Button, Button (The Twilight Zone)
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| “Button, Button” | |||||||
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| The Twilight Zone episode | |||||||
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 20, Segment 2 |
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| Written by | Richard Matheson | ||||||
| Directed by | Peter Medak | ||||||
| Guest stars | Basil Hoffman : Steward Brad Davis : Arthur Lewis Mare Winningham : Norma |
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| Original airdate | March 7, 1986 | ||||||
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| List of The Twilight Zone episodes | |||||||
"Button, Button" is the second segment of the twentieth episode from the television series The New Twilight Zone. It was based on a short story of the same name written by Richard Matheson.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Norma Lewis (Mare Winningham) is the wife of a down-and-out man named Arthur (Brad Davis), who has problems landing steady employment, and can only afford to put his wife in a low-rent apartment. One day, a smartly-dressed stranger (Basil Hoffman) comes to their door and hands them a special box. He says that if they press the button, two things will happen. #1: "Someone you do not know will die". #2: The Lewises will be given a briefcase containing $200,000, which is opened in front of them to show the man is not bluffing.
After the stranger leaves, the Lewises agonize over whether to press the button. Norma rationalizes that they could make good use of the money, and that the one who dies might be some Chinese peasant who is living a miserable life. Arthur takes the side that since they do not know who will die, her pressing the button may cause the death of an innocent baby. They open it up, and find that there is no mechanism inside it - it's simply an empty box with a button on it. Arthur angrily throws the box in the trash, yelling, "This guy can find his money in the city dump!" However, in the middle of the night while Arthur is asleep Norma goes to the apartment building's dumpster and retrieves the device. The next day, Arthur leaves for work and sees Norma sitting at the kitchen table, her gaze transfixed on the button. At the end of the day, he returns from work and it appears that nothing has changed; Norma is still concentrating only on the button and sitting. However, she tells Arthur that while he was at work she pushed the button.
The next day the stranger returns, takes back the box and gives them briefcase with the $200,000. The Lewises ask him what will happen next. The stranger ominously replies that the button will be 'reprogrammed' and given to someone else - the last line being, "It will be offered to someone you do not know". Norma gazes in horror when she hears those words.
[edit] Short story
In the original short story, the plot resolves differently. Norma presses the button, and receives the money - after her husband dies in a train incident where Arthur is pushed onto the tracks (the money was the no-fault insurance settlement, which happens to be $50,000 instead of the $200,000 in the Twilight Zone episode). A despondent Norma asks the stranger why her husband was the one who was killed. The stranger replies that Norma never really knew her husband.
