Number One: the acting is excellent. Number Two: good script, but extremely violent.
Dobermans were featured in quite a few dramas at the time. There was an incredibly violent episode of COLUMBO where a victim was mauled to death in his house, also some tv movies about Dobermans, either as guard dogs or trained to steal.
This episode begins where a man is hunting in a remote area and attacked and killed by a Doberman. Not for the squeamish, and the camera cuts to his thermos spilling all his coffee instead of blood. Jack Turley wrote this story, at the time writing for the FBI tv series.
The dog attacks tie into a tale of revenge with a war vet angle. Mannix had a lot of these encounters, either Joe or one of his clients were the subject of some maniac trying to even the score, due to a past incident on the battlefield in Korea. Jack Turley probably ran with the idea for his story. In this case, members of a Vietnam combat unit are being killed, blamed for their commander being paralyzed in a botched attack.
Geoffrey Duel (who resembled his late actor brother) plays the care giver for his wheelchair bound brother (Jim McMullan), also one of the suspects. Duel was a very good actor and fits perfectly in this cat and mouse game. Also look for Ford Rainey as a grizzled rancher who bumps heads with Cannon (and has snarling dogs). Rainey bounced back and forth between this show and Mannix, usually playing someone's dad or grandpa. McMullan is best known for playing Senator Dowling on DALLAS.
Lot of emotions at play here, and you really feel sorry for the victim. There's a clever bit where McMullan taps out codes to Cannon; he's unable to talk, which is not all that fictional. Light shed on the thousands of Vietnam vets (in the early 70s as the war was nearing an end) who dealt with similar traumatic injuries.
10 Stars.
Yes, I agree with the last reviewer. I also thought McMullan was NOT paralyzed and playing some sort of a game. But he is very much wheelchair bound. That would have made an incredible bait and switch.
One to see, but more graphic than the past two mystery episodes. SEASON 3 EPISODE 4 remastered CBS/Paramount dvd box set. 6 dvd box series/ 20 hrs 2012. The dvds are colored in blue.
