Mannix Desert Sun (1967–1975) watch online HD

During the course of "Mannix" and other detective shows of the era (such as "Cannon"), a common plot involved them going to a hellish and incredibly unfriendly small town. In this town, the hero gets beaten regularly, nearly killed and eventually brings the evil doers to justice. This episode is one of those formulaic episodes.

It all begins with two thugs, Cousins and Osterman, beating a poor Indian man to death. Soon Mannix gets a phone call from an old Korean War buddy (about the 40th in the series' run) asking for help. He knew the murdered man and wants Mannix to prove it was murder--though the men already were acquitted in court in the case. Well, they apparently didn't learn too much, as the pair immediately take a dislike to Mannix and try to beat him as well. When they are unsuccessful, they return later to get the job done...all as their pal, Gil Yarborough watches on in amusement. The problem is that Gil's father owns half the county and Mannix knows he'll get no justice here. What's next? See the show.

This episode was exciting but suffered in a variety of ways...and not just because of the familiarity of the plot elements. It handles rape in a questionable manner and also offers a plot hole with a phone call that is unnecessary and makes little sense. You could do better.

This episode, by the way, is set in Sandoval County, New Mexico-- located between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It is indeed VERY rural and looks pretty much like it does in the show. I wonder how they felt about the portrayal of the folks there in this episode!

Interesting episode that ticks the boxes of most of the standard Mannix tropes but takes a pretty dark turn at the end. *Contains Spoilers*

Old Korean War Buddy - Check. Mannix goes to a small town where everyone's against him - Check. Rich powerful man runs the town and tries to cover things up - Check.

Off to your basic start but this time his war buddy isn't trying to kill Joe! (And believe it or not actually survives the episode) Joe gets a call from his Native American buddy who needs his help investigating a murder in New Mexico. (Apparently the show had a much larger budget for location shoots this year. In 10 shows this season we've been to San Francisco, Phoenix and now New Mexico). Joe arrives and the locals threaten then beat him up. Seems there's a crashed plane full of money everyone's after and Mannix soon learns the small town is ruled over by a rich white man whose son is smack dab in the middle of both the murder investigation and the missing loot. But just when you think you've seen this episode many times before it piques your interest with serious discussion of Native American traditions and later turns very dark dealing with both rape and ritualistic suicide. The only downside to the show was the incredibly paint by numbers performances of the heavies in the episode. They really had nothing to offer and were incredibly vanilla. The Native American leads were really good however.

I say be patient and let the episode play out and you may just be surprised with the subjects covered and the nice handling of it by the show.