Arthur Mannix (Jack Cassidy) and Hiram Price (Harry Townes) are rival assassins who don't know it yet, but their organization is about to go in for a little downsizing. So, it's not surprising that one of them wouldn't make it to the end of the program. The same to be said for their respective handlers, Attorney Jonathan Rudolph (Alfred Ryder) for Arthur, and Ernest Sylvester (Philip Bourneuf) running Price. There's also one of those glaring coincidences going on that only shows like this could concoct, with Mannix intending to marry the daughter (Jocelyn Lane) of his 'business' contact's opposite, Sylvester. That seemed to be a continuity error in the story, since it was earlier established that Rudolph didn't know any of the higher ups in the organization, and he certainly wouldn't have known the identity of another handler doling out contracts within the same operating territory. I had to laugh when Arthur put that fake plastic nose on as part of his beatnik disguise, do you think that would have fooled anybody? In any event, the story clearly demonstrated who the superior assassin was, but after Hitchcock's closing remarks, I had to wonder how Rudolph and Mannix got away with it for so long, seeing as how Arthur was found out shortly after and was sent on a vacation to San Quentin.
