- The town drunk in the old-west faces his past when Fate lends a hand.
- In the Old West, the drunkard Al Denton is bullied by the gunman Dan Hotaling to get some booze. The mysterious Henry J. Fate observes the humiliation and Al Denton finds a revolver on the street. When Dan sees Al Denton with a revolver in his hand, he challenges the drunk to a gunfight. Fate observes again and makes a movement with his hand that will change the life of Al Denton.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / edited by Rob
- As a young man, Al Denton was pretty handy with a gun, something that was always useful in the old west. Now, he's the town drunk. He's regularly bullied and humiliated by the town's gunslinger Dan Hoteling but when he out-guns him, he's suddenly the town hero. As he predicted however a gunslinger, Pete Grant, is coming to town to challenge him. Al decides that it's best to just run away. Hovering about throughout it all is Henry J. Fate, who describes himself as a dealer in everything. He sells Al a potion that will make him the fastest gunman in the west. Now all Al can do is wait for Grant to arrive.—garykmcd
- Opening narration:
"Portrait of a town drunk named Al Denton. This is a man who's begun his dying early--a long, agonizing route through a maze of bottles. Al Denton, who would probably give an arm or a part of his soul to have another chance, to be able to rise up and shake the dirt from his body and the bad dreams that infest his consciousness In the parlance of the times, this [Henry J. Fate] is a peddler, a rather fanciful-looking little man in a black frock coat. And this [six-gun] is the third principal character of our story. Its function: perhaps to give Mr. Al Denton his second chance."
The setting is the old west. Al Denton (Dan Duryea)--once a feared gunslinger, now the town drunk--is forced to draw against Hotaling (Martin Landau), a sadistic bully. But on that same day, Henry J. Fate (Malcolm Atterbury) rides into town. Somehow, Fate's glance gives Denton's hand a life of its own, and Denton gets off two miraculous shots, disarming his tormentor and regaining the respect of the town. His dignity renewed, he swears off liquor. But all too soon, he finds himself in the same trap that drove him to the bottle in the first place: his newly-won reputation causes a young hotshot, Pete Grant (Doug McClure), to challenge him to a duel. Denton discovers, however, that his old ability is completely gone, and in desperation he buys a potion from Fate guaranteed to give him ten seconds of deadly accuracy. The moment his opponent enters the saloon, Denton downs the potion--and sees the other man doing exactly the same thing! The two shoot the guns out of each other's hands, each sustaining an injury that will never allow him to shoot again. Denton, freed of ever having to face down another man, tells his adversary that they've both been blessed.
Closing narration:
"Mr. Henry Fate, dealer in utensils and pots and pans, liniments and potions. A fanciful little man in a black frock coat who can help a man climbing out of a pit--or another man from falling into one. Because, you see, Fate can work that way...in the Twilight Zone."
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