As a youth, I largely missed out on the whole phenomenon surrounding Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone in television syndication.
Oh, it was on – I believe – in two different markets nearby in those days; but the issue for me was that these episodes aired well after bedtime, making them damn near impossible for my consumption. Occasionally, they would turn up in some spot a bit earlier in the evening, but as I had already committed myself to other fare in the realms of the Fantastic I didn’t get as much exposure to them as I would’ve liked. Now, I did finally start to get into them in college and after – especially when the home video explosion made them available for rentals and the like – but by then most folks I knew had already left them behind in pursuit of more contemporary fare. In short, I had no one to share my appreciation of the fanciful ‘what if’ storytelling with, so I’ll still explore them as time permits to this day. What can I say? I appreciate the simpler things in entertainment.
However, I did have the chance to fully experience 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie on the silver screen during its inaugural run. The anthology picture came out smack dab in the middle of my high school years, making it exactly the kind of thing me and my partners in crime were looking for at the movie house. And, yes, we partook of its whimsy more than once – such was the way we lived our humble lives in small-town America of those days – and even though my mates liked it much more than I did the flick still passes as respectable entertainment with its modest 80’s charm.
Warner Archive recently re-released the picture on home video, and I wanted to commit my thoughts on it on behalf of SciFiHistory.Net.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Four horror and science fiction segments, directed by four famous directors, each of them being a new version of a classic story from Rod Serling's landmark television series.”
Time Out (Segment 1)
The best stories from the classic era of television are said to be those that tell us something useful about ourselves, and this is why I’ve always had an issue with “Time Out,” the only truly original installment to the Twilight Zone movie. What we learn in this kinda/sorta cautionary tale about Bill Connor (played by the late Vic Morrow) is, basically, that racism is not only bad but it’s so bad that – if not properly tempered – it could be the death of us. He’s angry at being passed over for promotion with the new job going to a man of the Jewish faith, so he’s granted access to the Zone where watchers pretty much know he’s going to be on the receiving end of such vitriolic hate. However, Time Out fails as a story because it never gives its narrator a moment of pure reflection or understanding – one suggesting that he’s learned something from what he endures as a surrogate Jew or black man – nor any opportunity for redemption.
Now, in case those of you reading this are unaware, this weakness has always stemmed from the fact that the actor – along with two children – died during the film’s production in a tragic accident involving a helicopter. (It’s a subject that’s been explored in not one but two books that I know of.) Because this disaster kept writer/director John Landis from completing the tale he intended to spin, what story remains feels curiously incomplete if not damningly hollow. When your lead is essentially only shown engaging in reprehensible racist behavior, reaches no understanding over the error of his ways, and then seemingly shares in the darkest fates imaginable – i.e. a Jew looking for help during World War II, a black man being hung for no reason other than the color of his skin, etc. – then the lesson is unmistakably clear.
But did this seem like the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Hardly.
Kick The Can (Segment 2)
Mr. Bloom (Scatman Crothers) is an old man who goes from one old folks home to another, taking with his magical tin can in tow, just waiting for the opportunity to challenge the senior citizen residents to a game of ‘Kick the Can,’ the favored competition of his youth. When these septuagenarians realize that the game somehow mystically makes children of them once more, they very quickly partake of those activities often reserved for the youngest among us. Once they realize that staying in these young bodies means they’ll have to undergo the process of aging a second time, however, most (but not all) opt to return to the old and gray, realizing that they’ve had one chance at greatness and wouldn’t want to miss seeing what remains in store for themselves, friends, and family in the present day.
Stephen Spielberg directs and does a masterful job here with the talent young and old. Jerry Goldsmith’s score is a particularly effective addition to the sequence, tugging at the heartstrings of the audience at every opportunity, and the tracks are obviously a highlight to the whole affair. Unlike the opening chapter, Kick The Can feels very much at home exploring the possibility of a ‘second life’ – one that is in no way without the same risks of the first one – and the actors and actresses involved turn in some exceptional performances despite not having all that much material to work with but a few lines of backstory that only hints at their respective pasts.
If anything, Kick reminds us to reach out and take those opportunities if and when they present themselves because there’s certainly no way to know whether or not such good graces will ever come again. Life is short. Have fun. But make it meaningful, too. That’s something everyone can understand and appreciate.
It’s A Good Life (Segment 3)
Anthony (Jeremy Licht) is a young boy who harbors the secret ability to shape and reshape reality to the point of, quite literally, having anything he desires. When wayward school teacher Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan) stumbles into his off-the-beaten-path existence, she feels compelled to give the kid a ride home after accidentally backing her car over the front wheel of his bicycle. Once inside his house, she realizes that the child’s dark imagination has given way to an absolute nightmare for nearly anyone he comes into contact with, so she opts to give Anthony the one thing he’s never experienced before: the unconditional love of an adult guardian.
As pleasant as this Life is, it’s still largely little more than an empty affair built entirely on the child’s magic. Without a guiding hand to nurture his development, Anthony has given in to some of the usual destructive impulses young boys – i.e. eating junk food, selfishness, mild to severe torture – and all of this is on display throughout though Helen doesn’t see it until it’s all so patently obvious. The fact that she somehow sees there’s a hidden goodness in Anthony, however, is a weakness to the Joe Dante-directed tale. Why, it’s almost as if – like the boy can pluck anything out of thin air – so can she deduce some measure of unseen humility from the ether. The silliness of the ending – with the two driving off into the sunset while colorful flowers spring in their wake – is also only the stuff of – ahem – bad movies.
Still, what works here is the fact that when Anthony is a ‘bad seed,’ he’s definitely the cat’s meow of bad children. Kudos to the young Licht for giving evil such an impressionable face.
Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (Segment 4)
Like a great many people, John Valentine (John Lithgow) is fearful of flying. Never mind the fact that in this installment the man finds himself in the midst of a horrific storm at 20,000 feet because just boarding the plane itself had him reduced to emotional tatters. But in looking out the port to his window seat, he sees something no one else can: there’s a man-sized gremlin perched on the wing of the airliner, and it’s tearing about the engines piece by fragile piece!
Undoubtedly, the storytellers behind Twilight Zone: The Movie likely always knew that their picture needed to go out on a bang, so passing off the closing chapter to the creator of the Mad Max saga – writer/director George Miller – was the inspiration needed to elevate this anthology to the status of being memorable. While some might argue that it’s a story too simply set, there’s no denying the way Miller and friends ratchet up the tension with each development to the point wherein perhaps – unlike the TV episode that starred a young William Shatner – maybe this plane wasn’t going to reach the ground after all! Lithgow delivers a balance of frailty and menace as the know-it-all genius who can’t quite believe his eyes but does as his sanity drips away like beads of sweat off the end of his perspiring nose.
Sadly, nothing else in the Zone movie really matches this one’s sheer promise beat for beat – Goldsmith’s score is also deserving of praise as it defines what heart-pounding accompaniment should be for big screen thrillers. But if you need to go out big and bold and fresh, then the parting chapter is well worth the wait … as is the closing moment with Dan Aykroyd as a demonic entity that harkens back to the film’s set-up in wonderful measure. In that respect, yes, it’s always wonderful to see something really scary!
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) was produced by Amblin Entertainment (per IMDB.com, though they’re cited nowhere that I’m aware in the film) and Warner Bros. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Warner Archive. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the provided sights and sounds are pretty exceptional. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Well – sigh – you’ll have to make do with little more than an included theatrical trailer as this re-issue is as ‘bare bones’ as they come.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
There are times when its important to remind folks that while a film can be technically accomplished the resulting story – or ‘stories’ as is the case with 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie – are rather obviously less so. Because the results here are so widely varied – between meh, better, best, and just plain awful – the completed picture earns accolades chiefly for saving the best for last. Still, the talent involved behind-the-scenes and on-camera arguably suggested that this was going to be a superior outing; yet this is one time where I’ll likely go to my grave insisting audiences deserved far better than what they got with this little jaunt into Rod Serling-like country.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Warner Archive (via Allied Vaughn) provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
Oh, it was on – I believe – in two different markets nearby in those days; but the issue for me was that these episodes aired well after bedtime, making them damn near impossible for my consumption. Occasionally, they would turn up in some spot a bit earlier in the evening, but as I had already committed myself to other fare in the realms of the Fantastic I didn’t get as much exposure to them as I would’ve liked. Now, I did finally start to get into them in college and after – especially when the home video explosion made them available for rentals and the like – but by then most folks I knew had already left them behind in pursuit of more contemporary fare. In short, I had no one to share my appreciation of the fanciful ‘what if’ storytelling with, so I’ll still explore them as time permits to this day. What can I say? I appreciate the simpler things in entertainment.
However, I did have the chance to fully experience 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie on the silver screen during its inaugural run. The anthology picture came out smack dab in the middle of my high school years, making it exactly the kind of thing me and my partners in crime were looking for at the movie house. And, yes, we partook of its whimsy more than once – such was the way we lived our humble lives in small-town America of those days – and even though my mates liked it much more than I did the flick still passes as respectable entertainment with its modest 80’s charm.
Warner Archive recently re-released the picture on home video, and I wanted to commit my thoughts on it on behalf of SciFiHistory.Net.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Four horror and science fiction segments, directed by four famous directors, each of them being a new version of a classic story from Rod Serling's landmark television series.”
Time Out (Segment 1)
The best stories from the classic era of television are said to be those that tell us something useful about ourselves, and this is why I’ve always had an issue with “Time Out,” the only truly original installment to the Twilight Zone movie. What we learn in this kinda/sorta cautionary tale about Bill Connor (played by the late Vic Morrow) is, basically, that racism is not only bad but it’s so bad that – if not properly tempered – it could be the death of us. He’s angry at being passed over for promotion with the new job going to a man of the Jewish faith, so he’s granted access to the Zone where watchers pretty much know he’s going to be on the receiving end of such vitriolic hate. However, Time Out fails as a story because it never gives its narrator a moment of pure reflection or understanding – one suggesting that he’s learned something from what he endures as a surrogate Jew or black man – nor any opportunity for redemption.
Now, in case those of you reading this are unaware, this weakness has always stemmed from the fact that the actor – along with two children – died during the film’s production in a tragic accident involving a helicopter. (It’s a subject that’s been explored in not one but two books that I know of.) Because this disaster kept writer/director John Landis from completing the tale he intended to spin, what story remains feels curiously incomplete if not damningly hollow. When your lead is essentially only shown engaging in reprehensible racist behavior, reaches no understanding over the error of his ways, and then seemingly shares in the darkest fates imaginable – i.e. a Jew looking for help during World War II, a black man being hung for no reason other than the color of his skin, etc. – then the lesson is unmistakably clear.
But did this seem like the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Hardly.
Kick The Can (Segment 2)
Mr. Bloom (Scatman Crothers) is an old man who goes from one old folks home to another, taking with his magical tin can in tow, just waiting for the opportunity to challenge the senior citizen residents to a game of ‘Kick the Can,’ the favored competition of his youth. When these septuagenarians realize that the game somehow mystically makes children of them once more, they very quickly partake of those activities often reserved for the youngest among us. Once they realize that staying in these young bodies means they’ll have to undergo the process of aging a second time, however, most (but not all) opt to return to the old and gray, realizing that they’ve had one chance at greatness and wouldn’t want to miss seeing what remains in store for themselves, friends, and family in the present day.
Stephen Spielberg directs and does a masterful job here with the talent young and old. Jerry Goldsmith’s score is a particularly effective addition to the sequence, tugging at the heartstrings of the audience at every opportunity, and the tracks are obviously a highlight to the whole affair. Unlike the opening chapter, Kick The Can feels very much at home exploring the possibility of a ‘second life’ – one that is in no way without the same risks of the first one – and the actors and actresses involved turn in some exceptional performances despite not having all that much material to work with but a few lines of backstory that only hints at their respective pasts.
If anything, Kick reminds us to reach out and take those opportunities if and when they present themselves because there’s certainly no way to know whether or not such good graces will ever come again. Life is short. Have fun. But make it meaningful, too. That’s something everyone can understand and appreciate.
It’s A Good Life (Segment 3)
Anthony (Jeremy Licht) is a young boy who harbors the secret ability to shape and reshape reality to the point of, quite literally, having anything he desires. When wayward school teacher Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan) stumbles into his off-the-beaten-path existence, she feels compelled to give the kid a ride home after accidentally backing her car over the front wheel of his bicycle. Once inside his house, she realizes that the child’s dark imagination has given way to an absolute nightmare for nearly anyone he comes into contact with, so she opts to give Anthony the one thing he’s never experienced before: the unconditional love of an adult guardian.
As pleasant as this Life is, it’s still largely little more than an empty affair built entirely on the child’s magic. Without a guiding hand to nurture his development, Anthony has given in to some of the usual destructive impulses young boys – i.e. eating junk food, selfishness, mild to severe torture – and all of this is on display throughout though Helen doesn’t see it until it’s all so patently obvious. The fact that she somehow sees there’s a hidden goodness in Anthony, however, is a weakness to the Joe Dante-directed tale. Why, it’s almost as if – like the boy can pluck anything out of thin air – so can she deduce some measure of unseen humility from the ether. The silliness of the ending – with the two driving off into the sunset while colorful flowers spring in their wake – is also only the stuff of – ahem – bad movies.
Still, what works here is the fact that when Anthony is a ‘bad seed,’ he’s definitely the cat’s meow of bad children. Kudos to the young Licht for giving evil such an impressionable face.
Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (Segment 4)
Like a great many people, John Valentine (John Lithgow) is fearful of flying. Never mind the fact that in this installment the man finds himself in the midst of a horrific storm at 20,000 feet because just boarding the plane itself had him reduced to emotional tatters. But in looking out the port to his window seat, he sees something no one else can: there’s a man-sized gremlin perched on the wing of the airliner, and it’s tearing about the engines piece by fragile piece!
Undoubtedly, the storytellers behind Twilight Zone: The Movie likely always knew that their picture needed to go out on a bang, so passing off the closing chapter to the creator of the Mad Max saga – writer/director George Miller – was the inspiration needed to elevate this anthology to the status of being memorable. While some might argue that it’s a story too simply set, there’s no denying the way Miller and friends ratchet up the tension with each development to the point wherein perhaps – unlike the TV episode that starred a young William Shatner – maybe this plane wasn’t going to reach the ground after all! Lithgow delivers a balance of frailty and menace as the know-it-all genius who can’t quite believe his eyes but does as his sanity drips away like beads of sweat off the end of his perspiring nose.
Sadly, nothing else in the Zone movie really matches this one’s sheer promise beat for beat – Goldsmith’s score is also deserving of praise as it defines what heart-pounding accompaniment should be for big screen thrillers. But if you need to go out big and bold and fresh, then the parting chapter is well worth the wait … as is the closing moment with Dan Aykroyd as a demonic entity that harkens back to the film’s set-up in wonderful measure. In that respect, yes, it’s always wonderful to see something really scary!
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) was produced by Amblin Entertainment (per IMDB.com, though they’re cited nowhere that I’m aware in the film) and Warner Bros. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Warner Archive. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the provided sights and sounds are pretty exceptional. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Well – sigh – you’ll have to make do with little more than an included theatrical trailer as this re-issue is as ‘bare bones’ as they come.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
There are times when its important to remind folks that while a film can be technically accomplished the resulting story – or ‘stories’ as is the case with 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie – are rather obviously less so. Because the results here are so widely varied – between meh, better, best, and just plain awful – the completed picture earns accolades chiefly for saving the best for last. Still, the talent involved behind-the-scenes and on-camera arguably suggested that this was going to be a superior outing; yet this is one time where I’ll likely go to my grave insisting audiences deserved far better than what they got with this little jaunt into Rod Serling-like country.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Warner Archive (via Allied Vaughn) provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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