Twilight Zone: The Movie
Encyclopedia
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 science fiction
horror film
produced by Steven Spielberg
and John Landis
as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone
, a 1959 and '60s TV series created by Rod Serling
. Those starring in the film are: Dan Aykroyd
, Albert Brooks
, Vic Morrow
, Scatman Crothers
, Kathleen Quinlan
and John Lithgow
. Burgess Meredith
, who starred in several episodes of the original series, took on Serling's position as narrator, although unlike Serling he did not appear on screen, nor did he receive screen credit. His name appears in the end credits.
The film is a remake of three classic episodes of the original series and includes one original story. John Landis
directed the prologue and the first segment, Steven Spielberg
directed the second, Joe Dante
the third, and George Miller
directed the final segment. The promotional song from this movie, "Nights Are Forever
", written by Jerry Goldsmith
with lyricist John Bettis
, and sung by Jennifer Warnes
, is heard briefly during the jukebox scene in the opening segment with Vic Morrow.
The film garnered notoriety for a helicopter crash which took the lives of actor Vic Morrow
and two child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, during the filming of a Landis-directed segment. The deaths led to a high-profile legal case, although at the end of the trial no one was found to be criminally culpable for the accident.
) and his passenger (Dan Aykroyd
) driving very late at night, singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival
's cover of "Midnight Special
" on a cassette
, which then breaks. The driver talks about a scary game he finds amusing, as he shows the passenger the game. He switches off the car's headlights and drives in the dark. The pair make a game between themselves about television theme songs such as Sea Hunt
and Hawaii Five-O
, and eventually the classic theme to The Twilight Zone. The conversation turns to what episodes of the series they found most scary, such as Burgess Meredith
in "Time Enough at Last
" and other classics. The passenger then asks the driver, "Do you want to see something really scary?" The driver obliges and reluctantly pulls over. The passenger turns his face away, then turns back around having transformed into a demon, and attacks the driver.
The scene then cuts to outside the car as the familiar Twilight Zone opening theme music and monologue begin, spoken by narrator Burgess Meredith
, a veteran of the original TV series.
episode "A Quality of Mercy", with the opening narration borrowing from "What You Need
" and "A Nice Place to Visit
". Vic Morrow
plays Bill Connor, an outspoken bigot who is bitter after being passed over for a promotion
. Drinking in a bar after work with his friends, Bill makes prejudiced remarks and racial slurs towards Jews, blacks and Asians...thus attracting the attention of several black men sitting near them who strongly resent his racist comments. Bill leaves the bar very angry. When he walks outside, the supernatural tone begins. He inexplicably proceeds to assume the racial ethnicities of people against whom he was always prejudiced. First, he finds himself in occupied France during World War II
. He is spotted by a pair of SS officers patrolling the streets, who see him as a Jewish man. A chase ensues around the city, and Bill is shot in his arm by one of the German officers. Bill falls from the ledge of a building...and abruptly finds himself in the rural South during the 1940s. There the Ku Klux Klan
sees him as an African American whom they are about to whip and lynch. Bill is scared and confused; he vehemently tells them he's white. While trying to escape the Ku Klux Klan, he suddenly finds himself in a jungle during the Vietnam War
...as a Vietnamese man blown to bits by U.S. soldiers. Instead of killing him, the grenade thrown by the soldiers blasts Bill into occupied France again. There he is captured by Nazi soldiers and put into an enclosed railroad freight car, along with other Jewish Holocaust prisoners. With no possibility of redemption or rescue, Bill uselessly screams for help to his friends from the bar, whom only he can see as the train pulls away to a death camp.
and is a remake of the episode "Kick the Can." Scatman Crothers
plays an old man named Mr. Bloom who has just moved into his new home at Sunnyvale Retirement Home. Upon his arrival, he sits around kindly and smiles as he listens to the other elders reminisce about the joys they experienced in their youth. Mr. Bloom implies to them just because they're old doesn't mean they cannot enjoy life any more and that feeling young and active has to do with your attitude not your age. He tells them that later that night, he will wake them and that they can join him in a game of "kick the can". All agree; however, a grumpy man named Leo Conroy who is fairly skeptical in his outlook on life disagrees, saying that now that they are all old they cannot engage in physical activity and play the games they once did as children. That night, Mr. Bloom gathers the rest of the optimistic residents outside and plays a game of kick the can
. They are all ultimately transformed back into childhood versions of themselves. Although they are extremely ecstatic to be young again and engage in the activities they once enjoyed so long ago, they also realize that being young again means you not only experience the good aspects of life again but also the bad. They request to be old again, which Mr. Bloom grants to them. Leo Conroy witnesses one resident that still remains young and says that he wants to go with him before the boy runs off. Conroy realizes that he does not have to stop enjoying life because of his old age. The segment ends with Mr. Bloom leaving to another retirement home, and Conroy is outside happily kicking a can around the yard, having learned being young at heart is what really matters.
," is directed by Joe Dante
. (Its opening narration is borrowed, in part, from "Night Call
.") Mild-mannered Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan
), traveling to a new job, visits a rural bar for directions. There she witnesses a young boy (Jeremy Licht) playing an arcade game while being accosted by a group of rowdy drunks for "accidentally" causing interference on the TV by slapping the side of the game machine. (One of the bar patrons is portrayed by the original Anthony Fremont, Bill Mumy
) Soon after, Helen decides to leave. Not paying attention, she backs into the boy with her car in the parking lot, damaging his bicycle. Helen offers the boy, Anthony, a ride home. They eventually get to Anthony's house, which is an immense home in the country. When Helen arrives, she meets Anthony's family: Uncle Walt Fremont (Kevin McCarthy
); sister Ethel Fremont (Nancy Cartwright
); Anthony and Ethel's parents. Anthony's family seems extremely apprehensive, but Helen (at first) dismisses this. Anthony shows Helen around the house. They come to the room of another sister, Sara Fremont (Cherie Currie
), who has had an accident. Because Sara (who is in a wheel chair) has her back to them, Helen doesn't notice that the girl has no mouth. The Fremonts (save Sara) have dinner which consists of Anthony's favorite foods: mainly "fast" food, including hamburgers and peanut butter. During dinner, Ethel shouts at Anthony; her plate smashes on the ground, with no explanation. After keeping her promise of taking Anthony home, Helen attempts to leave...only to discover that Anthony possesses supernatural powers of unknown origin. These mental abilities allow him to affect change of practically any kind he sees fit, just by willing such to happen. His most frequent use of this power involves making cartoon characters appear in real life, and making real people disappear. Anthony urges Helen to stay and see Uncle Walt's "act". Uncle Walt isn't sure what to do with the hat Anthony provides for him; reluctantly, he pulls a rabbit out of it. The family are relieved and applaud, only to see the rabbit become a demonic monster before disappearing again. The Fremonts inform Helen that they aren't Anthony's real family; he brought them to the house under false pretenses, as was the case with her. Now they are all trapped here. Helen finds a note on the floor from one of the Fremonts: "Help us! Anthony is a monster!" When it turns out Ethel wrote this, Anthony wills her into the television set; there she is eaten by a large, frightening, dragon-like cartoon character. The "family" expresses their dismay at Ethel's demise; in a fit of irritation, Anthony makes the whole house disappear instantly, and the Fremonts with it...leaving himself and Helen literally nowhere. Anthony explains that, since they weren't happy living with him anymore, he sent them all back where they came from - including both his "sisters" (Ethel having been revived.) Now, at last, Anthony realizes the horrific loneliness that comes with being omnipotent. For once, he expresses - instead of burying - the tremendous insecurity and pain that seethes within him. Helen asks to be Anthony's teacher, and also his student; together, she says, they can find uses for his power that even he never dreamed of. Having been confronted with the true end results of his reign of terror, Anthony welcomes Helen's offer and makes her car reappear. Both ride off toward her new home and job, surrounded by bright meadows filled with flowers.
", and is directed by George Miller. (Its opening narration is, in part, borrowed from "In His Image
.") John Lithgow
plays the nervous and stressed-out airline passenger Mr. John Valentine. The story begins with flight attendants attempting to coax Mr. Valentine from the lavatory as he tries to recover from what seems to be a panic attack. Although not mentioned during the segment, it is most likely that Mr. Valentine is suffering from severe aviatophobia. He is repeatedly assured by the flight attendants that everything is going to be all right, but his nerves and antics disturb the surrounding passengers.
As Mr. Valentine takes his seat, he notices a hideous gremlin on the wing of the plane and begins to spiral into severe panic. He watches as the creature wreaks havoc on the wing, damaging the plane's engine, losing more control each time he sees it do something new. Valentine finally snaps, grabs a hand gun from another passenger, an air marshal, shoots out the window (causing a breach in the pressurized cabin), and begins firing at the creature. This only serves to catch the attention of the gremlin, who rushes up to Valentine and promptly destroys the gun. After a tense moment, in which they notice that the plane is landing, the gremlin grabs Valentine's face, then simply scolds him by wagging its finger in a "no, no" manner. The creature leaps into the sky as the airplane begins to make an emergency landing. As Valentine is wrapped in a straitjacket and carried off in an ambulance, the police, crew and passengers begin to discuss the incident, writing off Valentine as insane. The aircraft maintenance crew soon arrives however, and everyone gathers to examine the massive amounts of unexplained damage to the plane's engines.
on July 23, 1982 at around 2:30 a.m., actor Vic Morrow
and child actors Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6) died in an accident involving a helicopter
being used on the set. The helicopter pilot had trouble navigating through the fireballs created by pyrotechnic effects for the sequence. A technician didn't know this and detonated two pyrotechnic charges close together. The explosions caused the low-flying helicopter to spin out of control and crash on top of Morrow and the two children as they were crossing a small pond away from the village mock up. All three were killed instantly; Morrow and Myca were decapitated by the helicopter's top rotor blades while Renee was impaled by one of the skids.
It later emerged that Myca and Renee were being paid under the table to get around California's child-labor laws. At the time, California did not allow children to work an hour past curfew. Landis opted not to seek a waiver, either because he didn't think he'd get one for such a late hour or because he knew he would never get approval to have young children as part of a scene with a large number of explosives. The casting agents didn't know that the children would be involved in the scene. Associate producer George Folsey, Jr.
told the children's parents not to tell any firefighters on set that the children were part of the scene, and also hid them from a fire safety officer who also worked as a welfare worker. A fire safety officer was concerned the blasts would cause a crash, but didn't tell Landis of his concerns.
The accident led to civil and criminal action against the filmmakers which lasted nearly a decade. Landis, Folsey, production manager Dan Allingham, pilot Dorcey Wingo and explosives specialist Paul Stewart were acquitted on charges of manslaughter
in a 1987 trial. In the aftermath of the accident, regulations were changed involving children working on movie sets at night and during special effects-heavy scenes. Hollywood also avoided helicopter-related stunts for many years, until the CGI revolution of the 1990s made it possible to use digital versions. As a result of the accident, one second assistant director had his name removed from the credits and replaced with the pseudonym Alan Smithee
.
of the Chicago Sun-Times
rated each segment individually, awarding them (on a scale of four stars): two for the prologue and first segment, one-and-a-half for the second, three-and-a-half stars for the third, and three-and-a-half for the final. Ebert noted that "the surprising thing is, the two superstar directors are thoroughly routed by two less-known directors whose previous credits have been horror and action pictures... Spielberg, who produced the whole project, perhaps sensed that he and Landis had the weakest results, since he assembles the stories in an ascending order of excitement. Twilight Zone starts slow, almost grinds to a halt, and then has a fast comeback." The New York Times
Vincent Canby called the movie a "flabby, mini-minded behemoth."
According to boxofficemojo.com, it opened at #4, grossing $6,614,366 in its opening weekend at 1,275 theaters, averaging $5,188 per theater (adjusting to $15,076,555 and a $11,825 average in 2009). It later expanded to 1,288 theaters and ended up grossing $29,450,919 (adjusting to $67,129,396 in 2009). Having cost $10 million to make, it was not the enormous hit which executives were looking for, but it was still a financial success and it helped stir enough interest for CBS
to give the go-ahead to the 1980s TV version of The Twilight Zone.
It was released to LaserDisc
and VHS
several times, most recently as part of WB's "Hits" line, and was released for DVD
, HD DVD
and Blu-ray on October 9, 2007.
wrote the book adaptation of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Bloch's order of segments does not match the order in the film itself, as he was given the original screenplay to work with, in which "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" was the second segment, and "Kick the Can" was the fourth. Both the movie's prologue and epilogue are missing in the novelization; Bloch claimed that no one told him the anthology had a wraparound sequence. Bloch also said that in the six weeks he was given to write the book, he only saw a screening of two of the segments; he had to hurriedly change the ending of the first segment, after the helicopter accident that occurred during filming. As originally written, the first segment would have ended as it did in the original screenplay (Connor finds redemption by saving two Vietnamese children whose village is being destroyed by the Air Cavalry); the finished book reflects how the first segment ends in the final cut of the film.
, who scored several episodes of the original series (although he did not score the original versions of the remade episodes - nobody did, as all three were tracked with music for earlier episodes), composed the music for the movie and re-recorded Marius Constant
's series theme. The original soundtrack album was released by Warner Bros. Records
.
"Time Out" is the only segment whose music is not included in the overture (actually the film's end title music).
A complete recording of the dramatic score, including a previously-unreleased song by Joseph Williams, was released in April 2009 by Film Score Monthly
, representing the soundtrack's first US release on compact disc. Both songs were used in "Time Out" and were produced by Bruce Botnick
with James Newton Howard
(Howard also arranged "Nights Are Forever").
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
produced by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
, a 1959 and '60s TV series created by Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
. Those starring in the film are: Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
, Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks
Albert Lawrence Brooks is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News...
, Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
, Scatman Crothers
Scatman Crothers
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980...
, Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
and John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
. Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
, who starred in several episodes of the original series, took on Serling's position as narrator, although unlike Serling he did not appear on screen, nor did he receive screen credit. His name appears in the end credits.
The film is a remake of three classic episodes of the original series and includes one original story. John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
directed the prologue and the first segment, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
directed the second, Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....
the third, and George Miller
George Miller (producer)
George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is most well known for his work on the Mad Max movies, but has been involved in a wide range of projects, including the Oscar-winning Happy Feet and "Babe" family films.Miller is the older brother...
directed the final segment. The promotional song from this movie, "Nights Are Forever
Nights Are Forever (Jennifer Warnes song)
"Nights Are Forever" is a 1983 song from the Warner Bros. motion picture Twilight Zone: The Movie, starring Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow and Scatman Crothers. It was composed by Jerry Goldsmith and sung by Jennifer Warnes. Lyrics were written by John Bettis...
", written by Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
with lyricist John Bettis
John Bettis
John Bettis is an American lyricist who has co-written many famous popular songs over the years. In 2011, John was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame....
, and sung by Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
, is heard briefly during the jukebox scene in the opening segment with Vic Morrow.
The film garnered notoriety for a helicopter crash which took the lives of actor Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
and two child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, during the filming of a Landis-directed segment. The deaths led to a high-profile legal case, although at the end of the trial no one was found to be criminally culpable for the accident.
Prologue
The film starts with a driver (Albert BrooksAlbert Brooks
Albert Lawrence Brooks is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News...
) and his passenger (Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
) driving very late at night, singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
's cover of "Midnight Special
Midnight Special (song)
"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South. The title comes from the refrain which refers to the Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light" ....
" on a cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, which then breaks. The driver talks about a scary game he finds amusing, as he shows the passenger the game. He switches off the car's headlights and drives in the dark. The pair make a game between themselves about television theme songs such as Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt was an American adventure television series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced...
and Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
, and eventually the classic theme to The Twilight Zone. The conversation turns to what episodes of the series they found most scary, such as Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
in "Time Enough at Last
Time Enough at Last
"Time Enough at Last" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It was adapted from a short story by Lyn Venable , which had been published in the January 1953 edition of the science fiction magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction...
" and other classics. The passenger then asks the driver, "Do you want to see something really scary?" The driver obliges and reluctantly pulls over. The passenger turns his face away, then turns back around having transformed into a demon, and attacks the driver.
The scene then cuts to outside the car as the familiar Twilight Zone opening theme music and monologue begin, spoken by narrator Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
, a veteran of the original TV series.
First segment ("Time Out")
The film's only original segment was the first, directed by John Landis. It is loosely based on the original Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode "A Quality of Mercy", with the opening narration borrowing from "What You Need
What You Need
"What You Need" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It is based on the short story of the same name by Lewis Padgett .- Synopsis :...
" and "A Nice Place to Visit
A Nice Place to Visit
"A Nice Place to Visit" is an episode of the American Television anthology series The Twilight Zone first aired on CBS on April 15, 1960. The title comes from the saying, "A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there."...
". Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
plays Bill Connor, an outspoken bigot who is bitter after being passed over for a promotion
Promotion (rank)
A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. Promotion may be an employee's reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal...
. Drinking in a bar after work with his friends, Bill makes prejudiced remarks and racial slurs towards Jews, blacks and Asians...thus attracting the attention of several black men sitting near them who strongly resent his racist comments. Bill leaves the bar very angry. When he walks outside, the supernatural tone begins. He inexplicably proceeds to assume the racial ethnicities of people against whom he was always prejudiced. First, he finds himself in occupied France during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He is spotted by a pair of SS officers patrolling the streets, who see him as a Jewish man. A chase ensues around the city, and Bill is shot in his arm by one of the German officers. Bill falls from the ledge of a building...and abruptly finds himself in the rural South during the 1940s. There the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
sees him as an African American whom they are about to whip and lynch. Bill is scared and confused; he vehemently tells them he's white. While trying to escape the Ku Klux Klan, he suddenly finds himself in a jungle during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
...as a Vietnamese man blown to bits by U.S. soldiers. Instead of killing him, the grenade thrown by the soldiers blasts Bill into occupied France again. There he is captured by Nazi soldiers and put into an enclosed railroad freight car, along with other Jewish Holocaust prisoners. With no possibility of redemption or rescue, Bill uselessly screams for help to his friends from the bar, whom only he can see as the train pulls away to a death camp.
Second segment ("Kick the Can")
The second segment is directed by Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and is a remake of the episode "Kick the Can." Scatman Crothers
Scatman Crothers
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980...
plays an old man named Mr. Bloom who has just moved into his new home at Sunnyvale Retirement Home. Upon his arrival, he sits around kindly and smiles as he listens to the other elders reminisce about the joys they experienced in their youth. Mr. Bloom implies to them just because they're old doesn't mean they cannot enjoy life any more and that feeling young and active has to do with your attitude not your age. He tells them that later that night, he will wake them and that they can join him in a game of "kick the can". All agree; however, a grumpy man named Leo Conroy who is fairly skeptical in his outlook on life disagrees, saying that now that they are all old they cannot engage in physical activity and play the games they once did as children. That night, Mr. Bloom gathers the rest of the optimistic residents outside and plays a game of kick the can
Kick the can
Tip the can is a children's game related to tag, hide and seek, and capture the flag which can be played outdoors, with as many as three to a few dozen players...
. They are all ultimately transformed back into childhood versions of themselves. Although they are extremely ecstatic to be young again and engage in the activities they once enjoyed so long ago, they also realize that being young again means you not only experience the good aspects of life again but also the bad. They request to be old again, which Mr. Bloom grants to them. Leo Conroy witnesses one resident that still remains young and says that he wants to go with him before the boy runs off. Conroy realizes that he does not have to stop enjoying life because of his old age. The segment ends with Mr. Bloom leaving to another retirement home, and Conroy is outside happily kicking a can around the yard, having learned being young at heart is what really matters.
Third Segment ("It's a Good Life")
The third segment, a variant of the episode "It's a Good LifeIt's a Good Life (The Twilight Zone)
"It's a Good Life" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It is based on a 1953 short story of the same name by Jerome Bixby.-Synopsis:...
," is directed by Joe Dante
Joe Dante
Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....
. (Its opening narration is borrowed, in part, from "Night Call
Night Call
"Night Call" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It, like the episode "Twenty Two", is based on an urban legend. -Synopsis:...
.") Mild-mannered Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
), traveling to a new job, visits a rural bar for directions. There she witnesses a young boy (Jeremy Licht) playing an arcade game while being accosted by a group of rowdy drunks for "accidentally" causing interference on the TV by slapping the side of the game machine. (One of the bar patrons is portrayed by the original Anthony Fremont, Bill Mumy
Bill Mumy
Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his work as a child television actor....
) Soon after, Helen decides to leave. Not paying attention, she backs into the boy with her car in the parking lot, damaging his bicycle. Helen offers the boy, Anthony, a ride home. They eventually get to Anthony's house, which is an immense home in the country. When Helen arrives, she meets Anthony's family: Uncle Walt Fremont (Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy (actor)
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...
); sister Ethel Fremont (Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
); Anthony and Ethel's parents. Anthony's family seems extremely apprehensive, but Helen (at first) dismisses this. Anthony shows Helen around the house. They come to the room of another sister, Sara Fremont (Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
), who has had an accident. Because Sara (who is in a wheel chair) has her back to them, Helen doesn't notice that the girl has no mouth. The Fremonts (save Sara) have dinner which consists of Anthony's favorite foods: mainly "fast" food, including hamburgers and peanut butter. During dinner, Ethel shouts at Anthony; her plate smashes on the ground, with no explanation. After keeping her promise of taking Anthony home, Helen attempts to leave...only to discover that Anthony possesses supernatural powers of unknown origin. These mental abilities allow him to affect change of practically any kind he sees fit, just by willing such to happen. His most frequent use of this power involves making cartoon characters appear in real life, and making real people disappear. Anthony urges Helen to stay and see Uncle Walt's "act". Uncle Walt isn't sure what to do with the hat Anthony provides for him; reluctantly, he pulls a rabbit out of it. The family are relieved and applaud, only to see the rabbit become a demonic monster before disappearing again. The Fremonts inform Helen that they aren't Anthony's real family; he brought them to the house under false pretenses, as was the case with her. Now they are all trapped here. Helen finds a note on the floor from one of the Fremonts: "Help us! Anthony is a monster!" When it turns out Ethel wrote this, Anthony wills her into the television set; there she is eaten by a large, frightening, dragon-like cartoon character. The "family" expresses their dismay at Ethel's demise; in a fit of irritation, Anthony makes the whole house disappear instantly, and the Fremonts with it...leaving himself and Helen literally nowhere. Anthony explains that, since they weren't happy living with him anymore, he sent them all back where they came from - including both his "sisters" (Ethel having been revived.) Now, at last, Anthony realizes the horrific loneliness that comes with being omnipotent. For once, he expresses - instead of burying - the tremendous insecurity and pain that seethes within him. Helen asks to be Anthony's teacher, and also his student; together, she says, they can find uses for his power that even he never dreamed of. Having been confronted with the true end results of his reign of terror, Anthony welcomes Helen's offer and makes her car reappear. Both ride off toward her new home and job, surrounded by bright meadows filled with flowers.
Fourth segment ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet")
The fourth segment is a remake of the episode "Nightmare at 20,000 FeetNightmare at 20,000 Feet
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is a 1963 episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, based on the short story of the same name by Richard Matheson.-Plot summary:...
", and is directed by George Miller. (Its opening narration is, in part, borrowed from "In His Image
In His Image
"In His Image" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone aired on January 3, 1963. This was the first episode of the fourth season. Each episode was expanded to an hour from In His Image until The Bard...
.") John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
plays the nervous and stressed-out airline passenger Mr. John Valentine. The story begins with flight attendants attempting to coax Mr. Valentine from the lavatory as he tries to recover from what seems to be a panic attack. Although not mentioned during the segment, it is most likely that Mr. Valentine is suffering from severe aviatophobia. He is repeatedly assured by the flight attendants that everything is going to be all right, but his nerves and antics disturb the surrounding passengers.
As Mr. Valentine takes his seat, he notices a hideous gremlin on the wing of the plane and begins to spiral into severe panic. He watches as the creature wreaks havoc on the wing, damaging the plane's engine, losing more control each time he sees it do something new. Valentine finally snaps, grabs a hand gun from another passenger, an air marshal, shoots out the window (causing a breach in the pressurized cabin), and begins firing at the creature. This only serves to catch the attention of the gremlin, who rushes up to Valentine and promptly destroys the gun. After a tense moment, in which they notice that the plane is landing, the gremlin grabs Valentine's face, then simply scolds him by wagging its finger in a "no, no" manner. The creature leaps into the sky as the airplane begins to make an emergency landing. As Valentine is wrapped in a straitjacket and carried off in an ambulance, the police, crew and passengers begin to discuss the incident, writing off Valentine as insane. The aircraft maintenance crew soon arrives however, and everyone gathers to examine the massive amounts of unexplained damage to the plane's engines.
Epilogue
The end of the fourth segment connects with the prologue. Valentine is in an ambulance going to a hospital when the driver (played by Dan Aykroyd, from the opening) starts playing Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Midnight Special". The ambulance driver turns around and says, "Heard you had a big scare up there, huh? Wanna see something really scary?" The film then ends as the scene fades out to a starry night sky along with Rod Serling's opening monologue from the first season of The Twilight Zone.Helicopter accident
During the filming of the "Time Out" segment directed by John LandisJohn Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
on July 23, 1982 at around 2:30 a.m., actor Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
and child actors Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6) died in an accident involving a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
being used on the set. The helicopter pilot had trouble navigating through the fireballs created by pyrotechnic effects for the sequence. A technician didn't know this and detonated two pyrotechnic charges close together. The explosions caused the low-flying helicopter to spin out of control and crash on top of Morrow and the two children as they were crossing a small pond away from the village mock up. All three were killed instantly; Morrow and Myca were decapitated by the helicopter's top rotor blades while Renee was impaled by one of the skids.
It later emerged that Myca and Renee were being paid under the table to get around California's child-labor laws. At the time, California did not allow children to work an hour past curfew. Landis opted not to seek a waiver, either because he didn't think he'd get one for such a late hour or because he knew he would never get approval to have young children as part of a scene with a large number of explosives. The casting agents didn't know that the children would be involved in the scene. Associate producer George Folsey, Jr.
George Folsey, Jr.
George J. Folsey, Jr. is an American film producer, editor, assistant director and cinematographer who frequently worked with director John Landis in the 1980s. He also edited the movie, "Hot Tub Time Machine" Folsey was acquitted in a manslaughter case brought over the deaths of actor Vic Morrow...
told the children's parents not to tell any firefighters on set that the children were part of the scene, and also hid them from a fire safety officer who also worked as a welfare worker. A fire safety officer was concerned the blasts would cause a crash, but didn't tell Landis of his concerns.
The accident led to civil and criminal action against the filmmakers which lasted nearly a decade. Landis, Folsey, production manager Dan Allingham, pilot Dorcey Wingo and explosives specialist Paul Stewart were acquitted on charges of manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
in a 1987 trial. In the aftermath of the accident, regulations were changed involving children working on movie sets at night and during special effects-heavy scenes. Hollywood also avoided helicopter-related stunts for many years, until the CGI revolution of the 1990s made it possible to use digital versions. As a result of the accident, one second assistant director had his name removed from the credits and replaced with the pseudonym Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to...
.
Release and reaction
Twilight Zone: The Movie opened on June 24, 1983 to mixed reviews. Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
rated each segment individually, awarding them (on a scale of four stars): two for the prologue and first segment, one-and-a-half for the second, three-and-a-half stars for the third, and three-and-a-half for the final. Ebert noted that "the surprising thing is, the two superstar directors are thoroughly routed by two less-known directors whose previous credits have been horror and action pictures... Spielberg, who produced the whole project, perhaps sensed that he and Landis had the weakest results, since he assembles the stories in an ascending order of excitement. Twilight Zone starts slow, almost grinds to a halt, and then has a fast comeback." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Vincent Canby called the movie a "flabby, mini-minded behemoth."
According to boxofficemojo.com, it opened at #4, grossing $6,614,366 in its opening weekend at 1,275 theaters, averaging $5,188 per theater (adjusting to $15,076,555 and a $11,825 average in 2009). It later expanded to 1,288 theaters and ended up grossing $29,450,919 (adjusting to $67,129,396 in 2009). Having cost $10 million to make, it was not the enormous hit which executives were looking for, but it was still a financial success and it helped stir enough interest for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
to give the go-ahead to the 1980s TV version of The Twilight Zone.
It was released to LaserDisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
and VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
several times, most recently as part of WB's "Hits" line, and was released for DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
and Blu-ray on October 9, 2007.
Novelization
Robert BlochRobert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
wrote the book adaptation of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Bloch's order of segments does not match the order in the film itself, as he was given the original screenplay to work with, in which "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" was the second segment, and "Kick the Can" was the fourth. Both the movie's prologue and epilogue are missing in the novelization; Bloch claimed that no one told him the anthology had a wraparound sequence. Bloch also said that in the six weeks he was given to write the book, he only saw a screening of two of the segments; he had to hurriedly change the ending of the first segment, after the helicopter accident that occurred during filming. As originally written, the first segment would have ended as it did in the original screenplay (Connor finds redemption by saving two Vietnamese children whose village is being destroyed by the Air Cavalry); the finished book reflects how the first segment ends in the final cut of the film.
Soundtrack
Jerry GoldsmithJerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
, who scored several episodes of the original series (although he did not score the original versions of the remade episodes - nobody did, as all three were tracked with music for earlier episodes), composed the music for the movie and re-recorded Marius Constant
Marius Constant
Marius Constant was a Romanian-born French composer and conductor. Known primarily for his television soundtracks, his most widely heard score was the iconic Twilight Zone theme song....
's series theme. The original soundtrack album was released by Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
.
- Twilight Zone Main Title - Marius Constant (:42)
- Overture (5:13)
- Time Out (6:45)
- Kick The Can (10:12)
- Nights Are ForeverNights Are Forever (Jennifer Warnes song)"Nights Are Forever" is a 1983 song from the Warner Bros. motion picture Twilight Zone: The Movie, starring Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow and Scatman Crothers. It was composed by Jerry Goldsmith and sung by Jennifer Warnes. Lyrics were written by John Bettis...
- music by Jerry Goldsmith, lyrics by John Bettis, performed by Jennifer WarnesJennifer WarnesJennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
(3:39) - It's A Good Life (10:52)
- Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (6:53)
- Twilight Zone End Title - Marius Constant (:45)
"Time Out" is the only segment whose music is not included in the overture (actually the film's end title music).
A complete recording of the dramatic score, including a previously-unreleased song by Joseph Williams, was released in April 2009 by Film Score Monthly
Film Score Monthly
Film Score Monthly is an online magazine founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 as The Soundtrack Correspondence List...
, representing the soundtrack's first US release on compact disc. Both songs were used in "Time Out" and were produced by Bruce Botnick
Bruce Botnick
Bruce Botnick is an American audio engineer and record producer, best known for his work with The Doors, and with Love. He engineered Love's first two albums, and co-produced their third album, Forever Changes, with the band's singer-songwriter, Arthur Lee.In November 1970, he took over production...
with James Newton Howard
James Newton Howard
James Newton Howard is an American composer best known for his scores to motion pictures. He is one of the most popular and respected composers for cinema, and has scored over 100 films...
(Howard also arranged "Nights Are Forever").
- Main Title: Twilight Zone Theme - Marius Constant (:45)
- Time Out - Time Change/Questions/The Ledge (4:51)
- The K.K.K./Yellow Star (3:53)
- Kick the Can - Harp and Love (1:27)
- Weekend Visit (1:34)
- Kick the Can (:37)
- Night Games (1:53)
- Young Again/Take Me With You/A New Guest (10:10)
- It's a Good Life - I Remember/The House (2:29)
- The Picture/The Sister/I Didn't Do It (1:20)
- Cartoon Monster (3:06)
- That's All, Ethel (1:47)
- Teach Me/No More Tricks (3:54)
- Nightmare at 20,000 Feet - Cabin Fever/Nervous Pills (2:39)
- On the Wing (1:20)
- A Face in the Window (2:10)
- Hungry Monster/Engine Failure (01:35)
- Overture (Twilight Zone Theme and End Title) (05:55)
- Nights Are Forever - Jennifer Warnes (3:36)
- Anesthesia - music and lyrics by Joseph Williams and Paul Gordon, performed by Joseph Williams (3:02)
- Time Change/Questions/The Ledge (Time Out: album edit) (3:01)
- Young Again/Take Me With You/A New Guest (Kick the Can: alternate segments) (05:01)
- Cartoon Monster/That's All Ethel (It's a Good Life: album edit) (04:29)
- Cartoon Music (It's a Good Life) (01:26)
- On the Wing/A Face in the Window/Hungry Monster/Twilight Zone Theme (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: album edit) (4:59)
External links
- The Anorak Zone presents... The Twilight Zone
- NTSB report on the helicopter accident
- Google Earth view of the accident site in Indian Dunes, CA.
- All About the Twilight Zone tragedy by Denise Noe, Crime LibraryCrime LibraryThe Crime Library is a website documenting major crimes, criminals, and trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books, police reports, crime television shows, and writers...