Lloyd Bridges' eponymously titled TV series doesn't hold up very well, though I recall enjoying it back in first-run. This well-meaning episode is too obvious in theme and treatment, routinely directed by John Cassavetes.
Bridges is musing at a Civil War exhibit, preparing a magazine story when a young kid inspires him to take up the theme of "a time to rest". He daydreams the content of this episode, casting himself as a Johnny Reb who calls a brief truce with the Union soldiers opposite, in order to retrieve their dead and wounded.
This is a very common gimmick, used in many films (often about World War I) to demonstrate the underlying humanity of enemies even in such strained times of war. Writer Mort Lewis, who later returned to the genre for an episode of "Combat", adds little to the theme.
SPOILERS ALERT: Royal Dano is the Yankee with a beautiful pair of boots, which stimulate the senses of Jonas (Gene Darfler, in a horrendously overacted performance). Basically, the rebs & northerners are practically bonding until Jonas breaks ranks over night, sneaks across enemy lines and kills Dano to steal his boots.
Of course all hell breaks loose and everyone's back to killing each other madly as a result. Chief casualty is the star's own son Beau Bridges, not too impressive either as a wide-eyed and eager yank.
Jonas has a Pyrrhic victory, when he discovers the treasured boots actually have huge holes in the soles, and before the daydream ends Lewis makes a corny plea, mouthed by Lloyd, as to "we gotta know what we're fighting for; it's gotta be important".
Along the way we get to see a decent cast including John Dierkes and Lawrence Tierney, and Cassavetes regulars John Marley, Seymour Cassel and Maurice McEndree are along for the ride. I was surprised to see that Darfler, after his lousy performance in the key role here, was accorded another acting assignment in Cassavetes' breakthrough film FACES.
Bridges is musing at a Civil War exhibit, preparing a magazine story when a young kid inspires him to take up the theme of "a time to rest". He daydreams the content of this episode, casting himself as a Johnny Reb who calls a brief truce with the Union soldiers opposite, in order to retrieve their dead and wounded.
This is a very common gimmick, used in many films (often about World War I) to demonstrate the underlying humanity of enemies even in such strained times of war. Writer Mort Lewis, who later returned to the genre for an episode of "Combat", adds little to the theme.
SPOILERS ALERT: Royal Dano is the Yankee with a beautiful pair of boots, which stimulate the senses of Jonas (Gene Darfler, in a horrendously overacted performance). Basically, the rebs & northerners are practically bonding until Jonas breaks ranks over night, sneaks across enemy lines and kills Dano to steal his boots.
Of course all hell breaks loose and everyone's back to killing each other madly as a result. Chief casualty is the star's own son Beau Bridges, not too impressive either as a wide-eyed and eager yank.
Jonas has a Pyrrhic victory, when he discovers the treasured boots actually have huge holes in the soles, and before the daydream ends Lewis makes a corny plea, mouthed by Lloyd, as to "we gotta know what we're fighting for; it's gotta be important".
Along the way we get to see a decent cast including John Dierkes and Lawrence Tierney, and Cassavetes regulars John Marley, Seymour Cassel and Maurice McEndree are along for the ride. I was surprised to see that Darfler, after his lousy performance in the key role here, was accorded another acting assignment in Cassavetes' breakthrough film FACES.
