Mannix (TV Series)

Harvest of Death (1972)

Mike Connors: Joe Mannix

Photos 

Quotes 

• Sheriff Simkins : Well, hello, Mannix.

  Joe Mannix : Sheriff. Is this a raid?

  Sheriff Simkins : No. But, uh, if it had been, I'd have come a little earlier and caught myself a fish.

  Joe Mannix : Well, your timing could have been better.

  Sheriff Simkins : [laughs]  Well, sorry about that. But, uh, business goes on as usual, you know. At least, mine does.

  [takes out a notepad from his coat pocket and reads what's written] 

  Sheriff Simkins : Uh, Joe Mannix, private investigator, license number 13007. Crop dusting just a hobby with you, or, uh, is the detective business falling off?

  Joe Mannix : Let me ask you a question, Sheriff. You run a check on every visitor to Carpenter?

  Sheriff Simkins : Uh, just about. Clint, Sr. put me onto it. You know, he didn't like meddling strangers. So, I thought I'd give Clint, Jr. the same service. What about it, Mannix?

  Joe Mannix : Well, I was, uh, hired by the Winters Crop-dusting Service to find those two missing pilots. Well, you said yourself you didn't get anyplace with it, so maybe it's time for an outsider.

  Sheriff Simkins : Well, what I mean is we haven't been able to prove anything, but supposing I was to tell you that there is one party who'd be tickled silly to see Clint, Jr. lose his tail. Of course, proving that he's working at it is something else again.

  Joe Mannix : Sam Maturian.

  Sheriff Simkins : [chuckling]  Boy, you sure do work fast, don't you?

  Joe Mannix : Yeah, fast enough to know there are people around here who'd swear by him.

  Sheriff Simkins : Fast enough to know that he figures he's the rightful owner of a good-sized chunk of the Carpenter spread? Huh? Yeah, that's right. All that acreage out there in orange trees. Now all he does is dig irrigation ditches around them.

  Joe Mannix : Well, uh, that does change things a little.

  Sheriff Simkins : It certainly does, doesn't it? Well, I'm, uh, willing to give you all the help I can, you know, but, uh, keep your head down. Oh, uh, by the way, that perfume...

  [sniffs] 

  Sheriff Simkins : ... it's kind of special. I wonder what Junior would think if he knew that his wife was visiting a man in his motel room at this hour of the night.

• Joe Mannix : Dave!

  Dave Winters : Hey, Joe.

  Joe Mannix : It's been a long time.

  Dave Winters : Too long. Hope I didn't louse up your game.

  Joe Mannix : No problem.

  Dave Winters : I'd like you to meet Clint Carpenter.

  Joe Mannix : Mr. Carpenter.

  Clint Carpenter : Dave tells me you flew together in Korea.

  Joe Mannix : Yeah.

  Clint Carpenter : Side-by-side. He thinks you're the right man for the job, and I hope so.

  Joe Mannix : Oh? What kind of job's that, Dave?

  Dave Winters : Well, to find out what's going on. Clint uses my dusting service. Biggest customer I've got, as a matter of fact.

  Clint Carpenter : And I soon won't be any kind of customer, Mr. Mannix. Somebody's out to ruin me.

  Dave Winters : They don't mind ruining me along with him. Two of my pilots have disappeared on the job.

  Joe Mannix : Disappeared?

  Dave Winters : Gone, not a trace. Cars, belongings and all.

  Joe Mannix : These, uh, pilots, they the kind that can be bought off?

  Dave Winters : Nah, not a chance. I knew them both for years. The first one, Harv Walker, came out of retirement to help me.

  Joe Mannix : Well, what about the local law? Can't they come up with anything?

  Clint Carpenter : Well, there's a Sheriff Simkins. He's been sheriff for 15 years. He's good for writing out tickets and cleaning up after accidents, but that's about it.

  Dave Winters : Joe, here's our problem. Clint's stuck with a plague of insects. Thrips, they're called, chomping away at the oranges. At the rate they're going, a week, ten days is all we've got.

  Joe Mannix : Well, it's, uh, not much time for an investigation.

  Dave Winters : Might be enough, Joe, if you could do the dusting yourself.

  Joe Mannix : Me? Hey, Dave, that's precision flying.

  Dave Winters : That's right. So is landing a fighter on a carrier deck in a typhoon. You did that, didn't you?

  Joe Mannix : Yeah, well, now that was different.

  Dave Winters : Joe, compared to those hot ships we were jockeying, the Ag Cat handles like a kite. I could check you out down here, and under the circumstances, I think I could get a waiver for a license.

  Clint Carpenter : Dave, uh, maybe Mr. Mannix doesn't like the idea of being a decoy.

  Joe Mannix : Yeah, well, it's still a long shot, Dave.

  Dave Winters : That ever stop you before?