Kolchak: The Night Stalker/The Knightly Murders

The Knightly Murders
Season 1, Episode 18
Airdate	March 7, 1975
Teleplay by	Michael Kozoll & David Chase
Story by	Paul Magistretti
Directed by	Vincent McEveety
Produced by	Cy Chermak
Stream
← 1x17 Legacy of Terror	1x19 → The Youth Killer
Kolchak: The Night Stalker — Season One

The Knightly Murders is the eighteenth episode of the first season of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Starring: Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak)

Also Starring: Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo)

Guest Stars: John Dehner (Captain Vernon Rausch), Hans Conried (Mendel Boggs), Robert Emhardt (Roger), Jeff Donnell (Maura)

Co-Starring: Jack Grinnage (Ron Updyke)

Co-Starring (end-credits): Shug Fisher (Pop Stenvold), Lieux Dressler (Minerva Musso), Bryan O'Byrne (Charles, The Butler), Sidney Clute (Bruce Krause)

with Gregg Palmer (Sgt. Buxbaum), Ed McCready (1st Reporter), Alyscia Maxwell (Freshman Reporter), Jim Drum (Leo J. Ramuka), Don Carter (Lester Nash)

Plot Overview

A killer uses a crossbow bolt to kill his first victim, Leo Ramuka, and a lance to kill his second victim, Ralph Danvers. Later, Brewster Hawkings, a wealthy entrepeneur, is killed with a mace.

Kolchak notices the pattern and visits "Pops" Stenvold, a petstore owner and source of "straight" answers. Pops sets him straight about the crossbow bolt and leads him to visit the Highdecker Museum. The Highdecker Museum was financed by the late Mr. Hawkings, and was scheduled to be converted into a night club -- a medevil, steak-and-lobster discotek as Kolchak put it.

This leads Kolchak to visit the mansion of the late Mr. Hawkings, posing as an old friend. The butler is not taken in the Kolchak's poorly thought out "friendship." Nonetheless, he does get a lead: interior decorator Minerva Musso.

He visits Minerva at her apartment, sneaking in without permission. He asks her a few questions, but is interrupted by the sounds of clanking armor. The knight is coming for her. Kolchak makes her hide in the bathroom while he barricades the door. But the knight is too powerful. He breaks through the door, pinning Kolchak under the debris. The black knight then chops through the bathroom door and kills the woman, leaving Kolchak relatively unharmed. He has a little trouble convincing the police, Captain Rausch in particular, that a knight in full battle armor killed her.

Back at the office Kolchak's boss thinks he's nuts too: Pope Gregory blessed a battle axe, and that weapon is the only weapon that can kill the black knight! With his dying breath he swore a curse that music and gaiety would not be tolerated near his resting place! He urges Kolchak to take a rest and seek counseling.

But Kolchak leaves the office anyway, and in the darkness of night he sneaks through a window into the museum. While he is looking around, he hears the knight coming down the stairs. He brazenly takes pictures. Only then does he try to run. He tries a door, but it is locked and a spear barely misses him. He has to run the other way.

Having missed with the spear, the knight grabs a sword and advances slowly. Kolchak breaks out the blessed battle axe and kills the knight.

Notes

• At one point Kolchak fakes a telephone problem just to get a telephone repairman in the INS office so he can ask him questions. The repairmain realizes that the phone has been tampered with. Angred, he looks around and takes notice of two non-standard telephones in the office. The phone company in the US at that time owned all telephone equipment -- only they were allowed to hook up telephones. The notion that you owned the lines within your building came later with divestiture. With vengeance he summarily confiscates the unauthorized telephones, yanking them by their cables to snap the lines. Ma Bell was not to be trifled with.

Trivia

The Show

• The killer was an unchivalrous, 12th century, French knight, Guy de Metancourt.

Allusions and References

• Kolchak refers to Rausch as the Edward R. Murrow of homicide.
• When Kolchak is at the morgue bying information, he mentions Robert Taylor, Erol Flynn, and King Arthur.
• Doubting Kolchak's sanity, Rausch asks him, if maybe the tin woodsman killed Minerva: did he hear Jack Haley's voice?
• Pope Gregory VIII was the only "Pope Gregory" in the 12th century.

Memorable Moments

• Captain Rausch played by John Dehner comes across as an overly thoughtful sort, disgressing into speeches when asked a question. He seemed a bit nutty in a humorous way, a bit like the captain in the Airplane films, or the commandant in the Police Academy films.
• Kolchak, having had a particularly tough time convincing Captain Rausch that a knight in full armor killed Minerva, hears this from Rausch, "I believe your brain has turned to onion dip."