“The Night of the Double-Edged Knife” is the most straightforward western themed episode the series has had so far. It does not do anything for racial sensitivity towards Native Americans. While the Cheyenne turn out to be the good guys I the end, every last one of them was played full blown “me smokem peace pipe” style by white actors in bad wigs. But that is one of the reasons I remember this show so fondly. Politically correct, I am not.The construction of the Central & Western Railroad is being sabotaged, evidently by the Cheyenne, by killing five workers a day until a $ 500,000 ransom is paid. Jim and Artie are sent in o behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to get to the bottom of thigs.
The local Cheyenne are lead by American Knife, a Dartmouth educated Native American who rejected his Christian missionary parents and wet back to his people after they paid for his degree in philosophy. If those missionaries had been associated with Bob Jones University, they would haae known he would do that after studying philosophy.
American knife is being scapegoat because the real culprit is Gen. Ball, a hero at the Battle of Shiloh. When he lost his right hand in the battle, the army sent him off to the frontier where he felt cheated enough to blackmail the railroad for the half million. Once cleared of wrogdoig, the Cheyenne help capture Ball and his bandits.
Here are two points to chew on. One, it is stated early on the Cheyenne do not use money, so their guilt ought to be cast into doubt by the characters from the get go. Two, Jim does not notice the raids on the railroad workers are identical to the ones Ball used to defeat the Confederates at Shiloh. Take these two points together and you will see Ball should is too dumb to effectively, but since im cannot catch on fast enough, he nearly gets away with it.
It is wise not to think about the plot too much and enjoy a couple of fine points. Jim lands two girls in less then fifteen minutes. One is the daughter of a murdered railroad worker before rigor mortis even sets in and the other is the Cheyenne tribal torturer. That is what you call variety.
The second point of interest is the casting. Ball is played by Leslie Nielsen back in his dramatic actor days. He makes a surprisingly good villain I spite of his tactics appearing to have been devised by Frank Drebin. American knife is played by John Drew Barrymore, son of legendary actor John Barrymore and father of Drew Barrymore. Not a very pleasant guy, but he possessed the family talent when not engulfed in a drug induced haze.
Rating: ** (out of 5)
