Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 American science fiction fantasy horror anthology film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis. Based on Rod Serling's 1959–1964 television series of the same name, the film features four stories directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller. Landis' segment is an original story created for the film, while the segments by Spielberg, Dante, and Miller are remakes of episodes from the original series. The film's cast includes Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow, Vic Morrow, and Kathleen Quinlan. Original series cast members Burgess Meredith, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Murray Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, and William Schallert also appear in the film, with Meredith assuming Serling's role as narrator.
The film's production achieved notoriety when Morrow and two illegally hired child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were killed in a helicopter crash during the filming of Landis's segment. The deaths led to several years of legal action; although no individuals were found to be criminally liable, new procedures and safety standards were imposed in the filmmaking industry.Weber, Bruce. "James F. Neal, Litigated Historic Cases, Dies at 81", The New York Times, October 22, 2010. Accessed October 23, 2010. Upon release by Warner Bros. on June 24, 1983, the film received mixed reviews, with praise directed at Dante and Miller's segments, but criticism towards the segments by Landis and Spielberg. Despite the controversy and mixed reception, it was a commercial success, grossing $42 million on a $10 million budget.
Plot
Prologue
Two men are in a car traveling along a country road late at night. The conversation turns to what episodes of The Twilight Zone they found scariest. The passenger asks, "Do you want to see something really scary?" and says to pull over. He transforms into a monster and slaughters the driver as the opening sequence begins.
"Time Out"
William "Bill" Connor is an outspoken bigot who is bitter after being passed over for a promotion at work in favor of his Jewish co-worker Goldman. Drinking in a bar after work with his friends Larry and Ray, Bill utters racist remarks and slurs towards Jews, Blacks, and East Asians, blaming them for America's problems. A Black man sitting nearby asks him to stop. After ranting some more and declaring himself better than the minorities, Bill angrily storms out of the bar and finds himself in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. A pair of SS officers patrolling the streets spot and interrogate him. Bill cannot answer satisfactorily since he does not speak German. A chase around the city ensues, in which Bill is shot in his left arm by one of the German officers. Bill attempts to hide in an apartment of a French family, but the lady of the house quickly betrays him by shouting a warning to the German soldiers. Bill climbs out on a ledge of the building, where he finds himself trapped while the two German officers take pot shots at him standing along the narrow ledge.
Bill falls from the ledge and lands on soft ground, now in the rural South during the Jim Crow era, where a group of Ku Klux Klan members see him as a Black man whom they are about to lynch. Bill, scared and confused, vehemently tries to tell them that he is White, but to no avail. After kicking one Klansman against the burning cross and setting him on fire, Bill breaks free and tries to escape (while still hampered by his bullet wound). He dives into a nearby pond and resurfaces in a jungle of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, being fired at by American soldiers who see him as a member of the Viet Cong. One of the soldiers throws a grenade at Bill. Instead of killing him, the grenade launches him into occupied Europe again. There he is captured by the SS officers and put into an enclosed railroad freight car, along with Jewish prisoners bound for a concentration camp. Bill sees the bar with his friends standing outside, looking for him. He screams for help, but they cannot see or hear him or the train as it pulls away.
"Kick the Can"
An old man named Mr. Bloom has just moved into Sunnyvale Retirement Home. He listens to the other elders reminisce about the joys they experienced in their youth. Bloom insists that being elderly should not, and need not, prevent them from enjoying life. He invites them to join him, later that night, for a game of kick the can. All agree; however, a grumpy man named Leo Conroy who is fairly skeptical in his outlook on life objects to this, saying that they cannot engage in physical activity because they are all elderly and not children anymore.
While Mr. Conroy sleeps, Mr. Bloom gathers the rest of the residents outside and plays the game, during which they are transformed into childhood versions of themselves. They are ecstatic to be young again, engaging in activities they enjoyed long ago, but their thoughts soon turn to practical matters such as where they will spend the night, since they will no longer be welcomed in the retirement home and their families will not recognize them. They ask to be their true age again and Mr. Bloom grants their wish, satisfied that, as with himself, their minds will remain young. Conroy wakes up and notices that one resident, Mr. Agee, has opted to remain young. Conroy asks for Agee to take him along but Agee tells him that such a thing is impossible. Conroy finally realizes that he does not have to stop enjoying life because of his old age.
The next morning, Mr. Bloom finds Conroy happily kicking a can around the yard; Bloom breaks the fourth wall to assure the audience that "He'll get it." Bloom then departs from Sunnyvale for another retirement home, in order to spread his good-natured magic among other senior citizens.
"It's a Good Life"
Mild-mannered school teacher Helen Foley, traveling to a new job, visits a rural bar for directions. While talking to the owner, she witnesses a young boy, Anthony, being harassed by a local trying to watch a boxing match. Helen comes to the boy's defense. As Helen leaves the bar, she backs into Anthony with her car in the parking lot, damaging his bicycle. Helen offers Anthony a ride home.
When Helen arrives with Anthony at home, she meets his family: his parents, Uncle Walt, and sister Ethel. Anthony's family are excessively welcoming. Anthony starts to show Helen around the house, while the family rifles through Helen's purse and coat. There is a television set in every room showing cartoons. She comes to the room of another sister, Sara. Helen calls out to the girl, who is in a wheelchair and watching television, and gets no response. Anthony explains that Sara had been in an accident. Helen is not able to see that the girl has no mouth.
Anthony announces that it is time for dinner, which consists of ice cream, candy apples, potato chips and hamburgers topped with peanut butter. Confused at first at the family's unconventional diet, Helen thinks that this is a birthday dinner for Anthony. Ethel complains at the prospect of another birthday; Anthony glares at her and her plate flies out of her hands. Helen attempts to leave but Anthony urges Helen to stay and see Uncle Walt's "hat trick". A top hat appears on top of the television set. Uncle Walt is very nervous about what could be in the hat but he pulls out an ordinary rabbit. Anthony insists on an encore and a large, monstrous rabbit springs from the hat. As Helen attempts to flee, she spills the contents of her purse and Anthony finds a note inside stating "Help us! Anthony is a monster!" When the family points the finger at Ethel, she reveals to Helen that they are not Anthony's real relatives. Anthony brought them to his house to be his surrogate family after he killed his parents and presumably he is doing the same with Helen. In punishment for writing the note, Anthony sends Ethel into the television set where she is pursued and eaten by a cartoon dragon.
Helen attempts to escape, only to have the door blocked by a giant eye. Anthony vents his frustration at everyone being afraid of him, summoning another cartoonish monster out of the television. When Helen tells him to "wish it away", he makes the entire house disappear, taking himself and Helen outside the physical plane of existence. Anthony says that he sent his "family" back where they came from, since they did not want to be with him. He cannot understand why everyone is unhappy with him, since he believes he provided for their every possible desire.
Helen offers to be Anthony's teacher and student and to help him find new, even greater uses for his power. Satisfied that she will never "abandon" him, and having at last foreseen the true end results of his reign of terror, Anthony welcomes Helen's offer and magically brings back her car. As they drive through a barren landscape, meadows filled with bright flowers spring up alongside the road in the pair's wake.
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"
While flying through a violent thunderstorm, airline passenger John Valentine is in a lavatory trying to recover from a panic attack due to a fear of flying. The flight attendants coax Valentine from the lavatory and back to his seat. 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.
Valentine notices a hideous gremlin on the wing of the plane and spirals into another severe panic. He watches as the creature wreaks havoc on the wing, throwing debris into one of the plane's turbofan engines and causing a flameout. Valentine finally snaps and attempts to break the window with an oxygen canister but is wrestled to the ground by another passenger, a sky marshal. Valentine then takes the marshal's revolver, shoots out the window (causing a breach in the pressurized cabin), and begins firing at the gremlin. This catches the attention of the gremlin, who rushes up to Valentine and bites the gun in half. After they notice that the plane is landing, the gremlin grabs Valentine's face, then simply scolds him for spoiling its fun by wagging its finger in his face. The creature leaps into the sky and flies away as the airplane begins its emergency landing.
On the ground, the police, crew and passengers discuss the incident, writing off Valentine as insane. However, the aircraft maintenance crew arrives and finds the damage to the plane's engines complete with claw marks, while a delirious and incoherent Valentine is wrapped up in a straitjacket and carried off in an ambulance.
The ambulance driver (revealed to be the car passenger from the Prologue) turns to Valentine, remarking, "Heard you had a big scare up there, huh? Wanna see something really scary?"
Cast and crew
Prologue John Landis – Writer, Director
"Time Out" John Landis – Writer, Director
"Kick the Can" Steven Spielberg – Director Screenplay by George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson and Melissa Mathison (credited as Josh Rogan), from a screen story by Johnson
"It's a Good Life" Joe Dante – Director Richard Matheson – Screenplay Jerome Bixby – Short story
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" George Miller – Director Richard Matheson – Writer
Production The original idea was to dramatize one story from Rod Serling's original The Twilight Zone television series. After Steven Spielberg became involved, he suggested that three stories be filmed, one directed by him. Spielberg brought in his friend John Landis who shared an enthusiasm for the original series. Joe Dante was developing Gremlins with Steven Spielberg at the time. George Miller was best known for directing Mad Max 2. Dante said "the stories were all supposed to interconnect and characters were supposed to appear in one story and then appear again in the other story".