User Reviews

A professor has an argument with someone, then his wife returns to find him dead. The person he was arguing with is a student getting his PHD, and his father is a friend of Joe's and asks him to help.

There's the wife, two other professors and a secretary, and it seems like everyone has an alibi although things keep changing. Evidence points to the father and he confesses, but Joe is sure he didn't do it.

No one shoots at Joe from a car and then races off, and no one even hits him in the back of the head. It's more of a traditional case where Joe asks questions and people keep turning up dead, until he finds out who did it. At that point the killer, who is not a good one, runs away and then stops standing next to a pool. So... punch him... kick him... just give him a little push into the water and call Art. But no, Joe does a flying tackle thing so they can thrash about in the water before subduing him. No shooting, no knockout, you gotta have a fight even if it is not much of one!!!

No car chases, big shootouts, knocks on the head, or any of the other Mannix rituals that usually occur as Joe pursues a case. One thing stays true - the police are always jumping to wrong conclusions.

A Professor O'Neill (Frank Aletter) is killed and a grad student, Matt Jones (James Watson Jr) is charged. His father, "Scrap Iron" (Ed Cambridge) is an old Mannix friend who gets Joe in on the case. There are several suspects - a wife Ruth (Penelope Windust) who had affairs with two professors, Jim Duncan (a young Gerald McRaney) and Ed Pryor (Joshua Bryant) so those two have motives. Joe interviews the three who all claim to have alibis. A witness identifies Scrap Iron as being at the dead professor's house. Good enough for Lt Malcolm as he arrests the father, but Joe is still on the case. He learns that Prof Pryor did not have a good alibi as a student comes clean and confesses he was not with her. The student calls Pryor so the good professor knows his alibi is broken. Prof Pryor shows up at Joe's place and says he was just covering for the student who might have been accused of a robbery if he hadn't helped her. Joe gets a call from Art Malcolm who takes him to Prof Duncan's place where Duncan is dead from suicide with a note stating he killed O'Neill. Art also tells him the guy's alibi that he was with Ruth O'Neill during the murder fell apart as Ruth told Art that they were not together. Of course, Joe doesn't buy it. He goes to the O'Neill house. Ruth is drinking heavily. Joe tells her that Jim Duncan is dead. She says she wanted to marry him but he didn't want to do it so she was giving Jim up. Joe has Pryor show up and Joe, Pryor, and Ruth hash it out. Joe points out that Prof O'Neill wanted revenge on Pryor for the affair with his wife so O'Neill was working on a way to prove Pryor's big discovery of an old piece of skeleton was a hoax so Pryor's career would be ruined. Pryor pulls a gun. Ruth gets shot in the shoulder, Pryor and Joe go for a swim and the case is solved. Scrap Iron gets out of jail.

The cast is fine without the usual big names. Maybe the show is cutting the budget in its last year. Aletter usually has a bigger role in his guest appearances than he has here. Windust makes an excellent double- dealing wife. Bryant is suitably slimy. Not as exciting as many of Joe's cases. A bit of a surprise as the director is John Peyser who helmed a lot of action TV.

Not sure Joe got paid. Scrap Iron is not a rich guy. Art got to be wrong several times so his streak continues. Not a bad episode. Do see it.