The Most Deadly Game

Amid swank surroundings, criminologists Jonathan Croft, Vanessa Smith and Ethan Arcane deduce that a rich, much despised hunter has been polished off by a slingshot weapon. All evidence points to a gun-hating hippie named David. Jonathan does the leg work with quiet, understated charm, Vanessa is an exquisite but unbelievable sleuth, and Ethan ponders.

You'll have a grand time getting chills as you watch "The Most Deadly Game's" excellent tale of horror. It starts in a lovely coastline community where several upper middle-class types join in a Black Mass, during which a girl dies just as a goat is being sacrificed. Jonathan, Ethan and Vanessa are brought into the case by the dead woman's former fiance. Vanessa goes to the town first, where she meets Jordan, who turns out to be the coven's warlock. Then Jonathan gets into the act, wooing Lydia, a very mature woman for all her youth

This episode lets you know something of the background of Jonathan Croft. Turns out his wife was assassinated during an earlier mission that didn't come off. Now Gabrielle appears on the scene as a woman who looks like his wife, and she arouses a bit of jealousy in Vanessa.

A company psychiatrist is murdered. So Jonathan and Vanessa join a psychotherapy session. She records everything said during the 48-hour marathon while Ethan, back in his office, listens for clues. Lots of emoting and breast-beating here.

The owner of a dude ranch is killed and the killer could be: Clint, the dead man's son; Davis, his foreman; Brooke, a horse trainer, or Lottie, his housekeeper and spurned love.

"THE MOST DEADLY GAME" has borrowed from the headlines about the Zodiac killer. Here they are dealing with the Scorpio killer, who obviously wants to be stopped and who takes photos of his victims and mails them to our group. Eventually there is a picture of a "dead" Vanessa for them to deal with.

THE MOST DEADLY GAME has a most intriguing promise in a script that can't maintain the standard it sets for itself. A man is killed. The dead man was Croft's commander in Vietnam, and it looks as if he may be the killer. While the police are questioning him, four fellows show up — all with Croft in Vietnam — and each one confesses to the killing.

Croft becomes the bodyguard for Hawk, a superstar rock singer, after a threat on his life kills his girlfriend.

THERE'S A HOMICIDAL maniac loose, which is really The Most Deadly Game. He seems to be killing fashion models, so Vanessa (Yvette Mimeux) is set up as bait — and she's caught. Among the suspects are three ex-series stars — Frank Converse of NYPD; Barbara Hale, of Perry Mason; and Bill Smith, of Laredo. The fashions you'll see were created by Nolan Miller, who does all of Yvette's clothes.

Young girl on an archaeologist's dig is found dead in an ancient Indian tomb.

Three criminologists sift through a bewildering array of facts and relationships to find the killer of a foreign representative.

A Mystery writer is murdered while watching himself on the Dick Cavett Show.