DeForest Kelley Movies

First telecast November 4, 1996, this Deep Space Nine episode was a harkback to the classic 1967 Star Trek installment "The Trouble with Tribbles." Charlie Brill, a holdover from the original episode, reprises his role as renegade Klingon agent Arne Darvin, who sets the plot in motion by hurtling the Defiant and its crew some 105 years into the past. Upon getting their bearings, the crew finds themselves on board the original Enterprise, where they come face to face with James T. Kirk, not to mention thousands and thousands of those pesky and prolific Tribbles, one of which has been booby-trapped. "Trials and Tribble-ations" was scripted by Ronald D. Moore and Rene Echevarria from a story by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third and final season of Star Trek is frequently written off as the series' nadir, if only because creator Gene Roddenberryhad relinquished a great deal of his creative control to the NBC executives and to new producer Fred Freiberger). Another reason given for the series' decline was the decision to cut the budgets to the bone, and to depend more on "house" writers than established science- fiction specialists. Also, there was a heavier reliance upon gimmickry and gadgetry than in previous years, upsetting those purists who preferred strong characterizations and story values to the standard sci-fi/fantasy cliches. But while Season Three was overall the weakest, especially in terms of ratings, several of the individual episodes are among the finest that Star Trek has to offer. We get off to a good start with the opener, "Spock's Brain", in which the titular organ is "kidnapped" from its owner Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Attorney Melvin Belli makes his acting debut as a sinister, corruptive life force (not a lawyer, but close!) in "And the Children Shall Lead". The crew of the Starship Enterprise is forced to sacrifice themselves during the Gunfight at the OK Corral in "Spectre of the Gun". "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" is an allegorical drama in which the fate of a civilization is determined by a duel to the death between its two last survivors (Frank Gorshin, Lou Antonio), whose faces are half-black and half-white. And in the series finale "Turnabout Intruder", the mind of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is exchanged with that of his embittered ex-lover (Sandra Smith)--and vice versa. The season's most controversial episode was "Plato's Stepchildren", originally telecast November 22, 1968, in which Kirk and officer Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) share the first interracial kiss ever seen on network television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Reno (Dana Andrews) is a US Marshall who is bushwhacked by outlaws on his way to Stone Junction, Kansas. Joe Connors (Tom Drake) and his brother Ab (Dale Van Sickle) mistakenly believe the lawman is after them and fire on Reno, and Reno captures Joe after Ab is killed in the gun battle. The two face an angry mob in a town where local Sheriff Hodges (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is in cahoots with the corrupt Mayor Jess Yates (Lyle Bettger). Although Reno believes Joe may have killed an innocent Indian, he must protect the prisoner from the growing mob that threatens to lynch the man before his trial. Jane Russell plays Johnny's sweetheart Nona, owner of the local saloon. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Written by Paul Schneider, "Ride the Wind" was Bonanza's first two-part story. Ben Cartwright is willing to provide Charles Ludlow (Victor Jory) with money to help finance the new Pony Express service, but isn't keen on allowing his son Joe to join Ludlow's riders. Nor is the Paiute Indian tribe amenable to allowing the Pony Express to go across their land. Exacerbating the problem is Ludlow's assistant, Curtis Wade (Rod Cameron), who hopes to make a name for himself as an Indian fighter. The story is sufficiently exciting to make one forget that the real Pony Express had been disbanded some three years before the events depicted in this episode. Part One of "Ride the Wind" first aired on January 16, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As everyone on earth (to say nothing of everyone in the United Federation of Planets) must know by now, the debut episode of Star Trek's first season, "The Man Trap", was not the first episode filmed. Nor was the series' "official" pilot episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the first one to go before the cameras. The real launching pad for Star Trek was "The Cage", which stars not William Shatner as James T. Kirk, but instead Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike of the Starship Enterprise. Though Hunter was replaced by Shatner, producer Gene Roddenberry wasn't about to let the costly "The Cage go to waste: thus, the episode was reedited as a two-part "flashback" titled "The Menagerie", with an added wraparound sequence in which the Enterprise's first officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) explains at his court-martial why he attempted to kidnap the now-enfeebled and demented Captain Pike. With this out of the way, it can be said that Season One of Star Trek--or more specifically, year one of the Enterprise's five-year mission to "boldly go where no man has gone before"--contains several of the series' best and best-loved episodes, with the ensemble cast--Shatner, Nimoy, DeForest Kelley (Dr. "Bones" McCoy), James Doohan (Engineer Scott), Nichelle Nichols (communications officer Uhura), George Takei (helmsman Lt. Sulu) and Majel Barrett (Nurse Christine Chapel)--in peak form. In fact, the casting falls short of perfection in only one respect: Walter Koenig as ensign Chekov would not join the show until Season Two. This season represents the first series contributions of Richard Matheson ("The Enemy Within"), Jerry Sohl ("The Corbomite Maneuver"), Robert Bloch ("What Are Little Girls Made Of?"), Theodore Sturgeon ("Shore Leave") and Star Trek story editor D.C. Fontana ("Tomorrow is Yesterday"). Perhaps the most memorable--and certainly the most controversial--of the season's offerings is Harlan Ellison's Hugo-award winning "City on the Edge of Forever" (Alas, Ellison would never write again for Star Trek, the result of a well-publicized feud between the author and producer Roddenberry which has been exhaustively chronicled elsewhere). Finally, let us take note of two unforgettable guest star turns in Season One. First there's Roger C. Carmel, making his first appearance as intergalactic con artist Harry Mudd in "Mudd's Women". And last but not least, Ricardo Montalban plays the evil Khan, a genetically engineering superman who endeavors to take over the Enterprise in "Space Seed." Sixteen years later, Khan (again played by Montalban) would be up to his old tricks in the theatrical-movie spinoff Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a world-weary bounty hunter begins working for an avaricious crook who wants to destroy the good name of a little town so that the railroad will be built across his land. To enact his plan he brings a notorious gambler to town. He also establishes a brothel in the saloon. The sheriff and the good townspeople protest, but the villain takes care of him. This angers the bounty hunter, who has come to like the lawman and he turns against his boss. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Under the alias "Tom Nash", fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) goes to work as a bodyguard for self-made millionaire George Forster (Richard Anderson), who has returned to his home town after an absence of several years. Despite the adulation heaped upon him, Forster has many enemies in town; indeed, one person hates him enough enough to mail a death threat. To prevent Forster's assassination, Kimble is supplied with a gun--and is forced to submit to a background check in order to get a permit for the weapon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by Harold Robbins, comes this family drama from director Edward Dmytryk. Adapted for the the screen by John Michael Hayes, the film follows the events that befall Luke Miller (Michael Connors) when he discovers that his daughter, Danielle (Joey Heatherton), has been arrested for murdering his ex-wife Valerie's (Susan Hayward) new lover. As Danielle's trial unfurls, and the sordid events of the family's past are brought into the open, Luke is forced to address and relive several of the painful events that led to the family's present state. Also starring Bette Davis as Valerie's mother and a pre-Star Trek DeForest Kelley, Where Love Has Gone netted Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, the songwriters behind the film's title song. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Advertised on the sleeve of its home-video release as a "Charles Bronson western", Bull of the West is actually comprised of two episodes from the American TV western series The Virginian, edited together for theatrical release overseas. The segment in which Bronson appears was originally telecast as "The Nobility of Kings" on November 10, 1965. Two recurring characters on The Virginian, Trampas (Doug McClure and Randy (Randy Boone), helpfully inform newly arrived rancher Ben Justin (Bronson) that he has inadvertently violated the rules of the Stockman's Association. Conditioned by life's hard knocks to neither trust or listen to anyone but himself, the hard-drinking Ben tells Trampas and Randy to mind their own business. Another rancher, Suchette (George Kennedy), is so incensed by this attitude that makes certain Ben's cattle will not be allowed access to the railroads. Caught in the middle of this range feud is Ben's tenderfoot son Will (Bob Random), who has been forbidden to help his dad around the ranch, and has not even been allowed to ride a horse. Working in secret with Trampas and Randy at the Shiloh Ranch, Ben's wife Mary (Lois Nettleton) sees to it that Will is given riding lessons--while Ben simmers and stews at home, convinced that Mary is having an affair with The Virginian (James Drury). "The Nobility of Kings" was spliced together with the Virginian episode of January 2, 1963, "Duel at Shiloh". While having nothing to do with the Bronson episode beyond the same setting and a few of the same characters, this episode is thematically similar in that it deals with a stubbornly rugged individualist--in this instance, a grizzled ranch hand named Johnny Wade (Brian Keith)--and a potentially deadly feud, unwittingly fomented by the men of the Shiloh ranch. Specifically, Johnny finds himself on opposite sides of the fence with his tenderfoot pal Steve Hill when the latter takes a job with the Shiloh's owner Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb), while Johnny remains loyal to rival ranch owner Geraldine Brooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Seriously injured in a fall, Hoss Cartwright is in desperate need of medical attention. Alas, the only available doctor is a man named Jones (DeForest Kelley), who has been sentenced to hang for murder. Ben Cartwright's pleas to Judge Grant (John Hoyt) to temporarily release Dr. Jones so that he can tend to Hoss' injuries fall upon deaf ears; after all, it was Grant's wife who was murdered by the condemned man. Rounding out the supporting cast are Lisabeth Hush as Karen Jones and Walter Sande as the Sheriff. Written by Frank Chase and Norman Jacobs, "The Decision" first aired on December 16, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide