"Mannix" Cry Danger (TV Episode 1973) Poster

(TV Series)

(1973)

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9/10
It confused me too
williammaceri1 May 2021
At the very beginning as the plane was landing I noticed the four engines, and being 1973 I concluded it was a 707. Once on the ground, the plane had only two engines, making it a 737. That made more sense based on it departing from Los Angeles, arriving in San Francisco. A very common plane for that run. A 707, not so much.
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9/10
MEETING OLD FRIENDS CAN BE LETHAL.
tcchelsey26 July 2023
Yes, if you are Joe Mannix, that is.

Favorite lady in distress Diana Muldaur, who has long since retired, plays an old time gal friend who Joe happens to meet, and prompty gets him roughed up. What does she know, like something about 14 million bucks?

Typical Mannix cut throat antics, which all of us kids loved, and mostly for Diana Muldaur. She will always be remembered for her appearances of STAR TREK and LA LAW, her "other" family.

Top tv western director, Don MacDougal, handled this one and got the best out of his cast. It shows. MacDougal was also directing IRONSIDE at this time and in the 60s did a ton of episodes for BONANZA and THE VIRGINIAN.

I did take a point off, and I do agree with some of the reviwers; there are a couple of scenes that make you scratch your head, and Joe is again used for target practice. Anywhere else, he would have been toast. I have come to the conclusion that it was all about the budget. If he got shot, that would require ripping his coat or jacket --and that costs money. Better to duck and run!

For all us historical buffs, this was partly filmed at Fort Point, San Francisco. At the start of the Civil War, the fort was a barrier for the west coast against enemy forces, the strongest fort at the time in California. This is an impressive structure.

A very good supporting cast, but Diana Muldaur steals the show. This was filmed just before she co-starred in McQ, starring John Wayne as a "senior" detective, but still younger than BARNABY JONES.

SEASON 7 EPISODE 12. December 1973. Remastered color CBS dvd box set.
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6/10
Okay outing. I think I like it a little more than other reviewers
Guad424 May 2021
The episode's plot has been covered by others so a few comments. Nice change of pace with the San Fran background rather than the studio lot or the dreaded ghost town sets. Always liked Diana Muldaur and this is a nice episode for her as compared to her last Mannix outing, the awful "A Gathering of Ghosts". That one is in the running for worse Mannix ever. Muldaur always seems to have a more sophisticated air about her than many of the other women guest stars and it would have been nice to see her more on Mannix in a reoccurring role. Of course, she did exactly that on Dennis Weaver's McCloud.

I like seeing Charlie Picerni on the good guys side for once. He is usually a hoodlum/hitman getting worked over by Joe. Fellow detective John Milford is playing against type as he is often a bad guy. I'm glad Mannix knows one competent fellow PI. He seems to attract only the loser PIs.

As pointed out by others, there are a lot of holes in this story so that takes it down a few stars. One thing not pointed out was that Diana is under great pressure for a long time but she managed to enjoy a few dates with Joe in LA. Seems odd. Anyway, despite all that, it is not a wasted hour. Not for Joe either, he got paid and a nice date out of it.
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5/10
Not great, not awful.
rmj14231 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
While Cry Danger is not one of the great Mannix episodes, it isn't nearly as bad as the review below from April 2015 asserts.

To address several of that reviewer's criticisms, A) In the opening scene Mannix expressly tells Jan Holloway that he is staying at the Carlyle so her calling him there was not a mistake. B) His different attitudes toward her are easily explained by the fact that she first stood him up, then told him she was married, which was also a lie, then of course Mannix realizes she was a victim, so Joe's differing moods toward the lady were clearly justified by the script, C) When he gets ready to search the dock area he tells his detective friend to call the police after half an hour so its no mystery why the police show up. Of course this is "TV Time" we are dealing with but Mannix was hardly alone in time bending. D) Finally, while much of the police activity obviously takes place off camera, the viewer is shown that the police lieutenant possessed a picture of the lady and clearly was aware that Carter Elliott was a bad guy, so his actions are not difficult to understand. Furthermore while skeptical, he was never overtly antagonistic toward Mannix and in fact provided Joe with the address of Carter Elliott in the first scene they had together.

Yes, the story was confusing, and there were way too many bad guys chasing around, and why was there a recording of "Harry" uttering the perfect words handy for use two years after he died? Mannix as usual made poor decisions which lead to him having to unleash his super human powers to escape, but that is standard detective show television. The San Francisco location scenes are great, and there is a bunch of familiar character actors. This is a middling episode but not terrible by the standards of the medium.
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5/10
I liked it more than the other guy, but he mostly thinks what I think about this one.
planktonrules23 March 2016
I loved seeing the San Francisco locale for this episode and it really added to the ambiance of the show. However, apart from that the story seemed to have a lot of plot holes.

When the show begins, Mannix is in the San Francisco airport. He sees a lady who he knows from LA and is surprised...as he hasn't seen her since she stood him up on a date a couple months earlier (and NOBODY does that to Joe!). He's confused and she's not especially happy to see him and then tells him she thinks men are following her. Soon a couple of the guys take Mannix to an old fort (the Presidio, I think). There they work him over in front of their boss but eventually Mannix is able to escape before they kill him.

Joe goes to the police and the detective's reaction is curious indeed. He acts much like Mannix is lying and wasting his time when he tells them about being kidnapped...and this makes no sense at all. Nor does it make much sense later in the show then this same detective and his partner capture two of these same guys and then just let them run away!!! Huh?!?! This never is explained...nor are things like people somehow knowing where Mannix will be from one scene to the next. Yes, it IS sloppy. Fortunately, the story itself isn't too bad and at least it's entertaining.
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2/10
The San Francisco location is nice but everything else is a complete mess
pkfloydmh16 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This episode features a nice change of pace as it takes place in San Francisco and also has some new up-tempo music that's used during the action sequences which is really good, but that's about all it has going for it as this is one of the worst episodes of the season. The plot is way too complicated and there are too many characters, plot holes, and loose ends, and in the end none of it makes any sense.

Things start imploding right away in the opening scene in the San Francisco airport where Joe runs into a woman who stood him up a few weeks ago and in an uncharacteristic mean-spirited fit, he then proceeds to insult her several times but instead of either slapping him or simply walking off, she inexplicably just stands there and takes his abuse, and if that wasn't bad enough, she later calls him at his hotel to see how he's doing. Are you kidding me?? You call a guy back who just insulted and humiliated you several times? NO WAY. This is one of many, many problems with this episode.

Then Joe is thoroughly pummeled by three thugs on a rooftop but is suddenly able to stand up and fight all three of them off and escape even though he'd taken numerous roundhouse punches to his stomach and back.

Then when Joe and the woman go to the airport to get the suitcase, two of the thugs who attacked Joe at the beginning steal the suitcase from the woman and are promptly stopped by the police chief and a deputy. The thugs then throw the suitcase at the police chief and run off, and as the deputy begins to chase them, he is STOPPED from doing so by the police chief and they simply LET THEM GET AWAY. Joe is also there and he also does nothing to try to stop them, and in the end they're never caught as this plot point is never followed up on and it's also never explained who these thugs are, who they're working for, why they want the suitcase and what their relationship is to the other group of thugs who also want the suitcase.

Then when the guy pushes the woman in front of the car, Joe is right there but doesn't pursue him but simply lets him get away, and he also was never caught and this plot point was also never followed up on as it was never explained who he is or what his relationship is to the 100 other characters in this merry-go-round.

Then at the end when Joe is on the docks, the police magically rush in when they had no way of knowing what was going on there.

Joe gets shot at many times but never hit, so that cliché is alive and well here.

At one point during the show, Joe even says "It doesn't add up" and he could have easily been referring to this entire episode because none of it adds up. He even tries to explain to the woman at the end what was going on, but he does it very quickly and adds even more confusion because none of it makes any sense. Yikes. This one is ugly.

You know an episode is a resounding bomb when the music is the best thing about it and that's the case here. This is an incomprehensible mess.
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