The Twilight Zone: Third Season Mini-Marathon

Okay so the line-up at the very end of the Syfy marathon was exactly several episodes from the third season in a row. I followed that exact order for a nice Sunday afternoon of Twilight Zone.

1am: One More Pallbearer 4/5
1:30am: Dead Man’s Shoes 2/5
2am: The Hunt 4.5/5
2:30am: Showdown With Rance McGrew 2.5/5
3am: Kick the Can 4/5
3:30am: A Piano in the House 4/5

So I don’t have official reviews for some of these on the blog. I’ve never written one for “Showdown with Rance McGrew”, an episode I really haven’t watched all the way through. I think this episode is often shown during marathons where I was either interrupted or at work or asleep. I hope to put a write-up together for it at some point. It was a fun bit of fluff about how the ghost of Jesse James takes issue with an actor who portrays a marshal making a fool of the legends of the Old West, such as Billy the Kid. I think I’ll put a little something together for it later. I do believe I have written user comments for “One More Pallbearer” and “A Piano in the House” and “The Hunt” and “Kick the Can” I do think are indeed on the blog. I was rather surprised when I researched thoughts on “Dead Man’s Shoes” how well liked it is. I don’t hate it but I do find it underwhelming. It is highly regarded for its film noir attitude and Warren Stevens alternates between a weak-minded bum and a tough but very dead gangster shot by another mob associate. It has unsavory characters of the mob world with a Twilight Zone twist and folks seem to enjoy that. “The Hunt” never fails to cast its spell on me, while “A Piano in the House” has one of my favorite reviews of my IMDb Scarecrow output.

One Small Pallbearer [January 8|2017]

Joseph Wiseman, of Dr. No fame, portrays millionaire Paul Radin, a vindictive and shallow businessman who has never recovered from humiliations accumulated in the past due to his own mistakes. Like getting caught cheating in school and being called out in the front of the other kids by schoolteacher, Mrs. Langford (Katherine Squire). Or not leading troops up a hill during the war and being reprimanded by his military leader, Colonel Hawthorne (Trevor Bardette). Or leading a woman to suicide with the priest, Reverend Hughes (Gage Clarke), ridiculing him for his role in that death which led to public scorn. Radin has an underground bunker built specifically for these three to teach them a lesson and apologize to him when an imaginary apocalypse (he has set up with video projection mushroom cloud and amplified sound system for optimal effect). When they don't comply, not only maintaining their standards and principles but berating him for his lack of either, how will he react? Wiseman is first rate as a corrupt tycoon with more money than God and lack of moral standing, his ego so bloated and narcissism so fat he expects those who once embarrassed him (for essentially putting him in his place and holding him responsible for is actions) to gravel at his feet and bed for his forgiveness. When that doesn't happen, and they demand to be let out of the bunker to die somewhere else absent his company, Radin is unable to cope with their disregard of him…even as an adult, powerful and rich, he cannot put them in their place. Serling's voice speaks from the mouths of all three adult authority figures that fail to cow-tow to Radin no matter his status and wealth. When Langford speaks down to him or Hawthorne disrespects him that is Serling pointedly reducing him to the worm he is. Using an apocalypse to try and force them to address him with respect, and his mind later producing it with the results of him all alone among the rubble and ruin, Radin is incapable of surrendering his ego, accepting that in the past he was punished for what he done…his punishment was warranted. His trying to play the victim, and it flying back in his face is Serling's punishment, dealt with a heavy blow. Wiseman has that cadence and delivery that is fit for the character: pompous, elitist, and arrogant. He expects these three to honestly fall on bent knee to him. And when that doesn't happen, his ego is unable to recover. Serling, therefore, imprisons him, sentenced to agonize without satisfaction.

 Dead Man's Shoes [January 2|2011]

The only thing I can think of worse than your body being hurled into an alleyway street is to have your shoes removed by an unshaven, alcoholic hobo. Well for hobos needing a pair of shoes to keep their puppies warm while wallowing in cardboard boxes for some semblance of rest they will have the misfortune of choosing home in the wrong alley. A gangster with a certain pair of loafers is left in an alley and his shoes are removed by a bum. The bum is infiltrated by the possessive dark soul of the gangster who, with the new body of Nate Bledsoe(Warren Stevens), plans to get even with those who murdered him. Stevens is allowed to perform dual roles, one as the unfortunate bum and the second of a mean gangster who slaps around his moll(Joan Marshall; HOMICIDAL)demanding her make him his favorite drink. To be honest this episode is a mini-gangster movie with certain supernatural overtones..kind of similar in ways to the Karloff vehicle, "Black Friday", instead of a brain surgery causing a kindly professor to turn into a gangster, a pair of shoes does the trick to paupers.

 The Hunt [July 4|2012]

Perhaps "The Hunt" does lay it on a bit thick with the hick in the backwoods routine, a simple man who likes to coon hunt with his coondog Rep, both drowning while on the hunt one night, but it does have its charm. Hyder Simpson (Arthur Hunnicut; El Dorado) comes home after "waking up" the next day to find his dog's grave being dug by two neighbors and his wife, dressed in black and mourning the loss of her husband who didn't heed to her warnings of bad omens, getting a visit from the local preacher. So seeing as he doesn't have a home to come back to technically and while following his wife and the mourners taking his casket to the graveyard, Hyder meets a fence that no longer allows him access to the usual backwoods places so he takes Rep and they walk the Eternity Road as Heaven—or Hell—awaits. Where will Hyder spend eternity? Rep just might determine that. I have a place in my heart for this episode even though many might consider it a bit corny and perhaps too Hollywoodized a version of characters from the Deep South, but I like where its heart is ultimately and Man's Best Friend and His Master as partners for life, with the Missus coming shortly is just a nice close, me thinks. Animal lovers, in particular, (except for the whole "hunting for raccoons" business) might enjoy this episode for how an owner will not leave behind his pet, looking at the dog as more of a family member, treating it with respect. Everything in the film, from the angel that greets Hyder and Rep proper, to the surroundings that ultimately lead to the Heavenly Gates, is completely representative of the backwoods people and culture as seen through the lens of certain folks who visualize them as they perceive them in the Hollywood industry. Although "The Waltons" creator, Earl Hamner Jr. did write this episode, I'm guessing a lot of his intentions were not presented as he saw them. That said, I still find "The Hunt" rewarding in many respects. Being from the South, I at least appreciate their trying to show a different side of America on the Twilight Zone.

 A Piano in the House [January 22|2017]

Earl Hamner, Jr's script for "Piano in the House" is a tough, unpleasant offering, following the path TZ often treads: a mean spirit, insufferable and hard, gets his much deserved punishment. A theater critic, Fitzgerald Fortune (Barry Morse, right on target to the point you will probably hate his guts by episode's end), revels in causing misery towards those that know him, using his biting commentary towards others' weaknesses as a means to torment them while still willing to return to his company due to his status in the art community. Beautiful and tolerant wife, Esther (Joan Hackett, never more stunning), had put up with him for six years, marrying him early in her young adulthood, naive to think there was more to him than ultimately ever offered. Instead, she is always told of how she has no talent, a piano purchased in a junk antique shop for her birthday specifically because it plays music itself so she won't have to bother trying to learn! When we first meet Fortune, he arrives in the junk shop, meeting misanthropic proprietor (Phillip Coolidge; The Tingler (1959)) of the establishment, seeing his countenance emerge changed into delight when a certain tune lit up his joy as it played on the piano. Realizing the piano brought out the hidden person and feelings underneath an exterior altogether different, Fortune eyes the opportunity to use it as a weapon for his amusement against folks in his inner circle. However, being this is the Twilight Zone, the piano might just be turned against him…couldn't have happened to a better candidate. Seeing the piano's selected tune take down the strongholds of control that often helps us conceal what we might want to remain buried deep inside can be rather unsettling, especially when the person responsible gets his kicks from the experience. His wife admitting she tried to love him, had stomached his ridicule, and now hated him, a musician (Don Durant) pretending to be totally unconcerned with love or affection speaking candidly with great fondness of Esther (in particular, an affair admitted during a vacation where a chance meeting took place!), and a heavy member of the inner circle (Muriel Landers), always willing to poke fun at her own weight, reduced to a child speaking about being a little girl and snowflake, all thin and pretty; these victims are targeted by Fortune, giddy to see them undermined by the piano, endure the revelations against their will, still willing to remain in the room with the bastard. Earlier in the episode, an unhappy butler Fortune treats horribly and wants to fire (Cyril Delevanti) appears all elated, light on his feet, bursting with smile and eventually laughter, totally dissimilar to the usual aching grimace that molds his face into a kept misery. Soon Esther turns the tables and the piano relieves Fitzgerald of latent fears, a little boy who lashed out against those that he felt were better than him, envious of humane qualities and talent he most certainly lacked. To watch Fortune rendered an embarrassment, speaking openly about his insecurities and honest about why he acted so monstrously, was a fitting conclusion to the episode. But seeing Landers' humiliated was uncomfortable and quite hard to watch. Morse played the heel well, left behind by all those who seemed to congregate around him due to his reputation, and the toy used as a truth serum putting the harsh critic in his place.