What You Need

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For the INXS song, see What You Need (song).
“What You Need”
The Twilight Zone episode

Steve Cochran and Ernest Truex in What You Need
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 12
Written by Rod Serling
(Adapted from the story of the same name by Lewis Padgett (pseudonym for Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore). First published in the October 1945 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction)
Directed by Alvin Ganzer
Guest stars Steve Cochran : Fred Renard
Ernest Truex : Pedott
Arlene Martel : Girl in Bar
Featured music Original score by Nathan Van Cleave
Production no. 173-3622
Original airdate December 25, 1959
Episode chronology
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"And When the Sky Was Opened" "The Four of Us Are Dying"
List of Twilight Zone episodes

"What You Need" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Contents

[edit] Opening Narration

“ You're looking at Mr. Fred Renard, who carries on his shoulder a chip the size of the national debt. This is a sour man; a friendless man; a lonely man; a grasping, compulsive, nervous man. This is a man who has lived thirty-six undistinguished, meaningless, pointless, failure-laden years and who at this moment looks for an escape—any escape, any way, anything, anybody—to get out of the rut. And this little old man is just what Mr. Renard is waiting for. ”

[edit] Synopsis

Pedott, a salesman, has the curious ability to give people exactly what they need before they need it. The old peddler enters a cafe where he first gives a woman a vial of cleaner. Then, he gives a down-on-his-luck ex-baseball player bus tickets. The ball player receives a job offer in the city the tickets are for; and the ball player needs his jacket cleaned, which the woman just happens to have. Renard, a two-bit thug, asks Pedott to give him what he needs, and the peddler gives him a pair of scissors which save Renard's life when his scarf gets caught in an elevator's doors. Renard shows up at Pedott's apartment asking for another thing he "needs," and the peddler comes up with a leaky pen that predicts a winning racehorse. Renard then starts menacing Pedott for more. Sensing Renard will eventually kill him, Pedott gives him a pair of new shoes. When a car suddenly heads directly toward Renard, he tries to run, but the new soles are so slippery, he cannot escape on the wet pavement. He is struck and killed. The shoes were what Pedott needed.

[edit] Closing Narration

“ Street scene. Night. Traffic accident. Victim named Fred Renard, gentleman with a sour face to whom contentment came with difficulty. Fred Renard, who took all that was needed—in the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] Production information

The original story featured a machine that could foretell an individual's probable future. Serling replaced this science-fiction element with a street peddler who could magically perform the same function, possibly to make the message more poignant (i.e. the machine could have been stolen and used by anyone, whereas a natural talent comes from within).

The final shot before the first commercial (while Serling is concluding his narration) is actually shot backwards; looking carefully, one can see smoke returning to Renard's cigarette.

[edit] Other Media

This episode inspired the song of the same name by British post-punk band The Fall from their acclaimed 1985 album This Nation's Saving Grace.

This episode was also the inspiration for the Stephen King short story "I Know What You Need", appearing in his first short story anthology Night Shift.

[edit] References

  • Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

[edit] External links

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