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Old 02-01-2021, 10:11 AM   #3 (permalink)
Trollheart
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Title: “Mr. Denton on Doomsday”
Original transmission date: October 16 1959
Written by: Rod Serling
Directed by: Allen Reisner
Starring:

Dan Duryea as Al Denton
Martin Landau as Dan Hotaling
Jeanne Cooper as Liz Smith
Doug McClure as Pete Grant
Malcolm Atterby as Henry J. Fate
Ken Lynch as Charlie
Bill Erwin as Man in Bar

Setting: Earth
Timeframe: The Old West, probably around late nineteenth century
Theme(s): Redemption, courage, pacifism, alcoholism
Parodied? Not to my knowledge, no
Rating: A+


Serling’s opening monologue

Portrait of a town drunk, named Al Denton. This is a man who has begun his dying early: a long, agonising route through a maze of bottles. Al Denton, who would probably give an arm or a leg or a part of his soul to have another chance, to be able to rise up and shake the dirt from his body, and the bad dreams that infest his consciousness. [The camera pans up to a figure standing before a stagecoach] In the parlance of the times, this is a pedlar: a rather fanciful-looking little man in a black frock coat. [A revolver mysteriously appears on the ground next to Denton] And this is the third principal character of our story. Its function? Perhaps to give Mr. Al Denton his second chance.



Al Denton, town drunk and butt of all jokes, finds a gun on the street. He used to be a gunfighter, but now he’s the favourite whipping boy of the local cowboy gang. When their leader jokingly challenges him to a draw, he easily beats him although he seems to have no idea what he’s doing, as if the gun is firing by itself. Nevertheless, suddenly he’s respected and more to the point, finds new respect for himself. His joy is short-lived though, as he remembers how, when he was a gunslinger, every hot shot in the territory wanted to prove they could beat him. All were killed, and now he knows it’s only a matter of time before it all starts up again.

Sure enough, it’s no time at all before a cowboy called Pete Clark issues a challenge, and seeing that he still can’t shoot like he used to, Denton decides to skip town. As he does though he runs into the pedlar mentioned in the intro (whose name just happens to be Henry J. Fate!) who gives him a potion which, he says, will make him the greatest marksman ever - for ten seconds. Armed with this new weapon, Denton decides to stay and face his rival.

However, when the challenger arrives, and Denton drinks his elixir, Grant does, too, and they can both see now that they are evenly matched, and when they fire, each hits the hand of the other, rendering his opposite number no longer able to wield a gun. Having proven his courage, and skill, to the town, Denton no longer has to worry about young guns coming in to challenge him, as the word will go out that he is not able to answer any, but that he proved himself. He can now look forward to a long peaceful life, lived with honour.


Serling’s closing monologue

Mr. Henry Fate, dealer in utensils and pots and pans, liniments and potions. A fanciful little man in a black frock coat who can help a man climbing out of a pit—or another man from falling into one. Because, you see, fate can work that way, in the Twilight Zone.


The Resolution

Very clever. Rather than just make Denton fast enough to put Grant down, Fate (yeah) gives both of them the liquid, matching them and therefore allowing each to cripple the hand of the other, at least temporarily, but ensuring neither will use a gun again. Denton gets his redemption, while at the same time Grant is given the chance not to make the same mistakes his opponent has.


The Moral

I guess there are two: there’s always the possibility of a second chance, and you don’t have to answer every argument with violence and death.


Those clever little touches

As they await the arrival of Pete Grant, the camera zooms in on the clock, heading towards 10 pm. It’s very similar to what happens in the classic western, High Noon, though of course in that case it’s midday the clock is counting down to.

The saloon is called The Dalton Saloon, presumably a tip of the hat to the Dalton Gang, one of the legendary cowboy outfits of the Old West.


And isn’t that…?


This is the first, but by no means the last of the episodes to feature either the debut performances of, or cameos by future stars.


Martin Landau (1928-2017)

The leader of the cowboy gang who torment Denton at the beginning, and who is humiliated by the drunk as soon as he finds the gun. Landau has only really a small part in this, but would go on to become famous as Commander Koenig in Gerry Anderson’s Space: 1999 and also star in Mission Impossible, working alongside Cary Grant in the classic Hitchcock movie North by Northwest, as well as a host of other credits. He passed away in 2017.



Doug McClure (1935-1995)

Famous for an assortment of B-movie credits as well as series such as The Virginian. This would have been one of his early roles, he only 24 at the time. McClure passed on in 1995, and was famously parodied as Troy McClure in The Simpsons.



Jeanne Cooper (1928-2013)

Famous (apparently) for her role as Katherine in the long-running American TV Soap The Young and the Restless, Cooper died in 2013.


Themes

Courage plays a large part here, initially in its absence, as Denton allows himself to be used by the cruel cowboy gang, the butt of their humour, and then later, when he prepares himself to face his death. Courage of a different sort is displayed by Grant, who rides into town in a cloud of youthful exuberance, eager to prove himself, but not so sure of himself that he doesn’t take the help offered by Henry J. Fate.

Redemption of course looms large in the foreground, as Denton rediscovers his prowess with a gun but almost immediately finds it the curse it once was, yet is offered a way out by Fate and ends up being able to retain his honour and his life, and get a second chance, presumably with Liz. Then there’s alcoholism, with Denton having sunk into the abyss of drunkenness thanks to his being responsible for so many deaths, one of which was a kid of sixteen. Every western town seemed to have a town drunk, and usually they were comedic figures, but here Serling paints Denton in shades of tragedy and pity; a man who once had it all has fallen so far he can’t fall lower. It’s notable that once he regains his gunfighting skills Denton no longer needs the bottle, nor does he want it.

And finally, there’s pacifism. Odd, perhaps, in an episode set in the Wild West, but we learn that all Denton wants is to have a peaceful life. He has lived as a gunfighter and no longer wishes to, so when his hand is hurt and he can no longer hold a gun he is delighted, and so much more so for Grant, who, young and impressionable, would surely have gone on to make the mistakes Denton had made, or be killed young, had Fate not stepped in.


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