CBS airs the third episode of Rod Serling’s anthology series The Twilight Zone. Dan Duryea and Martin Landau (Space: 1999) star in a script written by Serling.
Washed-up gunslinger Al Denton, once a local legend, is now a local embarrassment, wasting away at a local saloon, tortured by younger men and by his own past. Denton finds a gun on the ground, and more by accident than by design he bests a local bully, regaining the respect of those around him, enough that he decides to go sober. Before the night is out, Denton is challenged to a gunfight, and he remembers how that life is what led him to drink in the first place. The mysterious elixir peddler Mr. Fate offers help in the form of a potion that improves Denton’s aim dramatically…for a very short period. But once word spreads that Denton is back in fine form, it’s not long before he has a challenger. Can Fate help break the cycle?
written by Rod Serling
directed by Allen Reisner
music not credited
Cast: Dan Duryea (Al Denton), Martin Landau (Dan), Jeanne Cooper (Liz), Malcolm Atterbury (Henry J. Fate), Ken Lynch (Charlie), Arthur Batanides (Leader), Bill Erwin (Man), Robert Burton (Doctor), Doug McClure (Grant)
LogBook entry by Earl Green