Dead Man's Shoes

As someone born in the late 1980s I have always half heartedly loved the Twilight Zone. Looking back in time some of these episodes aged really well and some where junk. But this Episode I remember first seeing on Cable TV in the late 1990s during the XMas/New Years marathons. Even the 1980s version of Dead Woman's shoes did it justice and the 2002 version was ok. This is one of the handful of Twilight Zone Episodes that is absolutely timeless and classic!!! I really can't recommend this episode enough. Probably on the rate side even though I am now in my mid 30's that people not of this era hold it in such high regard. Watching this never gets old for me!!!

The bump Nathan 'Nate' Bledsoe is sleeping in an alley. Out of the blue, he sees a body dumped in the alley and steals his shoes and his keys. When he wears the pair of shoes of the dead man, he acquires the life of the deceased gangster. He goes to his apartment where he meets his girlfriend, Wilma. Then he looks for his clothes and weapon, and goes chasing his former partner Dagget, who killed him, seeking revenge. What will happen in this encounter?

"Dead Man's Shoes" is a great tale of revenge in "The Twilight Zone". The plot is intriguing and also funny, with the deceased gangster using a homeless guy to seek revenge. The conclusion with his promise and another homeless man finding the shoes is also funny. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sapatos de Outro Mundo" ("Shoes from Other World")

For me this one lives in the shadow of the 1985 reworking that starred Helen Mirren called 'Dead Woman's Shoes'. The original is a fair fantasy about a homeless man who takes on the personae of a dead mobster. Warren Stevens is more convincing when acting as the mobster's personality whose shoes are now literally filled by the homeless guy. The first transformation is gradual, but after meeting the dead man's girlfriend ,Wilma (Joan Marshall), the shoes cause instant changing when taken off and put back on. The fact that he doesn't look like the dead man puts him in a strong position to go out for revenge on his killer.

Average TZ, generally well carried by Stevens.

Joan Marshall played Herman's wife in the pilot episode of 'The Munsters'.

Warren Stevens stars as a hobo named Nathan Bledsoe, who one day sees a car dump a corpse in a nearby alley. He goes over to it in hopes of rifling its pockets, but instead decides to take his nice pair of shoes, which mostly fit. However, the murdered man turns out to be an underworld figure whose soul has somehow latched onto the soles of his shoes, compelling poor Nate to avenge his death by whatever means possible, no matter how long it may take... Stylish episode has a good central idea at its center. Though it isn't a total success(Who does the viewer root for after all, since they are all criminals?) this still remains an appealing effort.

That's an old saying, I believe, and I always took it to be the point of this story. The episode is a good film noir gangster picture with shoes symbolic of a grand idea that men will always have--- an idea that could have just as easily been about the need to create transportation other than a horse and so on.