Night Gallery - The Other Way Out

Nicely unpredictable (besides Ross Martin’s fate which I assume most will figure is inevitable) story from writer/director Kearney of the episode, “The Other Way Out” is a surprisingly taut, well executed tale of revenge when a business executive, quite well-to-do and affluent, receives warnings and a map from a mysterious party claiming he or she knows about the murder of a go-go dancer, still unsolved by the authorities. Martin’s Bradley Meredith scrambles to get to a bank (running a stop sign, nearly hitting a car, and getting a speeding ticket from a cop) for a hefty sum, complete with a gun he plans to use against the blackmailer(s). The map tells him to drive to this rural, off-the main-highway dirt road, leading right into a downed power pole. His car a wreck, Bradley happens upon an old hermit’s ramshackle digs, soon realizing once he’s trapped inside by the owner of the dump, Old Man Doubleday (Burl Ives), is the blackmailer, claiming his grandson, Sonny, will return soon, a real mean and crafty mastermind of the entire plot of revenge. A shotgun in hand, Old Man Doubleday retrieves Bradley’s handgun, tossing the magazine outside with the snarling, feisty, always-barking dogs, keeping one bullet in his pocket. Before Sonny gets back, Old Man Doubleday hides away with his guitar as Bradley must brave the violent dogs, retrieve his gun, bat in hand used to thwart the pursuit of the mutts, returning to the house for refuge until he can either kill the blackmailer and / or find another way out. Most of the bullets used on the dogs to stop them, Old Man Doubleday teases and mocks Bradley, knowing he only has one left in the gun. So Bradley must find his way through the aging relic of a less-than-sturdy domicile, hoping some safe passage can be found. Meanwhile Old Man Doubleday continues to strum his guitar (his pants held up with tied rope as a belt), readying for Bradley to fall into a fixed trap as he always reminds his quarry that Sonny will be home soon. Who Sonny is cracked me up because Kearney sets up the grandson as this intimidating, ominous figure that would take the shape of some Boogeyman, Ives championing him as a monster under the bed or in the closet, as if you must beware or else. So Bradley finds a secret passageway, treks about in secret compartments and corridors as this house becomes a hick labyrinth, quite far away from the life of affluence and privilege he normally inhabits. The coffin, a room soon to darken once a ladder is pulled away and trap door is shut, and a last bullet left behind as an “escape” caps this very effective episode. Ives as the heckling hick with carefully plotted revenge while Martin agonizingly just wants to leave the money behind and go home are quite a tandem of opposing foes. Martin would have used the gun on Ives if they had rendezvoused as planned, so he’s never a figure of any true sympathy and he was responsible for a murder he never faced proper justice for. 2.5/5