Race Against Time: Part 1

Part I

True, more than likely a proposed script for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, which ended its run a year earlier. If you tuned mid-way into this episode, you'd think you were watching MI. The atmosphere is there.

I give it 9 Stars because it's still fun after all these years. The international background is a long shot, but if you're a true Mannix fan why not? I saw this episode when it originally premiered. CANNON and KOJAK were in the Top 10 while MANNIX's ratings bounced up and down against COLUMBO, peaking at 15. So producer Bruce Geller took a chance with an two part script. It makes sense.

Harold Medford wrote the adventure, but did not write for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. Not his original script. Director Paul Krasny directed both shows, however, and his style is evident here. Check out the shots of the car wheels, and Mannix and his team skidding around the Paramount lot.

Yes, there are also a few questions. Joe has to sneak a distinguished doctor (played by John Colicos) into another country to work exclusively on a dying patient, who needs a pacemaker. Question: Is he the only super great doctor in the world? Also Joe meets with an undercover agent to explain the secret overseas mission. That has never happened in the series, and Mannix is not the international type. Strictly Hollywood. Poetic license 101.

Paul Krasny does kick everything into high gear, and it has its moments with dirt roads, jeeps and a plane. PLUS check out the cast. Robert Colicos, who generally played mob bosses, interestingly, is cast as the hero physician. Very similar switch in characters comparable to the last episode featuring Anthony Zerbe, who played killers, cast as a preacher. For some European flavor, Italian actor Cesare Danova was added, always the polished gentleman, good or bad. Add Alan Bergman, who makes a tame villain.

Additionally, two distinguished female leads; Ina Balin (known for THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD) and former MGM star Rita Gam, also playing a doctor. She had returned to Hollywood from Europe in the early 1970s, so this was a well publicized tv appearance for her. Ben Hammar plays Pritchett, who gives Joe his orders. Perfect deadpan for the role. Hammar later played the judge in LAW AND ORDER.

Enough adventure to keep you occupied, and some nice scenery. It would have been a neat trick had Paramount cast Peter Graves in a bit role --for old time sake. Wishful thinking.

Part II to follow. Stay tuned.

SEASON 7 EPISODE 15 remastered color CBS dvd box set. 6 dvd. Released 2012.

Joe Mannix is assigned to help take a certain doctor to a certain country to help bring back to health a certain rebel leader in that certain country ruled by a dictatorship. Of course, there are a lot of obstacles in the way. I'll stop there and just say, yes, this resembles a "Mission: Impossible" script. That show, like this one, was produced by Bruce Geller so it's possible it was written for that other show before it was cancelled the previous season. Be that as it may, I enjoyed this one enough as a nice change of pace for the "Mannix" TV show. I especially liked that female villain who seems to have control over everyone. Now I'll review Part 2....

I have seen nearly every episode, but somehow had never seen this two parter. I almost skipped it because of the bad reviews, but went ahead anyway. I thought it was terrific. I will state the consensus positions of the other reviewers, and why I saw things differently.

1. Unrealistic. My response, so freaking what. Most of the show was unrealistic. Joe would have been killed a 100 times by now if realism mattered. Heck, he even rose from the dead once. And escaped an entire house of top tier hitmen after having been drugged. I could go on.

2. Poor acting. The others thought Joe looked disinterested and the doctor was too over the top. I thought they played their parts well. I saw Joe as being more under control and on alert than disinterested and the doctor's shifting emotions worked for me. I also thought the female buddy was terrific, but her husband the general was wrong for his part. And the actor playing Victor did not have the charismatic presence needed.

3. Not a typical Mannix. That is true, but I liked the change of direction. Much better than another small town with dark secrets and a crooked sheriff. I do agree with the reviewer that said they should have had a better backstory for using Joe. I also agree that the pacemaker angle was disappointing. It would have been better if Victor just needed some vaguely defined complicated surgery.

4. Continuity errors. You reviewers that get all worked up about them, have a drink, smoke a blunt, get laid more, something. They are just not worth obsessing over,

This one is about a rebel group who need a certain doctor (played by John Colicos) from the United States to come to their country to perform an operation on their leader, who has heart trouble. But there are two major flaws right from the start. The first one is why do they need this particular doctor to do the operation? Despite what they claim, he is certainly NOT the only doctor in the world who can install a pacemaker!! Why don't they get someone from their own country to do it? The second problem is why do they need Joe? This is never explained, because there is NO explanation. He isn't needed. They only need the doctor. Joe is simply along for the ride, which means there was no reason to make this episode. None. There's no mystery, no murder, no investigation, no nothing. It's about a doctor performing a heart operation on a third-world rebel leader. That's it. It doesn't even seem like a Mannix episode and should actually be on some other TV show, like Mission Impossible, since it involves a military dictatorship, spies, rebels, etc.

John Colicos doesn't help matters with his bad attitude and constant yelling and angry outbursts. He acts like he doesn't want to be there and he should have stuck with that inclination and REFUSED to be a part of this fiasco and then maybe it would have never been made.

I didn't think any episode could be as bad as The Gang's All Here from earlier this season but this one comes pretty close, and this is only part one of this atrocious debacle. It gets much, much worse in part two. There's absolutely nothing to recommend in this epic flop.

Bruce Geller was the creator of not just "Mannix" but "Mission: Impossible". Because of this and because "Mission: Impossible" stopped filming in 1973, I think it's very safe to assume this was actually originally intended to be an episode from that series and NOT "Mannix". The entire tone, location and case have NOTHING to do with "Mannix" and you could easily see Jim Phelps and the gang doing this stuff...and doing it much better.

The show begins with Mannix getting a mission...not from a tap recorder but from some odd man from an unnamed secret government agency! This NEVER happened on the show before...nor did anyone ever ask Mannix to go on a covert mission abroad. Perhaps all their spies were on sick leave or perhaps they were out on strike!! All I know is that having a California-based private eye involved made zero sense. After all, the mission is to sneak a world famous into a country where there is a totalitarian military dictatorship in order to do what seems to be a relatively simple heart operation on the head of the resistance. That is another huge problem...why sneak a Nobel Prize-winning doctor in to install a pacemaker?! That's NOT a super-specialized sort of heart surgery...even for 1974. Yet, they say that this doctor (John Colicos in a rare appearance as a good guy) is the ONLY one who can do it!! Is it starting to sound as if none of this makes sense?

Once in the country, the pair of undercover guys find that the place indeed sucks. There are secret police and military thugs (with very non-military haircuts) everywhere and by the end of the episode, Mannix and the Doc are with the resistance ('Libra') but they've just discovered that the pacemaker they brought in was destroyed by some unknown person...perhaps by someone with Libra!

Other than some tense chases, there really isn't a lot that is good about the show because it not only makes no sense but seems like you're not even watching "Mannix". I agree with the other reviewer...this is a bad episode and the next isn't any better.