Patrick Perot and Matt Stokes go through the fifth episode of The Twilight Zone: “Walking Distance.”

Gig Young plays Martin Sloan, who’s just sick of it all. Sick of his successful career as an unspecific 1950s business dad. Sick of all the phone calls. Sick of the hustle and bustle of the big city. Wouldn’t it be great if he could just step back in time, back to his lovely 1930s childhood when he was hanging out at the merry-go-round and the bandstand, and everything was fine with the world? He just might get more than he bargained for…

“Walking Distance” is one of the most acclaimed episodes of the series, and we have a lot of fun with it, but we find it actually leaves us a little flat, especially when future Twilight Zone episodes will execute much stronger versions of this story. Still, it’s fascinating to look back at the late ’50s and see that even then, people were nostalgic for a mythic past.

“Walking Distance” was written by Rod Serling and directed by Robert Stevens. It originally aired October 30, 1959. 

Source: “Writing for Television – Conversations with Rod Serling,” Ithaca College (1972) – https://youtu.be/UzyGwK48wsY  

Music credit: “Something Is Coming” by Rural Route Nine. listen on Spotify ( https://bit.ly/3QzvDQE) , Apple Music ( https://bit.ly/3DaYsQl ), or YouTube ( https://youtu.be/EErrn2Zt9mA ). 

Listen to Matt’s movie podcast, Load Bearing Beams. New episodes out every Friday, a deep-dive into a different movie every week. Listen on Apple Podcast ( https://bit.ly/45fA9IW ), Spotify ( https://bit.ly/3tk7FAr ), or YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeamspod ). 

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