"I keep getting beckoned to by ghosts.."
Director of sales at a growing company, Randolph Lane (William Windom; superb; memorable for his role in the great Star Trek episode "The Doomsday Machine") is 48 years old, but so tired and prone to booze he looks 60, understanding that his time in his current position, having worked for it for 25 years, is in jeopardy, pining for the days of old when he was far more happier than he is currently. You see, the past seems to be vividly reintroducing itself to Lane as he revisits specific events (such as the celebration at the bar when he returned from the war, a better period at his place of employment as the company was headed into plastics) that recalled better times when his wife was alive and boss more excited about his potential contributions to the company. Tim Riley's bar, his former home on 67th Avenue (along with other buildings on this street), all these places are being torn down, condemned to live no longer, the past wiped away. Tim Riley's bar symbolizes something universal, the tearing down of the old to make way for the new. Lane is the same as this condemned bar, Bert Convey's ambitious, cutthroat company climber, Harvey Doane, the shiny brand new apartment complex to replace him. The heartbreaking "fading of the past" scene where Randy tries to no avail to stop a certain night with friends and family from slowly vanishing is quite impactful because so many of us try our damnedest to hold on for dear life to those moments that we cherish and so wish would not leave us. At least the ending provides hope to Randy for a more promising future as the dumbbell is lifted by the crane of a construction crew, on its way to demolishing Tim Riley's bar and grille forever. The rich script was beautifully written by Rod Serling, although it must be said that this isn't the kind of story many will equate to a series that is supposed to be spooky or creepy. Marvelous central performance from Windom who has never been better (this is Emmy caliber work, that's for sure), so full of raw truth, his character wallowing in misery for he feels like a relic, a dinosaur at the point of extinction, someone about to be put out to pasture due to his alcoholism interfering with his work, not to mention, his deteriorating work ethic that is declining because of his longing for the past. The gorgeous Diane Baker (William Castle's Strait-Jacket) is Lane's dutiful secretary who doggedly defends him despite his worsening performance, such as late lunches and coming back drunk. Convey is slick and heartless as Doane, eyeing the prize of Lane's position. Great character actor John Randolph (this guy did all, folks) is HE Pritkin, the boss who is at his wit's end with Lane.
The second tale is about a paraplegic former decathlon athlete, Marius Davis (Jack Cassidy; father of David Cassidy), obsessed with the notion that his wife (Martine Bestwick; Hammer's Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde) is banging his physician having mastered an out of body ability somehow, planning to murder who he considers a scoundrel. This is over with pretty quickly and doesn't have a memorable bone in its body, except for Cassidy doing what he does best, playing a wealthy miser seething at the core because of his dilemma, reveling in his plan to kill the man he believes is sleeping with his wife (further relishing the idea that she will be implicated for it since he's paralyzed in the legs). "Riley" was so good, though that "The Last Laurel" never had a prayer to begin with
"Riley"
10/10//"Laurel" 5/10
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