Come Wander with Me

Gary Crosby stars as Floyd Burney, the "Rock-A-Billy Kid", a traveling singer-songwriter who also likes to buy unknown songs for his profit. This takes him to some rural backwoods, where he hears a haunting ballad sung by Mary Rachel(played by Bonnie Beecher) who falls in love with him, but is powerless to change his preordained fate, as it seems Floyd is destined to live the song he wants to buy... Last produced episode of the series(though two more would air after it) is a misfire; though it does have a spooky aura about it, it also has little point or interest. Crosby's performance is sincere but coarse.

Still should have been aired last however...

Gary Crosby stars in this haunting Twilight Zone episode about a rockabilly folk singer looking for some new material. His quest takes him into the real piney woods of the Appalachins where he meets up with a strange young girl played by Bonnie Beecher.

Bonnie's got a song all right something like Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley and she sings the song which tells a story to Crosby. Gary likes it all right, but pretty soon he becomes part of the story and it's clear he'll not be getting back to American Bandstand any time soon.

Gary who did trash his father in that infamous memoir did in fact have a pretty good career as a character actor which continued even after Bing died. He's pretty good here in a role that showed him to best advantage. Beecher's a haunting young thing as well.

A nicely done story at almost the tail end of the Twilight Zone series run.

This is a decent ghost story. Gary Crosby, the forgotten son of Bing Crosby, is in quest of a folk song. Somehow he has been given directions to a music store in the woods. He parks his car, proceeds on foot, and find himself in the presence of an old man who us utterly uncommunicative. Apparently, this guy is a rockabilly star and normally gets what he wants. He is verbally abusive to those around him and driven to feather his nest. He throws money on the counter and grabs an old guitar, heading for the woods. While there, he hears someone singing a beautiful song. Sensing someone behind him, he turns and sees a pretty young woman in a sort of peasant dress. She teaches him her song which begins to parallel his activities, though he is too dense to catch the drift. She warns him that she is taken, but he misunderstands. He gets romantic with her but only because he feels he can get the rights to her song. She lets him know that the only way this will happen is if he promises to love her and take care of her. And, naturally, there is a guy who is bound to show up and he isn't going to be happy. The strength of this episode is in the beautiful melody that evolves as the story does, Crosby's selfish, obnoxious character, and an oppressive setting that the bewildered rocker can't figure out. Things get a little predictable at the conclusion and the slang is really dated now, but it's a pretty tight little story.

Come Wander with Me definitely feels like Twilight Zone material. A lot of Rod Serling's favorite plot devices are put to use here, in a story he did not pen. Ultimately it's all a lot of gibberish about time loops, and the hero not understanding something vital to somebody else, which is his tragic flaw that ultimately destroys him, yaddah yaddah yaddah. There are a few creepy moments, however, such as when the lyrics on the tape recorder spontaneously change to reflect the situation, and the song keeps playing after the recorder is broken. The music is appropriately haunting, as the previous users mentioned, and the atmosphere works out decently enough. Still, a worthy episode.

This is a story about a man and a woman bound to their song of love. The top review calls it a lot of "Gibberish about time loops" and there being morals to it or whatever, but I haven't seen that to be the point of this episode. As an episode not written by Serling, shows a bit more interest in suspenseful and creepy atmosphere, instead of a deeper meaning. I say, don't be bugged by its core message and the fact that it doesn't make all that much sense at first, just sit back, and enjoy the story, the atmosphere, and most of all the song.