Spur of the Moment (The Twilight Zone)
| "Spur of the Moment" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 21 |
| Directed by | Elliot Silverstein |
| Written by | Richard Matheson |
| Featured music | composed by Rene Garriguenc, conducted by Lud Gluskin |
| Production code | 2608 |
| Original air date | February 21, 1964 |
| Guest appearances | |
| Diana Hyland: Anne Henderson Robert J. Hogan: Robert Blake Philip Ober: Mr. Henderson Marsha Hunt: Mrs. Henderson Roger Davis: David Mitchell Jack Raine: Reynolds | |
"Spur of the Moment" is episode 141 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a young woman is set upon by a mysterious and terrifying woman dressed in black just hours before her marriage. Alternating between scenes set 25 years apart, the episode explores themes of regret and the danger of yielding to passion.
Opening narration
This is the face of terror. Anne Marie Henderson, 18 years of age, her young existence suddenly marred by a savage and wholly unanticipated pursuit by a strange, nightmarish figure of a woman in black, who has appeared as if from nowhere and now, at driving gallop, chases the terrified girl across the countryside, as if she means to ride her down and kill her, and then suddenly and inexplicably stops to watch in malignant silence as her prey takes flight. Miss Henderson has no idea whatever as to the motive for this pursuit. Worse, not the vaguest notion regarding the identity of her pursuer. Soon enough, she will be given the solution to this twofold mystery, but in a manner far beyond her present capacity to understand, a manner enigmatically bizarre in terms of time and space - which is to say, an answer from... the Twilight Zone.
Plot
On June 13, 1939, 18-year-old Anne Henderson rides a horse across her family's property. Upon a ridge, a woman on a stallion in black screams at her to stop. Anne, petrified, races toward her home with the strange woman in fast pursuit before breaking off the chase. When Anne arrives home, her parents, and her fiancé Robert, are waiting for her there. She tells them of her frightful experience and tells them she believes the woman wanted to kill her. Her parents and Robert, a respectable investment broker, calm her down and talk of the upcoming marriage. However, Anne is plainly uncomfortable with Robert, who is stiff and makes insensitive jokes.
Her former fiancé David Mitchell appears at the door. Forcing his way inside, David pleads with Anne to call off her wedding and be with him. Anne, caught between David and her father, can't bring herself to answer the question or look David in the eye. Anne's father tells David to consider her silence the answer, and then forces him to leave at gunpoint.
25 years later, Anne is a miserable alcoholic, her mother reveals that the ranch will be repossessed, and a defeated Anne doesn't care. She disparages her father, whom we learn has died, for spoiling her and never allowing her to earn anything in life. Anne asks her mother if she remembered that night, 25 years ago, when she came home terrified after riding her horse. Anne now realizes that she was pursuing her younger self on horseback, trying to warn herself not to marry the wrong man. She blames her husband for bankrupting them by mismanaging the ranch.
However, her husband is not Robert but David. During her engagement party 25 years ago, Anne ran away and eloped with David. The older Anne repulses David's drunken affections and leaves the house on horseback. She approaches the ridge line and sees her younger self down below. She again pursues the young Anne with her warning, but still is unable to catch her.
Closing narration
This is the face of terror. Anne Marie Mitchell, 43 years of age, her desolate existence once more afflicted by the hope of altering her past mistake - a hope which is unfortunately doomed to disappointment. For warnings from the future to the past must be taken in the past. Today may change tomorrow but once today is gone, tomorrow can only look back in sorrow that the warning was ignored. Said warning as of now stamped 'Not Accepted'- and stored away in the dead file, in the recording office... of the Twilight Zone.
References
- DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0
- Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0
