After Lalo Schifrin, this is the second composer who is in charge of two scores: a meaningful number on the series. Unfortunately, this is the farewell to Mission: Impossible of Drasnin who writes two good scores for minor episodes. The first one is connected to season 5 and the last one fits the new hip Syndicate leaning and both have some stock music. As a reminder, find the list of previous scores by Drasnin: "The Slave, Part I" (season 2), “The Mercenaries” and "The Play" (season 3), "Butterfly" and "My Friend, My Enemy" (season 5).

 DRASNIN'S SYNDICATE SCORES

Nerves is a dry mixture of Drasnin's season 5 scores: the exotic “Butterfly” with the hyper dramatical and torn-inside “My Friend, My Enemy”. The music reflects the anti-social status and the disturbed mental state of Wendell Hoyes (Christopher George) thanks to percussions, bells and a heavy brass section. Actually, the composer adapts his previous character themes designed for Paris (Leonard Nimoy) to correspond with the mold of Wendell Hoyes: both suffer from an emotional disorder. You can hear Drasnin's rendition of the Mission theme after the phony breakout and in most scenes that depict Jim contacting Barney in the white van. Find some trace of stock music: Drasnin's “My Friend, My Enemy” (Act 4: Hoyes fires at the rooftop of the next building) and Schifrin's “Encore” (Act 4: Three men in silver chemical gear pour some ciment to seal off the canister in a crate). For Run for the Money, Drasnin writes a funk jazz score that is really edgy and harpsichord-laden like the slavic “The Play”; all the horse races scenes are nicely-tracked with Drasnin’s silky sound made with a dominant bass guitar, a fast drum and some warm brass. This is one of the most recycled score from season 6 with a total of 11 episodes: see "The Tram", "Shape-Up", "Encounter", "Underwater", "Invasion", "The Connection", "Stone Pillow", "Image", "Committed", "Casino", "Trapped". Find the stock music: Drasnin's “The Play” (Act 1: Barney enters the bet office to travel through the wall and to trick the computer; Act 3: Trask leaves the motel room of Jim who calls Barney in his communication van) and Schifrin's “Encore” (Act 4: Barney returns to the station wagon while Trask is held prisoner by Mason’s men and escorted to his limo).

End music credits for "Nerves" and "Run for the Money".

 139-NERVES (episode #12, airdate: December 4, 1971)

 

 Prologue

At night, a car steps into a federal prison and crosses an automatic gate watched by two sentries and one of them goes checking the car. A high officer, sitting in the back seat, introduces himself as General Westerfield from the United States Army Chemical Corps, on his way to visit Warden Barnes. An automatic fence opens itself and the car continues. In his office, the warden stares at a wall clock, meets General Westerfield and refers to an unreceived call. Meanwhile, Wendell Hoyes comes out of a light blue Ford truck, goes to a public phone booth, calls the prison and the general answers. Wendell Hoyes congratulates him to have followed his first instructions to the letter. Hoyes offers a simple deal: his brother Cayman against the canister of gas. The general can’t make any deals, Hoyes gets upset and tells him he will contact him the next day at 2 P.M. at the same number. He threatens to open the canister in a public place with a lot of people if he refuses to deal. He hangs up the phone abruptly. The general and the warden look at each other with grim faces. Returning in the truck, Hoyes orders Tully to go and gets in the back to open a crate and stares at the deadly canister and says: “Sweetheart, you’re going to help get my brother out of prison, or a lot of good folks are gonna die.” He laughs in an icy manner. In the hospital section of the federal prison, Cayman Hoyes lies unconscious in a bed and is put on a drip. A doctor examines the eyes of Cayman and the warden asks him his chances to survive. The doctor asserts it’s his second heart attack in two days and he will die shortly. The general reminds Hoyes’ ultimatum to the warden. The three take a look at the dying man.

 Tape scene

At sunset, returning from the beach and carrying theirs towels, two women in bikini run near the Lifeguard Emergency building to join their boyfriend and get up the stairs. Up there, wearing his dark brown casual jacket, Jim comes out of his brown convertible car, bumps into them and gets down. The wind blows, he walks towards a black man, carrying sunglasses and a Panama hat, who fishes for in the pier. Jim recites his lines: “How are the bass biting?” and the man answers: “They’re not. Something must have frightened them off.” Jim continues: “I hear the sharks are running”. And the man concludes: “Might be”, and leaves with his rod. Jim sits in the public bench, opens the fisherman’s box and grabs a small envelop and a mini reel player that he plants on the upper compartment and examines the monochrome F.B.I. files of Hoyes’ brothers.

 Summary

F.B.I. most-wanted paranoid Wendell Hoyes threatens the US government to release a stolen military canister of a gas known as TX-222 (that will leak in less than 43 hours) against the life of his brother Cayman. The IMF infiltrates the gang of Hoyes with Casey and her State truck’s cell-mate Saretta Lane, Wendell’s girlfriend, and then with a double of limping Cayman to find the hiding place of the gas. Unfortunately, Jack Tully, the henchman of Wendell, discovers that Cayman has passed away in the federal morgue thanks to a prison guard insider.

 Cast and details

• Irrational Syndicate henchman fugitive Wendell Hoyes played by Christopher George
• Hoyes’ dying and limping convict brother Cayman played by Paul Stevens (returning from the season 5 “Decoy” but first seen in the season 2 “The Council”, the season 3 “The Cardinal”)
• Hoyes’ black henchman Jack Tully played by Rafer Johnson
• Hoyes’ girlfriend Saretta Lane played by Tyne Daly
• Tully’s prison guard informer Ed Campbell played by Ron Masak
• Brigadier General Westerfield played by Charles Bateman
• Federal Warden Barnes played by Russell Thorson (returning from the season 5 “Takeover”)
• The mechanic at Admiral’s garage played by Robert Broyles
• The doctor in the Federal prison played by Shep Menken

Featuring master of disguise Bill Williams (Peter Kilman returning from the season 5 “Squeeze Play”) disguises as limping Cayman Hoyes and extras as guards from the US Marshall truck.

Jim poses as the leader of bank robbers during Act 1 and as Nicholas Raysmith, Bureau of Corrections.

Barney operates a radio in the back of a white delivery van from the Department of Public Works. He returns to his usual dull duties.

Casey poses as F.B.I. most-wanted convict Lee Collins.

Willy poses as a member of bank robbers during Act 1. He carries his light brown casual blouson-style jacket.

The F.B.I. file of Wendel Hoyes | Saretta Lane and Casey are blinded by Hoyes in the winery

Hoyes displays his rage and madness to his girlfriend Saretta | The phony F.B.I. file of Casey as Lee Collins

Hoyes talks to Bill Williams disguised as his brother | Informer prison guard Campbell discovers the real Cayman

Hoyes is wounded by Jim's bullet and points the hideout | The decontamination squad isloates the gas canister

 Comments

Actor Christopher George was the husband of Lynda Day and used to be the leading character Sgt. Sam Troy from the WWII series The Rat Patrol (created by Tom Gries) and Tyne Daly (daughter of actor James Daly) plays Inspector Moore in The Enforcer (1976)—the third Dirty Harry—and is known as Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the 1982 cop series Cagney & Lacey. Actor Paul Stevens’ role is really minor compared to his previous acting duties in the show. Notice the cheapness of certain situations: the phony and contrived failed breakout attempt executed by Jim and Willy, the old-fashioned rear projection process during Casey and Lane’s escape by car and Barney’s extra-large wall radio unit in the back of the delivery van. As in the tape scene of “Minbend”, we can see the monochrome F.B.I. file of another maniac: Wendell Hoyes who, as Dr. Thomas Burke, hides in a working class building whose interior is dark. As in “Blast”, the HQ of Hoyes is in a warehouse (in fact, a desolated winery) and the two women are blinded by flare lights (as the two terrorists in the previous season 5). The canister is stored in the rooftop of the Griffith Observatory in the Hollywood hills. The prologue reminds the season 5 “The Hostage”: two terrorists (one fanatical leader and a black henchman) call and threaten the government and leave by truck which transports a hijacked government property (the canister here, and Paris, there) for a future human exchange. As in “Takeover”, one female IMFer has a F.B.I. file and is kissed by the foe. As in “The Merchant”, extras pretend to be dead to fool the believe of a foe’s partner. The first lines of Jim (“How are the bass biting?”) from the tape scene remind the season 5 “The Killer”. The season 5 concept of human failure is still present during Act 4 when Bill Williams is unmasked by Hoyes.

 Review

This

is a stagy, mob family and laborious drama about inner terrorism that is loosely derived from “The Hostage” (also directed by Barry Crane) and “Blast” but treated as a clumsy and redundant pathological study. Actually, we only see gangsters who blackmail the Defense department and not real terrorists, in the ideological sense of the word as the pinko season 5. Just read how Wendell Hoyes is described during the tape scene: Wendell Hoyes, a fugitive Syndicate enforcer. Not amazing because the script is too linear, too talky with endless emotional scenes in the winery and lacks of surprises and suspense but still interesting because Lynda Day plays with her own husband Christopher that is gritty badly-shaved to simulate his unbalanced state—they kiss earch other. I have the feeling it was planned as a vehicle for the George couple but their intercourses never take off and they act "forced". Anyway, to be fair and square, as a convict with a long record, Lynda Day George is "not" convincing because she's too cute and looks like a 1940's movie star and Christopher George is miscast and tends to overact with his blunt outbursts and looks like a savage gorilla with the psyche of a frightened kid. Furthermore, the supporting cast doesn’t help to sustain the interest. I appreciate the little touch of madness expressed by Hoyes who stares at the deadly canister and laughs during the end of the prologue: “Sweetheart, you’re going to help get my brother out of prison, or a lot of good folks are gonna die.” One element reminds the season 1 “The Confession”: the infiltration of Casey (playing Rollin’s part) as a convict handcuffed to Saretta Lane.

 140-RUN FOR THE MONEY (episode #13, airdate: December 11, 1971)

 

 Prologue

Extreme close-up of the water spouting up from a fountain: a black limousine turns around a square and parks nearby a horse bets parlor, camouflaged as a tabacco shop. Edward Trask comes out of the vehicle with a briefcase while his man Jeffers, his boss Frank Mason and hitman Miller watch him. Trask enters the shop, stops in front of a wall covered with magazines and orders the owner to open up who asks him his name. Trask moves towards the owner and states his name. The owner presses a secret button hidden behind the counter and the panel revolves. An announcer comments the current race, betters queue up to the cashier, Trask passes by, sits on a chair, lets his briefcase on a table and takes a newspaper. He stands up, plants his newspaper in the chair and leaves the place. Frank Mason and hitman Miller keep on watching the shop. Trask comes out of it and Mason opens him the door. Trask makes a cynical remark: “So much for free enterprise”. The black limousine starts fast, the tyres screech and minutes later, the shop blows up.

 Tape scene

Extreme close-up of the water falling down from a natural spring. A golfer plays his game, succeeds in and leaves the mini course located in a small park at the end of an avenue. A blue car parks near the fence of the park, wearing a yellow blouson style jacket, Jim comes out of it and walks to the place. He unlocks the padlock of a mini windmill, opens the green door which gives access to the mechanism, grabs the A4 envelop and activates the mini reel player.

 Summary

The leader of illegal race bets Frank Mason crushes all forms of competition and also owns the best horse on the field, King’s Friend, but Jim introduces a stolen Brazilian (formerly Lucky Lady) and lousy horse named Red Sand and pretends to sell it for $50,000 to Mason’s lieutenant Edward Trask who is jealous of his boss. The IMF fixes Trask’s winning horse and hand for the 17th running of the $100,000 Rinaldo Stakes at Paradise Park, removes $4 million from the Syndicate’s bet money which therefore will sign Trask’s own death warrant.

 Cast and details

• Head of the Syndicate horse bets Frank Mason (with a moustache) played by Herbert Edelman
• Mason’s lieutenant Edward Trask played by Richard Jaeckel
• Mason’s hitman Miller played by Valentin de Vargas (returning from the season 4 “Death Squad” but first seen in the season 1 "Elena")
• Trask’s second Jeffers (carrying sunglasses) played by Gene Otis
• Mason's anonymous blonde thug played by Charles Napier (returning from the season 3 “The Play”)

Featuring jockey Nick Pressy (William Harmatz).

Jim poses as Mr. Donovan, wearing his dark brown casual jacket, crooked horse owner along with Willy. Jim triggers the explosion of the printed circuit by pressing his pen.

Barney poses as a telephone repair man from “Teletex Communication Co. to simulate the robbery of Mason’s bets safe but, in fact, switches a printed circuit from the main computer. Barney remains in the communication van to inform the team.

Casey poses as Diane Fredericks, horse junky who is refused by Jim to buy Red Sand (she is very chic in that scene); Casey plays a double game: first, she seduces Trask and disturbs the mechanism of his stopwatch via a magnet hidden inside her handbag to make Red Sand runs faster and then she pretends to work for Frank Mason by meeting him in his favourite restaurant.

Willy poses as Steve, Jim’s horse trainer and wearing his light brown casual jacket.

Jim as Mr. Donovan tells off Casey as Miss Fredericks | Jeffers and Trask witness the scene of the argument

Trask joins in Casey as Miss Fredericks | Trask flirts with Casey as Miss Fredericks near the racetrack

Trask interrogates Casey as Miss Fredericks | Miller and Mason watch Jim through a surveillance system

Hitman Miller aims at Red Sand | King's Friend and Red Sand are in the target

 Comments

Character-actor Richard Hanley Jaeckel was typecasted as a heavy in Film Noir and Neo-Noir (see The Outfit, The Drowning Pool), as a cowboy along with actor Glenn Ford (The Violent Men, 3:10 to Yuma, Cowboy) or as a military (see Battleground, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Naked and the Dead, Town without a Pity, The Devil's Brigade), appeared in some Don Siegel films (The Lineup, The Gun Runners, Flaming Star), many Robert Aldrich films (Big Leaguer, Attack, 4 for Texas, The Dirty Dozen, Ulzana's Raid, Twilight's Last Gleaming, All the Marbles), in one Sam Peckinpah film (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid) and guest stared in countless television series but he is seen twice on The Wild Wild West: the season 1 "The Night of the Grand Emir" and the season 2 "The Night of the Cadre" in which the name of his superior is... Trask! Supporting actor Valentin de Vargas is known for his part as a Mexican black-leathered hood in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, appeared in Richard Brooks' Blackboard Jungle, Howard Hawks' Hatari! and William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. and guest stared in the two-parter season 4 of The Wild Wild West as Colonel Chaveros in "The Night of the Winged Terror". Character-actor Charles Napier is remembered for his early parts in Russ Meyer's 1970's films and appeared in most Jonathan Demme's films. As in “Encore”, the prologue contains an assassination attempt with explosive. Still in the prologue, in the clandestine bets parlor, the voice of the announcer refers to a horse named "Dirty Harry" (see the reference to Clint Eastwood’s cop character) many times: “Dirty Harry is fifth… Around the clubhouse turn, Dirty Harry in front now by a head… Turning into the backstretch, Dirty Harry in front by a head.” Horse bettings is the setting of Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 The Killing (see a sniper who guns down a horse at a remote distance but for another motive) and George Roy Hill’s 1973 The Sting (see the bets parlor). As in “Invasion”, a hit man (here, Miller) is ordered (by Mason) to bump off a useless one (any horses which keep King’s Friend from winning) and uses the same briefcase with the automatic rifle in four spare parts. As in the previous “Nerves”, Barney returns to his handyman jobs from Geller’s years. As in season 4, one IMFer presses a device that trigger a destruction of property and as in “Underwater”, one IMFer presses the top of a pen. As in many season 6 (“Blind”, “The Tram”, “Encounter”, “Underwater”), we can see the set of gangster apartment with the bar incorporated to the living-room that is now Trask’s pad. Jim’s main titles vignette comes from this apartment scene.

 Review

Average, cheap, laborious, wordy and slow-moving mob episode about a weak stake: horses bets (filled with dull and technical details on the game that are tedious to follow), not really exciting and besides it is a simplified variation of the previous season 3 “The Contender” owing to the bets aspect that is used to frame a Syndicate lieutenant (Buckman/Trask) who is finally nabbed by his own superior (Wheeler/Mason) and, in the middle, Jim is the go-between: just replace boxers by jockeys and horses. The episode is padded with grainy and old stock shots of crowd and jockeys running horses and the guest cast terribly lacks of charisma. My favourite moment is the end of the prologue when Trask says his fatal farewell: “So much for free enterprise”. Anyway, it is salvaged by composer Robert Drasnin's score.