems especially concerned. There isn't even any cops searching the place. They seems to be standing around.

Stray thoughts. We learn Joe fought in a revolution. This outing features a standard plot device in the Mannix series. The bad guy has a rifle and all day to line up a shot on a stationary target and misses. He blames it on the silencer but since he takes several shots, he had time to make the appropriate adjustments. The first time he uses it is against a live target? Really? Mason appeared in two Hogan's Heroes episodes with the same character name, Lily Frankel. In the second episode, despite have the same name, it is clear her character doesn't know Hogan and his gang and is meeting them for the first time. She appeared in the last episode for Perry Mason and for Hogan's Heroes. Henry Beckman, Canadian by birth, is doing a Mexican accent. As pointed out by another reviewer, it fades in and out. Am I the only one who thinks it is kind of creepy that Lew can look into everyone's office via camera and hold conversations? Not sure I could work there. Do Lew and Joe ever have a conversation that doesn't end in an argument? See this episode for Marlyn but this is not one of the better ones. Too bad she didn't do another episode for the series.