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McMILLAN & WIFE:  Night Train To L.A.
A Train Full Of Suspects  (7 of 10)

Mac and Enright attend a conference, and on the way there, the author of a book revealing police corruption is murdered, leaving an entire train full of suspects—all of whom are cops!

Michael Callan (YOU MUST BE JOKING!) is “Tommy Brown”, the obnoxious author, hated by virtually everyone on the train.  In any typical Agatha Christie murder mystery, he’s the one who gets murdered a half-hour in.  Which is exactly what happens here!

Linda Evans (McCLOUD: Butch Cassidy Rides Again) is “Nicole Avery”, Brown’s secretary and current girlfriend, whose behavior is dodgy to say the least.

Paul Burke (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR) is “Police Chief Wes Walker”.  He joins the train after the murder occurs, and becomes Mac’s 2nd assistant seeking the identity of the killer.

James McEachin (TENAFLY) is “Sgt. Sam Dugan”, a cop who was extremely angry about the tell-all book, and Mac has to tell him to calm down so he won’t keep being the number one suspect.

Murray Matheson (BANACEK) is “Aaron Hildreth”, who owns the train they’re riding on, and is along for the ride in his own private office.

This is yet another NBC Mystery Movie that was painfully padded out much longer than it should have been.  But that’s not the main problem I had with this one.

We’re repeatedly told the train will take “12 hours” to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  HOW is this possible, when it takes less than 6 hours to DRIVE there BY CAR?  (I looked it up!)

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McMILLAN & WIFE:  Love, Honor And Swindle
The Double-Dealing Brother-In-Law  (7 of 10)

Mac’s totally-irresponsible, bossy, globe-hopping mother turns up, because his sister is getting married. But it looks like her fiance is not being honest about who he really is, and much of the story involves two different sets of con men trying to con each other!

David Birney (BRIDGET LOVES BIRNEY) is “Randy Murphy”, who turns out to not be what he pretends.  Mac has him investigated, but even then, it seems something is still not on the up-and-up.

Gretchen Corbett (BANACEK: Now You See Me, Now You Don’t) is “Megan McMillan”, Mac’s younger sister, who early on he refers to as “a child” despite her being 27.

Norman Fell (THREE’S COMPANY) and Vincent Beck (SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS) are “Allan Kovacs” and “Dan Hagstrom”, a pair of high-rolling big business con men, out to con Mac’s future brother-in-law, unaware that he’s simultaneously in the process of conning THEM.

Midred Natwick (THE SNOOP SISTERS) is “Beatrice McMillan”, Mac’s mother, who never listens to anyone but herself, drives Mildred crazy by turning her kitchen into total chaos, still bosses her son around as though he were a little kid, but asks for his help as Police Commissioner when her horrible driving habits net her a well-deserved traffic ticket.

Also in the guest cast are Richard Deacon (THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW), David Spielberg, Liam Dunn (BLAZING SADDLES), and Byron Morrow (CYBORG 2087) and Eric Christmas (THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN).

“Sally” (Susan St. James) is home with her new baby, but is so completely pushed to the side in this story, when someone gets kidnapped, it’s Mac’s sister, rather than his wife.  (And we NEVER see the baby!)

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McMILLAN & WIFE:  Deadly Inheritance
The Murderous Stock Buy-Out   (6 of 10)

Mac’s extroverted and irresponsible mother is back in town, to celebrate the birthday of an old friend of hers.  But when he’s almost murdered, she begins investigating a defunct company he has shares in, which is being bought up for higher than market value.  Mac tries to keep her out of it for her own safety, but his words fall on deaf ears, especially when Sally begins helping her.

William Demarest (IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD and 215 episodes of MY THREE SONS) is “Andy Kenesaw”, who winds up spending most of the episode in the hospital recovering from an attempted murder.

Jack Gilford (CAVEMAN) is “Howard Liebowitz”, who refuses to sell his shares because the land he has his used car lot on is owned by the company.  That is, until someone vandalizes his beloved antique automobile, and, a broken man, he wishes Mrs. McMillan luck in her quest for justice.

Pat Harrington Jr. (209 episodes of ONE DAY AT A TIME) is “Preston Halsey”, the man pushing to buy up all the out-of-date stock on a company that’s been inactive for decades.  Is he the one behind the criminal behavior—or not?

Bert Freed (HANG ‘EM HIGH) is “Preston Winfield”, the owner of the company trying to buy the old shares.

Mildred Natwick (THE SNOOP SISTERS) is “Beatrice McMillan”, Mac’s mother.  I was paying less and less attention to many of the NBC Mystery Movies I was watching once they expanded most of them to a 2-hour time slot, but here, in her 2nd appearance of the show, Beatrice pulled a stunt that I have never forgotten in the over 50 years since this episode was first-run.  When the real villain shows his hand and takes Beatrice and Sally for a “ride” at gunpoint, instead of showing fear, she starts driving faster and faster until a whole column of police cars are chasing after them, knowing that if the would-be killer shoots her, they’ll all get killed in a high-speed car crash.

Thankfully, Susan Saint James got to do more in this episode than she had for much of the previous season.  What’s totally baffling, is that after Sally was pregnant for the entire previous season, there’s no sign OR EVEN MENTION of the baby.  What happened there?

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McMILLAN & WIFE:  Requiem For A Bride
The Wrong Victim?   (6 of 10)

An old friend of Mac’s, a high-ranking French Police Inspector, marries into a rich American family.  His father-in-law objects to the marriage, his sister-in-law objects to his new wife being in the will to inherit taking over the family business when her father passes away.  Meanwhile, Mac has recently arrested a crooked lawyer, who in retaliation has put out a contract on Mac’s life.  When his friend’s new bride is shot dead at a party, when she was standing right next to Mac, he naturally assumes the killer got the wrong target.  But the more he investigates, he begins to wonder.

Henry Darrow (THE OUTER LIMITS: Tourist Attraction, HALLOWEEN WITH THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY) is “Inspector Jacques Arnaud”, who has arguably the worst French accent heard on American TV in the whole of the 1970s.  He prefers working on his own so much, for half the story, I began to think he was one of the possible suspects behind his wife’s death!

Susan Sullivan (119 episodes of DHARMA AND GREG) is “Maggie Arnoud”, Jacques’ new wife, who hits it off with Sally.  They conspire to coerce Mac into going to France for their next vacation, until she’s suddenly shot dead.  I can’t believe I watched this entire episode and didn’t recognize her from one of my favorite sitcoms.

Lew Ayers (the 1930s DR. KILDARE series) is “Ambassador Justin Sinclair”, who knows he’s dying, and becomes very demanding that the Police find out who killed his younger daughter.

Stanley Kamel (43 episodes of MONK) is “Thomas Sable”, a professional hit man, who actually comes forward to meet with Mac because, as it turns out, he was only hired to scare Mac (SAY WHAT?), and had nothing to do with the actual murder.

Geraldine Brooks (THE OUTER LIMITS: The Architects Of Fear) is “Eileen Cole”, the older daughter, who is offended her father decided not to leave control of his company to her.

Laurence Pressman (SHAFT / 1971) is “Alan Joyce”, Eileen’s husband, whose wife finds him boring and ineffective.

I recall becoming so bored with this series during its 4th & 5th seasons, as most of the episodes (like this one) were painfully padded out to fill a 2-hour time slot, the formerly novelty plotlines became impenetrable, the wonderful chemistry between Mac & Sally all but disappeared (didn’t anyone remember she used to always help him solve these mysteries?), and, most baffling of all, for the 2nd time in the series run, a potential baby just disappeared between episodes.  What, did Sally have a miscarriage, or did she give the baby up for adoption?  This is what happens, I found out, when a series changes producers in mid-run, which is exactly what happened between seasons 3 & 4.  When this was first-run, I was either sitting on the couch, or on the floor, working on my art and writing projects, and barely paying attention at all.  I’m so glad I got the entire series on DVD, as I really, really enjoyed the first couple seasons.  But by here… EHH!

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McMILLAN & WIFE:  Aftershock
The Emerald Necklace Affair   (7 of 10)

While Mac & Sally argue about whether they want to sell their house or not, a thief breaks in, and winds up stealing nothing but a fancy bowl.  Mac soon learns the thief is someone he knows who has a record, who reveals he was hired to learn if the house had any hidden spaces in the walls.  During a “surprise” birthday party at which a number of guests turn up that Mac’s never met, an earthquake occurs, knocking down part of his fireplace, and revealing a dead body hidden in it!  Eventually, Mac learns that a priceless stolen emerald necklace may also have been hidden there, which a growing list of people knew about and wanted to get their hands on.

Robert Loggia (SCARFACE) is “Dimetrios Anapopulis”, a chef filling in for one Sally usually hires, who seems to have other things on his mind beside cooking, including romancing Mildred.  Really?

Julie Newmar (13 episodes of BATMAN) is “Luciana Amaldi”, an Italian actress making a film in San Francisco, who says she’d like to buy Mac’s house to live in while she’s filming.  REALLY?

Dennis Patrick (65 episodes of DARK SHADOWS) is “George Church”, who sold Mac & Sally the house when they got married, and claims he now feels bad about it, and offers to buy it back.  OH REALLY?

Val Bisoglio (138 episodes of QUINCY—how did I not remember that?) is “Ernie Booker”, who broke into the house, and promises Mac he’ll find out who hired him to do it—but is then found DEAD in an elevator shaft after the earthquake.  YEAH, RIGHT.

Dabney Coleman (148 episodes of MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN) is “Walter Jennings”, the insurance man who insured Mac & Sally’s house, and who shocks Sally by handing her a check to make repairs faster than she ever would have imagined.  VERY suspicious!

Richard Dawson (168 episodes of HOGAN’S HEROES) is “Roger Stambler”, who tells Mac he’s a representative of Lloyds Of London, and explains that a priceless stolen emerald necklace is actually at the bottom of everything that’s been going on around his house.  But is HE telling the whole truth?

Bill Dana (42 episodes of THE BILL DANA SHOW) is “Mr. Harrington”, the real estate man who keeps hounding Sally about selling her house.  One more veteran of GET SMART (2 episodes), it was nice to see him playing a role without the usual fake accent.

I was delighted that, apart from seeing Mac & Sally arguing, this episode started out as a return to what, for this series, was a “normal” story, after several in a row that kept seriously screwing with the format.  I was also very happy to see Sally getting back to being heavily involved in the story, and trying to help Mac solve the growing mystery, as she had always done in the early seasons.  The longer this went on, the more complicated it got, and I have to admit, even I began to get completely lost in the last half-hour.  But, that’s what watching reruns is for.  As an aside, I can’t be sure, but I’d swear the antique store seen in this story, was the exact same one seen in the pilot epsode, that was run by Jonathan Harris.  (I could be wrong, but it sure looked familiar.)

Ed Peck (STAR TREK) and Milton Selzer (another GET SMART vet, 7 episodes) also had bit parts.  Hilariously, Sally & Mildred refer to 2 different Edgar Allan Poe stories (“The Purloined Letter” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”) but neither mentions the one most related to this story (“The Black Cat”—or, for that matter, “A Cask of Amontillado”).