Quincy investigates the death of a ranch owner while Dr. Astin and his wife struggle with their foster child.Quincy investigates the death of a ranch owner while Dr. Astin and his wife struggle with their foster child.Quincy investigates the death of a ranch owner while Dr. Astin and his wife struggle with their foster child.
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Did you know
- GoofsAt 5 minutes before the end of the program when Quincy returns to the Equestrian Therapy ranch, the front license plate of his Coroner's (Ford) station wagon can be seen and reads [E]999853, which is the same as the license plate on most of the Coroner's (AMC Matador) station wagons used in prior seasons.
Featured review
Beautiful story that you should keep the Kleenex handy for
For Want of a Horse begins with low life Paul Tanner (Luke Askew) murdering his Uncle (Paul Fix) so that he can gain control of his ranch and the surrounding land. Tanner pours fluid on the body of his Uncle that helps attract coyotes to the corpse so that it is mutilated making it very difficult for Quincy (Jack Klugman) to conduct the autopsy. After assuming control of the ranch, Tanner tells the coordinators of an equestrian therapy program for disabled children that they can no longer use the horses or the land just as Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) and his wife (Louise Tarbuck) bring their foster child to the program and begin to see progress. When Quincy finds out about this, he begins to suspect Tanner murdered his Uncle for the land and sets out to prove it, but can he do it before Tanner kills his next target, a mute boy who witnessed the crime?
There has been many Quincy episodes that I've reviewed on here where I've complained about there being a social issue featured instead of a crime investigation and this not really being true to the premise of the series, but here we have a rare example of both types of stories combined and I thought that it was very effective and worked well. I wish that the writers and production team had handled every episode focused on a social issue in this manner as there was something in it for everybody, and the fans who prefer the crime investigation plots would not be so disappointed by these stories.
Right from the opening scenes where they showed actual disabled children, not actors, taking part in and benefiting from the equestrian therapy, my eyes filled up and I was moved. Keeping in mind this aired in 1981, how many network primetime shows of the time would have showed these scenes? It is a testament to how this show was brave and different which is among the many reasons why I love it! Then you have the Astens featured in a storyline where they are now fostering a boy in a wheelchair after years of sadness and frustration in not having children of their own. They try to help him recover from his accident by participating in the therapy that may lead to him walking again, but he is reluctant and scared. Kudos to Brian Andrews for his portrayal of the boy as I thought his scenes were very realistic and convincing.
My only criticism of this episode is that there isn't much of a mystery element as we see right at the beginning who is responsible for the murder, but this can be easily forgiven as there is still plenty of other interesting aspects to it. Overall, I found this to be a beautiful and heartwarming story that weaves a crime and a social issue together very nicely in what amounts to be a compelling Season 7 episode that I highly recommend viewing!
There has been many Quincy episodes that I've reviewed on here where I've complained about there being a social issue featured instead of a crime investigation and this not really being true to the premise of the series, but here we have a rare example of both types of stories combined and I thought that it was very effective and worked well. I wish that the writers and production team had handled every episode focused on a social issue in this manner as there was something in it for everybody, and the fans who prefer the crime investigation plots would not be so disappointed by these stories.
Right from the opening scenes where they showed actual disabled children, not actors, taking part in and benefiting from the equestrian therapy, my eyes filled up and I was moved. Keeping in mind this aired in 1981, how many network primetime shows of the time would have showed these scenes? It is a testament to how this show was brave and different which is among the many reasons why I love it! Then you have the Astens featured in a storyline where they are now fostering a boy in a wheelchair after years of sadness and frustration in not having children of their own. They try to help him recover from his accident by participating in the therapy that may lead to him walking again, but he is reluctant and scared. Kudos to Brian Andrews for his portrayal of the boy as I thought his scenes were very realistic and convincing.
My only criticism of this episode is that there isn't much of a mystery element as we see right at the beginning who is responsible for the murder, but this can be easily forgiven as there is still plenty of other interesting aspects to it. Overall, I found this to be a beautiful and heartwarming story that weaves a crime and a social issue together very nicely in what amounts to be a compelling Season 7 episode that I highly recommend viewing!
- rayoflite24
- Dec 5, 2015
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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