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The Twilight Zone
S2.E3
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Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room

  • Episode aired Oct 14, 1960
  • TV-PGTV-PG
  • 25m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Horror
Small time criminal Jackie Rhoades must face both his past and his conscience while waiting for his next assignment.Small time criminal Jackie Rhoades must face both his past and his conscience while waiting for his next assignment.Small time criminal Jackie Rhoades must face both his past and his conscience while waiting for his next assignment.
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Douglas Heyes
  • Writer
    • Rod Serling
  • Stars
    • Joe Mantell
    • William D. Gordon
    • Rod Serling(uncredited)
Top credits
  • Director
    • Douglas Heyes
  • Writer
    • Rod Serling
  • Stars
    • Joe Mantell
    • William D. Gordon
    • Rod Serling(uncredited)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 27User reviews
    • 2Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos17

    William D. Gordon in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    William D. Gordon and Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Rod Serling in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    Joe Mantell in The Twilight Zone (1959)
    William D. Gordon in The Twilight Zone (1959)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Joe Mantell
    Joe Mantell
    • Jackie Rhoadesas Jackie Rhoades…
    William D. Gordon
    William D. Gordon
    • Georgeas George
    Rod Serling
    Rod Serling
    • Narratoras Narrator
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    • Director
      • Douglas Heyes
    • Writer
      • Rod Serling
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Long before Taxi Driver (1976) or even Dirty Harry (1971), the Jackie Rhoades character - as he looks a mirror - is the first to deliver the famous lines "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?".
    • Goofs
      The main character's reflection in a mirror has come to life and much of the episode is a confrontation between the character and his reflection - although they made an effort to reverse the image (the reflection wears his watch on the opposite hand and he bites his fingernails with the opposite hand) they forgot to reverse the buttons on his shirt.
    • Quotes

      Narrator: [Opening Narration] This is Mr. Jackie Rhoades, age thirty-four, and where some men leave a mark of their lives as a record of their fragmentary existence on Earth, this man leaves a blot, a dirty, discolored blemish to document a cheap and undistinguished sojourn amongst his betters. What you're about to watch in this room is a strange and mortal combat between a man and himself, for in just a moment, Mr. Jackie Rhoades, whose life has been given over to fighting adversaries, will find his most formidable opponent in a cheap hotel room that is in reality the outskirts of The Twilight Zone.

    • Connections
      Featured in Atop the Fourth Wall: Twilight Zone #9 (2011)
    • Soundtracks
      Twilight Zone Theme
      (theme song)

      Composed by Marius Constant

      (seasons 2-5)

    User reviews27

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    Very nice atmosphere...
    While Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room is not exactly one of the most interesting episodes I've seen of the show, the stifling atmosphere of the tiny room comes across very well. I almost felt claustrophobic at parts of it, not the least reason for which is the heat that accompanies the tight space. Joe Mantell stars as Jackie Rhoades, a small time crook who is hoping for one big score to get him out of his pathetic life, only to discover that the job, the details of which he spends the first half of the episode waiting for, involve committing a payback murder, a huge crime which he doesn't feel prepared to do.

    Unfortunately, he is forced to commit the murder under penalty of being killed himself. What follows is a battle of two sides of his mind, talking to each other through a magic mirror of sorts, in which the strong half (in the mirror) berates him about the life he could have had, had he been smarter and been able to stand up for himself. The effect of having a fake mirror is pulled off remarkably well, with the only real IMDb goof being the laughable claim that the buttons on his shirt weren't reversed. Come on people, quit with the ridiculous details.

    The performances, all two of them, are great and, while it's not the most deep and meaningful message I've seen in the series, it makes a good point about doing the right thing in the face of difficult circumstances and, maybe most of all, not taking any crap from crappy people. Not bad.
    helpful•32
    0
    • Anonymous_Maxine
    • Jun 25, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 14, 1960 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Cayuga Productions
      • CBS Television Network
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      25 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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