User Reviews

Without being able to place actor Joe Mantell in any other films I've seen, this episode's 'Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room' offers the finest nervous guy performance I've ever seen. As small time hood Jackie Rhoades, he offers up a character so twisted up inside himself that he's about ready to die of fright. But when he gets a 'kill or be killed' ultimatum from his boss George (William D. Gordon), Jackie undergoes the soul search of a lifetime at the outer edges of the Twilight Zone. This 'man in the mirror' episode culminates with the 'inner voice' Jackie trading places with the cowering lowlife Jackie that eventually turns the tables on, and shows up George for the bully he really is. Apart from the mirror gimmick, the story is a fine example of someone standing up for himself and taking the bull by the horns to take control of his life when he's finally fed up with his circumstances. To Rod Serling's credit, he could distill a story line like this down to it's essence and get it all done in under twenty five minutes.

Many other posters have commented on Joe Mantell's tour de force performance as Jackie/John. I will only add my admiration for Mantell's job in this episode; he was brilliant. I submit here that William D. Gordon's thug George also undergoes a role reversal, only not as mystical as that of Jackie/John Rhodes. When George orders the hit, he IS a downright arrogant bully, especially when he decks the scared to death Jackie and orders him to do the hit...or be hit himself. Later, after the upstanding, self-assured John comes into being, he returns the favor and nails George with a devastating jawbreaker of his own. And when John throws George out of the room, George gives John a very wide berth as he slinks out of the room, looking very much like the coward that John exposed him to be. For me, this is an excellent episode and both actors showed their excellent prowess.

Joe Mantell practically does a one-man job in this film. Aside from brief appearances by William Gordon (George) at the beginning and end of the episode, it's all Mantell. He plays Jackie Rhoades--a weaselly little pipsqueak who is a loser in every sense of the word. He's been in jail several times and unless he turns his life around, he's heading back--as he's been ordered by George to graduate up from petty crimes to the big time--murder! However, after George leaves, the weirdness occurs--the reflection he sees in the mirror begins arguing with him--telling him he's sick of the way Jackie has destroyed his life!! What follows is a very long monologue between the two men--both of which are Jackie. One is the weak little parasite--the other is the good and decent man residing within who wants to come out to stay. It's all very weird but it's also interesting seeing this interesting battle between Jackie and his conscience...or is it his conscience?! Overall, while there are few twists of the usual "Twilight Zone" touches, this one is notable just for its fine acting. By the way, if you think you may have seen Mantell before, I recognized him as the best friend of the title character in the movie version of MARTY--for which Mantell received a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Joe Mantell plays a small-time crook named Jackie Rhoades who's at war with his inner self in the 1960 entry in the Twilight Zone series, "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room." Rhoades is trapped in a miserable life of petty crime and is desperate to break out of it. Holed up in a cheap hotel room on the seedier side of the city, he nervously awaits his next order from a greasy thug named George (William D. Gordon). When bad-guy George finally shows up, his newest demand is for Rhoades to commit a senseless payback murder. Before he leaves, George also informs Rhoades that either he does the dirty work or he'll end up with a bullet himself. What's a fellow to do? Luckily for Rhoades, and not a moment too soon, he ends up in the "Zone". His conscience miraculously appears in the room's only mirror and begins to lecture him on the life that could've been his if he had gone straight. It's really his own reflection but without the lame excuses he's made to himself all throughout his criminal career. This inner battle is the crux of the half hour episode and Mantell is up to the task of virtually carrying the entire show on his acting ability. After some brow-beating from his conscience and a rude awakening of sorts, Jackie decides on a new plan of action. When George comes back to find out if Rhoades has carried out the "hit", he runs into a buzz saw. You might say that Jackie "ain't taking any more orders from Georgie anymore."

Doing the right thing under dire circumstances was one of Rod Serling's more prevalent themes on his show. "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" is certainly one of the better examples. Jackie Rhoades merely has to stand up for himself to change his situation. The cowardly one turns out to be big bad George, and it's no big surprise. The Oscar-nominated Mantell (for Best Supporting Actor in "Marty" 1955) recently passed away after having seemingly been around forever. As was usually the case, he fit his role to a tee and is highly believable. William D. Gordon is suitably nasty as the crime boss who loses a valued employee.

I'm a sucker for a good bottle episode and we have one a good one right here. Joe Mantell is tasked with playing not one, but two characters (or at least two egos) and, despite two brief scenes involving William D. Gordon, is by himself for most of the episode.

In order to pull off an episode like this, you need to have good acting because that's really the only thing holding everything up. In a confined space, you can't have too many tricky shots or stunning cinematography. Although the use of the special effects is quite good for the time and the shot from above the room while Rod talks to us is a nice touch, this entire episode only works because of Joe Mantell. He performs his two roles beautifully, turning back and forth from a nervous, jittery "yes" man to a confident, outgoing trailblazer with relative ease.

As Jackie stares into the mirror at his potential self, it reminds the audience of their own potential: lives they could have possessed, decisions they could have made differently. Jackie considers this as his alter-ego asks desperately to be let out and switched with. Lots of us have a potential better self lying dormant, waiting to be released. We just need to accept it and release it.

Despite the premise, there's nothing too spooky going on here besides the inevitable switching of the two egos as the confident man escapes from the mirror. The ending's a bit unrealistic. It's unlikely a mob boss would just leave you alone after you quit his racket and then punched him in the stomach. But the feel-good ending makes up for any unbelievability this episode contains.

Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room is pointless, there's no we about it. It's the magical world of fairyland. There's no characterization, different characters having the same opinion, Serling's opinion.

***SPOILERS*** Roasting alive in his four dollar a night hotel room small time hoodlum Jackie Rhoades, Joe Mantell, gets a visit from his boss George , William D. Gordon, who runs the neighborhood's protection racket and who's got a very important job for Jackie to do for him. It's seems that this bar owner on the corner 38th Street and 6th Ave isn't paying George's protection money. George wants to make the very difficult to handle bar owner an example to those who have any of the same ideas that he does.

Jackie who's job is mostly to fence stolen merchandise for George is given the job of knocking off the bar owner by the time he close up at 2:30 Am. Not knowing what to do and scared that if he's caught, which in his case is a certainty, he'll not only get life behind bars but a one way trip to Sing Sing's electric chair Jackie's paranoia has his inner self appeared to him in his hotel mirror! Thinking that he's going out of his skull Jackie soon realizes that his whole life was a total disaster in not listening to his inner self, also played by Joe Mantell, but following others,like George, whom he tried to impress that put him in the sorry state that he finds himself in now! At first resisting his inner self's sound and honest advice Jackie soon starts to break under the pressure of either killing a man, the bar owner, or risking getting himself killed by George if he didn't go through with it!

***SPOILERS*** It took a lot of convincing on Jackie's inner self or conscience part but in the end he finally saw what a fool he was all his life in hanging out with the wrong crowd that has him now on the edge of insanity or worse! Getting himself together Jackie, now taken over by his inner self, not only doesn't do the job that Geroge ordered him to do in knocking off the uncooperative bar owner but tells the shocked and surprised hoodlum to get lost, by putting him to sleep with a jaw cracking straight right, since he's now no longer part of his crummy organization.

Jackie now a new man with a whole new outlook on life walks out of his cheap four dollar a night hotel-room and is ready to face a world that he's been scared to death of all his life as well as become part of it! As for the old scared and sniveling Jackie Rhoades he's now stuck in the mirror where, in not having to deal with the real world, he's most comfortable and secure in.

The mirror really has two faces in this very interesting Twilight Zone episode where Joe Mantell must learn to stand up to a thug and take back control of his life. He's basically the archetype of the secondary or minor character from a film noir (a la Elisha Cook) who is shot in the back and dies just as he is about to point the finger at the main antagonist. When nasty bully mobster boss William D. Gordon orders him to commit murder, Mantell must face his own basis of ethics to determine how he will face a certain destruction or stand up and refuse to do something that he considers absolutely reprehensible. His mirror image literally comes to life, and basically follows him everywhere he goes in a teeny tiny little room that becomes a tomb to his conscience.

Mantell, an Oscar nominee for 1955 best picture "Marty", gives a detailed performance as a man facing his greatest fears, throw himself and the antithesis of who he is deep inside. The floor mirror spins round and round and you begin to wonder if the mirror image has taken over the person on the outside. when Gordon confronts him, the writers take great steps to surprise the audience with how this concludes, and how they drew this is triumphant in many ways. This is more a character study with little plot but thanks to a definite beginning, middle and end where the essence of what makes a man a real man helps this come together in 25 minutes.

Joe Mantell, in a tour-de-force performance, is a low-level "nickel and dimes" hood, Jackie Rhoades, breaking and entering his specialty (and he has a track record for robbing and stealing), holding up in a filthy sweatbox of a hotel room, told by his "boss", George (William Gordon), to shoot a bar owner at a certain time or expect dire consequences for not doing the job. Jackie looks into a mirror in the hotel room and sees a different "reflection" staring back at him—a "good side" to Jackie wanting to "take over" and call the shots because he's tired of how life has been. Yep, that's right, it's a duel for which "personality" calls the shots, with the reflection of Jackie commenting on how he has tired of the life wasted in crime, stuck behind the glass and wanting to be released. The synopsis sounds loony, but Mantell is up to task and really there is a method behind the madness, how perhaps the conscience which wants us to "do the right thing" often is shoved aside when we make stupid decisions—without listening to that voice in the mind that only wants what's best for you, Jackie is a prime example of rebelling against the conscience. Mantell ably portrays two distinct characters: the cowardly, nails-biting, constantly-sweating bundle of nerves Jackie, and the confident, noble, strong, and all-together "John" who appeals to be set free so he can straighten out all the kinks and wrinkles life has brought them. That moment when "John" emerges for the first time, responding to an angered George who demanding answers as to why Jackie didn't obey his order, Mantell pulls it off without a hitch. Essentially a one-man show, where Mantell must hold our attention along with stunning special effects that depict two separate performances presented on screen, including the use of different mirrors (one stunning scene has Jackie attempting to flee John, to no avail) in the hotel room. Mantell had to have good timing to pull this off because his Jackie has to look into the mirror at his alter ego at just the right time to give the story a realism..it really is a sight to behold. Man, is that ending satisfying.

Meek small-time criminal Jackie Rhodes (well played to the antsy hilt by Joe Mantell) confronts both his sordid past and his own fed-up conscience in the form of a talking reflection in a mirror while contemplating his latest assignment of killing an old man.

Director Douglas Hayes keeps the compelling story moving along at a constant pace and milks plenty of sweaty tension from the cramped and claustrophobic confines of the dingy hotel room setting. Rod Serling's absorbing script makes some interesting points concerning second chances and the need to face up to the dire consequences wrought by making poor decisions in life. Mantell nails the pathetic sniveling nature of the scared and spineless Jackie as well as gives Jackie's conscience a strong sense of nobility. William D. Gordon radiate considerable menace as slimy and browbeating hoodlum George. The sharp cinematography by George T. Clemens boasts a few neat overhead camera shots. Jerry Goldsmith's jazzy score does the moody trick. A fine show.

Nervous Man In A Four Dollar Room is a small scale, near minimalist episode even for The Twilight Zone. It features only two characters. No one but a petty criminal and bully who torments him so much as enters or leaves the room. The quality of the episode, and a good one it is, comes from the writing and the acting, and both are excellent. This is Rod Serling at his best.

It's a basic story, and by itself not impressive: a small-time crook named Jackie Rhoades is bothered by his conscience. He never cared much for the life of crime he's led to begin with. Now the next higher up guy in the gang Jackie is a member of wants him too do something even nastier than usual; and Jackie has never killed anyone before.

Then something happens: an image of Jackie appears in the mirror of his dingy rented room and it talks to him, taunts him, tells him that he can do better than this, become the better man, break the ties with the criminal element he runs with and make his life decent for a change. But this means standing up to George, the guy who gives the orders, and Jackie's never done this before.

What happens is that the Jackie in the mirrors assumes the role of George and pushes Jackie, still very much his usual anxious, fearful self, around. Jackie tries to escape. He even twirls the mirror. Nothing works. As things unfold he gains access the better angel of his being. For the first time in his life Jackie is coming together, with his good side fighting with his bad side and getting the upper hand.

The best things about this episode are its superb, no frills aspects. In more ways than not it's a typical, even generic episode of the series; and it's also one that plays fair with the viewer. In this entry the play's the thing, its supernatural elements secondary. The seedy bravura performance of veteran character actor Joe Mantell as Jackie really knocks it out of the ballpark.