One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

 

After robbing a Mexican bank, Dad Longworth takes the loot and leaves his partner Rio to be captured but Rio escapes and searches for Dad in California. 

Superior Western offers a psychologically complex revenge story with great performances and beautiful cinematography,  but is not always coherent in its characterizations, and the romance is not quite convincing.

Halliwell  (no star): "Grossly self-indulgent Western controlled (unwisely) by its star, full of solemn pauses and bouts of violence." 

Maltin***: "Fascinating but flawed psychological Western...Visually striking, and a rich character study, but overlong."

The Twilight Zone: Mr. Dingle, the Strong (1961)

Patterns (1956)

 

When Fred Staples is recruited onto the board of a high-powered New York corporation, he finds his ethics and ambition at odds. 

Electrifying business drama based on an excellent Rod Serling play convinces with its intensity and high-class performances.

Halliwell***: "Tense little boardroom melodrama with domestics asides, one of the best of the filmed TV plays of the mid-fifties."

Maltin***1/2: "Trenchant, masterfully acted drama of greed and abuse of power in corporate America..."  

The Twilight Zone: Time Enough at Last (1959)

A henpecked book lover finds himself blissfully alone with his books after a nuclear war.

A good story with a great  Burgess Meredith unfortunately ends a bit as a bad joke.

The Twilight Zone: The Lonely (1959)

A convict, living alone on an asteroid, receives from the police a realistic woman-robot.

Quite original sci-fi episode of the series shocks with a rather cynical, devastating twist ending.

The Twilight Zone: Escape Clause (1959)

A hypochondriac man sells his soul to the devil, exchanging it for several thousand years of immortality.

Cleverly told Faustian tale with a sinisterly good twist ending.

The Twilight Zone: The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine (1959)

A faded film star who lives in the past by constantly re-watching her old movies instead of moving on with her life, so her associates try to lure her out of her self-imposed isolation.

Lightweight variation on Sunset Boulevard, nicely staged and with a good performance by Ida Lupino, but quite harmless.

The Twilight Zone: Mr. Denton on Doomsday (1959)

The town drunk in the old-west faces his past when Fate lends a hand.

Nicely staged Western story would have worked just as well without supernatural interference.

The Twilight Zone: One For the Angels (1959)

A pitchman is visited by Death and is forced to get his priorities in order.

Good, heart-warming episode manages to turn a story about fate and death into an uplifting tale.

The Twilight Zone: Where Is Everybody? (1959)

A man finds himself alone in a small Oakwood town and without recollection about his name, where he is or who he is, so he wanders through the town trying to find a living soul.

A good entry into the classic series: a simple mysterious premise is competently set into suspense despite this being a one-man show and offers a surprising twist ending.

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963)

A man, newly recovered from a nervous breakdown, becomes convinced that a monster only he sees is damaging the plane he's flying in.

Arguably one of the series' best episodes: weird, suspenseful, with a macabre touch of humour and a hilariously great performance by William Shatner.