Old Man Out: Part 1

This has to be the most boring Mission: Impossible ever. There was absolutely no need for this to be in two parts. The pacing was painfully slow, the whole circus theme had no relevance to the plot at all, the actors were as stiff as cardboard, showed no emotion, basically sleepwalked through their parts, and the repetitive calliope music was very annoying. Mary Ann Mobley was there surely only as window dressing to keep the audience's attention, but nothing else. The whole idea is supposed to be a smooth buildup of intriguingly staged events leading up to the big payoff. Nothing like that happens in Part 1. Very disappointing and not recommended at all.

Daniel Briggs has a mission brief to rescue elderly cardinal from a prison that no one has broken out from before. The Cardinal is the leader of the political opposition in an Eastern European country.

Briggs formulates a plan that sees Rollin Hand get himself arrested for pickpocketing at a circus. He needs to sneak a lockpick past a metal detector and then get into contact with the Cardinal.

The rest of the IMF team will be travelling circus performers. Briggs has reluctantly recruited and old friend. Crystal Walker (Mary Ann Mobley) a trapeze artist who can certainly divert away anyone's attention.

The first of a two part story. With the many scenes of Crystal on the trapeze. It seems Mary Ann Mobley was doing her own stunts. The episode was more like watching the circus.

I liked how Willy Armitage had to be taught to be seen struggling to lift heavy weights as he did his strongman act.

It was clear that this was a padded story and could had been told in a single episode.

Mary Ann Mobley guest stars in this episode as Crystal and is needed for the mission because of her expertise. Crystal works in the circus and does an act where she spins while suspended by her teeth from great heights. She'll be the main attraction at a fake circus--one that will just happen to set up near a prison where an elderly Cardinal is incarcerated. It seems that Cardinal Vossek (Cyril Delevanti) is the voice of the opposition and he's being silenced. Their mission is to somehow get the man out of the prison and back to safety in the West.

The team needs a man inside the prison so Rollin (Martin Landau) gets the dubious honor. So, while Crystal is performing, he picks pockets using his skills in magic. But, he wants to get caught and soon is. What's next? See the show for yourself.

So is the show any good? Well, considering it's from season one and this was (in my humble opinion) the best in the series, then you can assume from the outset that it will be awfully good. The only question, then, is there enough material to sustain two episodes? This is because sometimes I've seen two-parters that just lagged because there really wasn't enough material for nearly two hours of show. Well, to know this, you might want to read my review of part two. Well written and interesting. Plus, fans of Peter Lupus will get to watch this well-muscled man lifting weights and other feats of strength in a skimpy outfit as part of the circus.

This was the first two-part MI episode. The plot builds in a deliberate way, that I found good; it's like a movie. As this series went on, we'd usually see a lot of tense drama and narrow escapes packed into one episode. Because this is a two-parter, we get a different kind of pacing. It didn't bother me at all.

The guest cast for this episode is very strong. To start with, this has to be one of beautiful Mary Ann Mobley's best roles. She looks great and is often in a trapeze artist costume that displays her fine figure. Mary Ann looks like she is having a lot of fun being a trapeze artist! I am a big fan of hers, so I highly enjoyed seeing her get plenty of screen time! I'm never bored watching such a charming and pretty lady!

We see Monte Markham in a small part, which was his first billed part ever! Oscar Beregi Jr., who is perfect for the role of a prison commandant, is a plus in this episode. As is Cyril Delevanti, a very distinguished English character actor, as the frail, elderly Cardinal whom our MI team wants to rescue. This episode also features Joseph Ruskin, an outstanding actor, Barbara Bain is alluring as always, and Martin Landau looks especially handsome this time! Greg Morris appears to enjoy playing a circus clown. "Mr. Briggs" does a good job of being subtle. One thing I like, is that I can't figure out what the escape plan is. I'm looking forward to seeing part 2 to find out!