The Twilight Zone - The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank

I did a Twilight Zone western twofer tonight, finishing the Thursday with the great James Best (Dukes of Hazzard) as Jeff Myrtlebank in Monty Pittman’s rural Midwest “he rose from the dead” Twilight Zone episode, “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank”. It has such names as Comfort and Orgram, along with the Mas and Pas that accompany plenty of Pittman pinned stories and characters set in farmlands featuring “Suhthun livin’” in a “more simpler time” before the “creature comforts” and “modern progress”. Rising out of the coffin as if a zombie, Best does it beautifully. It is such a freaky surprise for the family and friends to mourn his passing then see him just spring up as if nothing happened. Talking about being hungry, all of a sudden having this work ethic, being able to bareknuckle fight his girl's knuckleheaded brother, having an endless supply of energy without needing much food which worries his ma and pa, and killing flowers at the touch; Jeff certainly isn't the same after his "death" as he was before. The doc does prick him with a pin and checks for breath using a mirror, so the efforts were there to determine death. The local farmers have too much time to lounge around, speaking ill of Jeff and voicing their concern for his "resurrection" and "transformation". I do love the little visual tricks at the end that certainly indicate Jeff might have certain powers (a match that lights without striking it across anything and the fence closing without physical touch) and should not be messed with. Perhaps the setting and characters are a bit over-the-top in presentation as if a Hollywood visualization of the rural communities that make up the Heartland, but for the Twilight Zone, I think the cast brings the material to life. Best is such a hoot in the lead and I always enjoyed seeing him pop up during the show on occasion, as he does in Jess-Belle and The Grave...

Earlier user comments on the IMDb...

Jeff Myrtlebank rises from his slumber to find not only the community

in a state of terror, but his own family and fiancé are afraid of him.

It seems he's been declared deceased from a terrible flu for 48 hours

and upon exiting his coffin during his funeral, everyone becomes

panic-stricken that Jeff is some sort of evil incarnate, having a hard

time accepting that he could've returned from the dead as the man they

once knew. Essentially, a redneck tour-de-farce where everyone in the

episode is presented as backward, uneducated, and superstitious. James

Best of DUKES OF HAZZARD fame (Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane)is Jeff, a

wide-eyed innocent, with a heart of gold, who grows more and more tired

of the fear and gossip surrounding his presence, the locals afraid that

some evil demon or something has taken hold of his body(while the

doctor's diagnosis is somewhat questioned, he could've easily been

mistaken—at the very least it's a possibility). His parents wonder

what's wrong with him because his appetite has changed and he works a

lot harder on the farm than he used to. The town men, with nothing

better to do than discuss Jeff, decide to "send him packing"—that is to

confront Jeff, not politely asking him to leave. Sherry Jackson is

Comfort, Jeff's lady who becomes uneasy around her man after the

funeral incident, having to make a decision on whether to marry him or

obey her brother and mother's wishes to break up their engagement. A

lot of these Twilight Zone episodes which depict the Southerners often

cause me to cringe a bit(they are often shown as slow and dim-witted)

since I'm born and raised in Mississippi, but Best is irresistible as

the maligned Jeff Myrtlebank and you can sympathize with his situation

of being singled out as a freak of nature. Edgar Buchanan(as Doc

Bolton)and the always memorable Dub Taylor(as Peters, a member of the

town who incites the men to go after Myrtlebank after Jeff pummels

Comfort's bullying brother Ogram, portrayed by Lance Fuller)co-star.