Wow, what a great lineup for Twilight Zone fans, especially if you're into Westerns. Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, Strother Martin and James Best all in a single episode! I'm betting there's a theatrical Western out there that all of these actors might have appeared in together, but IMDb's revamped search feature has made finding it impossible; I just can't figure it out.
For a quick twenty five minute story, this episode of TZ did a better job than most at developing the characters so that we have a pretty good idea what they're all about. Conny Miller (Marvin) is painted as the reluctant gunslinger by the citizens who hired him to take out bad man Pinto Sykes (love that name!). Johnny Rob (Best) is a whimpering guitarist, Steinhart (Van Cleef) an opportunistic businessman. And Mothershed! - what kind of name is that? One that could only be portrayed by Strother Martin I suppose. But of all the neat touches thrown in by Serling and Montgomery Pittman, I think the best was the inclusion of crazy sister Ione (Elen Willard). Man, was she spooky! Just the idea of running into her in a cemetery at midnight is enough to give you the willies.
The one thing I would have done differently is allow the viewer to figure things out at the finale instead of that long winded exposition by Steinhart. I think we get the idea - Conny Miller died of fright, and positioned strategically, it would have been more satisfying to leave it to the imagination. Maybe muss up the dirt around the grave to leave a question mark. Then have crazy Ione laugh hysterically at the idea that Pinto's hand came out of the ground. Yeah, good old crazy Ione, that would have made the story.
For a quick twenty five minute story, this episode of TZ did a better job than most at developing the characters so that we have a pretty good idea what they're all about. Conny Miller (Marvin) is painted as the reluctant gunslinger by the citizens who hired him to take out bad man Pinto Sykes (love that name!). Johnny Rob (Best) is a whimpering guitarist, Steinhart (Van Cleef) an opportunistic businessman. And Mothershed! - what kind of name is that? One that could only be portrayed by Strother Martin I suppose. But of all the neat touches thrown in by Serling and Montgomery Pittman, I think the best was the inclusion of crazy sister Ione (Elen Willard). Man, was she spooky! Just the idea of running into her in a cemetery at midnight is enough to give you the willies.
The one thing I would have done differently is allow the viewer to figure things out at the finale instead of that long winded exposition by Steinhart. I think we get the idea - Conny Miller died of fright, and positioned strategically, it would have been more satisfying to leave it to the imagination. Maybe muss up the dirt around the grave to leave a question mark. Then have crazy Ione laugh hysterically at the idea that Pinto's hand came out of the ground. Yeah, good old crazy Ione, that would have made the story.