Banacek (TV Series) Project Phoenix (1972) User Reviews

How can such a valuable experimental car disappear....along with the rain car on which it was being transported??

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 28 December 2020]

I have only seen this episode and the previous one and both provide a seemingly impossible conundrum....something that disappears and it seems pretty much impossible! In this case, an experimental car and the train car it's on disappear! How could this happen and who would do this? Of course, Banacek eventually figures it all out in order to save the insurance company millions. And, of course, he explains it all at the end of the episode.

This is a pretty fascinating and quite unique episode. Sure, it all was extremely improbable...almost impossible. But it was done so cleverly you can easily overlook that and the show made it all seem so real! Well worth seeing.

Train robbery

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 22 September 2015]

The prototype of a revolutionary automobile called The Phoenix is taken off a railroad flatcar while being transported at night. In fact the flatcar itself turns up missing in the cold light of day. The most unusual train robbery since Jesse James started the profession.

Of course George Peppard is called in for the job. As it turns out there is a fatality of a hobo who happened to hear if not see the thing go down, but the crooks are taking no chances. It takes Peppard to make the connection though.

The company it is robbed from is owned by William Windom and Bert Convy who recently fired designer Joanna Pettet for her being an industrial spy for rival Peter Mark Richman. All of these people are suspects though Banacek wouldn't like the idea of Pettet being the guilty party.

Solving thefts can be just as enjoyable as solving murders as so many other mystery series concentrated on. Here the murder is just a byproduct of the crime. Nice performance here by John Fiedler as one of the deceased hobo's pals.

The Missing Car

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 28 February 2016]

Thomas Banacek(George Peppard) is called in on a case involving a top secret experimental car called the Phoenix that somehow went missing/was stolen en route by train to Boston, flat car and all. Two men working on the Phoenix(played by William Windom and Bert Convey) are of course very concerned, and suspect a former employee of involvement(played by the beautiful Joanna Pettet) and taking it to her former company headed by Andy Cole(played by Peter Mark Richman) Both deny any knowledge of the theft, and it will be quite a challenge for Thomas to decide the who, how, and why of the crime. Good cast here helps maintain interest in the twist-laden story,

Project Phoenix

[paulbehrer22173 · 10/10 · 31 December 2008]

I remember seeing this episode of Banacek on A&E in the 1990s, and I had no idea that 3 people who appeared on Night Gallery would turn up here--that is, I was unaware of it before I checked up on it. If I'm not mistaken, Banacek was racing against both time and Wexler to find out who was involved in the hijacking of the Phoenix prototype, and he contacted Christine (Joanna Pettet), one of the designers on the development team involved in the construction of the Phoenix, to gather information for that purpose, and during the interview he reminds Christine that Wexler isn't quite as accommodating as he is when it came to gathering such information. I admired Ms. Pettet's spunky performance as Christine in the interview sequence between her and Banacek, where she was really busting his chops, proving that Ms. Pettet is not only beautiful, she's got the intelligence, skills, and talent to interpret each role she was in during her career as an actress, along with plenty of backbone. Spoiler Alert: Check out the scene toward the episode's close in which Banacek is describing how the Phoenix prototype was hijacked in order to defraud the insurance company that hired him to discover its location. In it, you'll find that a helicopter was used to lift the flatcar containing the Phoenix away from the train and move it to a secret location.

How DOES a flatcar vanish from the middle of a moving train?

[profh-1 · 6/10 · 30 April 2024]

That's the question, when an experimental prototype car is being moved by railroad, and the train was going 50 MPH and never stopped along the route. I remembered how this one was done... it was the rest of the story I had virtually no memory of. Which makes re-watching it all the more fun.

William Windom (MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT) and Bert Convy (THE SNOOP SISTERS) are "Harry Wexler" & "Douglas Ruderman", owners of the company that designed the missing car.

Percy Rodrigues (STAR TREK: "Court Martial") and Herb Edelman (STRIKE FORCE) are "Faldor" and "Joe Haddenhurst", insurance company reps who would hate to pay out what the car was insured for; the latter has a personal hatred of Banacek, who will collect his usual 10% if he finds the car.

Peter Mark Richman (LONGSTREET) is "Andy Cole", owner of the rival car company, who will win big if the car isn't found and his own wins a big contract. More con-artist than designer, he's a prime suspect for who might be behind the theft.

Joanna Pettet (THE BEST HOUSE IN LONDON) is "Christine Verdon", who once worked for Cole, was also in love with him, and was caught stealing plans from his rival's company. She insists she was framed... and only conceited womanizer Thomas Banacek seems to be on her side.

Stafford Repp (BATMAN) is a helpful local police chief, who looks like he put on quite a few pounds since 1968. Bruce Kirby (who's been in practically everythng including 9 episodes of COLUMBO) is "Collier", an undertaker who also owns a laudromat. John Fielder (BUFFALO BILL) has a very unusual role as "Paddle", a hobo who once worked for a large bank, who provides Banacek some important info.

I mostly remember the ending of this because Banacek demonstrated how the crime was committed using a table-top model railroad set, and I was very big into those when I growing up. I won't tell you how it was done, but according to the Trivia section, the same method of stealing a train carriage from a moving train can be found in the story, "Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture", from the book "Thrilling Stories of the Railway" (1912), by the Rev. Victor L. Whitchurch. Now if only this TV-movie had actually included that in the credits-- TSK!