The Old Man In the Cave is another Twilight Zone episode that has a strong feeling of irony that can only really be understood when it nears its final minutes. The episode takes place in the far off year of 1974, and the earth has been devastated by atomic war. A small community of survivors have gathered in a town. Their leader is the experienced and knowledgeable Mr. Goldsmith (John Anderson). One day, some military men arrive in the town, and their leader is Major French (James Coburn). He tells the inhabitants they are to eat new canned food that has been discovered, but Goldsmith objects, saying "The Old Man in the cave" told him its contaminated by radiation. French threatens Goldsmith and says he isn't in command of the community anymore. Eventually, French forces Goldsmith to go to the cave where this old man is supposedly hiding. After busting open a metal door with explosives, it's revealed the "old man" is actually a giant mainframe computer. The townspeople who go with Goldsmith on his way to the cave destroy the computer, convinced that is was lying about the food being radioactive. As it turns out, once they eat it, they all die. The computer was right, and the townspeople, French, and everyone except Goldsmith pay for not being a believer. While Coburn gives a good performance as the ruthless military officer in this episode, there's just one major (no pun intended) problem that I just can't get over. The premise of the episode takes place after a nuclear holocaust, which somehow spared a computer that has been powered by an unknown source of electricity for who knows how long, and they don't even explain how it got in the cave to begin with. It's a pretty big plot hole and there's no explanation for it. Even so, The Old Man In the Cave is a warning from the Twilight Zone about how nuclear war would mean the end of the world.
Review of The Old Man in the Cave
