'There's a man on the wing!'

TODAY'S RETRO-REVIEW: 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie, starring Dan Aykroyd, Vic Morrow, Albert Brooks, John Larroquette, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow and many others. Written by Rod Sterling and John Landis. Individual directors are Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller.

THE PLOT: The movie is broken into four segments -- each its own horror/sci-fi story with its own director and cast. Segment one: A bigoted businessman (Morrow) gets the tables turned on him in truly mind-bending ways. Segment two: Scatman Crothers pulls a "Cocoon" at an old-folks home (please tell me this wasn't filmed here in St. Pete). Segment three: A 10-year-old boy's evil imagination comes to life. Segment four: John Lithgow takes a plane ride he won't soon forget.

MAYBE YOU REMEMBER: A helicopter accident during filming claimed the lives of Vic Morrow and two child-actors. Lawsuits followed for a decade after the tragedy.

SURELY YOU CAN'T FORGET: John Lithgow's segment gives me nightmares every time I fly. That damn gremlin on the wing, tearing the engine apart -- chilling stuff. Lithgow's acting in this movie surpasses anything else in his career. And when the gremlin wags his finger at him and flies away, I can finally start breathing again.

THE TUNES: Very little to remember here other than "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendix during the Vietnam scene and "The Midnight Special" by Creedence Clearwater Revival during the opening and closing scenes.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID: Our favorite critic, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, gave individual reviews for each segment. He panned Spielberg's "Kick The Can" piece ("so convoluted and shadowy that the action is hard to follow...") but loved Miller's direction of Lithgow.

WHY WE LOVE IT ANYWAY: It's the little details. The reference to "Animal House" in the Vietnam segment. The cameos by Akyroyd and Brooks. And that dreaded gremlin the wing.

TOP 5 LINES FROM TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE

5. "Th-th-th-that's all, Ethel!"

4. "It's not fair! You're supposed to be happy when your wishes come true!"

3. "There's a man on the wing of this airplane!"

2. "I told you guys we shouldn't have shot Lieutenant Niedermeyer!"

1. "Hey... you wanna see something really scary?"

Comments

[Glenn S.]

The needless deaths that happened during filming will always put a damper on this movie for me.

I do like the third and fourth segments, however, so when it's on TV I usually just skip the first hour.

A little trivia; Vic Morrow was Jennifer Jason Leigh's father. Everything John Landis did after this movie was kind of tainted to me because the tragedy.

[Walter Cox]

Isn't the voice of Bart Simpson in the "freaky kid" segment?

[Bassnote]

I don't know why it's not remembering my personal info. that last post was me.

[Jeff in Cuba]

At the risk of being labeled "Stuck in the 60's", I have enormous fondness for the original Twilight Zone version of "Nightmare at 20,000 feet".

It's a great plot concept, and Lithgow does a great job in matching William Shatner's over-the-top (does Shatner have any other speeds?) performance. But I never liked George Miller's vision of the "gremlin". It was too inherently scary with the buggy eyes and pointed teeth (although I understand the gremlin had a moustache back in college that made him even scarier!)

The original version generates its terror with a doughy, overweight, seemingly oblivious antagonist (insert your own Sean Daly joke here). That's what makes it so much better, because we all feel vulnerable on a plane, even if it's Winnie-the-freaking-Pooh out on the wing.

[malibu]

Yes, Walter, Yeardly Smith is "Ethel" in the freaky kid scene. I think that segment is my favorite due to the cartoon theme music that runs throughout and is timed so well with the action.

[Scott]

It's NOT Rod Sterling, silly