Bang! You're Dead (17 Oct. 1961)

A 5 year old boy finds his uncle's revolver, partial loads it with bullets, and plays it with in public, unaware of it's deadly power.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Harold Swanton (teleplay), Margery Vosper (from a story by)

Stars:

Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen Dunne, Biff Elliot

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Stephen Dunne	...	Rick Sheffield (as Steve Dunne)
Biff Elliot	...	Fred Chester (as Biff Elliott)
Lucy Prentis	...	Amy Chester (as Lucy Prentiss)
Juanita Moore	...	Cleo
Marta Kristen	...	Jiffy Snack Girl
John Zaremba	...	Market Manager
Karl Lukas	...	The Mailman
Olan Soule	...	Darlene's Daddy
Craig Duncan	...	The Market Clerk
Thayer Burton	...	The Cashier
Bill Mumy	...	Jackie Chester (as Billy Mumy)

Storyline

Rick Sheffield visits his brother and sister-in-law after a lengthy absence living in Africa. His nephew Jackie unpacks his suitcase and finds a revolver. Jackie and his friends are always playing with their toy guns and Jackie goes around town, pointing the gun and pulling the trigger, oblivious to the fact that there is a live round in the chamber. When his parents and uncle realize he has the gun, they set off on a frantic search but not before he fires at someone.

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Plot Keywords:

classic episode

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 October 1961 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Revue Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shamley Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was one of 17 episodes directed by Alfred Hitchcock himself. Bill Mumy, who was about age 7 when the episode was filmed, related in an interview that he had trouble hitting his mark so that he stayed within the key lighting on the set. According to Mumy, Hitchcock became so frustrated that he took Mumy aside and quietly said words to the effect of, "If you can't stay in your proper place on the set, we'll get a nail and put it through your foot, and blood will come pouring out like milk."

User Reviews

Best Episode of Series

Hitchcock always manages to tap into our nightmares. Here, Hitch plays out the well known tragedy where a child gets his hands on a gun.

A young boy's Uncle is visiting and tells the boy he's brought a special gift for him from Africa.

You see the boy go up to his Uncle's room, open his suitcase and take out the gun, which of course looks cooler than the toy gun he's always playing with. He also finds the bullets and loads 2 or 3 into the revolver, then puts the revolver into the toy western holster he's always wearing. Since everyone's used to seeing the boy playing with his toy gun and holster, no one notices that it's a real gun when the boy goes out to play.

Because the boy didn't fully load the revolver, Hitchcock creates more tension of the Russian Roulette kind. The boy actually pantomimes pointing the gun at someone and pulls the trigger on a empty chamber a couple of times.

While the boy is out wandering around, play acting like a cowboy, the parents and Uncle figure out what's happened and frantically call around town to locate the boy. There's a very effective scene in the supermarket where the boy's name is called out through the public address system at the very moment he's standing next to the coffee grinder and a customer grinds coffee.

No one in town is aware of how dangerous the boy is.

This excellent episode is unlike the others in the series since there is no ironic black comedy twist at the end. It's a miniature Hitchock movie where the viewer knows something awful is going to happen unless the characters can stop it in time.