Mr. Denton on Doomsday stars Dan Duryea, Martin Landau, Malcolm Atterbury, and Jeanne Cooper.\u00a0 I know Martin from quite a few things, but most notable from Rounders as Abe Petrovsky and as Bela Lugosi in \u201cEd Wood\u201d.\u00a0 Dan seemed to do a lot of TV shows for that era, your typical Westerns and was also in Flight of the Phoenix. Malcolm was in Hitchcock\u2019s The Birds.\u00a0 Jeanne played Catherine Chancellor on the Young and the Restless for over 1300 episodes and also did a horror film with Bill Moseley and Corbin Bernson called \u201cDead Air\u2019 and I am fairly certain that I have seen that before.\u00a0 It was a much less cool version of Pontypool. I can still remember the first time that I saw this episode. I had started to enjoy this series in college and I had gone to my friend, Bitty\u2019s house, for a party, In the morning, I found this on and watched it while the hangover was funky fresh in my head, but I truly enjoyed the episode.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portrait of a town drunk named Al Denton. This is a man who’s begun his dying early – a long, agonizing route through a maze of bottles. Al Denton, who would probably give an arm or a leg or a part of his soul to have another chance, to be able to rise up and shake the dirt from his body and the bad dreams that infest his consciousness. [Shot of Henry J. Fate] In the parlance of the times, this is a peddler, a rather fanciful-looking little man in a black, frock coat. [a six-gun materializes beside Denton] And this is the third principal character of our story. Its function: perhaps to give Mr. Al Denton his second chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We start off in a \u201cWestern\u201d setting with the bad guy in black, Dan Hotaling,\u00a0 pouring booze on Mr. Al Denton and telling him to pay for more booze by singing his song, \u201cHow Dry I Am\u201d.\u00a0 Charlie, the bartender, and Liz, the waitress, are not at all happy seeing this happen. Dan breaks the bottle and Denton goes to the ground to get as much of it as he can.\u00a0 Denton now has his 6 shooter and Mr. Fate is looking on. Fate is a peddler who deals in tonics and whatnot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liz checks on Denton, and she remembers that he used to be great with a gun.\u00a0 He hasn\u2019t held a gun in so long, he\u2019s forgotten, plus the booze helps. She asks why he drinks so much, but he really doesn\u2019t even know anymore.\u00a0 Here is Dan asking Denton to sing more for another drink. Denton starts singing and it\u2019s just like the most pathetic thing you\u2019ve ever seen. Dan notices the gun and suggests that Denton could even outdraw Dan.\u00a0 Dan continues to antagonize the situation. Dan says that he will do it left-handed. Denton asks Liz to help him and he accidentally fires the gun at Dan\u2019s hand. Everybody is super proud and happy with Denton, except for Dan.\u00a0 Dan ain\u2019t letting this one go. Mr. Fate watches all of this and Denton shoots the chandelier down onto Dan. One of the impressed guys asks to buy Mr. Denton a drink, and Denton is so excited to be called Mister again. Denton says that he\u2019s finally had enough.\u00a0 Time to go out and get a shave instead. He walks up to Dan and backhands him and tells him not to call him Rummy anymore. That was the hoss-est move he could\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Charlie said that Denton used to be the best around and that every day, someone would ride into town to challenge him.\u00a0 But he shot a 16-year-old and that really got Denton down his drinking path. Denton wants that shave so he can look proper on the day that he dies.\u00a0 Fate is still looking on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Denton cleaned up really nicely.\u00a0 2 guys show up at Denton\u2019s and tell him that Pete Grant is challenging him at the saloon.\u00a0 Denton doesn\u2019t seem interested but accepts. You finally get your act together, and now just get right back in the game.\u00a0 Crazy! We see Denton practice shooting. I wish there was a sweet 80\u2019s style montage to this. He\u2019s not very good.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Denton strolls over to Fate.\u00a0 Fate has all kinds of goodies, including farm equipment and potions.\u00a0 Fate tells Denton not to run away. Denton curses his gun, but Fate suggests not to.\u00a0 Fate offers Denton an elixir. For 10 seconds, Denton can hit anything he aims at accurately.\u00a0 Denton downs it and Fate tells him to shoot at a lantern and he hit is spot on. He gives him another bottle.\u00a0 Fate won\u2019t charge Denton because he considers it a service. Maybe Denton will remember the night that Fate stepped in.\u00a0 Such a good and cheesy line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everybody is waiting at the saloon.\u00a0 Charlie offers Denton and the Doc a drink but they both refuse.\u00a0 Grant has made his way to the saloon. The mood is tense. Grant is a young-looking dude, early 20\u2019s I\u2019d guess.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to have the showdown for supremacy. Denton drinks his potion, so does Grant. Both are startled seeing this.\u00a0 But they both insist on going through with it. They shoot each other in their shooting hands. No blood, naturally. The doc checks on both of them.\u00a0 Neither will be shooting again for the rest of their lives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Denton approaches Grant and says that they are both blessed because neither can shoot again in anger.\u00a0 Fate gives a knowing look to Grant. Denton comes outside as Fate is leaving and Fate gives a happy nod to Denton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Henry Fate, dealer in utensils and pots and pans, liniments and potions. A fanciful little man in a black, frock coat, who can help a man climbing out of a pit – or another man from falling into one. Because, you see, Fate can work that way – in The Twilight Zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t necessarily know if there is a moral to this story.\u00a0 Denton starts off as a drunk, gets his groove back, immediately accepts a duel, and then ties while losing the ability to shoot again.\u00a0 Obviously, Fate stepped in to prevent the cycle from repeating. It\u2019s one of those stories that is simply well told, and that is all I care about.\u00a0 I thought that the acting was solid all around, considering what they were going for. I don\u2019t know if this is supposed to be a happy ending, but I walked away happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Final Rating:\u00a0 6.9<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mr. Denton on Doomsday stars Dan Duryea, Martin Landau, Malcolm Atterbury, and Jeanne Cooper.\u00a0 I know Martin from quite a few things, but most notable from Rounders as Abe Petrovsky and as Bela Lugosi in \u201cEd Wood\u201d.\u00a0 Dan seemed to do a lot of TV shows for that era, your typical Westerns and was also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[837,5,831],"tags":[845,846,847,848,849,832,844],"class_list":["post-16898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-season-1","category-television","category-twilight-zone","tag-dan-duryea","tag-jeanne-cooper","tag-malcom-atterbury","tag-martin-landau","tag-mr-denton-on-doomsday","tag-the-twilight-zone","tag-twilight-zone"],"yoast_head":"\n