"Kolchak: The Night Stalker" The Knightly Murders (1975)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Vincent McEveety

Writers:

Michael Kozoll (teleplay) and
David Chase (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"Kolchak: The Night Stalker" (1974)

Original Air Date:

7 March 1975 (Season 1, Episode 18)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A ghostly knight is making a habit out of executing certain persons responsible for the 'desecration' of his burial site; that is...

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Supernatural | Newspaper | Cover Up | Cult Favorite

Cast

Darren McGavin	...	Carl Kolchak
Simon Oakland	...	Tony Vincenzo
John Dehner	...	Captain Vernon Rausch
Hans Conried	...	Mendel Boggs
Robert Emhardt	...	Roger, Coat of Arms Dealer
Jeff Donnell	...	Maura
Jack Grinnage	...	Ron Updyke
Shug Fisher	...	Pop Stenvold
Lieux Dressler	...	Minerva Musso
Bryan O'Byrne	...	Charles, The Butler
Sidney Clute	...	Bruce Krause
Gregg Palmer	...	Sergeant Buxbaum
Ed McCready	...	First Reporter
Alyscia Maxwell	...	Freshman Reporter
Jim Drum	...	Leo J. Ramutka

Company:

Francy Productions

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Mendel Boggs denounces Minerva Musso for manhandling a fourteenth century shield, and then likewise dumps it on a table.

Quotes:

Capt. Vernon Rausch: [to Kolchak] You are a man who has resorted to lies and chicanery to the point of being pathological. I believe that you suffer from autosuggestion, and in an obsessive desire to win approval expressed through the need for a big story, you convince yourself that what you want to be true is true. In short... I believe your brain has turned to onion dip.

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Flamboyant and doomed

The Knightly Murders is a head spinning mix of brilliance and mediocrity that ultimately does satisfy, but only just. The episode's overwhelming strength is a fine batch of guest stars who create a much-needed backbone to what is a rather flimsy story that feels like it could fall apart at any moment. The great Shug Fisher drifts through a beautifully crafted cameo and Hans Conried is frenzied and mad-eyed as museum curator Mendel Boggs. Lieux Dressler does a great deal with not much as the flamboyant and doomed Minerva Musso, her murder being one of the few genuinely uncomfortable scenes. But it is John Dehner's performance as educated cop Captain Vernon Rausch that saves The Knightly Murders. Rausch is arguably the finest Kolchak character outside of the INS Four and it is a huge shame that Dehner never got the chance to reprise the role, his long words and thoughtful pauses clash brilliantly with Carl's wise cracking, foot-in-mouth exuberance. Enjoy what this episode is, forgive what it isn't.