Manhunter (1974)

 

Quinn Martin, the producer responsible for a lot of quality television, had looked back to the 1930s for the classic series The Untouchables beginning in 1959. It wasn't until the 1970s that he returned to the Great Depression for another couple of tries.

Banyon (1971) starred Robert Forster as a P.I. It ran a mere 16 episodes before fading away. I've read the paperback novelization of the pilot and I'm pretty sure I'd love the show. But it never shows up in reruns anywhere or has gotten a DVD release. It's still on my "I hope I get a chance to watch it one day" list.

I did see at least a few episodes of Manhunter when it aired in 1974 and 1975. This one starred Ken Howard as a former marine who supplements the income on his family farm with bounty hunting. I was just a little 'un back then and only barely remembered the show. Being the bloody-minded kid that I was, I mostly remember cool weapons like tommy guns and Colt pistols. 

The pilot and a few other random episodes have shown up on YouTube. So I've now got to see Manhunter as an adult, having just watched the pilot. 

Of course, I still think the tommy guns and Colt .45s are cool. But, as was typical in most Quinn Martin productions, the plot was well-constructed and pilot is populated by talented character actors, including Gary Lockwood and Stephanie Powers as the primary bad guys. 

Ken Howard's haircut looks a little too 1970s, but that's a nitpick and a typical flaw in period television shows from that decade. 

Howard's character is named Dave Barrett. Just home from the Marines, he's working on his parents' farm. When he goes into town to see about a loan to fix the tractor, he witnesses a bank robbery. Actually, he does more than witness it. When an old friend AND his dog are killed in a hail of tommy gun fire, he snatches up a fallen pistol and nails one of the fleeing robbers.

He collects the reward and that does help out the farm's expenses, but his primary motivation is justice and protecting the innocent. He's good with weapons and he's an experienced hunter. The rest of the pilot follows him as he intelligently tracks the rest of the gang. He catches one of them, avoids an ambush meant to free his prisoner, and kills another. He figures out the gang's pattern for picking banks to rob and lays an ambush of his own. 

It's a pity the show didn't last long, but Quinn Martin never did replicate the success of The Untouchables. And, to be fair, though I enjoyed the pilot for Manhunter, it wasn't as good as The Untouchables. Ken Howard didn't bring the same intensity to his role as Robert Stack did as Eliot Ness. And, perhaps the earlier show being in black-and-white made it more evocative of the '30s.

But taken on its own, Manhunter is worth watching.