"Climb a Deadly Mountain," the third episode of the penultimate season of "Mannix," is a rousing adventure story that must have blown the location filming budget for most of the season. It starts with Joe Mannix boarding a private plane for a trip to an undisclosed destination -- on the strength of a $5,000 retainer. But that's all that we learn of Joe's assignment, because his plane is downed in rugged mountain terrain somewhere on its way to Albuquerque. From there, most of the story turns into a cross between "The Defiant Ones" and "The Most Dangerous Game," as Mannix teams up with Luke Whitney, an escaped convict who claims to have been framed, and to have eminently good reasons for his escape.
Filming this episode must have been particularly uncomfortable for the actors, as they struggle over steep terrain, slog their way through mountain streams, and clamber over boulders -- mostly in the hot sun. Luke initially helps Joe by proxy -- staying out of sight and guiding him with notes and trail markers, leaving him a canteen of water, and then, in a critical moment, returning Joe's gun. All of this, coupled with Luke being played by Greg Morris (former electronics wizard Barney Collier of the then-recently canceled "Mission: Impossible") helps make him a sympathetic figure, so that both Joe and the audience will eventually accept his story about how he became a convict and why his former captors are the real villains of the piece.
It's somewhat of a change of pace for the series -- though not entirely, as there had been other stories about Mannix ending up in the wilderness, especially Season Four's "Figures in a Landscape" and "Sunburst." Like those segments, except for a few early scenes when Peggy worries at the office about first Joe's silence and then his disappearance, this episode was filmed almost entirely on location (i.e., not on the studio back lot). Eventually, Mannix and Luke stumble upon a cabin where an old couple live, leading to a showdown with Luke's (and, by then, Mannix's) pursuers.
Part of the fun of an episode like this is finding out that the guest star is Greg Morris, or that the local sheriff is played by Edward Winter, who is best remembered today for more than a half-dozen appearances as the paranoid, over-the-top spook Col. Flagg in "M*A*S*H." Winter could chew the scenery with gusto in a part like that, so it's a rewarding change of pace to see him in a straight role like this. Gail Fisher also deserves praise for her anguished performance as Peggy, whose deep affection for Joe could never be depicted as more than just feelings; but at least she's allowed to let her emotions boil over in the episode's denouement.
Filming this episode must have been particularly uncomfortable for the actors, as they struggle over steep terrain, slog their way through mountain streams, and clamber over boulders -- mostly in the hot sun. Luke initially helps Joe by proxy -- staying out of sight and guiding him with notes and trail markers, leaving him a canteen of water, and then, in a critical moment, returning Joe's gun. All of this, coupled with Luke being played by Greg Morris (former electronics wizard Barney Collier of the then-recently canceled "Mission: Impossible") helps make him a sympathetic figure, so that both Joe and the audience will eventually accept his story about how he became a convict and why his former captors are the real villains of the piece.
It's somewhat of a change of pace for the series -- though not entirely, as there had been other stories about Mannix ending up in the wilderness, especially Season Four's "Figures in a Landscape" and "Sunburst." Like those segments, except for a few early scenes when Peggy worries at the office about first Joe's silence and then his disappearance, this episode was filmed almost entirely on location (i.e., not on the studio back lot). Eventually, Mannix and Luke stumble upon a cabin where an old couple live, leading to a showdown with Luke's (and, by then, Mannix's) pursuers.
Part of the fun of an episode like this is finding out that the guest star is Greg Morris, or that the local sheriff is played by Edward Winter, who is best remembered today for more than a half-dozen appearances as the paranoid, over-the-top spook Col. Flagg in "M*A*S*H." Winter could chew the scenery with gusto in a part like that, so it's a rewarding change of pace to see him in a straight role like this. Gail Fisher also deserves praise for her anguished performance as Peggy, whose deep affection for Joe could never be depicted as more than just feelings; but at least she's allowed to let her emotions boil over in the episode's denouement.
