User Reviews

There are more things wrong with this episode than anyone needs to detail. The idea of building a story around an ex-priest was a good one but from there on it was very poorly executed. It would be interesting to read the original script to see if it was bad from the start or if it suffered from cuts for time or budget.

The viewer is asked to believe that a murderer is trying to kill a priest because he is no longer a priest and therefore (they think) he is no longer bound to silence regarding a confession. The entire concept is awful. The ex-priest never saw the man so what difference does it make? And how likely is it that a murderer would quibble over fine points like a priest's vow of confessional confidentiality? Next, instead of just shooting the ex-priest the hired assassin tries to run him down with car which is a silly and difficult way to commit premeditated murder.

The big final scene sees the killer tie-up Peggy and kidnap the priest for the sole purpose of luring Mannix out to a deserted industrial site (how the Mannix producers loved those!) so he could kill them both. This is an obviously contrived plot device that serves no purpose except to chew up time.

Some very good actors (Anthony Zerbe, Geoffrey Lewis, Joe Maross to name three) were wasted on this trainwreck of a script and it beggars belief that it ever saw the light of day as constructed.

This outing, and episode 7-13, has people telling Zerbe secrets and then regretting the action. It leads to bloodshed in both episodes. In this offering Zerbe is former priest James Conway who, while still a priest, had a man confess to his part in a murder. Now that he is out of the priesthood, someone is trying to kill him by running him down. He doesn't know who that man who confessed is so he goes to Joe who does some great detecting to get a quick resolution (maybe). Joe gets Art Malcolm to give him a list of recent unsolved murders while not telling him why. It's good to have the police doing your research for you. The list and the fact the confessee left clues in his talk with Conway allows Joe to quickly narrow his suspects down to a certain group that helps visually impaired veterans. The unsolved murder list has a woman who worked for the group. Joe talks with Ira Welch (Joe Maross), head of the group. Welch basically confesses to Joe and Joe finds out he and the woman were having an affair. Joe learns Welch had an alibi so he must have hired a hitman. This hitman (Geoffrey Lewis) was after Conway and is now trying to kill Joe by running him down and then shooting at him. And hits Joe's car. Later, he tries to get him with a rifle. And hits Joe's car. He also sends Joe a bomb which Joe disarms. Why risk doing that? I dunno. I guess because it's Joe. While Joe is dodging all this, he visits Ira's wife (Fay Spain) and together they find Ira's body just after he kills himself. The climax comes when the hitman goes to Joe's office, kidnaps Conway and ties up Peggy. Joe shows up and Peggy tells him the hitman has taken Conway and Joe has to take directions from the bad guy to get to where he is holding Conway. Why not just kill Conway at Joe's office? Seems so logical even Peggy brings it up but Joe explains it away by saying the bad guy wants Joe too. Of course, if the bad guy did kill Conway, Joe would come after him so he could get Joe then. Logic is not a big player in this episode. Joe ends up at an old radar site, kills the bad guy, rescues Conway. The end.

Lots of holes in this one. Not that impressed with the hitman who is never named and identified as "Killer" in IMDB credits. I wonder how many shots he took at Joe in this episode. I suspect it is a Mannix record for most times being shot at in one outing with no results except wounding Joe's car. Joe described him as a professional. Really? A professional who should have spent more time at the rifle range. The topper is Joe gets him with his patented "long range shot with a stub nose pistol". Joe has made a lot of those shots but this one might be the best as the gun isn't even pointed at the hitman.

Ira started all this off by going to confession so I assume he is Catholic. Suicide is a serious sin with them but I guess after you have paid for a murder.... When Joe is forced to switch cars while going to rescue Conway, the killer talks to him over the radio as he is standing next to his new car. How does the killer know when he is there since he can't see Joe?

The cast is alright. Love Zerbe but I like him better as a bad guy. Maross had a long career doing roles just like this. Fay Spain had a busy career but died young at 50. Look for James Nusser in a short appearance. If he looks familiar, it is because he did about a thousand episodes of "Gunsmoke". Ward Wood is always the dependable as the put-upon Lt Malcolm. It's a living.

Incidentally, the radar station where the climax happened is on the edge of Camp Pendleton in southern California.

Peggy is taken hostage for a moment and then tied up and drugged. There have got to be better jobs out there for her. Joe's car should look for a new gig too. That poor thing has gone over a lot of steep embankments and is now getting shot.

I assume Joe got paid. At least he didn't have client who lied to him. That's a nice change. Not a horrible episode but it is not that great either. There are many better ones.

Season 6 is not off to a good start. Episode 1 was not very good, and this episode doesn't inspire confidence for episode 3. First, why would the hit man try to kill a priest who couldn't identify his confessor, let alone the hit man himself? Second, he's a pro? He tried to kill Mannix three times. Horrible shot. Third, why show up at Mannix's office, where Peggy can now identify him, and why not kill the priest there, along with Peggy? Mannix explained that away when Peggy asked him, but the hit man could have gotten Mannix later with attempt number four. Then, fourth, this supposed professional hit man exposes himself to a shot in not knowing where Mannix is after he shot at him, and Mannix ran, at the abandoned radar site. And of course after he shoots at Mannix however many times (remember, a pro), Mannix levels him with one shot from the hip with a snub nose revolver. I know these shows are fictional and far-fetched to begin with in that they always wrap up neatly, but at least make us think through coherent plots. Oh, and he could have saved himself a lot of effort and ammunition by killing Maross' character. HE was the one true witness.

"Cry Silence" was a disappointing episode because the plot makes no sense. This insults an audience who deserve a plot. Ira Welch, played by Joe Maross is Catholic and he goes to confession with Fr. James Conway, played by Anthony Zerbe. Ira confesses that he played a role in a murder. He tells Fr. Conway he works with the handicapped and that he was wounded and almost lost his eyesight. He panics and fears Fr. Conway will make him go to the police. Ira abruptly abandons the confessional without receiving absolution. Fr. Conway had no clue who was behind the confessional screen.

In the next scene, Fr. Conway says goodbye to the pastor Fr. Frank Lawler, played by Stacy Keach Sr. Fr. Conway has decided to leave the priesthood. Suddenly, a car speeds up to run him over but Conway escapes. This also happened the week before.

Conway hires Joe Mannix to find out who is trying to kill him. Conway believes the man in the confessional is trying to kill him because he heard Conway left the priesthood. Conway thinks this man is afraid that former priests are no longer bound by the seal of the confessional and that Conway will tell police that he said he was involved in a murder. This is not correct because a priest whether he is in or out of the priesthood is bound to keep anything he hears in the confessional secret. Other than the scant information Ira provided in the confessional Conway has nothing else. Because Ira said he was wounded Mannix deduces he was wounded in the war. Mannix and Gail search for a wounded veteran working with the handicapped. With Lt. Malcolm's help, they get incredibly lucky and determine that it had to be Ira in the confessional.

Mannix learns that the married Ira was having an affair with Lucy Tilden and hired a hit man, Geoffrey Lewis to kill her because he decided to stay with his wife. Gee, what a nice guy! After Mannix interviews him, Ira becomes nervous and later on in the episode, he commits suicide.

The biggest plot hole is how the hitman knew that Ira went to confession. It makes no sense that Ira would tell him. That would be stupid, especially considering that the hitman was blackmailing Ira to the tune of $1k monthly after he was paid $20k for the hit. Ira was afraid of the hit man, telling about his confession would only provoke the hitman into killing Ira. There is no possibility the hitman knows anything about the confession. Thus, he has no reason to kill Conway. There is no plot, and this fact cannot be ignored.

Lewis the hit man only had one success and that was killing Lucy, otherwise he is incompetent. He failed three times attempting to run someone over with his car. The first two times he tried to run Conway over and Mannix, the third time. Why run over someone in broad daylight where witnesses can identify the vehicle, or his tire track might leave evidence? A hitman is good with a gun, so use the gun!

However, do not use the gun in a public place in the middle of the day. Lewis tries to assassinate Mannix from the top of a building as Mannix walks to his car with his back to Lewis. Why do this in broad daylight? It would be hard to escape from a public shooting. People would run out after hearing gunshots. Police would show up. Lewis would be trapped. Mannix would be a dead man in this situation. There is no way Mannix sees Lewis in his rear-view mirror and ducks in the nick of time. There is no chance Mannix can run to the building without being hit by Lewis. No police show up, no crowds gather, and Lewis escapes.

In another boneheaded move, Lewis is disguised as a delivery man and drops off a bomb disguised as a gift to Peggy at the office. Mannix quickly figures out it is a bomb. He tells Peggy to clear the building and diffuses the bomb himself. Lt. Malcolm expresses some irritation at Mannix for doing this. I don't blame him. Realistically, the police would be all over this and there would be witnesses who would see and place Lewis in his delivery driver disguise and describe the vehicle he drove. It is risky to drop off a bomb and the police have ways to find evidence. For example, did Lewis leave fingerprints on the gift box? Any bomb scare like this would be the top story on the 11 pm news and the community would be on high alert looking for the perpetrator. A smart hitman would not want this much attention.

Lewis stupidly returns to the office when Mannix is out. Realistically, after the bomb scare, the police would likely be keeping close tabs on Mannix's office. It would be insane for Lewis to go there. He ties Peggy up and takes Conway hostage. Mannix had hidden Conway in his office. Why not just kill Conway and Peggy at the office? Why even go to the office? Now Lewis has a loose end because Peggy can describe him to the police.

Lewis holds Conway hostage at some tower on a remote site. He arranges for Mannix to meet him there. As Mannix is driving up to the remote site Lewis attempts to shoot him but misses because Conway who is tied up next to him manages to bump him. A professional hitman would make sure the hostage was not able to do something like that. Even if that happened, Conway in this case, would be shot dead by the hitman.

Although Lewis missed Mannix he still has a rifle with a scope pointed at Mannix who is very much exposed. Mannix can only hope to duck under the car or behind a door. There is no chance that Mannix can run and avoid being shot by Lewis who amazingly does not land a single shot. Incredibly, he loses track of Mannix who manages to run around to a position behind Lewis. Mannix aims his little pistol at Lewis some 30 feet away on a tower and manages to hit him, making him fall to his death below. Conway and Mannix rush over to Lewis who utters a few words before he dies. Conway, the former priest blesses him. This whole shooting scene is offensive to the intelligence of the audience.

In a better plot, Ira writes down his confession and tells Fr. Conway everything in detail. He receives absolution and does his penance. As a Catholic who goes to confession, I write down my confession because it is important to make a good examination of conscience and tell the priest every sin, leaving nothing out. So, writing down a confession is not unusual. You destroy it afterward.

In this case, Ira is in a hurry to meet Lewis and pay the $1k blackmail money and does not immediately destroy his written confession. Lewis happens to find the written confession but somehow Ira warns Fr. Conway who goes to Mannix for help but can offer only limited information because he cannot break the seal of the confessional. Now you have a show. There is no need to have Fr. Conway leave the priesthood. It adds nothing to the plot.

Fay Spain played Mrs. Welch and was effective in her role. I wish she had been given more to do. Maross was good as Ira Welch. Lewis was miscast as the hitman. Zerbe was ok but not given much to work with. Again, he would be more effective as the hit man given his track record of playing bad guys. Stacy Keach Sr. Had a limited role, but he could have played Fr. Conway.

The show papers over issues relating to Peggy's character. Working for Mannix is a dangerous job. Peggy almost lost her life twice in this episode. She is a widow raising her only son who is in grade school. Her husband was killed in the line of duty, and she is all he has in life. The producers overdid the violence at the office and should have toned it down.

Another issue with office violence is that Paseo Verde management would evict Mannix because his private eye business brings a lot of crime to the area. The building was nearly blown up. Every week, there is a shooting, or someone is held at gunpoint. No landlord would tolerate this.

Watch closely in this episode and you may notice that Ira Welch's office first belonged to one Roger Wade memorably played by Simon Scott in Season 2 Episode 1 "Silent Cry."

Jason Evers shoots the hapless Roger Wade dead in his office. Evers played a professional assassin and lives by the rule that no one ever gets to see his face. Wade had seen his face and thus was a loose end. Watching Evers deliver his line about loose ends was funny. This is a great scene which you must see. Evers then pulls the bullet from the wall. I wonder if the bullet hole was still there when the office belonged to Ira.