Ken Scott Movies

Quincy (Jack Klugman) finds himself between the proverbial rock and a hard place after a prize horse named Star Chaser dies mysteriously after a big race. Insurance investigator Annie O'Connor (Katherine Justice) accuses wealthy Nelson Spencer of killing the horse to collect on a huge policy, and also of murdering a veterinarian to cover up his crime. Trouble is, Spencer is one of Quincy's best friends--and Annie is Quincy's current sweetheart. Real-life jockey Chris McCarron plays a key role in this episode, which was partially filmed at the fabled Santa Anita racetrack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Martinez guest stars as Antonio Carbo, a compassionate young physician on the threshold of a brilliant career. Unfortunately, Carbo is in danger of losing his license--and his future--when he is accused of mishandling a gunshot victim who died while being transported from an emergency clinic to a hospital. Investigating, Quincy (Jack Klugman) uncovers evidence that the victim was murdered after he was treated at the clinic; the challenge now is to figure out why it happened, and who was responsible. This is the final episode of Quincy, M.E.'s fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Five bosomy buddies take off for a little fun and sun and end up involved with handsome new men. Their fun abruptly ends when a homicidal maniac begins stabbing people to death. To make matters worse, the killer seems to be one of them. Fortunately, looks can be deceiving. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Elizabeth Ashley shines in an extremely difficult guest-star turn in the Mission:Impossible episode "Encounter." The IMF is assigned to halt the extortionist activities of crooked business executives Frank Brady (Val Avery) and Martin Stoner (Lawrence Dane). The key to the mission's success is the mercurial -- but potentially beneficial -- behavior of Stoner's alcoholic wife Lois (Ashley). Originally seen on October 30, 1971, "Encounter" was written by Howard Beck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jennie (Susan Strasberg) travels to San Francisco to locate her hippie brother Steve (Bruce Dern). She meets Stoney (Jack Nicholson) in a coffeehouse and he helps her look for Steve, who Stoney has seen in his various attempts to start a rock & roll band. Stoney and his pals transform the square girl into a swinging hippie chick, complete with a mod miniskirt. Along with their buddy Dave (Dean Stockwell), they search for Steve amidst the psychedelic splendor of the Haight-Ashbury hippie haunts. Dave is killed by a car when he wanders around in an STP-induced stupor. LSD, marijuana, and the good and the bad sides of hippie life are illustrated with non-judgmental accuracy. The soundtrack of the movie is a musical gem, complete with the international smash "Incense and Peppermints" by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. (The group reached the top of the charts with the song in October 1967.) Also on hand are the Seeds, although they don't get to perform their best-known song, "Pushin' to Hard." (Seeds lead singer Sky Saxon would gain as much notoriety as an acid casualty as he would from his musical ability.) Also adding music are the Storybook and Cryque Boenzee. The latter group contained Rusty Young and George Grantham, who would join with former Buffalo Springfield members Richie Furay and Jim Messina from the legendary, long-lived country-rock band Poco. This time-capsulized gem was produced by Dick Clark, the world's oldest teenager. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In preparing his romantic comedy Two For the Road, director Stanley Donen decided to utilize many of the cinematic techniques popularized by the French "nouvelle vague" filmmakers. Jump cutting back and forth in time with seeming abandon, Donen and scriptwriter Frederic Raphael chronicle the 12-year relationship between architect Wallace (Albert Finney) and his wife (Audrey Hepburn). While backpacking through Europe, student Finney falls for lovely music student Jacqueline Bisset, but later settles for Hepburn, another aspiring musician (this vignette served as the launching pad for the film-within-a-film in Francois Truffaut's 1973 classic Day for Night). Once married, Finney and Hepburn go on a desultory honeymoon, travelling in the company of insufferable American tourists William Daniels and Eleanor Bron and their equally odious daughter Gabrielle Middleton. Later on, during yet another road trip, Finney is offered an irresistible job opportunity by Claude Dauphin, which ultimately distances Finney from his now-pregnant wife. Still remaining on the road, the film then details Finney and Hepburn's separate infidelities. The film ends where it begins, with Finney and Hepburn taking still another road vacation, hoping to sew up their unraveling marriage. While critics did nip-ups over Stanley Donen's "revolutionary" nonlinear story-telling techniques, audiences responded to the chemistry between Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, not to mention the unforgettable musical score by Henry Mancini. Note: many TV prints of Two for the Road are edited for content, robbing the viewer of Finney and Hepburn's delightful "Bitch/Bastard" closing endearments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Britisher Trader Faulkner goes on his honeymoon with new bride Marla Landi. Little does he suspect that Landi is conspiring with ex-husband Ken Scott to murder Faulkner for his money. Faulkner tumbles to their little scheme, and plots a revenge. The plotters get their just desserts, but Faulkner ends up just as dead as he would have been had he never caught on. Filmed in England, The Murder Game was released in the US by 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this WWII drama, a young woman arrives too late to save her archaeologist father from the Nazi forces invading Crete. She is helped by an all-female guerrilla force who try to help her get back to England. After an escape attempt fails, she stays on to help the force, whose leader she falls in love with. The title comes into play during the film's climax, when the force takes off their uniforms and skin-dives under a docked Nazi munitions ship in order to blow it up. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Scuba-divers plot a bank robbery on lovely Catalina island in this caper movie. After the heist, the thieves dive into the see with their booty and swim for their getaway boat. Unfortunately while fleeing, the ring leader's chief assistant suffers a heart attack; more trouble ensues when a police bullet punctures the leader's air tank. Though he is now starving for oxygen and tired, the villain keeps going. Just as he is about to board the boat, he is sucked in to the crafts powerful propeller and dies a grisly death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this high-seas adventure set in the 1600s, a British sea captain must go undercover, join a pirate band, and capture the notorious Captain Henry Morgan. But Morgan is on to the ruse and is well prepared when the sea captain makes his move. As the two engage in mortal combat, they are knocked unconscious and dragged to the governor of Tortuga who prepares to hang them both as pirates. Fortunately, a stowaway aboard the pirate vessel steps forward and reveals the hero's true identity and saves him. Morgan is not so lucky. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Something of a variant on the American western where colonialists face off with Native Americans, The Fiercest Heart by George Sherman is set in 1837 and focuses on a group of Boers (Dutch colonialists in South Africa) and their enemies, the Zulus. Similar to the former portrayals of Native Americans, the Zulus are the bad guys. Bates (Stuart Whitman) has escaped from a British prison and joins a group of Boers migrating to farming lands further north. Francina (Juliet Prowse) is the most sought-after woman in the group, and Bates cannot help but notice her. As the band of farmers continue in their journey, the ragged, rugged, untamed Bates starts to learn how to behave and leads his newfound friends in their defensive battles against the aggressive Zulus. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel The Cup and the Sword by Alice Tisdale Hobart, this drama examines the trials and tribulations of three generations of French-American California vineyard owners. It's set during the Prohibition era, when wine makers were financially challenged and had to decide whether or not they wanted to cooperate with bootleggers to survive. Claude Rains plays Philippe Rambeau, an older grower in the Napa Valley who approaches his work like a craftsman. His grandson John (Rock Hudson) wants to make money by getting the family a cut of the bootleg market for wine. John's cousin Elizabeth (Jean Simmons) arrives from England summoned by Philippe, who hopes that she will bring stability to the business. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The celebrated author of 1975's Shogun, James Clavell, directs (and produced and wrote) this effective, if low-budget World War II drama. The story takes place in French Indochina (later Vietnam) where a group of two Red Cross doctors and seven nurses are captured by a guerrilla band and taken to the side of a grievously ill warlord. The realities of war and its effects on everyone are brought forward as the doctors are eventually killed, and the nurses use sex as a means of escaping their captors. Brutal scenes of the stabbing of a patient under surgery and the symbolic murder of a nun are qualified by the even-handed portrayal of the damage war does to the human side of human nature. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide