Mannix (TV Series) A Way to Dusty Death (1973) User Reviews

THE BEST SHOW ON SUNDAY NIGHTS.

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 12 July 2023]

Some reviewers DO NOT remember Sunday nights back in the 70s. MANNIX was the man, the CBS mystery night (with the slinking black cat), followed by BARNABY JONES. This episode is a classic example.

Yes, a bit confusing, hazy when it comes to the legal procedings, but.... the show was designed for adventure, and we kids loved it. Case in point, Joe wrecks two cars here. What do you want?

Salute to Herb Meadow, who wrote this story and created the iconic western series HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL. Holy smokes. Right after this episode he wrote for CANNON, with even higher ratings (Top 10) on Wednesday nights. Wow.

Check out the stellar cast. One of the greats, Howard Duff, who reminded me a bit of Broderick Crawford, (fondly remembered for MR ADAMS AND EVE), plays the brash sheriff of one of those unfriendly small towns. Joe has the task to stop into Duff's hamlet of hate and search for a friend's missing son, convicted on rape and murder charges. This guy is in a mess, and does Duff have something to do with it? Lots of red herrings here... Be patient.

Former WWII pinup, singer, dancer and comedian (a rival to Doris Day) Janis Paige plays Georgia, who's son is on the run. This was her only appearance on MANNIX, and it's a shame. Janis had a terrific role as the wife of a murdered cowboy millionaire on COLUMBO, prior to this. Watching her is always a treat. Janis was married to the famous song writer Ray Gilbert, who wrote the Oscar winner, "Zip a Dee Doo Dah." They were a team right up to his sudden death, a few years after this episode.

For all you soap opera fans, there's young Anthony Geary as Eddie. Geary earned a record 10 daytime Emmy awards as Luke on General Hospital. Prior to this he guested on the PARTRIDGE FAMILY, if you remember.

This was probably shot up in the high desert, near Lancaster, California, where there's lots of space and heat. Also the best place for westerns.

By the way, Janis Paige as of 2024 is 101 years young, and hopefully doing well. Always in our thoughts.

Recomended. Classic, cult 70s tv. SEASON 7 EPISODE 2 CBS/Paramount remastered dvd box set. And the color is a lot better than when originally telecast in the 70s.

Not that bad....but it did make a few mistakes here and there.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 16 January 2016]

There is one other review for this episode and they hated this one. I could see some mistakes here and there but didn't think it was that bad....but I can see what the other reviewer thought.

When the show begins, Mannix has gone to a very small town and everyone is nasty and wishes he'd leave--especially the sheriff. If this sounds familiar, the same situation presented itself twice in season one. In this case, he's looking for a young man who was just released from prison but mysteriously disappeared...and his mother is worried about him. As far as prison goes, he'd been there after being convicted of rape and murder...but he was let out by an appeals court due to a technicality. Now, folks just want him to go...especially the biker gang that attack him when the show begins. Eventually Mannix works it all out...but not until he's lost two cars and nearly been killed.

So what doesn't work about the episode? Well, the familiarity of the situation isn't good. Most readers will automatically assume the sheriff is somehow in on it...and this aspect of the show was handled poorly. What didn't work for me most, however, was when the discussed what the technicality was that set the man free-- apparently he was picked out by a witness but there was no official police lineup. This would be a great reason for an appeal...except that this occurred in a small town and the surviving victim knew her supposed attacker very well! So this technicality makes no sense...and our courts aren't THAT dumb to dismiss a rape and murder conviction because of this. What I did like was...well, okay, I'll admit it, the show was just okay otherwise. Exciting, worth seeing but a bit of a disappointment.

Sloppy and chaotic with a lot of crew members visible in various scenes

[pkfloydmh · 2/10 · 17 April 2015]

In this one, Joe is hired by a woman to find her missing son and prove he's innocent of a murder charge. It takes place in a town called Lindero.

There are all kinds of problems in this one, including technical errors, character errors, bad acting, plot holes and clichés.

Things get off to a very bad start in the scene at the beginning with the bikers, where there are obvious continuity errors. At first Joe is getting very close to them and is almost about to crash right into them, then in the very next shot they're nowhere to be seen and Joe is inexplicably swerving his car for no reason since they're nowhere around, then in the next shot they're back to being very close to him again.

Then the scene where the car blows up is all messed up as all of the camera angles are crooked. This was very poorly executed.

Anthony Eldridge (who portrays Danny) is a lousy actor and it's no wonder he didn't have much of an acting career after this and pretty much disappeared a couple years later. He is really dreadful, as is Howard Duff, who overacts throughout in his role as the sheriff.

There's also a major contradiction regarding Danny, as he's portrayed throughout the episode by all of his friends and family as being a certain type of person, but then at the end he's exactly the opposite of that, which doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Yet another mistake is having the sheriff and Eddie as brothers, which is laughable since Howard Duff is at least twice as old as him, if not more.

Then of course there are all of the usual small-town clichés - a cocky, corrupt and nasty sheriff who is hiding a secret and refuses to help Joe, all of which have been seen an endless number of times before.

For the very first time, parts of the fight scene in the strip club are shown in slow motion, which is a big disappointment as it reduces the effectiveness, excitement, and flow of the scene. This scene was very badly done.

Another big problem is it easily sets the record for the number of crew members that are visible in the various scenes. In the scene where Joe and the sheriff are standing at the hotel door and talking to Pops, you can see a crew member in a t-shirt reflected in the window to the left of the sheriff. Then when Joe and the sheriff are walking past the hotel rooms, you can see several crew members reflected in the hotel window. Then when Joe walks into the hotel lobby to check out, you can see the cameraman and the camera reflected in the window and you can see them once again when he walks out. Then when the sheriff is talking to Joe after he checks out, you can see numerous crew members reflected in the sheriff's sunglasses.

There's another obvious continuity error in the scene where Joe is talking to the teacher as a green decoration suddenly appears on her desk in the middle of the scene that wasn't there in any of the previous shots.

Then when Joe goes to meet Danny in the desert, the sheriff somehow miraculously shows up there when he had no way of knowing Joe and Danny were there.

This is by far the sloppiest episode to date, with an unprecedented number of mistakes. When it comes to production values, this is amateur hour. The producers were laughably inept here. This is certainly not what you'd expect on a prime time show on one of the three major networks. Shame on CBS for the lack of quality control and for allowing this episode to air in this condition.

Hope Joe bought the insurance with his rental cars

[Guad42 · 3/10 · 17 January 2022]

Not a great episode. Joe is hired by mother Georgia Durian (Janis Paige) to find her son Danny (Anthony Eldridge) who was just released from jail on a murder charge due to a technicality. As pointed out by others, that technicality wouldn't get him out but whatever. Joe goes to a bad small town run by a bad small town police chief (Howard Duff). Everyone know the kid is guilty and his disappearance while coming back from jail only confirms it. The theory is he ran away. As usual, everything is against Joe, but he perseveres. He gets two rental cars destroyed, has a couple of run in with punk kids including the police chief's brother. He figures out the kid is with his father who is divorced from his mother. The father is a ranger and Joe goes there and finds out the kid is out in the desert getting his mind right. Joe goes to see him and is followed by the police chief. Again, others have pointed out that there is no way for him to know where Joe was. The kid pops up at a very good time to save Joe from the bad chief and it comes out the younger brother of the chief did the murder and the chief covered it up.

Lots of holes here. Why Joe just didn't find out about the father first is a question. Seems like the obvious first step. Joe run in with the motorcycle kids seems unnecessary. They could have come up with a better way to introduce the bad little brother. George Murdock, as the victim's father, seemed like a wasted character. Sloppy filing with crew members seen throughout the episode.

The filming of this episode is a little different. Lots of close ups and a "you are there" type of feeling to it. The fight in the bar is in slow-mo so that's gives it an odd pacing.

The cast is okay. I've never been a Howard Duff fan as he is always playing Howard Duff. You know he is the bad guy right off. He is much too old to have a teenaged kid brother. There is not a lot to root for here. At least Joe got paid. Since he got the kid off of the murder rap, the money was double. A nice payday. You can skip this outing and not miss much.