One reviewer of the Mannix series calculated the number of times Joe had been shot and knocked out. It would be interesting to know the number of times he was hired by criminal clients and the number of times he wasn't paid. I bet the two results would be higher than we think.
Anyway, both situations happen here. It begins with threatening phone calls to Joe and followed by a near miss rifle shot that kills Joe's office door. Joe thinks an old adversary is out for revenge. Joe has a client, Karl Hastings (Victor French), who wants his missing wife found. He gives Joe an undeveloped roll of film that has recent photos of the wife on it. Joe goes to the photo shop across the square from his office. The shop's owner, Barry Nolan (Jason Wingreen), reports the film roll is blank as the photographer didn't remove the lens cap. Joe then see the sniper on a nearby roof. He shouts a warning but the sniper shoots and kills Nolan. The cops show up and so does Jill Packard (Loretta Swit), looking for her developed photos. She can get them later but we know she is involved. Things now seem to go Joe's way as a sniper suspect is identified and he and Art go to get the man. The suspect ends up falling to his death, so the case is closed, maybe. Hastings's wife is found floating offshore. After Karl identifies the body, he wants Joe to stay on the case to track down the murderer, even though Art Malcolm says the cause of death isn't established yet. Joe goes on a date with Jill and, as they exit Joe's car, the sniper strikes again with another near miss shot. Joe does some figuring and comes to the conclusion that he is not the sniper's target but Nolan and Jill were. He and Jill look at her recent photos and figure out one is an altered copy. They go to the photo shop to find the original. Due to a classic Joe deduction, they find it hidden in the garbage can lid. A copy of blown ups photos later, they see that Jill had inadvertently captured an image of Hastings strangling his wife. Joe figuring and the work in the photo lab is excellently done. It was interesting and seemed realistic. Joe may have had one great deduction, but he should have had two - lock the front door of the shop! Hastings comes in and gets the drop on them. The truth comes out. Nolan was developing Jill's film and saw the killing. He wants to blackmail Hastings so Hastings hires Joe to use him as a prop in his plan to kill Nolan and Jill while making it look like Joe is the target. The irony is Jill knew nothing as Nolan had airbrushed the scene from the altered negative and she never saw the crime. As always with Mannix plots, there are questions that are best not asked. How did Nolan know it was Hastings? He is just a guy in a photo. How did Hastings know that Jill took the photos? Nolan told him? I doubt it. What are the odds that Jill would show up at the shop while Joe is there? Long odds indeed and if they don't meet, Hastings can't use the "Mannix angle" to kill Jill. Lucky break for him they did meet. Wouldn't the autopsy on the wife show she had been strangled and the husband would automatically have been the number one suspect? Like always, we'll overlook all that.
Up until now, I'm still invested in the plot but now the episode goes off the rails. Hastings takes Joe and Jill out in the desert in Joe's car. Jill has to take photos to provide a reason for the trip while Joe loosens the radiator hose. The plan is they will drive the car in the desert until it breaks down and then Joe and Jill will die as they try to walk to safety. The car does break down and the two victims walk with Hastings behind them with a pistol and a canteen. They spend the night in the desert and start again in the morning. Hastings had hidden his jeep out there and they come upon it. Now he gets in it and drives behind the two others. Jill collapses and then Joe does the same. As Hastings turns him over, Joe throws sand in his face, gets the gun, and the trio drive out in the jeep. The end. This desert sequence is an episode killer. Why didn't Hastings just take them back to his house, lock them in the basement and wait for them to die of old age? Makes as much sense. The holes in this plan are many and massive. To cover just a few - what if they had run into other people? The plan gave ample time for Joe or Jill to jump Hastings. He had to stayed up all night to cover them. What good plan would have that in it? They were in the desert for around 24 hours. Good thing TV characters never use the bathroom. Not sure about the logistics for that. When Hastings uncovers his semi-hidden jeep, I immediately wondered when he prepositioned his jeep out there, how did he get back to civilization? Just a few of the many obvious problems with this ending.
The acting is good. As Swit and French would prove through their long careers, they are both fine actors. Wingreen had a short appearance here, but he was a trooper for any years. Ward Wood as Art provided his usual strong support.
Stray thoughts. There is an odd conversation when Joe first meets Jill in the photo shop. Joe tells her that the owner took a bullet meant for him and she replies, "Lucky you." First, Joe never should have told her that. The information should stay within the investigation and her reply was a bit callous considering Joe clearly feels guilty about it. This has no bearing on the episode, it was just strange. Should not have been written that way. Second, whoever dressed the Jill character did her no favors. The knee-high white boots and mini skirt are nice to look at, but the large white cap worn by Jill in the first meeting makes Swit look like a go-go dancer on "Laugh-In". I don't think a globetrotting famous photographer would dress like that. She would be more practical. I guess any fashion looks ridiculous fifty years later. I definitely don't want to see Joe in a Nehru jacket. Lastly, would a world-famous photographer be getting her work developed in a local neighborhood photo shop?
The first 2/3 of the show was an 8 and the ending was a 2 so let's give it a mediocre 5. Joe gets dehydrated, sunburnt, and not paid. He has repair bills for his car. He did get to commune with nature and, hopefully, dated Jill more times.
Anyway, both situations happen here. It begins with threatening phone calls to Joe and followed by a near miss rifle shot that kills Joe's office door. Joe thinks an old adversary is out for revenge. Joe has a client, Karl Hastings (Victor French), who wants his missing wife found. He gives Joe an undeveloped roll of film that has recent photos of the wife on it. Joe goes to the photo shop across the square from his office. The shop's owner, Barry Nolan (Jason Wingreen), reports the film roll is blank as the photographer didn't remove the lens cap. Joe then see the sniper on a nearby roof. He shouts a warning but the sniper shoots and kills Nolan. The cops show up and so does Jill Packard (Loretta Swit), looking for her developed photos. She can get them later but we know she is involved. Things now seem to go Joe's way as a sniper suspect is identified and he and Art go to get the man. The suspect ends up falling to his death, so the case is closed, maybe. Hastings's wife is found floating offshore. After Karl identifies the body, he wants Joe to stay on the case to track down the murderer, even though Art Malcolm says the cause of death isn't established yet. Joe goes on a date with Jill and, as they exit Joe's car, the sniper strikes again with another near miss shot. Joe does some figuring and comes to the conclusion that he is not the sniper's target but Nolan and Jill were. He and Jill look at her recent photos and figure out one is an altered copy. They go to the photo shop to find the original. Due to a classic Joe deduction, they find it hidden in the garbage can lid. A copy of blown ups photos later, they see that Jill had inadvertently captured an image of Hastings strangling his wife. Joe figuring and the work in the photo lab is excellently done. It was interesting and seemed realistic. Joe may have had one great deduction, but he should have had two - lock the front door of the shop! Hastings comes in and gets the drop on them. The truth comes out. Nolan was developing Jill's film and saw the killing. He wants to blackmail Hastings so Hastings hires Joe to use him as a prop in his plan to kill Nolan and Jill while making it look like Joe is the target. The irony is Jill knew nothing as Nolan had airbrushed the scene from the altered negative and she never saw the crime. As always with Mannix plots, there are questions that are best not asked. How did Nolan know it was Hastings? He is just a guy in a photo. How did Hastings know that Jill took the photos? Nolan told him? I doubt it. What are the odds that Jill would show up at the shop while Joe is there? Long odds indeed and if they don't meet, Hastings can't use the "Mannix angle" to kill Jill. Lucky break for him they did meet. Wouldn't the autopsy on the wife show she had been strangled and the husband would automatically have been the number one suspect? Like always, we'll overlook all that.
Up until now, I'm still invested in the plot but now the episode goes off the rails. Hastings takes Joe and Jill out in the desert in Joe's car. Jill has to take photos to provide a reason for the trip while Joe loosens the radiator hose. The plan is they will drive the car in the desert until it breaks down and then Joe and Jill will die as they try to walk to safety. The car does break down and the two victims walk with Hastings behind them with a pistol and a canteen. They spend the night in the desert and start again in the morning. Hastings had hidden his jeep out there and they come upon it. Now he gets in it and drives behind the two others. Jill collapses and then Joe does the same. As Hastings turns him over, Joe throws sand in his face, gets the gun, and the trio drive out in the jeep. The end. This desert sequence is an episode killer. Why didn't Hastings just take them back to his house, lock them in the basement and wait for them to die of old age? Makes as much sense. The holes in this plan are many and massive. To cover just a few - what if they had run into other people? The plan gave ample time for Joe or Jill to jump Hastings. He had to stayed up all night to cover them. What good plan would have that in it? They were in the desert for around 24 hours. Good thing TV characters never use the bathroom. Not sure about the logistics for that. When Hastings uncovers his semi-hidden jeep, I immediately wondered when he prepositioned his jeep out there, how did he get back to civilization? Just a few of the many obvious problems with this ending.
The acting is good. As Swit and French would prove through their long careers, they are both fine actors. Wingreen had a short appearance here, but he was a trooper for any years. Ward Wood as Art provided his usual strong support.
Stray thoughts. There is an odd conversation when Joe first meets Jill in the photo shop. Joe tells her that the owner took a bullet meant for him and she replies, "Lucky you." First, Joe never should have told her that. The information should stay within the investigation and her reply was a bit callous considering Joe clearly feels guilty about it. This has no bearing on the episode, it was just strange. Should not have been written that way. Second, whoever dressed the Jill character did her no favors. The knee-high white boots and mini skirt are nice to look at, but the large white cap worn by Jill in the first meeting makes Swit look like a go-go dancer on "Laugh-In". I don't think a globetrotting famous photographer would dress like that. She would be more practical. I guess any fashion looks ridiculous fifty years later. I definitely don't want to see Joe in a Nehru jacket. Lastly, would a world-famous photographer be getting her work developed in a local neighborhood photo shop?
The first 2/3 of the show was an 8 and the ending was a 2 so let's give it a mediocre 5. Joe gets dehydrated, sunburnt, and not paid. He has repair bills for his car. He did get to commune with nature and, hopefully, dated Jill more times.