A plane crashes in the desert and Joe is hired to find the missing pilot. He finds a small town with a big secret.A plane crashes in the desert and Joe is hired to find the missing pilot. He finds a small town with a big secret.A plane crashes in the desert and Joe is hired to find the missing pilot. He finds a small town with a big secret.
- Peggy Fair
- (credit only)
- Sandy
- (as Karen Huston)
- Mrs. Slocum
- (as Carol Lawson)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Sandy - pretending to be Mrs Slocum - hires Mannix to find Mark Slocum, she mentions "those people, the ones in Chile, who lived for 67 days after their plane crashed." She's referring to the flight disaster involving a Uruguayan aircraft that was carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and crashed in the Andes mountains in October 1972. Sixteen of the passengers survived the freezing conditions and lack of food for over 2 months before they were rescued, just under one year before this episode aired.
- GoofsWhen Mannix is flying the airplane during the search, they show the altimeter, which reads 14,500 feet. At the end of the scene with the airplane, the altimeter is shown again. This time it shows approximately 3,000 feet, and then nearly sea level. Since the Denver area is at an altitude of 5,000 feet above sea level, the altimeter was indicating between two and five thousand feet below ground level in the final airplane scene.
- Quotes
Reverend Walker: [catching Joe digging up the grave they buried the previous day] Hold it right there, Mister! Now, drop the shovel... and turn around real slow.
[Joe faces Walker and Gillis]
Reverend Walker: You were warned to leave town.
Ward Gillis: You ain't very smart, Mister.
Reverend Walker: See if he's got a gun.
[Gillis hands Walker the rifle he's holding and finds Joe's gun]
Reverend Walker: Can you think of any reason why we shouldn't shoot you? Grave robber.
Joe Mannix: I wasn't planning to rob it, just open it.
Reverend Walker: Why?
Joe Mannix: Curiosity.
Ward Gillis: Just who are you?
Joe Mannix: A private detective.
Reverend Walker: Who hired you?
Joe Mannix: Mark Slocum's wife is worried about him. Afraid his plane may have crashed.
Reverend Walker: Well, what makes you think that Mark Slocum is here in Gopher Flats?
Joe Mannix: Because Jeb Carter isn't.
[Gillis cocks Joe's gun]
Joe Mannix: I wouldn't pull that trigger. You don't think I'd come up here without some backup muscle? You'll never get away with it.
Ward Gillis: What if we try?
Joe Mannix: You'd be making a big mistake. You're not in any real trouble yet. Not murder, anyway, the way I figure it. Now, why don't you tell me exactly what happened? Maybe I can help you figure a way out of it.
Ward Gillis: Mister, you ain't gonna live long enough to help anybody.
[a gunshot fires; Joe pushes Walker and Gillis to ground and flees]
- ConnectionsEdited from Mannix: Portrait of a Hero (1972)
This is a terrific episode with an interesting story and lots of tension, suspense, action and excitement. There are also very few clichés.
The performances from the entire cast are excellent. Mark Lenard appears in one scene early on and then disappears for the rest of the episode.
Despite being yet another episode about a small town hiding a secret, this one does not contain the usual cliché regarding the obnoxious and corrupt sheriff who tries to run Joe out of town or throw him in jail on phony charges. In fact, there's no sheriff at all, which is a breath of fresh air as that extremely worn out cliché is avoided here. Instead, the focus is on the action, tension and mystery, which is why this is the best small-town themed episode yet. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Joe doesn't clobbered over the head but does get shot at. There are several good fight scenes and lots of action.
The total body count is three.
The one problem I had is that there are obvious picture quality issues as there are several scenes that are very grainy and dark, but other than that, this one is excellent.