The Rip Van Winkle Caper

Mastermind Beregui leads three other crooks in gold bullion heist, planning to come back 100 years hence through use of suspended animation.

Interesting episode with several nice twists. Still and all, why would anyone risk life and limb in a gold bullion heist when he's got a blueprint for suspended animation that's easily worth millions. Oh well, this is the twilight zone. Episode benefits from Death Valley locations and expert make-up that makes mastermind Beregui's face almost crack open with thirst. Futuristic car lends authenticity to time passage; however more imagination should have gone into the futuristic humans. They look too much like suburbanites from the 1960's. Even so, it's an entertaining half-hour with a nice slice of economic wisdom included.

In 1961, a group of four experts steal US$ 1 million in golden bars and bring the treasure to a cave in the desert. Their plan is to go into suspended animation in capsules for one century and awake rich and free. When they awake, they learn the real value of the gold.

"The Rip Van Winkle Caper" is an episode of "The Twilight Zone" with an ironic tale of greed. The plot has many flaws, such as a man that develops such technology would have no need of steeling. Or how the capsule and the truck batteries kept loaded for one hundred years. Or how the fuel of the truck has not deteriorated a century later. De Cruz could have brought as many gold as he wanted. Why the need of exploring his accomplice? Anyway, the story is highly entertaining with a witty and tragic conclusion. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Um Assalto para o Futuro" ("A Heist for the Future")

Simon Oakland, Oscar Beregi, Lew Gallow, and John Mitchum play four thieves who have successfully made off with 1 Million dollars worth of gold bullion, and one of them has invented four suspended animation capsules for them to hide in for about a hundred years, where they will no longer be wanted men(So they think). The plan works, and they do wake up a century in the future, but one of them has died in an accident, and the other three learn that there is no honor among thieves... Entertaining episode despite some glaring plot holes and oddities(like why they didn't get rich from selling the suspended animation technology itself!) Still, a good cast makes a big difference.

Enjoyable caper that wont send you to sleep. Farwell (Oscar Beregi) is a scientific and criminal genius who leads of gang of four men in a bullion robbery. His masterstroke is putting himself and the gang into suspended animation for one hundred years after the heist so as to enjoy their wealth without fearing the long arm of the law.

A very pleasing tale from Rod Serling. There's a kind of cynical and eccentric nature about the gang of crooks, a little bit like in the classic British comedy 'The Lady Killers'. This lot don't trust each other but are ultimately equally stupid. I could guess the twist before the end but not right away. Nice story development, once again in Death Valley also the filming location for 'The Lonely' and 'I Shot An Arrow In The Air'.

Considering the accomplishments of the principle character, this is so idiotic. Three idiots and a scientist grab a million dollars in gold bullion and decide to take it forward in time. One of them has developed a means of putting them in suspended animation. Of course, because they are all idiots, they do the most base, stupid things imaginable, including wrecking the truck that will be used to transport the gold. Just like the guys in Von Stroheim's "Greed," the two survivors end up in a grab fest for the little water they have taken with them. These guys don't think five minutes ahead, considering they have gone a hundred years into the future. Did I mention they are a pack of idiots?