Fans today do not recall all the quirky bad guy roles Leslie Neilson played back in the day. Here, he's a bearded rascal, a Vietnam war reporter, whose side job is drugs. Neilson pulls out all the stops in an over the top role as a real charmer and schemer, who also happens to be Pete's old bud! And can you tell he is having a blast?? A big surprise here is the appearance of mega singer Vikki Carr, who "occasionally" did some acting roles, and was very good. Carr, of all things, plays Neilson's fiance and what a complex case this becomes for the Squad. Captain Greer is grouchy in this one. Can you blame the guy?
Carr, just a few years earlier, was voted by the LA Times the most popular singer in the world and at the time had sang for the inaugural of President Nixon. Later she sang for Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton! The beach Malibu house where Carr makes here home is still around and looks the same! There's also, without fail, one of those old cars rolling off a cliff explosions, following in the tradition of MANNIX.
Look for all around bit actor Bob Harks (you'll recognized his face instantly) who appeared in hundreds of tv shows as a bystander, party goer, wedding guest, bar tender, guards and the like. He made an incredible career of this for decades, and should have written a book which would have been historical. He either had a supreme agent or lots of luck. Probably next to the pervious episode, another of the season's very best. SEASON 4 EPISODE 16 dvd box set.