Mannix (TV Series) Huntdown (1967) User Reviews

Pretty exciting stuff

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 15 April 2013]

"Huntdown" is a bit similar to an episode of "Quincy" ("Visitors in Paradise", season two episode four). In both cases, the leading character comes to a rural town and is greeted VERY inhospitably by the locals. In fact, it soon appears that someone might kill them unless they go home now!

This program begins with Mannix having his foot in a cast--he'd gotten it shot in a recent case. But he's too bored just sitting around and begs his boss for a case...ANYTHING to keep him busy. So, he's given a VERY simple task--one that should have been strictly routine. But, it turns out to be anything but routine. In fact, when he asks about this guy's whereabouts, folks are rude, evasive and threatening. Eventually, he's tossed into jail on trumped up charges and isn't allowed to call anyone. Why?! What is going on here? Why are folks so hostile?!

"Huntdown" is a very good episode. It's well written and different from the style show so far seen in "Mannix". Exciting, clever and the payoff at the end was quite good. It's also interesting because it's one of the few episodes up to that point where Joe Mannix actually kills someone...in self-defense, of course. Interestingly, in the next episode, Mannix increases his body count. Perhaps the network insisted on more, I don't know.

The first of many "bad small town" episodes

[Guad42 · 7/10 · 3 July 2021]

This might be the best of the "small town with a bad secret" outings. The plot has been covered by others. A couple of their comments are quite germane. Joe really gets around on a bad foot. Joe kills a guy in self-defense. We'll see that again, many times. At least it was a reasonable shot and not one of those fantastic shots that Joe will become famous for. At the end, the fact Joe killed someone seems to be of little import to Wickersham as he orders Joe to get home now. As often happens in TV land, killing someone is of only mild passing interest.

As always, you don't want to think too much about the logic here. Why didn't the locals just direct Joe to Violet (Sandra Smith) as Amos's cousin for the signature on papers and then send him on his way? He would be in town about an hour at most. But noooo, they have to gum it up with some elaborate plan with no apparent goal in mind. Hard to believe Amos died yesterday, as stated by the sheriff, as there was already a gravestone in place.

The ending is well done. The sheriff turns out not to be as bad as we all thought.

Excellent cast. Steve Ihnet is making the first of three appearances. Paul Stevens will be seen again as will Ford Rainey. They all make great bad guys. Sandra Smith, forever linked with Star Trek, is making her only appearance. Her career ends abruptly in 1975 and she is still alive as of this writing. I wonder why she dropped out of the profession.

A decent outing for the show. Next season we'll see Ihnet go after Joe in one of the many ol' Korean War buddy stories. He was a good actor. He did a memorable Star Trek and a couple of excellent Mission Impossible outings. Too bad it ended much too soon.

WELCOME! NOW GET THE HECK OUTTA' HERE!!!

[tcchelsey · 9/10 · 29 December 2022]

TAG THIS... "creative writing 101". Richard Landau wrote this adventure, who before turning to tv in the late 1950s, penned several cult movies, such as VOODOO ISLAND (1957) with Boris Karloff. Landau does not let the audience down.

Joe is on the mend from his last case, hobbling(?) into an unfriendly small town (which there will be so, so many more to come), all to get a signature on an important document. He winds up killing a creep who deserved it (and more to come) but this opens an even more complicated case peppered with some ominous folks.

IF you are a movie buff, right away you can see some shades of BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, the outstanding Spencer Tracy film. Tracy also came to a hostile town, not on crutches, but still disabled with a fake arm he lost in the war. Like Joe, he reaches the burned down home of a dead man he's to meet. What a coincidence?

There's an excellent cast at work here including Steve Ihnat (as the sheriff), who will appear a few more times in the series as does Ford Rainey, playing the old town doc. Paul Stevens portrays the mayor and Sandra Smith (as Violet). Smith was in several tv shows in the 60s and 70s and then retired from Hollywood.

Special note to one of the great stuntmen, Dale van Sickel, who is running a bulldozer in this one. The bulldozer scene is terrific. Sickel, before coming to Hollywood, was a star high school football player (in the early 1930s) and to this day ranks as one of the best players in the game with an incredible record of touchdowns. A super sports trivia question!

Filmed partly at the famous Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills, California, about 35 miles from Los Angeles. This was the site of so many classic movie and tv westerns and, unfortunately, much of the historic western town burned down in a flash fire in 2018. It is all being rebuilt as of this writing and the ranch is open to the public. If you are in the area, stop by.

Prime two fisted MANNIX all the way. SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 remastered CBS dvd box set.

A standout episode

[shakspryn · 10/10 · 13 November 2017]

Wow! Great episode! Brimming with long exterior scenes, plenty of suspense, mystery and danger: this episode exemplifies why this is one of the best, maybe the very best, of the 1960's to 1980's detective shows.

The setup is, Mannix is just looking to get some guy's signature on a document, and the entire tiny country town is strangely hostile and secretive. Mannix wonders what on earth is going on here, and so does the viewer, as we follow the twists and turns. The guest cast is first rate, including Steve Ihnat and Ford Rainey.

You can really see the difference between the era of "Mannix" in this first 1967-68 season, and what I think of as the era of "Hart to Hart" just ten years later: hard-edged action and real danger, versus a kind of "Love Boat" or "Fantasy Island" approach--much softer, with little if any sense of threat. Mannix is one tough guy! Good stuff! Ten years later, TV detectives were a lot blander, I think.

Strange Premise

[tonycat-1 · 5/10 · 5 November 2020]

I have to disagree with the other reviewers about this episode. First of all there is the premise that Mannix, with an injured foot, would take a bus instead of the fancy cars he usually drives. He gets to his destination and has no transportation, so what does he do? He walks miles out in the country with a bad foot of course!

With the bad foot, he also beats up a cop, escapes from jail, and outruns two bulldozers trying to run him down. What a guy!

Finally, having watched many westerns, I could foresee that anthrax was the reason for all of the trouble he encountered.