Writers: Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Steve Fisher, David Chase
Director: Bruce Kessler
Story: Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis
Actors:
Art Metrano as Henry "Studs" Spake / Larry Linville as Captain Jonas / Jim Backus as Herb Bresson / Sharon Farrell as Lila Morton / Jay Robinson as Professor Eli Strig / Jesse White as First Watchman / Steve Franken as Neil, the Morgue Attendant / Fern Barry as Mrs. Rita Baker / Jimmy Joyce as George, Second Watchman / Joey Aresco as Electric Larry / Steve Boyum as Headless Rider (Harold "Swordsman" Baker) / Brunetta Barnett as Nurse / Jack Bernardi as Otto / Jim Malinda as Snow White / Jimmy Murphy as Beaner / Ralph Montgomery as Claude / Frank Aletter as Norman Kahill
Memorable Line:
Jonas: "Sure some biker has taken it into his head for some reason, to avenge Bakers death - now it's weird but, and probably drugged induced... and he has a costume!"
Kolchak: "There is no costume and he certainly hasn't taken it into his head, because there is no head!"
Story:
A headless rider hunts the members of a motorcycle gang.
This was the first story Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (Back to the Future) sold to Hollywood, and they came up with a dilly. A modern take on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Chopper has chills but doesn't take itself too seriously.
Humor is prevalent throughout. The exchanges between Tony & Carl are classic ("Come on, whip it on me, like the kids say") and Kolchak outsmarting the new Captain (Larry Linville) is a delight. Though I thought the scene at the viewing, with the biker gang, drug on too long.
The only real problem is in the headless rider itself. They placed a laughably big coat over the head of a stuntman. It looks silly as heck and it undercuts some of the eeriness. And there was a potential for high eeriness. The legend told by the curator about guillotine victims wandering the streets, searching for their heads; was a creepy accent.
Grade: A-
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