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Mannix Season 8 Episodes
Season 8 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 1974 - 1975
Episode 1
Portrait in Blues
Sun, Sep 22, 197452 mins
A pair of musicians are performing their act when one of them is almost electrocuted. Mannix is hired to look into the matter. But the detective faces twists almost immediately. For starters, the woman who hired Mannix isn't who she said she was. Mannix also needs to act fast before another attempt on the musician's life is made.
Episode 2
Game Plan
Sun, Sep 29, 197452 mins
Joe Mannix receives an urgent phone call from his friend George Lassiter asking him to come to Albuquerque because of a problem with Lassiter's daughter Jeannie, who is also Joe's goddaughter. Mannix arrives quickly only to be told that the problem has been solved. Sensing that he's not receiving the whole story, though, Mannix decides to conduct his own investigation -- leading him to discover that his friend is involved in a novel form both of kidnapping and of paying the ransom.
Episode 3
A Fine Day for Dying
Sun, Oct 6, 197452 mins
Jenny Cole, the daughter of a friend of Joe Mannix, awakens after almost a year in a coma following a hit-and-run accident. But the celebration of her return to health is soon cut short when someone tries to kill Jenny. This leads Mannix to conclude that Jenny must have seen something on the day of the accident that she shouldn't have seen -- and that someone wants to tie up that loose end by "putting her to sleep" permanently.
Episode 4
Walk on the Blind Side
Sun, Oct 13, 197452 mins
Leaving the terminal at LAX, Mannix agrees to share the only cab available with a young woman who is in a rush. En route into town, she divulges to him that the men in the vehicle following them are after her, she needing a place to hide out until her connecting flight to Tokyo that evening. Providing that hideout, a movie theater, and losing the following car, Mannix agrees to pick her up at an agreed time to take her to the airport. Running late, Mannix asks Peggy to meet her to inform her of that fact. Arriving later at the theater himself, Mannix finds the woman there but not Peggy, the woman never having seen Peggy. It is then that he discovers that the men after the woman have taken Peggy by mistake, they more menacing than the woman had original described. She, really Diana Lee, is a bookkeeper for the syndicate, who wants to kill her in she having too much damaging information on them which they fear she will divulge in her grudge in they having set-up her boyfriend leading to his death. Mannix and the men after Diana agree to a swap, something that won't happen if Diana has her way. Meanwhile, Peggy has to figure out a way out of her predicament, her captor, Lonnie Taggart, holding her in a secret locked hideout only he knows about, and having his own thoughts about his long term future with the syndicate which they wouldn't like if they knew. Her predicament is time sensitive as if the swap falls through, it means her life.
Episode 5
The Green Man
Sun, Oct 20, 197452 mins
Mannix is hired by upper crust Mrs. Dabney, accompanied from Boston by the family lawyer Mr. Brasher, to find her missing son, Turner Dabney. Although she has no proof, she is certain that his disappearance has something to do with his side business as a small time counterfeiter, something he has felt compelled to do as he doesn't need the money in his trust providing for him adequately. Mrs. Dabney can provide little information on her son and his movements and associations in they being somewhat estranged. As Mannix begins to investigate, he believes that Turner is indeed small time in the counterfeiting business in passing only twenties. But it is not the passing of the money in and of itself that has led to big time counterfeiters and the Treasury Department interested in him.
Episode 6
Death Has No Face
Sun, Oct 27, 197452 mins
Someone has been calling Joe Mannix with vague threats of harm, and he initially disregards them as an occupational hazard. But when the threats turn into a near-fatal attack, Mannix reviews his old cases for a clue to the person's identity - and thinks he may have found it in an old extortion case in which he sent the extortionist to prison. When Joe travels to a small town to find the person, he kills the person in self-defense, but there is no evidence that the person fired first, and is soon on the run for murder.
Episode 7
A Small Favor for an Old Friend
Sun, Nov 10, 197452 mins
After spending three weeks incommunicado on a fishing trip, Mannix returns to Los Angeles to learn that his buddy from the Korean War, Harry Endicott, has apparently been killed in a plane crash. Finding a letter from Endicott appealing for help that was mailed the day before the crash, Mannix decides to run down some leads in Endicott's hometown of San Francisco. But upon his arrival, Mannix finds the mystery much deeper than he suspected - when first several people claim to have seen Mannix in the past few days, and then he locates an apartment where everything seems to confirm that Mannix has been living in San Francisco for a lengthy period of time.
Episode 8
Enter Tami Okada
Sun, Nov 17, 197452 mins
Joe Mannix is visited by Japanese detective Tami Okada (whose first name is pronounced as if spelled "Tommy"). Searching for a missing Japanese government courier who was apparently kidnapped upon arrival in Los Angeles, Okada asks Mannix for help. Mannix agrees, escorting Okada to the Japanese Village in Buena Park, and to "Little Tokyo" -- but their investigation soon leads to suspicions that the courier's disappearance may have been staged.
Episode 9
Picture of a Shadow
Sun, Nov 24, 197452 mins
Wealthy self-made hotelier Mark Bradford has just been killed in what the police have officially deemed a home invasion gone wrong. Those managing Bradford's estate have offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of his killer in they believing that he was actually murdered. In short order, Mannix is approached by two people who offer him half of that reward for the information of the killer's identity, neither stating why they would not go to the police directly to collect the entire amount themselves beyond it being a personal safety issue. Both people indeed end up dead themselves in targeted murders before they could divulge the name of the killer. While Mannix knew and somewhat trusted the first person, he never met the second, famous and successful photographer Carol Britton. Only seeing her in photographs, Mannix cannot get her out of his mind in his attraction to her which ends up coloring his investigation.
Episode 10
Desert Sun
Sun, Dec 1, 197452 mins
Mannix receives a call from his Korean War buddy Harry White Eagle summoning him to rural New Mexico. Harry's best friend, Fred Tallchief, was killed in what has been officially deemed by the courts as an accidental killing in a drunken brawl, Fred "looking for trouble". However, Harry believes Fred was murdered. Fred's sister, Elena Tallchief, found Fred just before he died, he who named his assailants, Jimmy Cousins and Pat Osterman. Their defense consisted of one witness, Gil Yarborough. Cousins and Osterman are not only personal friends with Yaborough, but work for his father, wealthy rancher B.J. Yarborough, the most powerful man in the county. Outwardly, it looks to be a race issue been white Cousins, Osterman and Yarborough and the Native American Tallchiefs. Mannix's arrival coincides with a stampede of people flocking to the area as a plane carrying $500,000 stolen in a bank heist crashed nearby, those interlopers wanting their piece of the pie in a reward offered for the as of yet unrecovered money. Could the stolen money also be involved?
Episode 11
The Survivor Who Wasn't
Sun, Dec 15, 197452 mins
Beverly Hills real estate developer Penn Anderson is the sole survivor of a plane crash, he, thrown from the wreckage, who was able to crawl out from the woods into the desert where he was discovered. After reconstructive surgery to repair both damage from the crash and from the sun exposure in the desert, he, prepared for the news as the bandages come off, looks totally different than his previous self. The new appearance is a shock but something he has to live with. Kelly Anderson, his wife, however, isn't so much as shocked by the change in appearance as she is in being fairly certain that the man claiming to be Penn Anderson is not her husband, she hiring Mannix to find out who he is and why he is masquerading as her husband. While Mannix pretends to be from the insurance company in his dealings with Penn, Penn knows he is being conned by who he knows is a private detective in what ends up as a she said/he said in he claiming that Kelly has recently suffered from delusions. Mannix has to figure who of the two he should believe, while he finds that there is more to the case in some people seemingly wanting to kill Penn, and that unknown "authorities" above Art Malcolm's pay grade are also somehow involved.
Episode 12
A Choice of Victims
Sun, Dec 22, 197452 mins
Mannix is hired by Laura Harris to find out who tried to kill her. While rehearsing for a charity show as part of Helpmates, comprised of wives of industry executives, her wealthy husband, Victor Harris, came by the studio to exchange vehicles, he taking hers in which he was killed in an explosion. Laura can only assume the bomb was meant for her. In his investigation, Mannix discovers that there appears to be rotating bedmates not only between the Harrises with people external to their general social circle, but among people involved with the show, such as the producer, Tom Andros. This situation and Laura's secret past appear to be part of the who and why of the bomb.
Episode 13
A Word Called Courage
Sun, Jan 5, 197552 mins
Joe Mannix is confronted by Harry Elliott, with whom Mannix served in Korea and who was later court-martialed, on testimony from Mannix, for giving information to his captors while a prisoner of war. Elliott claims that he is going to put Mannix through the same ordeal he faced at the hands of the North Koreans, and gives Mannix a name that Elliott claims Mannix will be unable to hold back once he becomes a captive. Then Elliott's threats seem to come true when Mannix is offered a sizable sum of money for the name of an informant within an underworld organization - and is threatened with much worse if he refuses.
Episode 14
Man in a Trap
Sun, Jan 12, 197552 mins
Fellow private investigator Harry Forrest and his wife Ruth Forrest have shut Mannix out of their lives, Harry who was like a mentor. Regardless, Mannix is by his side when Harry is clinging to life in a hospital having been found shot in a basement parking lot. Mannix learns from Ruth the reason for the cold shoulder was that Harry was ashamed of what his life had become, that of what he considered a has-been in not having any clients, that is until recently. That client is syndicate boss "Don" Tony Kordic. Having an in in that his wife is old friend, singer Nedda née Carroll, Mannix is able to speak directly to Don Tony who states that he and Harry grew up in the same neighborhood and he had hired Harry for the simple job of finding out the cause of inventory discrepancies with his "legitimate" olive oil business. Mannix will discover Harry's job was not that simple and what Mannix has walked into is a power struggle within the Kordic arm of the west coast syndicate.
Episode 15
Chance Meeting
Sun, Jan 19, 197552 mins
Peggy's cousin and her husband, a Vietnam veteran named Bill Rogell, are traveling to Los Angeles by bus when Rogell runs into fellow veteran Clint Williams at a stopover. While they reminisce, Rogell thinks he recognizes another man from their unit, but Williams insists Rogell is mistaken. Joe Mannix becomes involved, however, when the couple arrive in Los Angeles and Rogell is stabbed at the bus station.
Episode 16
Edge of the Web
Sun, Feb 2, 197553 mins
Mannix receives a visit from old friend Scrapiron Jones, who, far past his prime, still works as a sparring partner all to support his son Matt Jones, a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at Rossmore College. Matt has just been arrested for murdering the department head Alex O'Neill, his dead body found in his study shortly after Matt had a meeting with him. Matt vows he did not commit the murder despite his problems with Professor O'Neill primarily stemming from the implied accusation that Matt was having an affair with his wife, Ruth O'Neill, all because Matt gave her a ride home one time on a rainy day. As Mannix begins to investigate, he discovers that many of Professor O'Neill's colleagues also had problems with him due to professional and personal jealousy, many who would have had motive, although Mannix will further discover that the O'Neills' marriage was not a happy one as Ruth O'Neill had indeed had extramarital relationships.
Episode 17
A Ransom for Yesterday
Sun, Feb 9, 197553 mins
Mannix is hired by Janice Graham, whose name he recognizes from a cold case six years ago. Her then two year old son Peter Graham was kidnapped, the requested ransom $5,000. An issue at the money drop led to the kidnapper fleeing and never caught, and Peter never returned. The issue now is that she has received another ransom note in a similar style to the first, only now the requested ransom is $250,000. Mrs. Graham wants help from Mannix in wanting to know once and for all if Peter is dead or alive. This second ransom note, in Mannix's opinion, looks to be from the same person as the first, and thus he believes there is a good chance that Peter is indeed alive. Beyond Mannix trying to figure out why the six year silence from the kidnapper and thus what could have happened to Peter after all this time, he and Mrs. Graham have the problem of the sizable amount of money, and the subsequent problem of the return of her ex-husband Howard Graham. Six years ago, it was a he said/she said blame game leading the breakdown of their marriage, he blaming her for Peter getting kidnapped in the first place, and she blaming him for the ransom drop going awry in he determined to do things his way in his seeming bigger goal to kill the kidnapper, those issues which still seem to exist and which may be problematic in being on the same page this time around.
Episode 18
The Empty Tower
Sun, Feb 16, 197552 mins
At the start of a long weekend, off to a fishing vacation with friend Tony Elliott, Mannix stops at Tonys office so Tony can pick up a set of fishing flies. They walk in on a methodical heist of the businesses in the building. Mannix is trapped in the building, playing a cat and mouse game with the three burglars.
Episode 19
Quartet for Blunt Instrument
Sun, Feb 23, 197552 mins
While driving back to Los Angeles, Mannix gives a lift to a black hitchhiker named Perry Riggs. Riggs is soon arrested at a roadblock, however, and charged with the murder of his former boss, a scientist who had been working on a formula for a gasoline replacement. Mannix decides to stay in the town to investigate the circumstances of the man's death -- in the hope that he can find evidence exonerating Riggs.
Episode 20
Bird of Prey: Part I
Sun, Mar 2, 197552 mins
Mannix travels to an island that's part of a South American country. Mannix's client wants to repay the man for the saving the life of the son of the client some years earlier. But Mannix soon discovers the case is more complicated than he bargained for. The man he's searching for is part of a plot to assassinate the president of the country. Just as Mannix is putting the pieces together, he's captured by the conspirators.
Episode 21
Bird of Prey: Part II
Sun, Mar 9, 197552 mins
In Count Boria and Major Muller holding him captive, Mannix comes to understand what he walked into in looking for Victor Valdek is an assassination plot of the President of the Republic. Boria and Muller turn to a Plan B in framing the assassination on Mannix, Muller the hero in shooting Mannix the assassin dead. While they are indeed able to frame Mannix, he is able to escape. He has to elude Varga and the police until he has conclusive evidence of his innocence and/or of the real assassins, one way to do so being to provide a still alive Victor Valdek to the authorities.
Episode 22
Design for Dying
Sun, Mar 23, 197552 mins
Newspaper publisher Darrell Bigelow has political ambitions, but is concerned about the extramarital activities of his wife, Rebekah. Bigelow hires Joe Mannix to "bring her home," and Mannix is soon able to track her down. But his easy success in closing the case soon leads Mannix to suspect that Bigelow's story was a cover-up, and that he used Mannix for a different, and much darker, purpose.
Episode 23
Search for a Dead Man
Sun, Apr 6, 197552 mins
A hit man shoots his victim, a notorious crime boss, from a sniper's perch, but moments later can find no body where the man fell. Unable to convince the men who hired him that the crime boss is actually dead, he concocts a story about being a witness to a shooting and hires Joe Mannix to investigate whether a man really was killed that night, and if not, what happened to him.
Episode 24
Hardball
Sun, Apr 13, 197552 mins
Malcolm has long been after the gang led by George Kane, the gang which deals primarily in illicit drugs. So it is good luck when Mannix spots a couple of Kane's known men entering a building where Kane's longtime lawyer Endicott P. Fingerman has an office, they all convening for a presumed meeting with the boss. Crashing the meeting, Mannix does discover a room full of Kane's gang members including Kane himself, but one younger man he doesn't recognize, plus a suitcase full of money, the $2 million the proceeds from a hijacked shipment of heroin. The police are able to apprehend Kane and most of his men, but the unknown younger man is able to escape with the suitcase of money. That young man, Cliff Elgin, becomes the center of the proceedings as Mannix as the police try to locate him. In custody, Kane believes he has Cliff as an outside man in breaking them out. Cliff plans on double crossing Kane in negotiating with Frank Sartino, whose heroin they hijacked. Cliff's plan is to leave the country with more money than was originally his share all to be with Kane's daughter Susan, their relationship of which Kane did not approve.
