For Want of a Horse

Two disabled kids left alone unattended whilst a killer is at large is shocking the parents should be jailed

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!

old man (Paul Fix) murdered "Quincy" was a show I liked but I've gotta admit that sometimes the show is a bit heavy-handed. This inspirational episode is one such heavy-handed show. Instead of trying to entertain us, like so many of their social issues episodes, it seems much more oriented towards making us better people and drawing our attention to various causes. Unfortunately, they also tended to be rather low on entertainment value.

The show begins with a young scum-bag murdering his uncle (Paul Fix). To hide it, he pours a substance all over the guy so that the coyotes will eat much of the body (yuck!). However, during the autopsy, there is evidence of the murder. And, when this jerk-faced nephew then wants to throw a bunch of disabled kids off a ranch owned by the old man, it becomes clear to Quincy who is behind the murder.

Although this is a murder investigation show, most of the show actually is about the disabled kids who go to the ranch for horse therapy. In particular, there are two featured kids--one who is mute (who also witnessed the murder) and a foster child being raised by the Astens. How all this works together, see it for yourself. And, it's sad that there really is little mystery about the killing--it's solved amazingly quickly--probably because so much time was spent on the inspirational angle.

I guess I am just an old grouch when it comes to this one. Now often I love inspirational shows and films (such as the recent film "My Afternoons With Margueritte") but "Quincy" in this episode comes off as rather phony and contrived. I also don't have it out for disabled kids or horses--really. It just seemed trite and silly.