.jpg/250px-What_You_Need_(The_Twilight_Zone).jpg) |
| Steve Cochran and Ernest Truex |
Season One, Episode 12
Original Air Date: December 25, 1959
Original Air Date: December 25, 1959
Cast:
Pedott: Ernest Truex
Fred Renard: Steve Cochran
Lefty: Read Morgan
Bartender: William Edmonson
Girl in Bar: Arline Sax
Woman on Street: Judy Ellis
Man on Street: Fred Kruger
Pedott: Ernest Truex
Fred Renard: Steve Cochran
Lefty: Read Morgan
Bartender: William Edmonson
Girl in Bar: Arline Sax
Woman on Street: Judy Ellis
Man on Street: Fred Kruger
Crew:
Writer: Rod Serling (Teleplay based on the short story of the same name written by Lewis Padgett (psuedonym of husband and wife Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore) originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, October 1945.)
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Producer: Buck Houghton
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Music: Nathan Van Cleve
Writer: Rod Serling (Teleplay based on the short story of the same name written by Lewis Padgett (psuedonym of husband and wife Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore) originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, October 1945.)
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Producer: Buck Houghton
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Music: Nathan Van Cleve
And now, Mr. Serling:
"This is the season of gift giving, big gifts and little gifts, and expensive ones and not so expensive ones. Well, next time, the Twilight Zone gives you its own peculiar, oddball brand of gift giving. Mr. Steve Cochran and Mr. Ernest Truex combine talents to tell a story about a little man who has what you need, our next offering on the Twilight Zone."
"This is the season of gift giving, big gifts and little gifts, and expensive ones and not so expensive ones. Well, next time, the Twilight Zone gives you its own peculiar, oddball brand of gift giving. Mr. Steve Cochran and Mr. Ernest Truex combine talents to tell a story about a little man who has what you need, our next offering on the Twilight Zone."
Rod Serling's Opening Narration:
"You're looking at Mr. Fred Renard, who carries on his shoulder a chip the size of the national debt. This is a sour man, a friendless man, a lonely man, a grasping, compulsive, nervous man. This is a man who has lived thirty-six undistinguished, meaningless, pointless, failure laden years and who at this moment looks for an escape, any escape, any way, anything, anybody to get out of the rut. And this little old man is just what Mr. Renard is waiting for."
"You're looking at Mr. Fred Renard, who carries on his shoulder a chip the size of the national debt. This is a sour man, a friendless man, a lonely man, a grasping, compulsive, nervous man. This is a man who has lived thirty-six undistinguished, meaningless, pointless, failure laden years and who at this moment looks for an escape, any escape, any way, anything, anybody to get out of the rut. And this little old man is just what Mr. Renard is waiting for."
Summary:
An old man named Pedott pedals his wares, nicknacks lugged around in a portmanteau, on a particular block in an unnamed, perpetually night-fallen, film-noir city. On that block is a neighborhood bar. The old man goes into that bar, bouncing from customer to customer, trying to interest the patrons in something from his collection of odds and ends. When a woman sitting alone wants to buy some matches, Pedott instead gives her a bottle of stain remover, intoning that "this is what you need." It is the credo of the episode, a resonant statement of Pedott's unique ability of insight into what people will need in their near futures.
Pedott provides another patron, a washed-up ex-professional baseball player with a lame pitching arm named Lefty, with a one-way bus ticket to Scranton, Pennslyvania. These items are taken from the old man with a certain bit of reluctance but, thinking the old man feeble-minded but essentially harmless, they take the items anyway. Shortly after these items are distributed, Lefty gets a phone call informing him that one of his former team managers has acquired Lefty a much-needed job, coaching a minor league baseball team in Scranton, Pennslyvania. Lefty asks the old man how he knew about Scranton and the bus ticket but the old man just shruggs it off and advises Lefty not to think about it or question it but to simply take advantage of the opportunity afforded him. It's good advice. Lefty complains about a spot on his only good jacket that he needs to get out in order to look professional for his new job and, coincidentally, is overheard by the woman earlier given the stain remover by Pedott. We are left with the notion that perhaps these two people may begin a change for the better, together. Pedott, meanwhile, has slipped out of the bar, not unnoticed by someone else.
The seemingly simple magic that he has displayed has drawn the notice of a brutish loser at the bar named Fred Renard. Renard is a man always down on his luck. He has turned all the frustration and anger caused by this run of ill luck inward and has, by consequence, become a sulky, violent character, nearly devoid of all conscience and humanity, living only to scrape by and claw at any cure-all chance that presents itself. He sees his ticket out of his misery in the old man Pedott's uncanny ability.
Renard follows Pedott out into the street where the old man sets up his wares on a stand to offer them to passersby. Pedott knows, as unfailingly as he knows what people need, that Renard is an ill-meaning man. The confrontation turns violent when Renard grabs the smaller, more feeble man and demands that Pedott provide him with what he needs. Pedott gives Renard a pair of scissors. At first believing the old man to be playing a trick on him, Renard relents and stalks away. Later, while in a hotel elevator, Renard's long scarf is caught within the door of the moving elevator car. Unable to free himself and halfway choking to death, Renard remembers the scissors and cuts the scarf and lives through the harrowing experience. He laughs, almost maniaclly, at his good fortune, good fortune provided by Pedott's special talent. This, Renard sees, is the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity to fix all the mistakes he's made and to live the rest of his life with guaranteed good fortune.
When Pedott returns home later that night, he finds an unpleasant surprise. Renard is waiting for him. The old man spills his items on the floor and Renard ridicules him and bullies him into a patnership, despite Pedott's unwillingness to enter into any kind of pact with the other man. Pedott, surely hoping to be rid of the bullying Renard, gives the younger man a leaky fountain pen which just happens to dip onto a newspaper listing the name of a racehorse. Renard runs off to place his bet on that horse.
It wins him a couple hundred dollars but it's not enough. Men like Renard, once reaping the benefits of good fortune, resort to a vicious greediness. He accost Pedott once again, this time on the street, on Pedott's usual corner for setting up his items to sell. Pedott tells Renard that this cannot continue between them and that he, Pedott, cannot provide Renard with what the angry younger man truly needs, this being compassion, humor, an ability to laugh at oneself. Unsatisfied, Renard further threatens Pedott until the old man gestures to a pair of shoes that Renard greedily grabs and puts on. Pedott, meanwhile, has used this opportunity to pack up his items and begin to cross the street. Renard, confused as to the pertinence of the shoes, again threatens to hurt Pedott when Pedott informs him that the shoes are, in fact, what Pedott himself needs and not what Renard needs. Anger outweighing his reason, Renard begins to cross the street after Pedott only to slip on the slick ice that has formed on the street. A speeding car comes around the corner and wipes Renard out, killing him.
It was a hit and run and, moments later, the street is filled with curious people, an ambulance, and the press. Two sly jokes, one sweet, the other morbid, ends the show. Pedott provides a man roused from sleep and out into the street from the noise with a simple comb, that later proves useful to straighten out his unruly hair when the press decides to take his picture. We are left with the ambulance, sirens off, carrying the body of Fred Renard and the only thing left on the street at the site of his death is a pair of slippery shoes.
An old man named Pedott pedals his wares, nicknacks lugged around in a portmanteau, on a particular block in an unnamed, perpetually night-fallen, film-noir city. On that block is a neighborhood bar. The old man goes into that bar, bouncing from customer to customer, trying to interest the patrons in something from his collection of odds and ends. When a woman sitting alone wants to buy some matches, Pedott instead gives her a bottle of stain remover, intoning that "this is what you need." It is the credo of the episode, a resonant statement of Pedott's unique ability of insight into what people will need in their near futures.
Pedott provides another patron, a washed-up ex-professional baseball player with a lame pitching arm named Lefty, with a one-way bus ticket to Scranton, Pennslyvania. These items are taken from the old man with a certain bit of reluctance but, thinking the old man feeble-minded but essentially harmless, they take the items anyway. Shortly after these items are distributed, Lefty gets a phone call informing him that one of his former team managers has acquired Lefty a much-needed job, coaching a minor league baseball team in Scranton, Pennslyvania. Lefty asks the old man how he knew about Scranton and the bus ticket but the old man just shruggs it off and advises Lefty not to think about it or question it but to simply take advantage of the opportunity afforded him. It's good advice. Lefty complains about a spot on his only good jacket that he needs to get out in order to look professional for his new job and, coincidentally, is overheard by the woman earlier given the stain remover by Pedott. We are left with the notion that perhaps these two people may begin a change for the better, together. Pedott, meanwhile, has slipped out of the bar, not unnoticed by someone else.
The seemingly simple magic that he has displayed has drawn the notice of a brutish loser at the bar named Fred Renard. Renard is a man always down on his luck. He has turned all the frustration and anger caused by this run of ill luck inward and has, by consequence, become a sulky, violent character, nearly devoid of all conscience and humanity, living only to scrape by and claw at any cure-all chance that presents itself. He sees his ticket out of his misery in the old man Pedott's uncanny ability.
Renard follows Pedott out into the street where the old man sets up his wares on a stand to offer them to passersby. Pedott knows, as unfailingly as he knows what people need, that Renard is an ill-meaning man. The confrontation turns violent when Renard grabs the smaller, more feeble man and demands that Pedott provide him with what he needs. Pedott gives Renard a pair of scissors. At first believing the old man to be playing a trick on him, Renard relents and stalks away. Later, while in a hotel elevator, Renard's long scarf is caught within the door of the moving elevator car. Unable to free himself and halfway choking to death, Renard remembers the scissors and cuts the scarf and lives through the harrowing experience. He laughs, almost maniaclly, at his good fortune, good fortune provided by Pedott's special talent. This, Renard sees, is the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity to fix all the mistakes he's made and to live the rest of his life with guaranteed good fortune.
When Pedott returns home later that night, he finds an unpleasant surprise. Renard is waiting for him. The old man spills his items on the floor and Renard ridicules him and bullies him into a patnership, despite Pedott's unwillingness to enter into any kind of pact with the other man. Pedott, surely hoping to be rid of the bullying Renard, gives the younger man a leaky fountain pen which just happens to dip onto a newspaper listing the name of a racehorse. Renard runs off to place his bet on that horse.
It wins him a couple hundred dollars but it's not enough. Men like Renard, once reaping the benefits of good fortune, resort to a vicious greediness. He accost Pedott once again, this time on the street, on Pedott's usual corner for setting up his items to sell. Pedott tells Renard that this cannot continue between them and that he, Pedott, cannot provide Renard with what the angry younger man truly needs, this being compassion, humor, an ability to laugh at oneself. Unsatisfied, Renard further threatens Pedott until the old man gestures to a pair of shoes that Renard greedily grabs and puts on. Pedott, meanwhile, has used this opportunity to pack up his items and begin to cross the street. Renard, confused as to the pertinence of the shoes, again threatens to hurt Pedott when Pedott informs him that the shoes are, in fact, what Pedott himself needs and not what Renard needs. Anger outweighing his reason, Renard begins to cross the street after Pedott only to slip on the slick ice that has formed on the street. A speeding car comes around the corner and wipes Renard out, killing him.
It was a hit and run and, moments later, the street is filled with curious people, an ambulance, and the press. Two sly jokes, one sweet, the other morbid, ends the show. Pedott provides a man roused from sleep and out into the street from the noise with a simple comb, that later proves useful to straighten out his unruly hair when the press decides to take his picture. We are left with the ambulance, sirens off, carrying the body of Fred Renard and the only thing left on the street at the site of his death is a pair of slippery shoes.
Rod Serling's Closing Narration:
"Street scene. Night. Traffic Accident. Victim named Fred Renard, gentleman with a sour face to whom contentment came with difficulty. Fred Renard, who took all that was needed. . . in the Twilight Zone."
Commentary:
Although it is an adaptation of an existing piece of short fiction, this serviceable but rather unmemorable espisode feels much more like a Serling original than an adaptation of someone else's work. Much like the previous episode, "And When the Sky Was Opened," Serling used little except for the basic concept from the source material. Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's original short story describes a scientist that invents a machine able to predict an individual's future and prescribe what was needed for that individual. Serling scrapped most everything and created his standard cast of (mostly) loveable losers, including Pedott (Ernest Truex), the meek old man with the ability to see a person's future and give to them what they need to face that future.
The entire episode is really just a gimmick plot servicing a twist ending and altough Serling attempts to give the script some dimension of character, the paper thin plot is really what makes the episode unremarkable. The concept is not particularly fresh and wasn't at the time of filming, either. As Martin Grams points out, Kuttner and Moore's short story had already appeared in the authors collection, Line of Tomorrow, and had previously been filmed for the television show Tales of Tomorrow in the early '50s.
It was a nice touch for Serling to scrap the science-fiction trappings of the story and turn it into something of a film-noir meets fantasy episode. Even though we recognize, even this early into the show, Serling's stereotypical characters (the washed up man who once had promise, the lonely woman looking for something but not knowing what, the angry man who's certain all his problems are someone else's fault), the character of Pedott is a nice creation and Ernest Truex gives the only memorable performance in the episode. The character of Fred Renard is too heavy-handed, too over the top, and is the kind of one-dimensional villain you don't normally see in The Twilight Zone.
"Street scene. Night. Traffic Accident. Victim named Fred Renard, gentleman with a sour face to whom contentment came with difficulty. Fred Renard, who took all that was needed. . . in the Twilight Zone."
Commentary:
Although it is an adaptation of an existing piece of short fiction, this serviceable but rather unmemorable espisode feels much more like a Serling original than an adaptation of someone else's work. Much like the previous episode, "And When the Sky Was Opened," Serling used little except for the basic concept from the source material. Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's original short story describes a scientist that invents a machine able to predict an individual's future and prescribe what was needed for that individual. Serling scrapped most everything and created his standard cast of (mostly) loveable losers, including Pedott (Ernest Truex), the meek old man with the ability to see a person's future and give to them what they need to face that future.
The entire episode is really just a gimmick plot servicing a twist ending and altough Serling attempts to give the script some dimension of character, the paper thin plot is really what makes the episode unremarkable. The concept is not particularly fresh and wasn't at the time of filming, either. As Martin Grams points out, Kuttner and Moore's short story had already appeared in the authors collection, Line of Tomorrow, and had previously been filmed for the television show Tales of Tomorrow in the early '50s.
It was a nice touch for Serling to scrap the science-fiction trappings of the story and turn it into something of a film-noir meets fantasy episode. Even though we recognize, even this early into the show, Serling's stereotypical characters (the washed up man who once had promise, the lonely woman looking for something but not knowing what, the angry man who's certain all his problems are someone else's fault), the character of Pedott is a nice creation and Ernest Truex gives the only memorable performance in the episode. The character of Fred Renard is too heavy-handed, too over the top, and is the kind of one-dimensional villain you don't normally see in The Twilight Zone.
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| Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore |
Kuttner was particularly important as a literary mentor to and influence on two writers from The Twilight Zone that also became two of the greatest literary fantasist of the 20th century, Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson. Bradbury edited and introduced a career retrospective of Kuttner's work for the Science Fiction Book Club, The Best of Henry Kuttner, and Matheson dedicated his most famous novel, the oft-filmed I Am Legend, to Kuttner. His influence, and the influence of his work with Moore on susequent science fiction writers, is profound.
Sadly, what we get with Kuttner and Moore's sole appearance on the show is a rather lackluster and somewhat predictable outing that feels more like a "filler" episode between two really good ones. It is worth seeking out the two writers' work, however, for most fans of the show will find their subject and style appealing.
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| Astounding Science Fiction Oct. 1945 |
Notes:
-Ernest Truex also starred in the exceptional third season episode "Kick the Can."
-Ernest Truex also starred in the exceptional third season episode "Kick the Can."
-Alvin Ganzer's other directing credits for the show include "The Hitch-Hiker," "Nightmare As a Child," and some sequences of "The Mighty Casey," all from the show's first season.
--Jordan Prejean
