Night Gallery - Room with a View
For about eleven minutes, this clever bit of “revenge
manipulation” sets up its protagonist and his game. It is about escaping a
failed marriage by using a sweet, cute nurse (Diane Keaton, a beaming doll) to
rid him of his adulterous, beautiful trophy wife (Angel Tompkins, fulfilling
the role of sarcastic, suspect cheater, lovely and obviously with her husband
just for his money so she can shop and fuck somebody else due to his condition)
by playing on her jealousy. Keaton is involved with a chauffeur (Larry Watson),
and they are engaged to be married. He’s a stud who is also sleeping with Tompkins
and Wiseman knows all by spying on them through the use of his binoculars,
peering out of his window.
Wiseman is bedridden and ill, a misanthropic (but highly intelligent and cunning) grouch with little joy left in him. He seizes upon a history of jealousy involving Keaton, learning of her violent attack on another woman who put her arms around Watson. This is his golden chance to get even with Tompkins even as it at the expense of Keaton who has that bubbly, glowing personality that is so appealing…appealing to most, but Wiseman is willing to sacrifice her in favor of bumping off Tompkins. Tompkins has got under his skin that much. Wiseman is fun as the scheming paralytic, surveying the drama around him in the hopes of bettering his life. If he can slough off that albatross (even if she is stunning and wears the fine apparel like a prize) and take care of Watson too (for banging his wife just across from his house even as his fiancé is up in the room tending to him!) then stirring up Keaton by sending her over there to get her fiancé to “clean his gun” is worth it to him.
I was amused at some deliberate touches with the camera. The kiss from the lips of Tompkins on her fingers, moving the fingers to Wiseman’s forehead, the prying line of sight through the window, following Tompkins and Watson from the shiny car to the building next door for some lovemaking, and a shot of Keaton’s bouncy steps and hoppity legs as she greets her man (with shirt off waxing the car). It is Rear Window with a lurid touch to it. Dialogue about how sweet girls are in the late 60s as opposed to 50 years prior, relationships that seem sound but aren’t, and marriages built on sandy foundation; Wiseman and Keaton are primarily the mouthpiece for the buildup to the gunshots going off and Wiseman buttering his toast, understanding that he doesn’t have much going for him but at least he can now rest easy at the thought that woman will no longer walk in the room gloating at his difficult situation in life at the current. And Keaton has been spared a marriage doomed to fail.
Wiseman is bedridden and ill, a misanthropic (but highly intelligent and cunning) grouch with little joy left in him. He seizes upon a history of jealousy involving Keaton, learning of her violent attack on another woman who put her arms around Watson. This is his golden chance to get even with Tompkins even as it at the expense of Keaton who has that bubbly, glowing personality that is so appealing…appealing to most, but Wiseman is willing to sacrifice her in favor of bumping off Tompkins. Tompkins has got under his skin that much. Wiseman is fun as the scheming paralytic, surveying the drama around him in the hopes of bettering his life. If he can slough off that albatross (even if she is stunning and wears the fine apparel like a prize) and take care of Watson too (for banging his wife just across from his house even as his fiancé is up in the room tending to him!) then stirring up Keaton by sending her over there to get her fiancé to “clean his gun” is worth it to him.
I was amused at some deliberate touches with the camera. The kiss from the lips of Tompkins on her fingers, moving the fingers to Wiseman’s forehead, the prying line of sight through the window, following Tompkins and Watson from the shiny car to the building next door for some lovemaking, and a shot of Keaton’s bouncy steps and hoppity legs as she greets her man (with shirt off waxing the car). It is Rear Window with a lurid touch to it. Dialogue about how sweet girls are in the late 60s as opposed to 50 years prior, relationships that seem sound but aren’t, and marriages built on sandy foundation; Wiseman and Keaton are primarily the mouthpiece for the buildup to the gunshots going off and Wiseman buttering his toast, understanding that he doesn’t have much going for him but at least he can now rest easy at the thought that woman will no longer walk in the room gloating at his difficult situation in life at the current. And Keaton has been spared a marriage doomed to fail.
Anyone watching Night
Gallery expecting a great deal of Serling content would see a lot like this
episode. Or worse. Throwaway stories that don’t resonate as much as fill a
small bit of time. But lots of faces during the youth of their careers. Keaton
before Woody lights up the screen and doesn’t appear to be that kind of gal to
go ballistic (she describes it as “seeing red”)…her stardom is no surprise
considering her presence on screen in just the quickest of stories here. I
recall awakening to this at like five in the morning back in the early years of
Chiller channel. Keaton on Night Gallery
was really cool waking up to even if the story itself is over and done with in
short order. Television was the means for young actors/actresses to support
themselves before hitting paydirt. Her time would come in just two small years.
First The Godfather and then Sleeper. So Room with a View is a sample offering of what was to come. The show had plenty of these small scale, one set stories, saving money in the process. Shooting with a limited set of actors, too, Night Gallery seemed to aim lower...so it wasn't remotely close to the same quality as The Twilight Zone, which it obviously wants to somewhat emulate or at least take up residence within its estate. There were a few here and there that I'd say had that shine to them but most were just wannabes occupying space filling running time rather than striving for greatness.
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