Twilight Zone: The Movie, 1983.
Directed by John Landis, George Miller, Joe Dante, and Steven Spielberg.
Starring Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow, Vic Morrow, Kathleen Quinlan, and Burgess Meredith.
SYNOPSIS:
Warner Bros. has reissued their out-of-print Blu-ray of 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie. As far as I know, this is the same disc that was previously released, with acceptable visual quality and a lack of bonus features. It’s understandable that many involved with the film wouldn’t want to revisit it, in light of the tragedy that occurred during filming, but it would be interesting to see a short featurette that at least covers its comparison to the classic TV series.
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a great example of a film with a smart concept, but unevenly executed. In the early 80s, having powerhouse directors Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante team up with George Miller and Joe Dante, who were in the process of breaking out, was a great idea, especially considering the use of Twilight Zone stories.
Unfortunately, the end result has a start-and-stop feel to it. The film opens with a prologue featuring Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks as the passenger and driver, respectively, in a car, with one of them harboring a secret. Landis handled the directing duties there, and already the story bumbles along, taking too long to get to the point.
Landis also directed the first segment, Time Out, in which a bigoted man (Vic Morrow) gets his comeuppance when he’s transported to Nazi Germany, a Klan rally in the South, and the Vietnam War. Any one of those scenarios would have been enough to get the point across, and even if the character doesn’t really learn any lessons, there could have been more to the story than him just running around.
And, yes, I know there was a desire to add something more to the story, a decision that led to tragically fatal results for Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, who were brought on set under conditions that violated child labor laws. From what I’ve read of the plans for that part of the segment, I don’t know that it would have done much to fix the problem I mentioned in the previous paragraph, however.
From there, the film segues into Spielberg’s segment, Kick the Can, which is a sweet story about an elderly man named Mr. Bloom (Scatman Crothers) who teaches the residents of a retirement home how to appreciate life through the eyes of children. (I should also note that Burgess Meredith does a great job with the voice-over narration that introduces each segment; if you’re a Twilight Zone fan, you know he starred in a memorable episode.)
Next up is Joe Dante’s entry, a remake of the classic episode It’s a Good Life that features Kathleen Quinlan as a demure young schoolteacher who’s traveling to a new job and ends up in the home of Anthony (Jeremy Licht), a boy who seems to have some kind of control over his family. The segment does a good job of ratcheting up the tension with increasingly stressful situations until the release valve of a satisfying resolution arrives.
The final story, directed by George Miller, is a remake of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, which is arguably the most well-known Twilight Zone episode. John Lithgow plays a role first undertaken by William Shatner: John Valentine, a man with a debilitating fear of flying who swears that he sees someone, or something, tearing apart one of the plane’s engines.
Miller and writer Richard Matheson added a bunch of little flourishes to the story that added some dimensions lacking in the original version, but the end result is still a bit flabby. It could have been edited down without losing much, but it’s still a strong finish to this anthology film.
Unfortunately, the only extra you’ll find here is the theatrical trailer. I realize that many involved with the film essentially walked away from it after the tragedy that occurred, but it would still be interesting to bring in other folks to talk about the original TV series, the making of this film, and the aftermath that played out in court.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
