Z-View Twilight Zone: “Nick of Time” [Season 2, Episode 7]

Posted on by

Twilight Zone: “Nick of Time” [Season 2, Episode 7]
Original Air Date: November 18, 1960

Director: Richard L. Bare

Writer: Richard Matheson

Starring: William Shatner and Patricia Breslin.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

While driving through a small town heading for their honeymoon, Don [Shatner] and Pat [Breslin] Carter’s car breaks down.  The mechanic says it will take a few hours to repair, so the newlyweds head into a small cafe for lunch and to pass the time.

Don is nervous to hear about a possible promotion but is afraid to call his boss.  There’s a little penny fortune-telling machine at their table, so Don jokingly puts in a penny to get the answer.  When it appear that the machine got the answer correctly, Don asks more and more questions and the machine answers with startling accuracy… or does it?

Rating:

12 Futuristic Facts About “Escape from New York”

Posted on by

Matthew Jackson and Mental_Floss present 12 Futuristic Facts About Escape from New York.  Here are three of my favorites…

3. THE NAME “SNAKE PLISSKEN” CAME FROM A REAL PERSON.
When writing the original script for the film, Carpenter was in search of a name for his main character, and it just so happened that a friend of a friend actually knew a person named “Snake Plissken,” who Carpenter described as “a kinda high school tough guy,” complete with a snake tattoo. It was too perfect to pass up.

“Anybody with a snake tattooed on them some place … that’s my kinda hero,” Carpenter said.

 

4. CARPENTER HAD TO FIGHT FOR KURT RUSSELL AS SNAKE.
At the time of the film’s production, Kurt Russell was an actor best known for his work in Disney projects like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. He wasn’t an action star, but Carpenter thought he was the right choice to play Snake. The studio, on the other hand,wanted a star like Tommy Lee Jones or Chuck Norris for the part. Carpenter dismissed Norris as too old, and preferred Russell over Jones, so he fought for his young star, and eventually won.

9. JAMIE LEE CURTIS HAS A CAMEO.
Three years prior to Escape From New York, Carpenter directed his breakout hit: the slasher film Halloween, which also proved to be the breakout film for star Jamie Lee Curtis. If Halloween hadn’t worked out, it’s doubtful Carpenter ever would have made Escape From New York, so he called upon his Halloween star to participate when it finally happened. You won’t see Curtis in the film, but you will hear her: She voices both the narrator and the computer.

Z-View Twilight Zone: “Eye of the Beholder” [Season 2, Episode 6]

Posted on by

Twilight Zone: “Eye of the Beholder” [Season 2, Episode 6]
Original Air Date: November 11, 1960

Director: Douglas Hayes

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Maxine Stuart, William D. Gordon, George Keymas, Edson Stroll and Donna Douglas.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Janet Tyler [Stuart] is lying in her hospital bed, her head and face totally covered by bandages.  Tyler nervously waits for her doctor to remove the bandages hoping that her latest (and last) surgery will make her look normal.

Sadly Tyler is hideously ugly and lives in a society where the less desirables are sent away.  As the bandages are removed her worst fears are revealed.

Rating:

18 Fascinating Facts About “The Crow”

Posted on by

Erin McCarthy and Mental_Floss present 18 Fascinating Facts About The Crow.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. IT’S BASED ON A COMIC BOOK, WHICH WAS INSPIRED BY TWO TRAGEDIES.
In 1981, 21-year-old James O’Barr was drawing combat manuals in the Marines when he decided to start The Crow. He hoped it would be a healthy way of dealing with the death of his fiancée, who had been killed by a drunk driver. “I tried all the typical angst-ridden outlets, like substance abuse and going to clubs or parties every night and just basically trying to keep yourself numb for as long a period of time as possible,” O’Barr told The Baltimore Sun in 1994. “Eventually I was smart enough to realize that that was a dead end, and so I thought perhaps putting something down on paper I could exorcise some of that anger.”

Pivotal to his comic book’s plotline was another tragedy O’Barr heard about: A couple killed over an engagement ring. “I thought it was outlandish, a $30 ring, two lives wasted,” he said in a book about the production called The Crow: The Movie. “That became the beginning of the focal point, and the idea that there could be a love so strong that it could transcend death, that it could refuse death, and this soul would not rest until it could set things right.”

 

4. THE PRODUCERS KNEW WHO THEY WANTED TO DIRECT AND STAR.
Pressman had Alex Proyas, an Australian director who at that point had helmed music videos and commercials, but no features, in mind to direct The Crow. Though Proyas was very much in demand in Hollywood, he was waiting for the right project—and The Crow was it. He signed on in 1991.

The producers first looked at musicians to fill the role of Eric Draven, among them Charlie Sexton, a rocker from Texas. But ultimately, their first choice was Brandon Lee. At that point, Lee—son of famed actor/martial artist Bruce Lee—had appeared in a few films, but hadn’t had a breakout role yet. “We had considered some more established actors and we were concerned that certain of these actors did not have the athletic ability,” Pressman said in The Crow: The Movie. “Other people had the athletic ability but not the acting talents. Brandon combined it all. When Brandon walked into this office, it was an immediate flash. We knew we had our Eric Draven that instant.”

17. O’BARR DONATED MOST OF HIS PROFITS FROM THE FILM TO CHARITY.
O’Barr bought his mom a car, and a surround system for himself, then donated the rest. “I was really good friends with Brandon, so it just felt like blood money to me,” he said at a comics convention in 2009. “I didn’t want to profit at his expense. And I kept that secret for as long as I could. It’s not charity if you get credit for it.”

Z-View Twilight Zone: “The Howling Man” [Season 2, Episode 5]

Posted on by

Twilight Zone: “The Howling Man” [Season 2, Episode 5]
Original Air Date: November 4, 1960

Director: Douglas Hayes

Writer: Charles Beaumont

Starring: John Carradine, H.M. Wynant and Robin Hughes.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

David Ellington [Wynant] while on a long hike alone in the woods in Europe becomes ill.  Ellington stumbles across a monastery.  Initially told he cannot stay, Brother Jerome [Carradine] allows him to stay until he is well enough to travel.

While recuperating, Ellington hears a man howling in pain.  The screams lead to a cell where a man is being held prisoner.  Before Ellington can release him, Brother Jerome arrives and explains that the thing in the cell is not a man, but the devil!

How could the devil be held in a cell?  Are the monks insane?  If so, Ellington is in danger as well.  Isn’t his duty to help the man escape?  These are the thoughts that race through Ellington’s mind before he makes a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Rating:

Z-View Twilight Zone: “A Thing About Machines” [Season 2, Episode 4]

Posted on by

Twilight Zone: “A Thing About Machines” [Season 2, Episode 4]
Original Air Date: October 28, 1960

Director: David Orrick McDearmon

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Richard Hayden and Barney Phillips.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Bartlett Finchley is a bit of an eccentric.  He’s a writer who lives alone in a large house and always seems in a battle of will with all of the machines in his house… the tv, his electric razor, his typwriter, well, you get the idea.  Finally things reach the point of no return and the war is on.

Rating:

10 Things You May Not Know About Harry Houdini

Posted on by

Evan Andrews and History.com present 10 Things You May Not Know About Harry Houdini.  Here are three of my favorites…
Houdini once staged an escape from inside a sea monster.
In September 1911, a group of Boston businessmen challenged Houdini to attempt the most bizarre stunt of his career—an escape from the belly of a 1,500-pound “sea monster” that had washed up in the city’s harbor. Historians still aren’t sure what the creature actually was—it’s been described as everything from a whale to a leatherback turtle—but Houdini was up to the task. As thousands of spectators looked on, he allowed himself to be handcuffed, shackled in leg irons and wedged inside the stinking carcass, which was then covered in chains and placed behind a curtain. Houdini emerged in triumph after just 15 minutes, but later admitted that he was nearly suffocated by the fumes from the chemicals used to embalm the beast.He was an aviation pioneer.
After developing a passion for aviation while in Europe in 1909, Houdini bought a French-made Voisin biplane and became one of the world’s first private pilots. The magician crashed during his maiden flight in Germany, but he continued practicing and eventually set his sights on becoming the first man to pilot an airplane in Australia. During a tour Down Under in March 1910, Houdini hopped behind the controls of his Voisin and made three successful flights near Melbourne, each only a couple of minutes long. The Aerial League of Australia certified Houdini’s display as the country’s first powered and controlled flight, but some historians have since argued that the record actually belongs to Colin Defries, an Englishman who had made a brief flight a few months earlier. In 2010, Houdini and Defries were both honored in a series of stamps commemorating the centennial of powered flight in Australia.

Houdini assisted with the American war effort during WWI.
Although he was born in Hungary, Houdini was an American patriot and staunch supporter of U.S. involvement in World War I. He persuaded the Society of American Magicians to sign loyalty oaths to President Woodrow Wilson, and later canceled his touring season to devote himself to entertaining soldiers and raising money for the war effort. Houdini also drew on his arsenal of magician’s tricks to provide special instruction to American troops. In a series of classes held at New York’s Hippodrome, he counseled doughboys on how to escape sinking ships and extricate themselves from ropes, handcuffs and other restraints in the event of capture by the Germans.

Z-View Twilight Zone: “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room” [Season 2, Episode 3]

Posted on by

Twilight Zone: “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room” [Season 2, Episode 3]
Original Air Date: October 14, 1960

Director: Douglas Hayes

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Joe Mantell and William D. Gordon.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Jackie Rhoades [Mantell] is a cheap hood nervously waiting in a flop house hotel room for his next job. His boss [Gordon] shows up with the job — to murder a bar owner refusing to pay his debts.

Rhoades argues that he’s not a killer, but the boss gives him no choice and leaves.  Rhoades begins to talk to himself in the mirror looking for a way out… suddenly his reflection begins to talk back to him and may have an idea!

Rating:

Z-View Twilight Zone: “The Man in the Bottle” [Season 2, Episode 2]

Posted on by

Twilight Zone: “The Man in the Bottle” [Season 2, Episode 2]
Original Air Date: October 7, 1960

Director: Don Medford

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Luther Adler, Vivi Janiss and Joseph Ruskin.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Arthur [Medford] and Edna [Janiss] run a small secondhand store that is barely making it.  Despite their money troubles, Arthur’s kind heart causes him to buy an empty wine bottle from an old lady in need of a few dollars.

The bottle turns out to contain a genie that when released offers Arthur and Edna four wishes.  When in the Twilight Zone always remember to be careful what you wish for.

Rating:

14 Things You Don’t Know About Gordon Ramsay

Posted on by

Candace Braun Davison and Esquire present 14 Things You Don’t Know About Gordon Ramsay.  Here are three of my favorites…
2. He’s Just As Serious About Fitness As He Is Food.
Ramsay has participated in more than a dozen marathons, three ultra-marathons, three half-Ironmans (which span 70.3 miles, swimming, biking and running) and competed in the Ironman World Championship twice.The championship, held in Hawaii, is known for being incredibly grueling—it combines a 2.4-mile swim with a 122-mile bike ride and a full marathon (26.2 miles). While he completed the race in 14 hours in 2013, he had to drop out of the competition this past year due to dehydration, according to TMZ. Ramsay says he’ll be back in 2016 though.

6. He’s One of the 25 Highest-Paid Celebrities Out There.
The Hell’s Kitchen star is No. 21, technically, raking in $60 million last year, according to Forbes. That makes him the wealthiest celebrity chef out there.

13. He’s Got A Great Trick for Phenomenal Oatmeal.
Ramsay often starts the day with a bowl of oatmeal—just water, salt and oats—but when he really wants to take breakfast to the next level, he does this:

“The night before, put 3 to 4 bananas in the oven on a pilot light. And the next day, squeeze the bananas into almond milk, bring it to a boil, then add the oatmeal and dried cranberries, and you’ll have the most amazing oatmeal for breakfast,” he wrote in his AMA.

Z-View Twilight Zone: “King Nine Will Not Return” [Season 2, Episode 1]

Posted on by

Twilight Zone: “King Nine Will Not Return” [Season 2, Episode 1]
Original Air Date: September 30, 1960

Director: Buzz Kulik

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Robert Cummings

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

An American bomber pilot [Cummings] wakes up in the desert lying next to his downed plane.  He has no memory of how he got there and his crew is nowhere to be found.
Rating:

15 Campy Facts About “Batman”

Posted on by

Jake Rossen and Mental_Floss present 15 Campy Facts About Batman.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. A QUARTERBACK FOR THE L.A. RAMS ALMOST PLAYED BATMAN.
The kitschy approach of Adam West was not on producer Ed Graham’s mind when he optioned Batman for a television series from DC Comics (then National Periodical Publications) in 1962. Figuring he could capitalize on a Saturday morning kids’ series similar in tone to the George Reeves-starring Adventures of Superman from the 1950s, Graham struck a deal with CBS and enlisted former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Mike Henry for the title role. With CBS dragging their feet, Henry decided to opt out and play Tarzan instead; ABC was more ambitious about the idea, securing the license from National and moving ahead with producer William Dozier and writer Lorenzo Semple Jr., who agreed the show would work best if it didn’t take itself seriously. (Just seriously enough not to cast a football player.)

6. IT HAD THE LOWEST TEST SCORE OF ANY TV PILOT IN HISTORY.
Before its January 12, 1966 premiere, ABC screened the pilot for a test audience. Using knobs that could express their approval (or disapproval), the group verified the equipment was working when they gave the “control” footage, a Mr. Magoo cartoon, a favorable rating. When Batman ended, it scored in the upper forties, a disastrous number. (Most pilots of the day scored in the mid-sixties.) The national audience, prepared with weeks of advertising to help contextualize the humor, found it funnier: the show was an immediate success.

10. BRUCE LEE SCARED THE TIGHTS OFF OF BURT WARD.
Ward, who fancied himself something of a martial arts expert, once boasted to West that he had sparred with Bruce Lee. When Lee made an appearance on the show as part of a crossover with Dozier’s other series, The Green Hornet, he and Robin were scheduled to have a fight. According to West’s autobiography, Lee showed up to the set wearing a dour expression and looked ready to kill Ward, who put his hands up in a defensive reflex. Lee cracked a smile and called out, “Robin’s a chicken!” Everyone but Ward found this funny.