The Grave

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For other uses, see The Grave (disambiguation).

The Twilight Zone original series Season three (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5) Fall 1961 – Summer 1962 List of The Twilight Zone episodes
Episodes: Two The Arrival The Shelter The Passersby A Game of Pool The Mirror The Grave It's a Good Life Deaths-Head Revisited The Midnight Sun Still Valley The Jungle Once Upon a Time Five Characters in Search of an Exit A Quality of Mercy Nothing in the Dark One More Pallbearer Dead Man's Shoes The Hunt Showdown With Rance McGrew Kick the Can A Piano in the House The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank To Serve Man The Fugitive Little Girl Lost Person or Persons Unknown The Little People Four O'Clock Hocus-Pocus and Frisby The Trade-Ins The Gift The Dummy Young Man's Fancy I Sing the Body Electric Cavender Is Coming The Changing of the Guard

“The Grave” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Details

Episode number: 72
Season: 3
Original air date: October 27, 1961
Writer: Montgomery Pittman
Director: Montgomery Pittman

[edit] Cast

Conny Miller: Lee Marvin
Johnny Rob: James Best
Steinhart: Lee Van Cleef
Mothershed: Strother Martin
Ira Broadly: Stafford Repp
Ione Sykes: Elen Willard
Pinto Sykes: Richard Geary
Jason: William Challee
Townsman: Larry Johns

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Opening Narration

"Normally, the old man would be correct. This would be the end of the story. We've had the traditional shoot-out on the street and the badman will soon be dead. But some men of legend and folk tales have been known to continue having their way even after death. the outlaw and killer Pinto Sykes was just such a person. and shortly we'll see how he introduces the town, and a man named Conny Miller in particular, to the Twilight Zone."

The episode opens with outlaw Pinto Sykes being ambushed and shot by several men in the middle of a street. Later, gun-for-hire Conny Miller visits the town in hopes of finding and killing Sykes. However, he is angry to find that Sykes is already dead. On a dare, Miller visits the grave of Pinto Sykes - who, as he lay dying, had vowed to kill Miller if he ever came near the grave. Miller is told to stick a knife into the ground as proof that he visited the grave. After doing this, something grabs him and pulls him back down... The next day, the rest of the men visit the cemetery and find out what happened to Miller. They find him dead on top of the grave, with the knife through his coat, stuck in the ground. One of the men suggest that he stuck the knife through his coat unknowingly, and as he stood up the tug scared him, giving him a heart attack. Sykes' sister aIone laughs at this, since the previous night the wind was blowing away from the grave. She says that they all know what really happened, but they don't want to admit it.

[edit] Closing Narration

"Final comment, you can take this with a grain of salt or a shovel of earth, as shadow or substance, we leave it up to you. And for any further research, check under "G" for ghost...in the Twilight Zone."