Mask for a Charade

This is a superb and very entertaining episode and is one of the best episodes of the season and of the series overall. It features a great mystery, lots of action, an intriguing and intricate plot and some nice twists.

It's about a syndicate hood who is killed in a hit and run accident and the person accused of killing him is a police sergeant (played by Claude Akins), who hires Joe to dig up information to prove he's innocent.

Gloria LeRoy's performance as mob wife Jenny Dobbs is terrific. She plays the part of a drunk perfectly and she's funny too. Claude Akins' performance as the police sergeant is stellar too, as is the performance by Joan Shawlee as an informer named Annie, or "the Duchess" (she's referred to by both names). Of course, as always, Dennis Patrick plays the villain and is excellent as syndicate hood Frankie West. Marj Dusay is top-notch as Helen Layton and even does some singing. Charlie Picerni makes another appearance as one of West's goons.

There's lots of excitement as there are some great fight scenes, action sequences and stunts, and one of those stunts is a difficult one that happens during the fight scene in the mud that Joe actually does himself!! It's definitely him - it's not a stuntman! Great job by Mike Connors in trying to keep the show authentic by actually doing a difficult stunt himself.

There are some hot tempers too. Around the middle of the episode, there are three straight scenes where someone completely blows their top and lashes out at someone else. In the first one, Joe busts through the door of syndicate hood Frankie West and really gets in his face and lets him have it after a couple of West's thugs jump him in a bar. Then in the very next scene, Malcolm totally loses his cool and blows up at Joe, which is very unusual as there are hardly ever any heated exchanges between the two of them, so this is rare, but at the same time it's also refreshing because it's not something you see very often. What's especially funny is that at one point during his tirade, Malcolm says that "the D. A. blew his stack" over something that Joe did, so he's yelling at Joe about someone else blowing their stack while HE HIMSELF is doing the same thing with Joe!! Great stuff. Then in the next scene, Joe and his client get into a heated shouting match. Really great sequence of scenes here.

Two different characters get clobbered in the head, which is rare, and what's remarkable is neither one of them is Joe. This is the second episode this season (after Walk a Double Line) where characters other than Joe get clobbered in the head.

On a hilarious note, check out the green and white plaid pants Joe is wearing at the beginning! Gotta love it! Classic '70s!

This is a classic Mannix episode that has it all - action, suspense, tension and a great plot. There are also no clichés. This one is excellent.

Frank Telford was writing for HAWAII FIVE O at the time, so you know this was gonna' be an adventure. He also previously wrote for IRONSIDE.

10 Earned Stars.

"Mask for a Charade", and an appropriate title, begins with a man looking very, very much like Claude Akins running over a guy. The victim is a crook who should have been bumped a long time ago, however... it doesn't alter the fact Akins is an LAPD sergeant and what's his connection? He flatly denies everything and Joe has to back peddle through a well constructed mystery.

I agree with the last reviewer, there must have been some sort of inside joke among the writers as someone else (other than Joe) says HE got a concussion after a knock down drag out fight. REALLY? Not to miss a super cast. Aside from Claude Akins there's Marj Dusay (playing Helen), a dramatic actress who deserved more credit. Dennis Patrick (looking suspicious) plays Frankie. Gloria LeRoy (who had some hilarious parts on ALL IN THE FAMILY) makes a surprise guest appearance. Also Joan Shawlee (DICK VAN DYKE SHOW) and Jeanne Bates (as Mary), whose career went back to 1940s B movies. The noir award for best actress goes to -- it's a tie -- Gloria LeRoy and Marj Dusay, the prime reason they were cast. What good acting is all about, coupled with a fine director, Sutton Roley. He also worked on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.

Tough to figure this one out. Just when you think you have it... Good Luck.

SEASON 7 EPISODE 21 remastered color CBS dvd box set. 6 dvds 2012 release. Very similar front cover design to CANNON Season 5 dvd box set. Both classic portraits.

Sgt Reardon (akins) insists he needs Mannix, not a lawyer when a guy is murdered and it appears as if he did it (it sure looked like him in the beginning)

When the show begins, you see a guy in a car shoot someone and smash into a car while getting away from the scene of the crime. The guy in the car LOOKS a lot like Claude Akins. In the next scene, the police arrive at the home of Sgt. Reardon (Akins) and arrest him for the murder. Instead of asking for an attorney, Reardon asks for Mannix and hires him to investigate. Eventually, he's able to find evidence that says Reardon wasn't guilty after all. But there's much more to it than this...and instead of celebrating a successful conclusion of a case, he should keep digging deeper.

This is a pretty good episode...mostly because the three just before this turned out to be pretty poor. Plus there are enough twists and turns that it keeps you guessing. Worth seeing and rather original...which is tough considering there have been nearly seven episodes so far (and a final season coming up).

A mob boss is gunned down from a moving car at the beginning. He looks just like Sgt. Reardon (Claude Akins) so he hires Joe Mannix to clear him. Lots of great twists and turns in this one with quite a few familiar guest stars like Dennis Patrick who I recently saw on "The Iceman" ep of "Cannon" and Gloria LeRoy who I mainly remember as Mildred "Boom Boom" Turner in "All in the Family". Also lots of confrontations of in-you-face shoutings as tensions boil. Of course, Mannix gets lots of punches and gunshots aimed at him and it's such a miracle that he not only survives them all but also almost without any woundings! So that's a big recommendation of "Mask for a Charde". Oh, and I also liked Marj Dusay's singing here.

Agree with the other two reviewers on the merits of this one. Although there are plenty of hints it's not over when it might be, it keeps the twists going as it continues. It also features one of the funniest lines in the series. At the lake scene Joe is fighting with a guy and they punch back and forth and then when he grabs Joe he gets his arm twisted and thrown over to land in a couple of feet of water. Other things happen then to end the fight, and his buddy comes over and says are you okay, and he says something like "Yeah, but I got a concussion".

Did the writers put that in as an inside joke? By now Joe has been knocked out 187 times and hit over the head an addition 243 times and has never shown any signs of wear. This guy gets thrown into shallow water and gets a concussion!!!! Hilarious....

Read some of "Planktonrules"'s well written reviews and he mentions the concussion issue in a number of reviews, so was pretty surprised that he did not comment on it this time!!