The Twilight Zone - I am the Night --Color Me Black
I wrote the review below in 2011
"You were right you know. I saw the victim. He did have powder burns. But when a committee of townspeople came to me and said their be no autopsy I just bent my head and nodded. We all got axes to grind, don't we? I want to be re-elected sheriff. You want to keep selling newspapers. And deputy Pierce here..he likes to feel important. He likes to be popular. He likes to stay on the good side of people. Here we are gentlemen..treading water in a sewer."
Serling is preaching to the congregation(the healthy Twilight Zone audience provided a fine audience to speak to from his pulpit)about hate, prejudice, and the obstruction of justice, not to mention, the exploitation of an execution at the hands of those so self-righteous(as Serling's script so sounds in the dialogue)they can not even see, their blind because of the darkness in their souls. In the case of I AM THE NIGHT--COLOR ME BLACK, Serling's screenplay hasn't a hint of subtlety, and he goes for broke pontificating just how he feels about those who love to point their fingers at someone, while at the same time yearning to watch their execution with relish. The man to be executed is Jagger(the intense and fierce Terry Becker, his performance all urine and vinegar, going out spitting venom), and it's because he killed a popular "cross burner", a racist pig who took a gunshot wound to the head out of an act of self-defense. He was quite a figure in town and so the locals are excited about seeing his murderer hung by the rope. Self-loathing Sheriff Charlie Koch(Michael Constantine)knows that the evidence attained at the crime scene pointed towards Jagger's innocence, Deputy Pierce(THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW'S happy-go-lucky George Lindsey in a very different kind of part than you are used to seeing him)having actually perjured himself so that Jagger would be found guilty(if he wouldn't have been already thanks to an impartial jury who couldn't see the evidence on its own), and newspaper man Colbey(Paul Fix)who took the easy way out and presented only part of the story, without printing the whole truth, afraid to indict an unjust trial. This sets the stage for the supernatural mystery of the absence of light in the small town, a purveying darkness which doesn't cease and later spreads. Oh and to nail his moral lesson home, Serling has a black priest standing over the maddening crowd informing them of why the darkness continues when its after 9:30 in the morning.
Serling is preaching to the congregation(the healthy Twilight Zone audience provided a fine audience to speak to from his pulpit)about hate, prejudice, and the obstruction of justice, not to mention, the exploitation of an execution at the hands of those so self-righteous(as Serling's script so sounds in the dialogue)they can not even see, their blind because of the darkness in their souls. In the case of I AM THE NIGHT--COLOR ME BLACK, Serling's screenplay hasn't a hint of subtlety, and he goes for broke pontificating just how he feels about those who love to point their fingers at someone, while at the same time yearning to watch their execution with relish. The man to be executed is Jagger(the intense and fierce Terry Becker, his performance all urine and vinegar, going out spitting venom), and it's because he killed a popular "cross burner", a racist pig who took a gunshot wound to the head out of an act of self-defense. He was quite a figure in town and so the locals are excited about seeing his murderer hung by the rope. Self-loathing Sheriff Charlie Koch(Michael Constantine)knows that the evidence attained at the crime scene pointed towards Jagger's innocence, Deputy Pierce(THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW'S happy-go-lucky George Lindsey in a very different kind of part than you are used to seeing him)having actually perjured himself so that Jagger would be found guilty(if he wouldn't have been already thanks to an impartial jury who couldn't see the evidence on its own), and newspaper man Colbey(Paul Fix)who took the easy way out and presented only part of the story, without printing the whole truth, afraid to indict an unjust trial. This sets the stage for the supernatural mystery of the absence of light in the small town, a purveying darkness which doesn't cease and later spreads. Oh and to nail his moral lesson home, Serling has a black priest standing over the maddening crowd informing them of why the darkness continues when its after 9:30 in the morning.
------ This is what I wrote a few years ago. But perhaps with age comes perspective. Perhaps when eyes are wide open, and there is a willingness to see what Serling did, we can awaken with a different understanding of the episode. Because with hate and darkness just as evident this present day as way back in '64, Serling might have been pontificating and preaching from a pulpit but the message had and continues to have relevance. But, sigh, will we listen or ever consider the point he was trying to make?
4.5/5
Comments
Post a Comment