A WOW. 10 Stars.
Shades of an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode... as you will see. Wily Ralph Meeker plays a wealthy, obnoxious and boozer executive who is bumped off by his partner and wife. About a month later (they dumped him in the middle of the ocean?) he returns from the grave to seek his revenge. OMG.
Pretty clever stuff that has Cannon up against some devious characters. Credit Robert Hamner for writing this adventure, one of the Warner Brothers/ABC TV crew who worked with William Conrad on such classic shows as HAWAIIN EYE. Hamner could write a tale, and this has sort of a noir slant to it.
Obviously, Meeker is one lucky guy. Or is he?
There's also a good car chase with the famous silver Lincoln, although that car was not built for street racing by any means. This episode, even by todays standards is violent, similar to the slam bang brawls MANNIX got himself into.
Watch Kathleen Cody (as Meeker's sly wife). Cody had appeared in several episodes of GUNSMOKE, but is best remembered playing Carrie and Hallie in the cult tv series DARK SHADOWS. Ralph Meeker is his usual tough as nails self who should have made more appearances on the show. He was one talented dramatic actor, quite popular on tv at the time.
Series director William Wiard was in charge, who went on to the ROCKFORD FILES. He also did many sitcoms, such as DORIS DAY and LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE.
Watch the ending and the trick Cannon has up his sleeve. William Wiard handled it so well, and you can tell they had fun putting this together. It my have also been thought up at the last moment as its unusual. Beautifully done.
Partly filmed in San Diego. It's about time! It's too bad the series was not based there in the first place, a beach town that's overlooked.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 16 digitally remastered (2016) color CBS dvd box set. This is the famous box set that features Cannon frowning.