Kolchak: The Night Stalker (TV Series)

The Zombie (1974)

Darren McGavin: Carl Kolchak

Photos 

Quotes 

• Carl Kolchak : [Voiceover]  According to the police Willie had died from severe blows. It was a gangland killing.There were no suspects, there were no leads. So what else was new.

• Carl Kolchak : [voiceover intro]  Popular folklore would have us believe that deep in the underworld there are ruthless men who fear nothing.

  [cynical pause] 

  Carl Kolchak : This story should debunk that myth.

• Carl Kolchak : [last lines, voiceover]  Francois Edmonds, the deceased, was buried for a third time at public expense... a third time. However, THIS time rock salt was poured in his mouth and his lips... were sewn... shut. City officials will deny this but you can see it for yourself. If you'd care to venture out to St. Lucy's Cemetery and... exhume the corpse. Be my guest.

  [spoken into the camera] 

  Carl Kolchak : If you've got the nerve.

• Carl Kolchak : [speaking of an informant]  The Monk was of a lower order. He had never taken the vows of poverty or silence.

• Tony Vincenzo : [In an overlapping conversion Kolchak is talking to Spangler while at the same time is on the phone with Vincenzo, who mistakenly thinks Carl is talking to him]  Listen Kolchak, Monique is going to call her uncle Abe. Abe the 'Smiling Cobra'!

  Carl Kolchak : [talking to Spangler]  In his ear?

  Gordon Spangler : That's right.

  Tony Vincenzo : What are you talking about?

  Carl Kolchak : What happened?

  Gordon Spangler : They buried him.

  Carl Kolchak : Buried?

  Tony Vincenzo : Buried who? Abe Marmelstein? If she gets to him he's going to come down on me like a ton of...

  Carl Kolchak : Chicken blood?

  Tony Vincenzo : Whatever, then it's going to come down on you.

  Carl Kolchak : Why?

  Tony Vincenzo : That's management.

  Gordon Spangler : I don't know.

  Tony Vincenzo : You're going to have to apologize to her.

  Carl Kolchak : Can you help me?

  Tony Vincenzo : Yea, I think I can convince her to come to the phone. Now you hang on.

  Gordon Spangler : Help you?

  Carl Kolchak : Chicken blood all over the who, what, where, how, and why.

  Gordon Spangler : Well, I guess so - for a fee.

  Carl Kolchak : For a fee. Terrific, terrific.

  [to Vincenzo] 

  Carl Kolchak : Yea, hello? Hello...

  Tony Vincenzo : [to Monique]  Monique, I think everything's going to be all right. He's gonna apologize to ya.

  [Hands phone to Monique] 

  Carl Kolchak : Hello?

  [with no answer, he hangs up the phone] 

  Monique Marmelstein : I'm listening. Hello? Hello?

  [she slams the phone down] 

  Monique Marmelstein : I'll kill him!

• Carl Kolchak : [voiceover]  Captain Leo Winwood and I had a relationship that was long and bloody, like the Crusades, only without the chivalry.

• Carl Kolchak : [voiceover]  August 14th, 2:00am. While the upper strata of the Syndicate were accustomed to dealing in millions, the foundation of their fortunes was here in their counting houses, in the small change of the numbers racket. Mr. Albert Berg, head collections man. A graduate of an Ivy League business school, he was an incompetent even by Syndicate standards. About the only smart thing he'd ever done was marry the boss' sister. Willie Pike: he'd never been convicted of anything, by anybody, except the Boxing Commission. Willie took a dive into the canvas, and on through into the bulletproof car set. Willie was making a bundle - a bundle he would never get to spend.

• Carl Kolchak : Looks like we're the only mourners here.

  Captain Leo Winwood : Kolchak, you keep a lot of people away from their jobs by your nosin' around.

  Carl Kolchak : Tell me, why is a gold-button captain of the city's finest attending the burial of a black pauper? And who is this black pauper that was buried in this cemetery last week ended up in Russo's burial ground yesterday? And then finally ends up in this cemetery today?

  Captain Leo Winwood : Kolchak, now you get out of here. Or let me put it another way- If you continue to butt into this situation, you're gonna find yourself pounding on your typewriter with casts up to your shoulders.

  Carl Kolchak : You gonna break my arms, Captain?

  Captain Leo Winwood : Now, would I wanna do a thing like that to you, Kolchak? Just ask yourself.

• Carl Kolchak : [arriving at the cemetery]  Hi there. Carl Kolchak, Independent News Service. Uh, is that grave over there for the body from the morgue?

  Caretaker : Tell me about it.

  Carl Kolchak : Who are they burying?

  Caretaker : They want union trouble, I could blow the lid right off. You know, it's against the law to put two parties in the same plot, unless it's a family plot.

  Carl Kolchak : Two parties?

  Caretaker : They buried a party there last week. They're stacking 'em like they would be in a high-rise to save money. Oh, what a mess to come back after I've been out sick with the flu.

  Carl Kolchak : [turns to see that Captain Winwood has arrived]  Yeah. Take care.

  Caretaker : Yes, sir.

• Carl Kolchak : Crooked noses

• Carl Kolchak : [voiceoevr]  Then came the part that makes the news what it is today. Getting pictures of the bodies.

• Tony Vincenzo : I'm starving. Let's get down to Manny's and grab a cup of coffee and a piece of Danish.

  Carl Kolchak : The last time that you invited me out for coffee and Danish, I ended up in Sioux Falls, Iowa, covering a hardware convention. And the time before that...

  Tony Vincenzo : Well, listen. Can't a man take a coworker to coffee without being suspect?

  Carl Kolchak : coworker? The last time you called me a coworker, I spent three days rewriting the obituaries because Charlie Creach was out on one of his benders! Coworker? I had no coworker! I was the coworker!