Customer Reviews

Trackers [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When a group of apparent army deserters murder his son and kidnap his daughter, rancher Sam Paxton (Ernest Borgnine) sends for his friend, a US marshall and expert tracker to help him bring the perpetrators to justice. What he gets instead, unexpectedly, is black deputy marshall Ezekial Smith (Sammy Davis Jr.). Initially reluctant to set off with the black man, Paxton eventually gives in to the pleading of his wife and leaves with Smith, the racist local sheriff, and a small posse to find his girl and bring her home.

They soon learn from Smith, the tracker, that it was indians rather than army deserters who had taken Paxton's daughter. As the pursuit heads into Mexico, Smith proves to be the only man loyal to the cause as the sheriff and posse desert the group. Paxton's racism slowly begins to melt away as he begins to realize Smith's true worth. By the end, a generally warm feeling exists between the two men.

THE TRACKERS is not great art by any stretch of the imagination. It is a made-for-TV movie produced by Aaron Spelling and directed by Earl Bellamy who is more known for directing sitcoms and other episodic TV fare. The movie even comes complete with fade-outs and musical build-ups to signal commercial breaks. Nevertheless, it is quite entertaining and even comical in parts even if it doesn't come close to THE SEARCHERS, with its similar title and background plot.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

Polish American model and actress, Connie (Kornacki) Kreski, was 25-years-old when she appeared in "The Trackers" (1971). The gorgeous Baltic blond received 4th-billing in this made-for-TV film. Connie was Playboy magazine's Miss January 1968 and the 1969 Playboy Playmate of the Year. She appeared in a limited number of films and television shows between 1969 and 1977. Although Connie has very little screen time or dialogue in this movie, she's absolutely stunning with her long, blond tresses. The bulk of the film centers on Sam Paxton (Ernest Borgnine) and Ezekiel Smith (Sammy Davis) as they search for Paxton's daughter, Becky (Kreski). The movie is typical 1970's television fare with the issue of Davis's character's race playing a prominent part. You'll want to see this film strictly for Connie but don't blink. For a wonderful online video clip of Connie type in "Connie Kreski" at You Tube to see her charming performance as "Gloria" in the "Love and the V.I.P Restaurant" episode (1970) of "Love American Style."

More information on Connie (Kornacki) Kreski:

Many gorgeous women have graced the pages of Playboy magazine over the years, none more so than Miss January 1968, Polish American beauty, Connie Kreski.

Connie was born Constance Joanna Kornacki to Stanley and Sophie (Sacilowski) Kornacki in Wyandotte, Michigan on September 19, 1946. She had two sisters, Margaret and Christine. Connie attended Our Lady of Mt Carmel High School in Wyandotte. She was a cheerleader and also worked as an usherette at the Wyandotte Theatre. After graduation, she enrolled at Mercy College in Detroit in their nursing program.

Connie was discovered by a Playboy staffer while attending a University of Michigan football game.

The blue-eyed, 5'5"" Polish Baltic blonde beauty was twenty-years-old when she was photographed for Playboy by Larry Gordon. The stunning photo layout included ten pictures of Connie. Her pride in her Polish heritage was apparent when she chose "Kreski" as a pseudonym for her pictorial.

In September 1967 Connie left Michigan abruptly after her mother learned of her upcoming Playmate pictorial. A newspaper article at the time revealed Sophie Kornacki took tranquilizers to cope with her daughter's decision to appear nude in Playboy. For Connie, a two week holiday in London turned into a stay of more than a year. While in England she did some modeling, bought two Pekingese, and bumped into producer/director Anthony Newley in the elevator of the London Playboy Club, who immediately arranged for a screen test and signed her to the title role in his 1969 film, "Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?" Connie was featured on the cover of the Londoner magazine and was photographed for Vogue by David Bailey.

In tribute to her ingenuous, fresh-faced, nubile beauty, Connie was selected as the Playmate of the Year and featured on the cover and in a pictorial in the June 1969 issue of Playboy, which included seven photos taken by Mario Casilli. As Playmate of the Year, she received a Playmate Pink Shelby GT 500.

Los Angeles Times writer Joyce Haber mentioned Connie in a newspaper column a few days following the sensational murder of Sharon Tate. Connie had been dating Jay Sebring, Tate's former boyfriend (and another victim of the Manson clan), but on the fatal night of August 9, 1969, for some unknown reason, Connie declined to attend the get-together at the Tate-Polanski house.

Connie had several minor television and film roles from 1969 to 1977. Time Magazine mentions her as the girlfriend of actor, James Caan ("Show Business: Gentleman Jimmy," Apr. 07, 1975). The article states they had been in a relationship for three years up until that time and that Caan's nickname for Connie was "Polish."

Connie eventually married Louis Edleman. Their son, Zachary, was born and died in 1987.

Connie met an untimely death at the young age of forty-eight in Beverly Hills, California on March 21, 1995 due to a stroke. Her address at the time of her death was 9031 Phyllis Ave. #4, Los Angeles, CA, 90069.

Connie Kreski was a rare and remarkable beauty and an inspiration to all Polish American adolescent males in the late 1960's.

*****************************************

Information from Playboy, January 1968:

Moving Up in the World
...our new year's playmate tests her wings from a nest all her own ...

Connie Kreski has patterned her life style on the maxim carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero -- enjoy today, trust little to tomorrow. Miss January, who doesn't claim to be a Latin scholar, interprets this as a call to the active pursuit of pleasure. "I want to get out into the world and see and do everything I possibly can," she says. When she was accepted as a Playmate, therefore, 20-year-old Connie acted on two of her immediate priorities: She moved into her own pad in suburban Detroit (her home town) and then flew off to London for two weeks. "London swings just as much as I heard it did -- maybe even more," Miss January reports. "Just shopping for clothes could have taken up all my time if I'd let it -- the Mod shops in Knightsbridge sell the wildest outfits I've ever seen." Now the possessor of a half-dozen new microskirts, Connie is one member of the young generation who doesn't believe in never trusting anyone over 30: "Men that age usually have resolved their hang-ups and are confident enough to be themselves. And that's fine with me, for it allows me to be myself." And what is that self? Says the 5'5" beautiful blonde, "Just a girl who wants to live life to the hilt for the next ten years or so and afterward settle down to raise a family.

Miss January 1968, Connie Kreski

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

35-23-36
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 118
Birthplace: Wyandotte, USA

Interview

AMBITIONS
Complete my nursing studies, and then . . .?

TURN-ONS
Bikinis and the beach.

TURNOFFS
Fake people.

MY IDEAL EVENING
A small party with fun people.

FAVORITE PERFORMER
Frank Sinatra.

HIGHER EDUCATION
I'm enrolled at the Mercy School of Nursing in Detroit.

MY FRIENDS KNOW
Many people seem to think I'm a dumb blonde, but I'm smarter than most of the people who talk down to me.

IN MY FUTURE
I'd love to travel more and get married (maybe when I'm 30).

Text accompanying the photos:

*This sporting life: "I'm an outdoor girl and I intend to always stay that way," says Connie Kreski, who exercises often for the sheer joy of it - and her fine form. "When I was in grammar school, I played basketball and softball, went horseback riding and hiking," Miss January recalls. "I still like to try new sports. Last summer I swam quite a bit at Blind Lake - out beyond Ann Arbor - where I learned how to scuba dive."

*When Playmate Connie Kreski leased her own apartment on the outskirts of Detroit, she and her girlfriend Mimi and their escorts for the day rented a truck and proceeded to make the big move. After a few hours of packing, Connie said, "I hadn't realized just how much stuff I managed to accumulate over the years until I tried getting it all together." When Connie arrives at her new address, date Larry gives her a helping hand with housewares, before he and Paul begin hauling in more formidable furnishings. "My friends couldn't have been more helpful," says Connie. They worked from noon until after dark, not stopping till everything I brought was put away."

*Connie's companions decide that Miss January's official entry into her new apartment should be an auspicious occasion: Couched on her own couch, above, she is about to be grandly carried across the threshold. When all her paraphernalia has finally been unpacked and is more or less in order, Connie changes into a football jersey she received when she was a high school cheerleader; then Miss Kreski and her friends relax after the rigors of moving day with an impromptu party.

*One of Connie's housewarming gifts from the group is the Twister party game; above, she and Larry are competing contortionists, as Paul and Mimi watch the acrobatic action from a safe distance. After the boys leave, Mimi (who's accepted an invitation to sleep over) and Connie ignore the TV in favor of a serious chat, before bedding down after a hard day's night.

**************************

Information from Playboy, June 1969:

Playmate of the Year
January's Curvaceous Connie Kreski, Well On Her Way To Cinematic Stardom, Now Reigns As The Premier Gatefold Girl Of The Past Twelvemonth

Beauty and talent, particularly of the cinematic variety, abounded among 1968's delightful dozen Playmates. But editors unanimously concurred that our first was also foremost and hailed January's Connie Kreski as undisputed Playmate of the Year. Her ingenuous freshness and femininity, so apparaent in Playboy's photographic uncoverage, was immediately recognized by England's Anthony Newley as well. The actor-author-producer-director literally bumped into her in the elevator of our London Club a little more than a year ago: he screen-tested her the next day and signed her within the week for a title role in "Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?" - the Freud- and fun-filled fantasy previewed in Playboy last March. Connie remained in London after her debut before the camera on the island of Malta. "I should have been born in London," says 1968's choicest centerfold. "I love the people and especially the feeling of openness and space. There's grass all over the city. It's so much prettier than Detroit, my home town." Connie's favorite relaxation in the capital of Mods and miniskirts was predictably pedestrian - walking in Hyde Park with her two Pekingese, Emil and Fang ("When somebody knocks on the door, Fang hides under the bed!"). Now back in the States under contract to Universal, she is improving her acting skills through intensive study with the studio's excellent drama coach, Vince Chase. "I guess I'll be playing teenagers for quite a while," says Connie. "I look about fourteen in most shots but that's fine with me, because I know I can handle little-girl roles. Of course, I hope to get good enough soon to try my hand at more demanding parts." Despite her sudden immersion into the film industry, she hasn't forsaken the live-for-today philosophy she espoused 18 months ago in her Playmate premiere. To guarantee some diversions from her work, her material rewards as Playmate of the Year will include a Ford-powered fire-breathing Shelby GT 500. As alternate transport, she may elect to use either her custom-built ten-speed Schwinn Varsity bicycle or her Harley-Davidson M-65 motorcycle - both, of course, like her new car, in Playmate Pink. "I'm an outdoor girl and I intend to always stay that way," she told us last year, so she'll be given Hart skis, Henke ski boots and PK poles, and she'll be stylishly swathed for the slopes in a rabbit jacket from Alper Furs and ski fashions from Peter Kennedy; for riding back to the lodge, she'll have an Artic Panther snowmobile lined in leopardskin, with boots, from Artic Enterprises. Connie can also make the warm-weather scene in a wardrobe of Jantzen swimsuits, relax at poolside in a Calypso marina jacket and plumb the briny with a snorkel, Tahiti mask, Caravelle fins, Jaguar Club spear gun and Grisbi knife - all from U.S. Divers. Should she encounter any sharks - pool sharks, that is - a Brunswick custom billiard cue with monogrammed case should stand her in good stead, or she can bowl them over with a new ball, also from Brunswick. For her less strenuous activities, our winsome winner will be dressed in a combination of Aris custom gloves, forward-looking fashions from Walter Homes' Vibration collection and imported shoes from Thayer McNeil. To highlight Connie's on- or off-camera appearances, she'll receive a selection of Saunda cosmetics and a wardrobe of Brentwood Bellissima wigs, and she'll be further adorned with a Lady Hamilton diamond wrist watch, a gold Rabbit Pin with a ruby eye from Maria Vogt and an Azalea Pink Linde star-sapphire ring designed especially for our January jewel. Rounding out Connie's gatefold grab bag ia an AM/FM stereo unit from G. W. Electronics, on which - if her vocal attributes come anywhere near her visual ones - she may soon hear the finished products of her Monument Record Corporation contract. She can then toast her success with a full case of Paul Masson Magnum brut champagne - or write home about it all on her new Smith-Corona electric typewriter. With a nationwide tour of Playboy Club cities in her future, Connie now looks forward to the Stateside traveling she regrets missing in the past. "Outside of Detroit, I've only been to Chicago and Los Angeles," she says. "I really haven't seen much of America." Judging from public reaction to our winning Playmate's magazine and screen debuts, it's apparent that America hasn't seen enough of Connie, either.

Text accompanying the photos:

*"Circumstances have pushed me into acting now and I love it," Connie tells us. Her new Playmate Pink Shelby GT 500 should provide attention-getting transportation to and from the Universal sound stages.

*"The best part of film work is meeting really creative people," Connie says, relaxing before a studio call.

*"Being a Playmate, beginning an acting career, and now getting elected Playmate of the Year - it's all happened so quickly that it doesn't seem real to me," Connie says. "With all those beautiful girls in competition, I find it hard to believe." Considering Miss Kreski's manifest assets, her success seems not only believable but inevitable.

*"Too many producers emphasize looks over acting ability," says Connie. "I hope to combine both in my career."

**************************

A list of Connie's film and television roles, 1969-1977, from IMDB:

"Aspen" (1977) TV mini-series (uncredited) .... Jackie Camerovsky
... aka "The Innocent and the Damned" - USA (rerun title)

"Captains and the Kings" (1976) TV mini-series .... Pearl Gray

The Black Bird (1975) .... Decoy Girl

The Outside Man (1972) .... Rosie
... aka "Un homme est mort" - Italy (original title)
... aka "A Man Is Dead" - International (English title) (literal title)

The Trackers (1971) (TV) .... Becky Paxton

"Love, American Style" .... Gloria (segment "Love and the V.I.P. Restaurant") (1 episode, 1970)
- Love and the Big Night/Love and Those Poor Crusaders' Wives/Love and the V.I.P. Restaurant (1970) TV episode .... Gloria (segment "Love and the V.I.P. Restaurant")
This episode of "Love, American Style" is available via You Tube ([...])

"The Bold Ones: The Protectors" .... Waitress (1 episode, 1969)
- If I Should Wake Before I Die (1969) TV episode .... Waitress

"Ironside" .... Arlene (1 episode, 1969)
... aka "The Raymond Burr Show" - USA (syndication title)
- A Matter of Love and Death (1969) TV episode .... Arlene

Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969) .... Mercy Humppe
... aka "...Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?" - USA (promotional title)

Lost Flight (1969) (TV) .... Australian's Wife

**************************

Connie's elderly mother, Sophie, was still active in the Wynadotte, Michigan community in 2009. See the newspaper article below:

WYANDOTTE: Hospital honors its staff who 'go the extra mile'
By Jim Kasuba
The News Herald
Southgate, MI
Friday, June 26, 2009

WYANDOTTE -- Most companies recognize outstanding employees in some fashion or another, but at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital it's done up in a big way.

Each year the hospital honors employees who not only do their jobs well, but also "go the extra mile."

This year 11 employees were recognized as Stars of Excellence...

...Volunteer Sophie Kornacki received her second Star of Excellence. One of the nursing units contacted the volunteer service department to ask if a person who speaks Polish could be located. A patient was having difficulty communicating with the doctor and social worker because of a language barrier.

Kornacki translated for the doctor and social worker but afterward, sensing the patient needed a friend, stayed and visited with him, all the while holding his hand.

The two reminisced about Poland and as Kornacki prepared to leave the patient requested a statue of the Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary. Later that day Kornacki returned with a book on Poland she had from years past when she was there on a visit, and a book of hymns from 1901.

As a special addition, she included a photo card of the Blessed Mother for the patient. She also brought two Polish/English dictionaries, one for the staff to use and one for the doctor. Kornacki continued to visit with the patient every day until he went home...

Sam Paxton (Ernest Borgnine) is devastated when he returns home to his ranch to find his only son murdered and his daughter apparently kidnapped by Army deserters. On a mission of revenge, Sam gathers a small posse and seeks the help of an old friend, a tracker, to locate his daughter. Zeke Smith (Sammy Davis Jr.) an experienced frontier scout with a will of his own, shows up instead of Sam's friend. Sam questions enlisting Zeke, fearing that they will disagree on how to find his daughter but, despite Sam's reluctance, Zeke joins the posse. Soon the posse deserts Sam after learning that the kidnappers are not Army deserters but renegade Indians. Sam is left to depend solely on Zeke to help him retrieve his daughter. Produced by Sammy Davis Jr.