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.
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series)
The Photographer and the Undertaker (1965)
User Reviews
Review this title9 Reviews
"In our business, how a man dies is very important."
classicsoncall17 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Moving Up in the Criminal Organization
dougdoepke23 October 2015
Nifty premise—two hit men are assigned by the same employer outfit to kill each other, the survivor getting to move up in the criminal organization. It's also done to improve business "efficiency" by cutting unneeded employees. Then too, I get the feeling screenwriter Hayes is having fun showing how principles from legitimate business carry over to criminal enterprise. Looks like there's padding in some of the talk scenes extending beyond the narrative point. The on-screen ending is unusually uncompromised; that is, until Hitch comes to the scale balancing rescue.
In the pivotal role, Cassidy is cast against type. He's really best in comedy roles where his natural charm can shine. Here there's too little of a hit-man's needed menace. Still, there're some good touches—Cassidy taking over enjoyment of the TV ball game from guy he's just killed; the pixieish Lane popping up from behind a sandbar; Cassidy's goofy hipster persona even if unbelievable. All in all, the material has more potential than the execution, and I suspect, would have worked better as a half-hour entry, as another reviewer points out.
In the pivotal role, Cassidy is cast against type. He's really best in comedy roles where his natural charm can shine. Here there's too little of a hit-man's needed menace. Still, there're some good touches—Cassidy taking over enjoyment of the TV ball game from guy he's just killed; the pixieish Lane popping up from behind a sandbar; Cassidy's goofy hipster persona even if unbelievable. All in all, the material has more potential than the execution, and I suspect, would have worked better as a half-hour entry, as another reviewer points out.
Intriguing
jeffreyrepace25 July 2023
Interesting set up. I think Cassidy makes a fine villain...he was perhaps the best of all the Columbo murderers in that long series. I don't mind the grinning. Always liked Harry Townes as well....such a great character actor on so many series over the decades. 2 interesting observations:
Cassidy's character is "Mannix?"....is that coincidental or what? Wondering if anyone from this episode was involved in the development of Mannix a few years later?
Mannix is eerily similar to the hitman from the Road to Perdition, played by Jude Law. Essentially the same character. Got to think the latter robbed from the former! How did that slip by.
And as someone else noted, fantasy mirrored reality in terms of Cassidy's actual death...creepy!
Cassidy's character is "Mannix?"....is that coincidental or what? Wondering if anyone from this episode was involved in the development of Mannix a few years later?
Mannix is eerily similar to the hitman from the Road to Perdition, played by Jude Law. Essentially the same character. Got to think the latter robbed from the former! How did that slip by.
And as someone else noted, fantasy mirrored reality in terms of Cassidy's actual death...creepy!
Ill try to make it quick!
sol121827 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Not one of the series best but still worth watching involving professional photographer Arthur Mannix, Jack Cassidy,and undertaker Harim Price, Harry Townes, who are pitted against each other in a game of death to see who's #1. Not #1 in their official professions in the world of photography and disposing of the dearly departed but #1 in what they really do for a living in being professional hit-men. As we soon see both men Mannix & Price work for the same firm and with cost cutting measures coming in the next-1965-fiscial year it's decided by the top brass that they don't need the two of them. One will be enough and that one has to prove himself by being able to both outmaneuver and "hit" his opponent!
There's also the very pressing issue for hit-man photographer Mannix in him wanting to marry pretty Sylvia Sylveter, Jocelyn Lane, who's stuffy father Mr. Sylverster, Philip Bourneuf, is anything but impressed by his future son-in-law's financial situation. In him not having enough money,in Mr. Sylvester's opinion, in the bank-$50,000.00-to be able to support a wife & family. This makes Mannix the more determined of the two hit-men, in getting paid $10,000.00 per hit, to do his job successfully. What both Mannix and Price don't know it that their next hit is to be on each other that's been set up by their employer Murder Inc. through their mutual contacts Arthur & Earnest who know exactly what the score is. The one who succeeds is the one who not only stays alive but lives to kill another day and gets paid, by Murder inc., twice the price for doing it!
***SPOILERS*** The ending was spoiled in the shows epilogue by "The Master" Alfred Hitchcock himself in him being forced by the then almost non-existence Hayes Commission on ethics in the movies to spoil all the hard work the surviving hit-man did to stay alive. Which in fact was about the best part of this very boring and talkative film.
There's also the very pressing issue for hit-man photographer Mannix in him wanting to marry pretty Sylvia Sylveter, Jocelyn Lane, who's stuffy father Mr. Sylverster, Philip Bourneuf, is anything but impressed by his future son-in-law's financial situation. In him not having enough money,in Mr. Sylvester's opinion, in the bank-$50,000.00-to be able to support a wife & family. This makes Mannix the more determined of the two hit-men, in getting paid $10,000.00 per hit, to do his job successfully. What both Mannix and Price don't know it that their next hit is to be on each other that's been set up by their employer Murder Inc. through their mutual contacts Arthur & Earnest who know exactly what the score is. The one who succeeds is the one who not only stays alive but lives to kill another day and gets paid, by Murder inc., twice the price for doing it!
***SPOILERS*** The ending was spoiled in the shows epilogue by "The Master" Alfred Hitchcock himself in him being forced by the then almost non-existence Hayes Commission on ethics in the movies to spoil all the hard work the surviving hit-man did to stay alive. Which in fact was about the best part of this very boring and talkative film.
The Jack Cassidy Show
sneedsnood9 May 2015
Jack Cassidy never achieved the stardom he craved, which is pretty sad considering how desperately he seemed to want it. Not nearly as handsome as wife Shirley Jones has always insisted, he was a leading man on Broadway, but the camera picked up something cold and slightly epicene, making him an unlikely leading man. He was best at playing smarmy con artists and smiling assassins, which is exactly what he plays here in this very dull episode. Too much talking between two characters in one room takes up most of the time. There's too much of Jack Cassidy's grinning teeth. Too much of Jack Cassidy making veiled comments. When fire plays a huge role in the plot, there's too much reminding us that Jack Cassidy died that way. There's a lot of cat-and-mouse, a few other characters, but it's mostly about Jack Cassidy attempting to create something out of nothing and not succeeding.
Murder, They Said
telegonus22 April 2011
The Photographer and the Undertaker is a sharply written episode from the final Hitchcock season, doesn't quite do it for me, as its attempts to be lighthearted and cynical/mod/sophisticated, while right for the time (1965) don't feel right on this particular show. Nor does the performance of Jack Cassidy as the photographer who just also happens to be a hit-man, come off. He's too slick for the part, conveys neither the requisite foxiness (how else could the character get away with living such an outrageous double life?) nor brains. I can see someone like Darren McGavin doing much better.
As the undertaker, who is, more appropriately, in the same line of work on the side, the dour, soulful looking Harry Townes is a much better fit, and I wish he or rather his character had more screen time. Alfred Ryder is excellent in a vaguely defined role as a kind of middleman between the hit men and the big boys of the "organization". Better still, is the gorgeous Jocelyn Lane as Cassidy's much younger girlfriend, whom he hopes to marry. Alas, her stern, moralistic father doesn't approve of the racy photographer who, besides which, doesn't have a large enough bank account to please the old man. The photographer comes up with an ingenious scheme to fix this problem.
The story would have worked better as a half-hour, in my opinion. The viewer learns more than he needs to know about the major characters, and the sting in the tail ending would have been a lot funnier with a faster pace, less padding.
As the undertaker, who is, more appropriately, in the same line of work on the side, the dour, soulful looking Harry Townes is a much better fit, and I wish he or rather his character had more screen time. Alfred Ryder is excellent in a vaguely defined role as a kind of middleman between the hit men and the big boys of the "organization". Better still, is the gorgeous Jocelyn Lane as Cassidy's much younger girlfriend, whom he hopes to marry. Alas, her stern, moralistic father doesn't approve of the racy photographer who, besides which, doesn't have a large enough bank account to please the old man. The photographer comes up with an ingenious scheme to fix this problem.
The story would have worked better as a half-hour, in my opinion. The viewer learns more than he needs to know about the major characters, and the sting in the tail ending would have been a lot funnier with a faster pace, less padding.
Talky and disappointing.
planktonrules27 June 2021
I have noticed that several of the later episodes of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" were pretty disappointing. I guess it makes sense, as the show was on its third season AND came after seven seasons of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". It just seems that a few of the shows had inferior scripts...and perhaps these were ones rejected for earlier seasons.
"The Photographer and the Undertaker" is a show about an assassin who takes pictures of his work to prove he's killed the assigned victims. The problem is that later, the man he's assigned to kill is another assassin....one who was paid to kill him!! Who will win and why would they both have contracts for each other?
The biggest problem about this show is that it is incredibly talky....probably in order to pad the episode out to an hour time slot. It also doesn't make a lot of sense....especially at the end. A misfire....not among the worst but close.
"The Photographer and the Undertaker" is a show about an assassin who takes pictures of his work to prove he's killed the assigned victims. The problem is that later, the man he's assigned to kill is another assassin....one who was paid to kill him!! Who will win and why would they both have contracts for each other?
The biggest problem about this show is that it is incredibly talky....probably in order to pad the episode out to an hour time slot. It also doesn't make a lot of sense....especially at the end. A misfire....not among the worst but close.
Silly Hitchcock
collings50031 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I love the notion of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour: unique stories, often well-told, no sacred cows or political correctness for the kiddies. So I guess I judge them by higher standards. That said, this episode seems like a premise looking for a plot, something cobbled together by a batch of high school students. The characters engage in stilted, endless dialogue that seems to have no point. Plot twists abound that make no sense. (Who the heck is this future father-in-law, and what's he doing?) There is even a silly scene with Jack Cassidy dressed up in pre-hippy garb, bopping around in the park to that awful, generic instrumental music that often passed for cheapo "rock 'n roll" in so many 1960s TV dramas. Cassidy may have done a good comic turn or two in his career, but he has zero charisma here and he doesn't convey anything remotely associated with "drama" or "depth". Five minutes in, he was simply annoying and I kept hoping he would be the one rubbed out in the end. No such luck.
Tiresome Little Mess
Hitchcoc31 May 2023
To start with, let's again point out that if we listen to Hitch's epilogue, nearly every episode (hundreds) would be ruined. Ignore them as if he had never appeared. His presence isn't all that funny anyway. I have trouble with Jack Cassidy in any context. His grinning, self centered appearance, his smugness makes it hard to watch him. This is an absurd story of a couple of hit men who are running parallel careers. It's about an autocrat who is using his daughter as a pawn. It's a story that is far fetched. The scene where Cassidy has the transistor radio and acts like a beatnik is so stupid it rivals almost anything I've ever seen. Yuk!
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