{"id":92549,"date":"2020-09-01T02:30:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T07:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=92549"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:42:43","slug":"ringside-report-the-twilight-zone-review-the-four-of-us-are-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=92549","title":{"rendered":"Ringside Report The Twilight Zone Review: The Four of Us Are Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=92549\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=92549\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-92550 size-medium\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/MV5BMjAwMWQ0NTktYTEwYy00OWExLWI2YjUtN2M4NDMzZDc4ZDhjL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDgyNjA5MA@@._V1_-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/MV5BMjAwMWQ0NTktYTEwYy00OWExLWI2YjUtN2M4NDMzZDc4ZDhjL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDgyNjA5MA@@._V1_-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/MV5BMjAwMWQ0NTktYTEwYy00OWExLWI2YjUtN2M4NDMzZDc4ZDhjL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDgyNjA5MA@@._V1_.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>By William Kozy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In my ongoing survey in which over 3,000 writers and Facebook fans of the original Twilight Zone series responded to the question, \u201cWhat is your favorite episode of the original Twilight Zone series?\u201d this episode is amongst the few that deserved much better than the low ranking it received due to few votes. Tied for 152nd place out of 156 is \u201cThe Four of Us Are Dying.\u201d It\u2019s not a classic episode among the likes of \u201cTime Enough At Last\u201d or \u201cTo Serve Man\u201d, but it\u2019s worlds better than clunkers like \u201cThe Whole Truth\u201d, \u201cMute\u201d, \u201cFrom Agnes\u2014With Love\u201d and others near the bottom along with it.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>This episode has a lot going for it. It\u2019s got a very creative shooting style despite it\u2019s low-budget; there\u2019s a semi-surreal approach to the set decorating with all the neon signs suspended seemingly in mid-air, and Dutch angles. And the direction and cinematography pulls off some very nicely executed low budget effects using well-choreographed blocking and camera movement and framing.<\/p>\n<p>The writing has a good hard boiled quality, and all the cast members play their roles with a terrific subdued professionalism befittingly the dark underbelly nature of the milieu. A man named Arch Hammer checks into a flea bag hotel, and as he shaves in the mirror, the camera tracks little details, leaving the mirror momentarily only to return to it to find that Hammer\u2019s face has changed. It\u2019s a clever bit of timing for the actors and camera operators.<\/p>\n<p><em><b>Opening monologue: <\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p>His name is Arch Hammer, he&#8217;s 36 years old. He&#8217;s been a salesman, a dispatcher, a truck driver, a con man, a bookie, and a part-time bartender. This is a cheap man, a nickel-and-dime man, with a cheapness that goes past the suit and the shirt; a cheapness of mind, a cheapness of taste, a tawdry little shine on the seat of his conscience, and a dark-room squint at a world whose sunlight has never gotten through to him. But Mr. Hammer has a talent, discovered at a very early age. This much he does have. He can make his face change. He can twitch a muscle, move a jaw, concentrate on the cast of his eyes, and he can change his face. He can change it into anything he wants. Mr. Archie Hammer, jack-of-all-trades, has just checked in at three-eighty a night, with two bags, some newspaper clippings, a most odd talent, and a master plan to destroy some lives.<\/p>\n<p>Arch visits a cocktail lounge where Mag is singing the blues and playing the piano. She\u2019s played by Beverly Garland, in yet another fetching performance among a TZ pantheon of lovely actresses. After checking out the obituary picture of musician Johnny Foster, Arch changes his face to match it, and pretends to be Johnny as he surprises Mag who is shocked but over the moon to see him alive. Arch\/Johnny sweet talks her and she is falling for it head over heels. We feel so bad for her being taken in\u2014this man with so many faces unfortunately has no soul.<\/p>\n<p>After making plans with Mag to run away, Arch leaves the club, and sets his next plan in motion. To impersonate a gangster named Virgil Sterig who was shot and left to die in a river. When he shows up at the gangster\u2019s apartment who betrayed him, the scene is chock full of film noir tough talk as he confronts Mr. Penell who tries his best to convince Virgil that he\u2019s happy to see him alive. But anyone can see through Penell\u2019s sweaty, panicked state. Virgil takes his not just his cut of the money, he takes all of it, claiming interest for getting three bullets in the belly and being left face down in a cold river. As he takes his leave, two goons enter the room, so he races past him and out of the building as the goons pursue him. He finds himself trapped in a dead end alley and now it\u2019s his turn to panic as he has trouble thinking of a face to assume. Back up against the hard brick wall, Arch\/Virgil sees a dilapidated poster of a boxing match promoting a fighter. Virgil concentrates hard and quick on the face, and presto, he\u2019s got it. The thugs catch up to him and they\u2019re taken aback by this unexpected character asking them, \u201cWhat did I do? Why are you guys trying to finger me? I mean what goes? I didn\u2019t do nothing to you guys.\u201d The henchmen walk away, and Arch gives a relieved chuckle. In true Hitchcockian fashion we have been duped into feeling a relief of the suspense over whether this creep gets caught.<\/p>\n<p>This new character walks out of the alley and by incredible coincidence is seen by a newspaper stand right there, being run by\u2026.his own father. This poor old man reveals that Arch\u2019s new persona is Andy Marshak, a man who was his son. That is, he used to be his son until \u201cyou ran out. You were before you broke your mother\u2019s hear, before you did dirt to a sweet, decent little girl who would\u2019ve cut off an arm for you. But now you ain\u2019t my son. Now you ain\u2019t nothing to me. You\u2019re nothing. I hate your guts. Do you hear me? I hate your guts.\u201d Arch\/Andy has heard enough\u2014the father\u2019s words seem to have stung even though they were misdirected at this man. Did Arch perhaps also have a past history filled with betrayals due to his inability to manage his power ethically?<\/p>\n<p>The father grabs Andy before he could walk away, and scolds him in a near maniacal way, filled with rage and hurt. Andy pushes the old man away from him causing him to fall to the curb, still crying out, \u201cLook at the monster!\u201d and then dissolving into tears with his surrendering to the tragedy of his life: \u201cLook at\u2026my son.\u201d It\u2019s a very good scene for actor Peter Brocco who Steven Spielberg recruited for the Twilight Zone Movie in his 1982 reboot of the \u201cKick the Can\u201d episode.<\/p>\n<p>Arch\/Andy is now back in his hotel room, packing up quickly when he hears someone fiddling with the door lock. He hides behind the door as it opens. Does Arch have the boxing skills of Andy? I would assume not\u2014it would be a different kind of power to be able to have the brain of the person whose face he\u2019s stolen. Which leads one to imagine a host of questions, should one choose to go down that path when watching an episode with a high-concept premise such as this one. One should wonder for instance, \u201cWell, okay he has the power to look like anyone, but how then is he able to have the voice of that person also, to fool people (like Mag)?\u201d And although they tried in the casting process to cast four actors with close to the same physique, they\u2019re off by a bit: Harry Townes (Arch) is 5\u20199 \u00bd\u201d, Ross Martin (Johnny) was 5\u201911\u201d, Phillip Pine (Virge) was 6\u20191\u201d, and Don Gordon (Andy) is 5\u20198\u201d. But hey, if Arch has the power to reshape physical flesh, then maybe he can raise his height or lower it\u2014sounds reasonable doesn\u2019t it? But the voice thing\u2026hmmm, how would he even know how to reshape his vocal chords to match his new identities? I ask too many questions.<\/p>\n<p>Back to the story. The man entering the hotel room is a detective and Arch\/Andy has reverted back to normal Arch. The detective arrests Arch, telling him \u201cYou\u2019re down for a bunko ramp Hammer, I got to put you on the book. You can make two calls when you get to the station.\u201d A bunko rap is for gambling. This detective was able to get a warrant (I assume\u2014the hotel manager handed over the key?)\u2026a warrant for a gambling rap for a place way far away (Detroit, Michigan)? Must\u2019ve been a helluva gambling rap.<\/p>\n<p>Townes goes to the closet to get his jacket, whereupon the detective pulls his gun to make sure everything\u2019s on the up and up. This provides another of several scenes where the tension is nicely constructed as we await Arch to turn around and see what face he has on. But in this moment, he turns around and he\u2019s still Townes\u2014a sensible choice because there was hardly any chance he could get away with any sort of trickery in a small hotel room like this one. Wisely, he waits for his chance when he and the detective get to the lobby and leave through a revolving door. Townes pulls the old fake-leave-and-come-back-inside-thru-the-revolving-door-and-change-your-face-and-reemerge-outside-the revolving-door trick. The detective grabs the man but now it\u2019s And Marshak again. \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d says the detective, \u201cDid you see a guy come out of there?\u201d \u201cNo\u201d, says Marshak, and the detective runs back inside.<\/p>\n<p>Arck\/Marshak lights up a cigarette and starts off anew, but pulls up short when he runs into his father again\u2026but this time Dad has a gun. And it\u2019s pointed at his own son. \u201cYou got such a debt Andy\u201d he tells his son. \u201cYou owe for so many years, you owe for so many things. And now you pay off, son.\u201d It\u2019s a nicely ironic bit of business that the father is right o course, but in ways and for reasons he has no idea about. Arch\/Andy tells old man Marshak that he\u2019ll show him he\u2019s wrong, but he\u2019s \u201cjust got to concentrate\u201d; frustrated with his inability to change faces while under intense pressure, he takes too long, and his father shoots him. Marshak falls to the pavement, and we see a close-up montage of his face as it morphs from one character to the next as he dies.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Closing monologue: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>He was Arch Hammer, a cheap little man who just checked in. He was Johnny Foster, who played a trumpet and was loved beyond words. He was Virgil Sterig, with money in his pocket. He was Andy Marshak, who got some of his agony back on a sidewalk in front of a cheap hotel. Hammer, Foster, Sterig, Marshak-and all four of them were dying.<\/p>\n<p>A well-directed episode by John Brahm. The camera tilts up at the end and reveals what seems to me to be the New York City skyline. Aha, so that\u2019s where this story takes place,<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>I rate this episode a 6.5.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stanley Livingston 360 Conversation: My Three Sons, The Business Of Hollywood, Donald Trump &amp; More\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0e1M3MTmrAQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-126533\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-126533\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"126533\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F92549\" data-token=\"3bbb734743550f5f8bc9dfa4b01e74ce\" data-token-time=\"1779077325\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\">\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" >Comment Email or<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><div class=\"wpforms-field-row wpforms-field-medium\"><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-first wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-first wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][first]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">First<\/label><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-last wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][last]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">Last<\/label><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\">Comment or Message<\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" ><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-126533-field_4-container { position: absolute !important; 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