Mannix (TV Series) A Sleep in the Deep (1969) User Reviews

THE SALT WATER WILL KILL YA. FO' SURE!

[tcchelsey · 9/10 · 7 June 2022]

A fairly good whodunit, but I have to agree with a few reviewers there are some questions. As kids... we never asked anything, however as adults, that's another story...

Here, Mariana Hill (as Ellen) hires Joe to find out who killed her husband, a famous swimmer who simply drowns. It turns out he was involved in a secret government project. Interestingly, if you keep score on most cop shows (not only Mannix), should someone be associated with ANYTHING top secret, their days are genuinely numbered.

Mannix goes up against some suspicious characters with fists and there are some beautiful ladies to balance out the story. Mariana Hill became a cult figure, appearing on BATMAN as Cleo and as Deanna Corleone in THE GODFATHER, PART II. She also spent many years at Warner Brothers/ABC tv.

Look for Paul Stewart, always fun to watch, especially as a sly, resourceful suspect. Stewart got his start thanks to Orson Welles in CITIZEN KANE.

Yes, the curious scene bantered about has Joe beaten up in front of Peggy, who doesn't do anything. This again underlines what I had written about in past episodes; Peggy should have carried a gun herself, even if she wasn't a crack shot. It would have at least scared the goons and gave Joe a fighting chance!

Look for Charles Seel playing the blind man, who turned up in dozens of dramas. A very familiar veteran actor.

Beautifully filmed at Corona del Mar, which is part of Newport Beach, and very, very expensive. In fact, it may be the most expensive port in the country. Also local law dictates that alcohol is forbidden at the beach all summer long, until the day after Labor Day. Whether or not all beach goers respect it, who knows???

SEASON 3. EPISODE 7 remastered CBS dvd box set.

A very interesting episode but one with also a few odd lapses.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 3 November 2013]

The show begins with a widow hiring Mannix to look into her husband's recent death. The death was ruled an accident and the authorities think he bashed his head while scuba diving and drowned. However, the man was a fantastic swimming and very, very seasoned diver so the wife, not surprisingly, doesn't buy this official account. To investigate, Mannix heads to the marina and hangs among the yacht club set. Fortunately, he has some help, as the head of security (Milton Selzer) is an old friend--and a man whose life Joe Mannix saved years ago.

Overall, this is a very good episode because the plot is extremely novel. However, while I'd like to score this one higher I can't because of a couple stupid little scenes. In one, Mannix is being attacked by a guy named Gordon (who has a gun) and Peggy just stands there doing NOTHING--a horrible cliché. Another time, a baddie captures Mannix but inexplicably doesn't kill him--planning on killing him a bit later! Such sloppy scenes just should have been written better

One of the best Mannix episodes I have seen. And I have watched all 194 shows.

[JasCol-08124 · 10/10 · 22 May 2022]

Mariana Hill, Sivi Aberg and Angel Tompkins are beautiful and on full display. The marina setting is picturesque. The plot is good with the "who done it " much less obvious than usual. A bevy of Star Trek actor crossovers, just enough martial arts fighting and secret government projects to keep the whole thing interesting.

Missing credit

[cpotato1010 · 7 June 2022]

Who is the woman (hostess) at the restaurant that Mannix pays to distract "Barbara Stoner / Sondra Markham" with a fake phone call?

There is no-one matching her description in the cast credits.

As for some of the discontinuities, I wonder if this is due to hack editing for syndication. Aside from the scene where Mannix is held at gunpoint, then is holding the gun, when he shows up at "Barbara Stoner / Sondra Markham"'s apartment, he is suddenly just inside, without her opening the door.

Aside for some glitches like these, a good episode, well worth watching.

An appalling and inexplicable ending sinks this one

[pkfloydmh · 2/10 · 4 July 2021]

This one was pretty good up until the ending where the bad guy has Mannix at gunpoint and it appears he's going to shoot him, then the scene cuts away for a few seconds and then returns, and now Mannix has the bad guy at gunpoint with NO EXPLANATION of what happened! This scene destroyed what was otherwise a very good episode and would have warranted a high rating from me, but not with this appalling ending.

This could have been a good one...

[Guad42 · 5/10 · 8 September 2021]

The premise is an interesting one. The widow of a recently deceased scuba diver hires Joe as she believes her husband's death was not accidental. Joe snoops around the yacht club where, fortunately, the security man (Milton Setzer) is a retired cop who Joe once saved. Joe gets him to check fingerprints on a glass and have the results by the morning. Security guy must have some pull to get that done. He also gives Joe his master key so he can look around. That is a job ender if caught. Joe does his investigating, gets in a fight with a naval intelligence agent, discovers a man's daughter is not his daughter, finds out the entire case is about a rebreather device that is worth millions. The ending is strange where the bad guy just gives up his gun and graciously surrenders. The Italian actress character is just a waste of time. Not sure why she is in the story at all except as eye candy. After all the excitement as the case is brought to a close, she comes out of her cabin without a clue as to what is going on. Gun shots usually alarm people but not her.

The cast is the TV veterans this series always bring in. Skip Homeier is making his only appearance on Mannix. A bit strange as he was very active as a guest on shows and Mannix was on for eight years. Milton Setzer was on everything back then. Paul Stewart did the rounds also. Look for Jonathan Goldsmith, then going by Jonathan Lippe. Decades later, he would be the "most interesting man in the world" in those great beer commercials.

Stray thoughts. Another reviewer wrote that Stoner's room is the same one used for Peggy's place in other episodes. He is right. When Joe and Peggy let themselves in to the place, they pass the hall closet with a sliding lock on the outside. In episode 3-1 (Eagles Sometimes Can't Fly), Joe and Peggy are locked in that closet and Joe kicks his way out. That episode stays with me because who puts a lock on the outside of a hall closet?

Andre Korvak (Paul Stewart) offers Joe champagne, which he accepts. Later, Korvak offers him a second glass of wine.

The Navy intel agent (Skip Homeier) receives a phone call in a girl's apartment. The caller is the agent's partner. How did the guy know where to call him?

Not a horrible episode but the plot holes (as pointed out by other reviewers) make it tough to recommend. At least Joe got paid and didn't get shot or knocked out. That's a win for him.

5/10

[filmklassik · 5/10 · 20 December 2016]

Agree with planktonrules that this episode suffers from uncharacteristically poor plotting. In addition to Peggy just standing there like a wallflower at the Homecoming Dance as Mannix gets the hell kicked out of him, there's also an ending where the main villain has Mannix at gun point... the action then cuts to the cops closing in on them.... and when we cut back to Mannix and the villain seconds later it's suddenly Mannix who's pointing the gun!

(Of course the presumption here is that the villain decided to surrender rather than be caught holding an innocent man at gun point, but the moment still comes off as confusing)

And the "MacGuffin" in the episode -- an experimental device that allows scuba divers to draw oxygen from seawater -- smacks of pure science fiction and is out of keeping with the reality of the Mannix universe.

The episode is not unwatchable -- it's MANNIX, after all, so most of it is fast-paced and involving -- but Geller, Goff and Roberts had done much better before, and would do much better again in the future.