| Twilight Zone: The Movie | |
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Original 1983 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | John Landis (prologue and segment 1) Steven Spielberg (segment 2) Joe Dante (segment 3) George Miller (segment 4 and epilogue) |
| Produced by | John Landis Steven Spielberg Kathleen Kennedy (segment 2) Jon Davison & Michael Finnell (segment 3) |
| Written by | Rod Serling (television series) John Landis (prologue and segment 1) George Clayton Johnson (original screenplay 'Kick the Can', segment 2) Richard Matheson and Melissa Mathison (segment 2) Jerome Bixby (story 'It's a Good Life', segment 3) Richard Matheson (segment 3) Richard Matheson (short story 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet' and screenplay, segment 4) |
| Based on | The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling |
| Narrated by | Burgess Meredith Rod Serling |
| Starring | Dan Aykroyd Albert Brooks Vic Morrow Scatman Crothers Kathleen Quinlan John Lithgow Kevin McCarthy Abbe Lane Dick Miller Bill Quinn William Schallert Nancy Cartwright Charles Hallahan Selma Diamond Donna Dixon Priscilla Pointer Helen Shaw Christina Nigra John Dennis Johnson John Larroquette Larry Cedar |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Allen Daviau John Hora Stevan Larner |
| Editing by | Malcolm Campbell Tina Hirsch Michael Kahn Howard E. Smith |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | June 24, 1983 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $29,450,919 |
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. Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers, Kathleen Quinlan and John Lithgow star. 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.[1]
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The film starts with a driver (Albert Brooks) 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.
| “ | You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension. A dimension of sound. A dimension of sight. A dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into... The Twilight Zone. | ” |
| “ | You're about to meet an angry man: Mr. William Connor, who carries on his shoulder a chip the size of the national debt. This is a sour man, a lonely man, who's tired of waiting for the breaks that come to others, but never to him. Mr. William Connor, whose own blind hatred is about to catapult him into the darkest corner of the Twilight Zone. | ” |
The film's only original segment was the first, directed by John Landis. It is loosely based on the original Twilight Zone 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.
| “ | It is sometimes said that where there is no hope, there is no life. Case in point: the residents of Sunnyvale Rest Home, where hope is just a memory. But hope just checked into Sunnyvale, disguised as an elderly optimist, who carries his magic in a shiny tin can. | ” |
The second segment is directed by Steven Spielberg 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.
| “ | Portrait of a woman in transit: Helen Foley, age 27. Occupation: schoolteacher. Up until now, the pattern of her life has been one of unrelenting sameness, waiting for something different to happen. Helen Foley doesn't know it yet, but her waiting has just ended. | ” |
The third segment, a variant of the episode "It's a Good Life," 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.
| “ | What you're looking at could be the end of a particularly terrifying nightmare. It isn't. It's the beginning. Introducing Mr. John Valentine, air traveller. His destination: the Twilight Zone. | ” |
The fourth segment is a remake of the episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", 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.
The end of the fourth segment connects with the prologue. Valentine is in an ambulance going to a hospital when the driver (Dan Aykroyd) 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.
| “ | There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone. | ” |
During the filming of the "Time Out" segment directed by John Landis 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.[2]
| “ | The probable cause of the accident was the detonation of debris-laden high temperature special effects explosions too near a low flying helicopter leading to foreign object damage to one rotor blade and delamination due to heat to the other rotor blade, the separation of the helicopter's tail rotor assembly, and the uncontrolled descent of the helicopter. The proximity of the helicopter (around 25 feet off the ground) to the special effects explosions was due to the failure to establish direct communications and coordination between the pilot, who was in command of the helicopter operation, and the film director, who was in charge of the filming operation.[3] | ” |
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.[2]
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.
Twilight Zone: The Movie opened on June 24, 1983 to mixed reviews. Roger Ebert 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."[4] The New York Times' Vincent Canby called the movie a "flabby, mini-minded behemoth."[5]
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).[6] 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.
Robert Bloch 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.[7] 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.
Jerry Goldsmith, 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").
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