Kojak (TV Series) May the Horse Be with You (1978) User Reviews

See a man about a horse

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 30 November 2016]

Other than a sharp comment to the detectives under his command and a witticism with Stavros usually the butt of same, Kojak was not a man of humor at his very serious job. However this episode where a retired cop is stabling a lame racing mare at the police barns and said mare is stolen brings the Manhattan South Squad into it.

Benny Baker is the retired cop and during the robbery he suffers some serious injuries and it's touch and go for awhile. Mary Louise Weller is the horse's trainer and she and Kojak have some history. In fact Telly Savalas has history with all of them involved.

With the exception of Jeff Conaway who did the deed. Turns out that while the horse is may be lame, she is in foal with the last horse sired by a Derby winner. That makes her valuable property and some crooks want her bad.

The episode has far more humor than is normal for Kojak. Still it's a lot of fun.

hyoure

[heath-66928 · 10/10 · 13 December 2023]

With pinky tuscadero from happy days playing a tough character, how can you go wrong? Sure, this is a different kind of Kojak, but folks are getting all worked up because they didnt get their usual tear jerker and cutting edge drama. But look, the series was coming to an end and they clearly were having some fun and "making the neighborhood rounds" of NYC and hanging in central park, happy as clams and kinda celebrating all the fun they had making this show. Jeff Conaway playing the usual idiot role, with the bimbo girlfriend who actually wants Kojak to be her daddy? It's all priceless. You got blue grass music and chimes that sound more appropriate for a episode of Gunsmoke but it just adds to the fun. I agree with some of the other critics here, expecting the sincerity that usually comes with Kojak, but there's something special and celebratory about this story. It's preposterous but pimped out. To top it all off, Pinky steps in Horse Shi. Kinda sums it all up. Cheers.

The worsed episode so far!

[inoe10 · 1/10 · 8 March 2022]

Saw Kojak when it started in the 70's but must have missed this episode than! I'm flabbergasted that Savalas wanted to act in this or did he already know Kojak would end? This is a like a bad episode of The Benny Hill Show! I got all the DVD's of Kojak but if I watch it again, I'll skip this episode!

I'm sort of embarrassed for the writers

[spunkins · 1/10 · 25 June 2023]

With an episode title such as this, it should be fair advance warning that this is an episode to be avoided... unless you are on LSD and want a surreal confusing trip

Totally unlike any any other Kojak episode preceding it, it tries to be funny and along with a comedic western style soundtrack this episode will soon have you wishing you life away in order to hasten the end of the show.

It tries to be funny but it isn't.

The only upside (if it can be called that) are the couple of young ladies who constantly throw themselves at Kojak. The rest of it is totally forgettable.

Nice horsey though... give 'er a carrot as an appearance fee.

Disappointing episode

[TurboarrowIII · 4/10 · 27 June 2014]

Kojak was a really great series. However, I found this episode to be very disappointing. It seemed to be played for laughs with slapstick and contrived situations. All the actors, including Telly Savalas, seemed to be treating it as a comedy without the usual Kojak professionalism. The interplay between the characters which was usually a great part of the show was forced in this episode and it really came across more as a farce. This was one of the last episodes of Kojak and maybe they wanted to try to lighten it up a bit but I didn't think it worked as Kojak was always a polished, well acted and professional series which didn't need to resort to poor attempts at comedy. A very poor entry in the series.

Every series has a lemon

[bnldretske-73515 · 4/10 · 4 October 2021]

The other reviews I read nailed it. This is not the typical Kojak episode. It's a shame the writers and directors feel like they need to run contrary to a very successful formula and try for humor. They achieve neither a good, professional story or humor. The only other episode that runs a close second to this poor level of story and acting is The Captain's Brother' Wife with Shelly Winters. Other than that, so far all the other episodes and movies are strong.