Mannix (TV Series) Time Out of Mind (1970) User Reviews

Pretty good.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 13 July 2014]

It seems that every cop, detective or medical examiner show had at least one episode about boxing. I remember seeing this on "Hawaii Five-O". "Cannon", "Quincy" and many other similar shows. So, it's not surprising that "Mannix" eventually dealt with this locale.

The show begins with a retired and punchy ex-boxer, Sonny, beating the crap out of a gambler who was trying to fix a fight. At some point, SOMEONE shoots the gambler dead--and Sonny is seen standing there holding the gun. Did he do it? And, if he did, does he even remember thanks to all the poundings he took to his head over the years? Well, he isn't sure--and assumes he'll go to jail for it, so Sonny runs. Mannix's job is to find him and convince him to give himself up-- especially because soon some goons are looking to kill Sonny and/or Mannix.

This is generally a very good episode of the series. My only complaint is the lady who was singing in the bar. She was, to put it mildly, pretty bad. While a very pretty actress and good otherwise, they asked a non-singer to sing and it showed. Still, this is a minor quibble in an otherwise decent program.

Joe wins this on a TKO

[Guad42 · 7/10 · 8 July 2022]

Old fighter Sonny Carter (Brock Peters) is accused of shooting a fight fixer in an alley outside of a gym. Joe gets involved as a favor for a friend of Peggy's. Joe goes to the gym and gets the lowdown for Art and various witnesses or rather non-witnesses as nobody saw a thing as they are clearly covering for Sonny. Have you ever noticed that Joe appears in many venues and always knows everyone, and they know him? Joe talks to corner man Dalton (George Tobias post-Bewitched), fighter Poncho (A Martinez), bookie Russ (Stacy Harris), and Art Malcolm for the official version. Nobody knows nothin'! Joe is lured in a trap and beat up and told to lay off his investigation. Good luck with that happening. Joe meets Larry Starr (Philip Pine) who gives Joe money for Sonny to get a lawyer. A bit of good detective works leads Joe to singer Hallie Woods (Kim Hamilton), an old friend of Sonny's. She tells Joe of Sonny's old house as a likely hideout for him. Joe meets Sonny there but Sonny gets away. Sonny gets grazed by a bullet in a murder attempt. Russ provides some timely info. Joe eventually figures out that Larry was paying boxer Poncho under the table and confronts the two of them. It was Larry's hoods who killed the fixer for running his mouth. It leads nowhere but Larry's hoods follow Joe, and he leads them to Sonny at the boxing arena. A convoluted chase follows and even Dalton turns up with a gun to shoot Sonny. Joe ends up shooting Larry Starr as the police arrive and arrest everyone. The episode ends with Sonny dancing around the ring as Joe watches. Somewhat bittersweet ending. I would have rather seen Hallie rush in and embrace Sonny.

The acting is first rate as it usually is. Has Brock Peters ever been bad? Kim Hamilton is fine. Philip Pine can do slimy bad guy in his sleep and Stacy Harris had a long career in TV and radio. He was one of Jack Webb's favorites for decades. Gail Fisher needed more to do but that is usually true. She is a good actress.

To reinforce one comment made by plankton, the director did Kim Hamilton no favors in having her sing several song lyrics. As my late mother would say, "She can't carry a tune in a bushel basket." Usually when the actor/actress can't sing, they just do the last lyric of a song and then say they'll be back after a break - just enough to establish that he/she is a singer. Not here and it is painful to hear.

Two people should be mentioned who are not in the episode. Robert Pirosh wrote this among his five Mannix episodes. He won an Oscar for writing "Battleground" and was nominated for another for "Go For Broke". He was the driving creative force behind the TV series "Combat!" and wrote one of my personal favorite war movies - "Hell is for Heroes" with Steve McQueen. Check out his work. The other is Jim Webb, who wrote the song "Didn't We" that Kim is trying to sing. He wrote some of the biggest songs in the late 60s/early 70s and is still doing it today. A man of many, many achievements in the musical arena.

Joe is beat up, shot at, and not paid. Par for the course. (Mixing my sport metaphors.) A good episode. Do see it.

Okay Mannix but holy cow, the singer

[commanderbunbun-33718 · 6/10 · 7 December 2022]

I literally had to stop and look up because the singer was so bad. She was screaming. I didn't know why she was screaming the song. I thought she was being dramatic, but then she did it again. A pretty girl, and they made her sing, holy cow.

A decent episode. Always fun when Peggy has old friend she's trying to help. Also fun to see a Martinez so young. Brock peters, from To Kill a Mockingbird was always a welcome character on lots of shows. He's a fighter, and the plot is thin, but it's typical satisfying Mannix stuff. The first half hour manix didn't even get punched or hurt. Pretty unusual for him.

MANNIX AND THE BEAT UP BOXER.

[tcchelsey · 9/10 · 4 April 2023]

Every cop show, sooner or later, has a boxer in trouble story. Robert Pirosh, who wrote five episodes for the series, ties this together rather well, accent more on drama, and applause for the acting.

Brock Peters plays a once famous boxer named Sonny, now accused of murder. The dirty secret is he's burned out and set up as the perfect fall guy in what looks to be an open and shut case. Peters is best known for his outstanding role in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. He also served as the fleet admiral in two STAR TREK movie in the late 80s.

The supporting cast is also the best. Kim Hamilton plays Hallie and look for veteran actress Juanita Moore. Moore was one of a few black actresses at the time to receive an Oscar nomination, well remembered as the housekeeper in IMITATION OF LIFE.

George Tobias (BEWITCHED), a veteran of Warner Brothers war films in the 1940s, plays Dalton.

SO WHODUNIT? Watch very carefully, and for some well staged fight scenes.

Historically speaking, this was filmed at the legendary Olympic Auditorium in downton LA. Opened in 1925, the auditorum was the setting for the 1932 Olympics and a major hub for boxing, roller derbies and music events. In 2005 the building was purchased by the Korean Christian Church.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 3 remastered CBS dvd box set.

An absurd and laughable ending sinks this one

[pkfloydmh · 3/10 · 21 July 2021]

This one is about a former boxer who is accused of murder.

The worst part is the ending, when the thugs magically show up at the secret place Sonny is hiding when they had NO WAY OF KNOWING he was there. Then, despite having numerous opportunities to shoot him, they just STAND AROUND AND DO NOTHING and either just watch him run around or run after him but DON'T SHOOT HIM despite being RIGHT BEHIND HIM. These thugs are as dumb as a rock. I mean, if they weren't going to shoot him, then why are they there? And how did they know he was there? It's all nonsense and totally laughable.

Once again, Joe gets slugged over the head and gets shot at but never hit, so more points off for those.

There are a couple of good fight scenes so I'll give it credit for that but that's all this one has going for it.