Showdown with Rance McGrew

"Showdown with Rance McGrew" is another clear attempt to insert comedy into the traditional Sci-Fi/Fantasy concept of "The Twilight Zone", which is something Rod Serling already tried earlier in the third season with "Once Upon a Time". Personally, I prefer my episodes as dark and sinister as possible, and I don't like the light-headed, comical or overly moralistic ones. "Showdown with Rance McGrew" isn't an exception, although I gladly admit I had to laugh out loud a couple of times with the spoofing of typically arrogant Hollywood actors and how contemporary TV-series illustrate the supposedly "Wild" West. The spoiled and obnoxious actor Rance McGrew is a loathsome person to work with on set, but naturally considers himself to be God's gift to screen entertainment. In his films, he supposedly defeats the meanest guns of the Far West without much effort. But then, a typical TZ-occurrence takes place, and McGrew finds himself inexplicable transported back in time and faced with the real Jesse James for a little lesson in humbleness. It's a forgettable and thoroughly unremarkable entry, but - as said - good for a handful of chuckles, especially whenever McGrew hysterically calls out to his stunt double.

And also one more western scheme, where the escape in time is so easy to include. This is not the first episode with this plot; I even think that there was a ZANE GREY series episode which proposed a more or less similar story. But the moral, message here is very interesting, showing this arrogant and disgusting actor who took advantage of his lead characters to impose himself to other actors and shooting crew members. The intrusion into the TWILIGHT ZONE is so juicy, so interesting, that I am very excited by this smart scheme. So this story reunites the western, escape in time and also a very powerful morale, related with narcissism, arrogance, and above all, life, real and true life doesn't always look like the fake plot of a film. Movie reality is not necessarily the actual reality. Also funny and not gloomy, unlike so many other episodes.

Larry Blyden stars in the Twilight Zone episode playing a TV cowboy who's not a particularly nice man considering that it's those stunt men who have to take the real chances on his television series. He's hardly a successor to Roy, Hoppy, and Gene.

In the next world they're taking note of this guy and the real Jesse James makes a return to life when Blyden steps into The Twilight Zone and finds himself in the real west and not on a sound stage or Iverson's ranch for location.

Jesse James is played with a great heaping helping of sardonic humor by Arch Johnson and after showing him up for the phony he is then Johnson helps guide Blyden on a different career path.

This one is not to be missed.

I can't help feeling this thirty minutes is one, long Hollywood insider joke. The script is full of sarcastic references to pampered no-talent celebrities, their long-suffering directors, and the general make-believe of Hollywood heroics. Still, it's pretty amusing for an inside look at the artificial nature of movie-making. Larry Blyden plays Rance Mc Grew, a phony tough lead in a Western series. He can't really handle a gun nor brawl with the bad guys nor even ride a horse. And when challenged by the real life Jesse James (courtesy the TZ), what does he do? He calls his agent-- how fitting!

There were scores of such Westerns at the time (1962) which I'm sure this entry was intended to spoof. However, the TV cowboy has long since ridden into the sunset, so much of the satirical punch may be lost. Still, I think enough of the idea remains to keep viewers entertained, if, for no other reason, than the great opening sequence which tells us just about all we need to know about what follows.

This is one of my least favorite Twilight Zone episodes. I guess some of it has to do with the demise of the Western as a television staple. At the time this was made, TV was inundated with Westerns, from Bonanza to Gunsmoke and back again. In this one Rance McGrew, a phony baloney, uncooperative actor who has become a hero to his television audience, is accosted by his imaginary rivals. Mainly, the true personage of Jesse James. The silly byplay between Rance, the director, and the other persons on the set is so fifties and so outdated. The story is pretty much the dumb actor being thrown through windows and beaten up and having to change his image to a submissive. Anyway, it is dull, and because of the conclusion, there's no one to root for.