Line #24 Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie


1	[[quoteright:263:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MOV_9f7916ea_b_6755.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:263:"A dimension of sight..."]]
3	->''"You're travelling through another dimension. A dimension, not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone."''
4
5	An AnthologyFilm based on the 1959 ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]]'' [[TheFilmOfTheSeries television series]], released in 1983. It follows the show's anthology format by presenting four segments (all but one remakes of classic episodes), which are directed by four different directors.
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7	# Prologue: "Something Scary" (Directed by Creator/JohnLandis): Two men discuss old television shows. This leads to the [[ArtEvolution improved]] TitleSequence directed by animator Hal Miles.
8	# "Time Out" (Directed by Creator/JohnLandis): A bigot is taught a fantastic lesson as he finds himself traveling through time and hunted down for being a minority (a Jew in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, a black man living in the DeepSouth during the 1950s, and a Vietnamese man during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar). The lone original story, written by Landis, although it bears some similarities to [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E15AQualityOfMercy "A Quality of Mercy."]]
9	# "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E21KickTheCan Kick the Can]]" (Directed by Creator/StevenSpielberg): A mysterious man arrives at a retirement home and shows its inhabitants how to be young again.
10	# "Literature/ItsAGoodLife" (Directed by Creator/JoeDante): A woman meets a young boy who has a very special power, which he uses to hold his family in a grip of terror.
11	# "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S5E3NightmareAt20000Feet Nightmare at 20,000 Feet]]"[=/=]Epilogue: "Even Scarier" (Directed by Creator/GeorgeMiller): A man who is scared of flying finds out that the plane he is in is being sabotaged by a gremlin.
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13	This film became infamous for a ghastly accident that took the life of Creator/VicMorrow and two child actors named My-Ca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen. The script for "Time Out" called for a scene in which Morrow's character is supposed to be carrying two Vietnamese children across a river to safety during an American bombing raid in Vietnam. Director John Landis was shooting late at night, violating child labor laws, and ignoring the helicopter pilot's concerns about flying so close to the ground and so close to explosive detonations. The cameras rolled anyway, and the explosive charges meant to simulate bombs caused the helicopter to crash right on top of Morrow and the child actors, killing all three, with several injuries (but no deaths) among those riding in the helicopter. Landis and three other crew members were later tried, and ultimately acquitted, on criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter. The families sued in civil court for wrongful death, and settled out of court. The 2020 documentary series ''Cursed Films'' shows the actual, uncensored footage of the incident and its direct aftermath.
14
15	----
16	!!The tropes covering the film as a whole:
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18	* NoAntagonist: All but the final segment.
19	* {{Novelization}}: Creator/RobertBloch wrote the book adaptation. Bloch's order of segments does not match the order in the film itself, as he was given the original screenplay to work with, in which "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" was the second segment, and "Kick the Can" was the fourth. Both the movie's prologue and epilogue are missing in the novelization. Bloch claimed that no one told him the anthology had a wraparound sequence. Bloch also said that in the six weeks he was given to write the book, he only saw a screening of two of the segments; he had to hurriedly change the ending of the first segment, after the helicopter accident that occurred during filming. As originally written, the first segment would have ended as it did in the original screenplay (Connor finds redemption by saving two Vietnamese children whose village is being destroyed by the Air Cavalry). The finished book reflects how the first segment ends in the final cut of the film.
20	* RemakeCameo:
21	** Creator/BurgessMeredith, who starred in four episodes of the series, including the all-time classic "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E8TimeEnoughAtLast Time Enough at Last]]", is the {{Narrator}} of the film.
22	** Creator/RodSerling's widow Carol has a cameo as an airline passenger in "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet".
23	** Creator/BillMumy, who played the creepy omnipotent boy Anthony Fremont in the original episode "It's a Good Life", plays a diner patron named Tim in this film's adaptation. He sarcastically tells his friend Chris that it was "real good" that he attacked Anthony.
24	** William Schallert, Creator/KevinMcCarthyActor, and Murray Matheson all had parts in the original series and also appear in the movie.
25	* SpecialEffectsEvolution: The opening features updated visual effect versions of the fourth and fifth season TitleSequence. For example, the window doesn't collapse -- instead it explodes outwardly.
26
27	!!Prologue: "Something Scary"
28	* FandomRivalry: InUniverse and {{lampshaded}} during the ''Zone'' or ''[[Series/TheOuterLimits1963 Limits]]'' debate.
29	* JumpScare: [[spoiler:The segment ends with the hitchhiker revealing his NightmareFace to the driver]].
30	* LightmareFuel[=/=]SchmuckBait: "You wanna see something ''really'' scary?"
31	* MythologyGag: The segment references many episodes of the series and the characters involved debate if "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S5E4AKindOfAStopwatch A Kind of a Stopwatch]]" was a ''Zone'' or an ''[[Series/TheOuterLimits1963 Outer Limits]]''.[[note]]It was a ''Twilight Zone'' episode.[[/note]]
32	* RecursiveCanon: Played with, as the characters discuss the old TV series before a TwistEnding reveals they're ''in'' the Zone. Granted, if any franchise was tailor-made to mess around with this stuff, this one's it!
33	* ShoutOut: The various television series mentioned during the Driver and the Passenger's game of TV theme tunes are ''Series/TheLoneRanger'', ''Series/PerryMason'', ''The Real [=McCoys=]'', ''Series/SeaHunt'', ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'', ''Series/Car54WhereAreYou'', ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'', ''Series/GilligansIsland'', ''Magazine/NationalGeographic'' and ''Series/HawaiiFiveO''.
34	* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: "[[Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival Midnight Special]]" may seem like SoundtrackDissonance for ''Twilight Zone'', but the lyrics are quite apropos, especially for the series it's based on.
35	-->You better not complain, boy, you get in trouble with the man!
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37	!!"Time Out"
38	* AbortedArc: In the original intended ending, Bill manages to redeem himself by rescuing two Vietnamese children, who time jump with him, not back to 1982/83, but back to Nazi Occupied France. The Kids are then taken by the Nazis to be executed, while Bill is put on a train bound for a Concentration Camp, making it a CruelTwistEnding. However, due to the [[invoked]][[FatalMethodActing death of Vic Morrow]] and the two child actors, all scenes featuring the children were cut and Bill's cruel twist turned into a deserving one.
39	* ActorAllusion: Vic Morrow encountering Nazis in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII UsefulNotes/{{France}}, [[Series/Combat1962 where did we hear that before]]?
40	* AssholeVictim: Bill.
41	* ColorMeBlack: Bill finds himself placed in the fates of various oppressed minorities, first a Jew being chased by the SS in occupied France, then a black man hunted by the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan in the 1950s, next he's mistaken for a a North Vietnamese man facing American troops and ultimately as a German Jew sent off to a concentration camp.
42	* HateCrimesAreASpecialKindOfEvil: Bill spouts racist and anti-Semitic comments at a bar before he is set on a journey through the Twilight Zone where he is confronted by numerous racist groups at different points in history, each of whom see him as the object of their hatred, such as the KKK seeing him as a black man, or a group of Nazis seeing him as a Jewish man. The story ends with him being put on a train bound for a concentration camp, the extreme end point of the very comments he was making in a bar. [[note]] In the original draft of the story, he would have been redeemed, saving two Vietnamese children from a group of soldiers and learning the value of all life. Unfortunately, a tragic accident on the set took the life of the main actor for the segment,Vic Morrow, as well as the two young children who were to feature in the scene, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, necessitating the DownerEnding for the segment where the man is not given a chance to redeem himself.[[/note]]
43	* LanguageBarrier: Bill, when he is sent back in time to UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and questioned in German.
44	* LaserGuidedKarma: The only segment that portrays this trope.
45	* LieToTheBeholder: Bill appears as a Jew in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Nazi-occupied France]], a black man to the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan in the [[TheFifties 1950s]] DeepSouth and as a member of the Viet Cong Army to American soldiers during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. He protests that he's not Jewish, that he's white, and that he's an American respectively but to no avail.
46	* ManOnFire: A Klansman goes on fire after Bill kicks him into a burning cross as he tries to escape.
47	* OneCharacterMultipleLives: Connor is shuttled back and forth in time to live lives as a Jew, a black man, and as [[TheNeidermeyer Lieutenant Douglas Neidermeyer]] who is mistaken for a Vietnamese person, during the worst times to be part of their minorities respectively.
48	* PublicExecution: As they see him as a black man, the Klan attempts to lynch Bill but he manages to escape.
49	* ShoutOut: Bill is seen as [[TheNeidermeyer Neidermeyer]] by the [=GIs=] who are lost during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Two of them say they [[FriendlyFire accidently shot]] Lieutenant Neidermeyer after they mistake him for a Viet Cong guerilla, a reference to Landis' earlier film ''Film/AnimalHouse''.
50	* VillainProtagonist: Bill, since his supposed development to stop being a bigot was cut out.
51
52	!!"Kick the Can"
53	* AdaptationDeviation: In the [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E21KickTheCan original episode]], it is Charles Whitley, a long-time resident of the Sunnyvale Rest Home, who suggests playing the game of Kick the Can that makes him and the other residents (bar Ben Conroy) young again. All of the formerly elderly people choose to remain young. In the film, the newly arrived resident Mr. Bloom takes the place of Charles. After being children for only a short time, all of the residents except for Mr. Agee ask to become old again. Mrs. Dempsey is upset that she will live out her life without ever meeting her beloved husband Jack. Mrs. Weinstein does not want to go through the pain of losing loved ones all over again. Mr. Mute does not want to have to go through school all over again. Mr. Agee, on the other hand, looks forward to youthful sex, so he stays.
54	* AnAesop: Don't let age stop you from enjoying life.
55	* AndThenWhat: After the elderly people become young they wonder who will take care of them now and what they'll do now that they're kids, so all but Mr. Agee decide to just go back to being old again. The original episode left it more open-ended but we were left to assume the magic only works one-way.
56	* AlmostFamousName: Mrs. Dempsey's husband was named Jack Dempsey. When Mr. Bloom jokingly asks her if he was the fighter, she clarifies that he wasn't.
57	* AngelUnaware: ''Strongly'' hinted of Mr. Bloom.
58	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Watching Mr. Conroy playing Kick the Can, Mr. Bloom then turns to the camera and smiles, saying, "He'll get it!"
59	* BreatherEpisode: Spielberg directed the lone segment that isn't scary.
60	* CanonForeigner: Mr. Bloom, Mrs. Dempsey and Mr. and Mrs. Weinstein do not appear in the original episode.
61	* FountainOfYouth: Playing Kick the Can makes the retirement home residents (with the exception of Mr. Conroy) children again.
62	* FullNameBasis: Mrs. Dempsey always refers to her late husband as Jack Dempsey.
63	* GameShowAppearance: Brief clips from the April 24, 1974 episode of the original ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' appear during the segment.
64	* GenderFlip: In the original episode, the Sunnyvale Rest Home administrator is Mr. Cox. In the film, it is Miss Cox.
65	* HereWeGoAgain: The segment ends with Mr. Bloom arriving at Driftwood Convalescent Home, where he will once again use his powers to make the residents young.
66	* HumanPopsicle: {{Discussed\|Trope}}. Mr. Conroy tells the other residents of the Sunnyvale Retirement Home that his son has promised to have him frozen that he dies. Mr. Weinstein mockingly calls him "Popsicle Head."
67	* MagicalNegro: Mr. Bloom is an African-American man who has the ability to make elderly people young again so that they can live their lives over again. Prior to his arrival at Sunnyvale Retirement Home, he had previously done so at six or eight other retirement homes.
68	* NeverFoundTheBody: Young Mr. Agee just runs off, confusing the hell out of Miss Cox the next day.
69	* PleaseDontLeaveMe: Leo Conroy begs this of a young Mr. Agee, though it's more a "Take Me With You".
70	* TheScrooge: Mr. Conroy. Like the trope namer, he takes out his loneliness and frustration on his fellow retirees.
71	* ShoutOut: Mr. Agee says that he always wanted to be Creator/DouglasFairbanks when he was a boy. When he becomes young again, he pretends to be [[Film/TheBlackPirate the Black Pirate]] and refers to [[Film/RobinHood1922 Sherwood Forest and Sir Guy of Gisborne]].
72	* ThrowTheDogABone: Before leaving Sunnyvale, Mr. Bloom promises that Mr. Conroy will soon get his own chance to be young again -- although he may just be saying that Mr. Bloom will get the hang of ''feeling'' young even though he's old.
73	* TimeShiftedActor:
74	** Mr. Agee is played by Murray Matheson as an elderly man and by Evan Richards as a child.
75	** Mrs. Dempsey is played by Helen Shaw as an elderly woman and by Laura Mooney as a child.
76	** Mr. Weinstein is played by Martin Garner as an elderly man and by Scott Nemes as a child.
77	** Mrs. Weinstein is played by Selma Diamond as an elderly woman and by Tanya Fenmore as a child.
78	** Mr. Mute is played by Creator/PeterBrocco as an elderly man and by Christopher Eisenmann as a child.
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80	!!"It's a Good Life"
81	* ActorAllusion: Dick Miller plays Walt, named after his character, Walter from ''Film/ABucketOfBlood''.
82	* AdaptationDeviation: This segment is only loosely adapted from the short story by Jerome Bixby. In the short story, Anthony uses his immense powers to terrorize the residents of his hometown Peaksville, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} and no one is able to exercise any control over him. In the film, Anthony's victims are limited to his real family and the people whom he has forced to act as his new family. Helen Foley recognizes that he needs guidance and offers to be his teacher so that he can find new uses for his powers. The segment ends with the two of them driving off together happily, giving it a [[AdaptationalAlternateEnding happy ending]] which was not present in either the short story or the [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E8ItsAGoodLife original episode]].
83	* AdaptedOut: In the short story, Anthony's parents are major characters. In the film, Anthony mentions that his real mother and father hated him and wanted to "send [him] away to someplace bad." Ethel tells Helen that he did something terrible to them but she does not go into details.
84	* AgeLift: Anthony is three years old in the short story and six in the original episode. He is about ten or eleven in the film.
85	* BondOneLiner: PlayedForHorror: After wishing Ethel into the cartoon, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath which causes her to be eaten by a monster]], Anthony reacts rather callously:
86	-->'''Anthony''': (quietly) ''Th-th-th-th-that's all, Ethel.''
87	* CanonForeigner:
88	** Helen does not appear in the short story.
89	** In the short story, Anthony is an only child. In the film, he has an elder sister named Sarah.
90	* ClosedCircle: Anthony's house, while the rest of the town only know that something strange goes on there.
91	* DutchAngle: Several are used when Anthony brings the cartoon creature to life.
92	* EldritchLocation: Anthony's house looks normal (even though it's based on a subtle cartoon design), its upper floor is gray and very Creator/TimBurton-esque with a portrait of a family of blank faces.
93	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Ethel is eaten by a monster after Anthony transports her into a cartoon.
94	* GiantEyeOfDoom: Helen meets one when she tries to leave the house.
95	* GreenThumb: In the final scene, Anthony turns the desert landscape into a beautiful garden filled with many different kinds of flowers as he and Helen drive away from his old house.
96	* HairRaisingHare: Anthony asks his uncle Walt to [[PullARabbitOutOfMyHat pull a rabbit out of a hat]] as a magic trick, then the rabbit turns into a hairless, hulking, snarling monstrosity before it goes back into the hat.
97	* IAmAMonster: Anthony's HeelRealization, admitting he teleported everyone back to their normal lives so they have what they wanted: to be away from him.
98	* MythologyGag: Helen tells Walter Paisley that she is going to [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E30AStopAtWilloughby Willoughby]] and that she is from [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E5WalkingDistance Homewood]]. Walter tells her that it looks like she missed a turnoff at [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S4E14OfLateIThinkOfCliffordville Cliffordville]].
99	* NoNameGiven: Anthony's fake mother and father are not named.
100	* ObliviouslyEvil: Anthony wants to be a good little boy, but his "family" is so terrified of him that they don't set any limits on his actions.
101	* RealityWarper: Anthony displays the ability to alter reality by creating monsters, bringing cartoon characters to life, transporting Ethel into a cartoon and stimulating the growth of plants.
102	* ResetButton: Pressed by Anthony, sending the people he tormented back to wherever they belonged.
103	* ShoutOut: Dick Miller plays a character named Walter Paisley, which was the name of his character in the 1959 film ''Film/ABucketOfBlood''.
104	* StepfordSmiler: Anthony's "family". No bad emotions allowed.
105	* StockFootage: ''WesternAnimation/BimbosInitiation'', ''Case of the Missing Hare'', ''Behind the Meat-Ball'', ''The Great Piggy Bank Robbery'', ''Mouse Wreckers'', ''The Power of Thought'', ''It's Hummer Time'', ''Feed the Kitty'' and ''Feline Frame-Up'' are played on the various televisions in Anthony's house. With the exception of ''Bimbo's Initation'', all of them are WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoons.
106	* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: Anthony frees his "family" presumably sending them to someplace nice (no word on whether Ethel and his real family are given the same break, but there's nothing to suggest it's beyond Anthony's power, either) and is talked down from going full SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum by wishing away himself, Helen and the whole house. The short ends with Helen and Anthony driving away together, happy and hopeful for the future.
107	* ToonTown: Anthony brings a cartoon character to life to terrorize Helen and his "family."
108	* TrappedInTVLand: Anthony sends Ethel into a cartoon world to be eaten.
109	* {{Tuckerization}}:
110	** Helen Foley is named after Creator/RodSerling's favorite teacher. She shares her name with the protagonist of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E29NightmareAsAChild Nightmare as a Child]]".
111	** Walter Paisley mentions a town named Beaumont. This is a reference to Charles Beaumont, who wrote numerous episodes of the original series.
112	** Uncle Walt is named after Creator/WaltDisney.
113	* WipeThatSmileOffYourFace: Anthony took away his real sister Sarah's mouth so she would not be able to yell at him anymore.
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115	!!"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"[=/=]Epilogue: "Even Scarier"
116	* AmbiguousEnding: John Valentine's fate is ultimately left unresolved. At a promotional event for his autobiography John Lithgow commented that in response to the ambulance driver's question "Do you want to see something scary?" he would have just replied "No", [[AntiClimax whereupon the driver would have simply shrugged and driven him to the hospital]].
117	* AdaptedOut: A variation. In the film, John Valentine is traveling alone, like his counterpart Arthur Wilson in the short story by Creator/RichardMatheson. However, Bob Wilson, the protagonist of the [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S5E3NightmareAt20000Feet original episode]], was traveling with his wife Julia.
118	* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: In the film, Valentine suffers from a fear of flying. In the short story, Arthur Wilson is extremely apprehensive about flying but no specific reason is given as to why. In the original episode, Bob Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown on a plane six months earlier.
119	* AdaptationNameChange: The protagonist was named Arthur Jeffrey Wilson in the short story and Robert Wilson in the original episode. His name is John Valentine in the film.
120	* AdaptationalUgliness: Zig-zagged. The gremlin in the original episode looked more like an ugly hunched-over Bigfoot. Here, the gremlin is a tall, scaly humanoid with large sharpteeth smile.
121	* AdaptationalVillainy: The gremlin was merely curious in the original episode. Here, it has vile intentions. (see For the Evulz)
122	* BittersweetEnding: John saves the plane from being destroyed, but he's hauled away as a crazy person in an ambulance. And unlike the TV episode, in which Bob Wilson killed the gremlin, ''this'' one is at best mildly inconvenienced and is still flying around up there somewhere. Also, we actually get to see the passengers on the plane discover the damage done to the wing.
123	* BookEnds: The ambulance that John is placed in is driven by [[spoiler:the hitchhiker from the prologue, who pops in "Midnight Special", asks him [[HereWeGoAgain if he "wants to see something really scary". ]]]].
124	* CigaretteOfAnxiety: John lights up a cigarette to calm his nerves but the little girl reminds him that there is no smoking. The man sitting in front of him, who is later revealed to be an air marshal, stares at him intently until he puts it out.
125	* DutchAngle: They are used extensively throughout the segment.
126	* ExplosiveDecompression: John grabs an air marshal's gun, and shoots the window, which causes this, forcing the plane to land, ruining the gremlin's plans.
127	* EyePop: When John removes the cover from his window, the gremlin is behind it, which makes him do this briefly. Not coincidentally, the segment's director is Creator/GeorgeMiller, who famously used a similar effect in ''Film/MadMax''.
128	* FingerWag: See below under Graceful Loser.
129	* ForTheEvulz: Strongly implied to be the "reason" for the gremlin's attack. When it sees it has a single witness, it starts ''showing off'', just for ''him''. And as noted below, its reaction to being thwarted is essentially a cheerful shrug.
130	* GracefulLoser: After John manages to shoot the gremlin (to very little effect), it starts to clamp him with a FacePalmOfDoom, but then realizes that the plane is about to land, and so just gives him a FingerWag and a [[SlasherSmile malevolent grin]] before flying away.
131	* GripingAboutGremlins: The villain of the piece, obviously.
132	* ImmuneToBullets: As noted, the Gremlin physically shrugs off Valentine shooting it with the aforementioned gun, though it appears to be a bit pissed off. It then ''eats'' most of the gun, leaving Valentine just holding the now-useless grip.
133	* ImprobableAimingSkills: {{Averted\|Trope}}, in contrast to both the short story and the original episode. Valentine fails to hit the gremlin with a revolver while hanging outside of a flying plane in the middle of a storm.
134	* LargeHam: It's Creator/JohnLithgow channelling Creator/WilliamShatner. 'Nuff said.
135	* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Though "friend" is probably the last word that John would use.
136	* OhCrap: Valentine, when the hitchhiker asks if he "wants to see something really scary".
137	* PluckyComicRelief: The little girl with the Creator/WCFields doll takes great delight in mocking Valentine and takes everything in her stride, even when all of the adults around her are panicking. She maintains her composure right up until Valentine shoots open the window so that he can kill the gremlin.
138	* RiddleForTheAges: What was that Gremlin? Where did it come from, and where did it go? Why is destroying planes and trying to doom people to a grisly death? We'll never know, much like John Valentine.
139	* SparedByTheAdaptation: As noted above, the gremlin.
140	* WHAMShot: "That's enough of that noise..." See BookEnds.
141	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight / WeirdnessCensor: Nobody else on John's side of the plane ever notices the gremlin doing its mischief, despite it prancing about on the wing in full view of anyone who would chance to look out.
142	* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: Valentine noticed one of the passengers reading a newspaper, with its front page telling of a plane crash, which only made him more nervous. It also implied that the gremlin caused that crash as well.

Context Film / TwilightZoneTheMovie