Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

It is an interesting film because it has multiple sequences in it. Each of them was directed by different directors. John Landis directed the prologue and segment 1. Steven Spielberg directed segment 2, Joe Dante directed segment 3, and George Miller directed segment 4. The intro to each of sequences was narrated by the late Burgess Meredith whose voice fit perfectly. This movie is based upon the Rod Serling television series that aired years ago.

The tagline for this was “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!”

The prologue opens with Dan Aykroyd as a Passenger and Albert Brooks as a Car Driver talking about the former television series among other things. Later the scene fades out and we are introduced to Vic Morrow playing Bill Connor in segment 1. Unfortunately, Vic died in real life while filming on the set. Apparently a helicopter crashed on him along with two children. His two close friends in this story are played by Doug McGrath as Larry and Charles Hallahan as Ray. Rainer Peets and Kai Wulff both play German Officers. Sue Dugan and Debby Porter both play waitresses. Steven Williams is a Bar Patron and Annette Claudier is a French Mother. Joseph Hieu and Al Leong appear as Vietnamese soldiers. Stephen Bishop plays the Charming G.I.; Thomas Byrd also appears as a G.I. Eddy Donno, Michael Milgrom, and John Larroquette play K.K.K clan members. Bill Connor is a racist character and learns a lesson the hard way.

Segment 2 starts off with the late Scatman Crothers playing Mr. Bloom and enters a retirement center where things may not appear what they seem to be. The late Bill Quinn plays Mr. Leo Conroy and the late Martin Garner is Mr. Weinstein. The late Selma Diamond is Mrs. Weinstein, The late Helen Shaw plays Mrs. Dempsey, and the late Murray Matheson is Mr. Agee. The late Peter Brocco plays Mr. Mute, and Priscilla Pointer is Miss Cox. Their younger counterparts are played by Scott Nemes as the Young Mr. Weinstein, Tanya Fenmore is Young Mrs. Weinstein, Evan Richards is the Young Mr. Agee, Laura Mooney is the Young Mrs. Dempsey, Christopher Eisenmann is the Young Mr. Mute, Richard Swingler appears as Mr. Gray Panther, Alan Haufrect is Mr. Conroy’s Son, Cheryl Socher is Mr. Conroy’s Daughter-in-Law and Elsa Raven appears as Nurse No. 2.

Kathleen Quinlan stars in segment 3 as Helen Foley a school teacher who gets lost only to find a most unusual situation with a young boy named Anthony played by Jeremy Licht. His uncle is played by Kevin McCarthy as Uncle Walt. Patricia Barry plays his mother and William Schallert as his father. Nancy Cartwright also appears in this as Ethel. You might know her as the voice of Bart Simpson from the television series “The Simpsons”. Dick Miller appears as Walter Paisley the diner owner. Cherie Currie is Sara, Bill Mumy is Tim and Jeffrey Bannister is Charlie.

Final segment 4 is my personal favorite, and stars John Lithgow as John Valentine a passenger onboard an airplane. This is one of his best on screen performances in my opinion. Abbe Lane appears in this as the Senior stewardess, Donna Dixon is the Jr. Stewardess whose husband Dan Aykroyd also appears later at the end of this story as a Ambulance Driver. John Dennis Johnston is the Co-Pilot of the plane, Larry Cedar is the Creature, Charles Knapp is the Sky Marshal, Byron McFarland does the Pilot Announcement, Christina Nigra is the Little Girl onboard and her mother is played by Lana Schwab. Margaret Wheeler is the Old Woman and Eduard Franz is the Old Man. Margaret Fitzgerald is Young Girl, Jeffrey Weissman is the Young Man, Jeffrey Lampert is Mechanic No. 1, and Frank Toth is Mechanic No. 2, Carol Serling appears as a Passenger. Carol Vogel also appeared in this film but was uncredited for her role.

This entire series impacted many people and is still a standout science fiction television series today. There are re-runs of the show that sometimes air and the entire collection is available on DVD. I will say this certainly influenced a number of talented individuals and also helped different actor’s careers such as William Shatner, Dean Stockwell, John Carradine, Susan Cummings, Jackie Cooper, Barbara Baxley, and James Coburn among many others. I recommend this film to everyone, it is a classic sci-fi feature.