You Drive

"You Drive"
The Twilight Zone episode
Episode no. Season 5
Episode 14
Directed by John Brahm
Written by Earl Hamner Jr.
Featured music Stock created by Jerry Goldsmith
Production code 2625
Original air date January 3, 1964
Guest appearance(s)

"You Drive" is episode 134 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on January 3, 1964, on CBS. In this episode, the perpetrator of a fatal hit-and-run is hounded by the car he committed the crime with.

Opening narration

Plot

Oliver ("Ollie") Pope is an office manager who is in a hurry. The nervous and distracted man's mind is not on his driving, and as a result, he slams his 1956 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan into Timmy Danbers, a young boy delivering newspapers on a bicycle, injuring him seriously enough that the boy eventually dies of his injuries. Pope stops, but then, instead of offering aid, hurries off, trying to conceal his part in the accident. His wife Lillian and his co-workers notice that he is increasingly irritable. A co-worker named Pete Radcliff is inaccurately identified by a witness and Pope does everything to foment that erroneous suspicion.

Before long, Pope's car seems to take on a mind of its own. The Fairlane itself rebels against its owner: at first, when Ollie Pope is near the car, it honks its horn, flashes its lights, attempts to start on its own, drops its bumper, tries to close its hood on him, and repeats the radio newsflash of the boy's death in an attempt to get Ollie's attention. Then, while his wife is driving the car, it drives to the scene of the accident and stalls out, seemingly determined to get Pope to admit his guilt.

Eventually as Pope starts walking to work so the car is not seen by police, the car leaves Pope's garage on its own, chases him down the street in a rain storm and seems to be about to run him down. It stops just before doing this and the passenger door opens; Pope gets in and the Fairlane then drives him to the police station, where he walks in to confess.

Closing narration

Cast

  • Edward Andrews as Oliver Pope
  • Helen Westcott as Lillian Pope
  • Kevin Hagen as Pete Radcliff
  • Totty Ames as Muriel Hastings
  • Michael Gorfain as Timmy Danbers, newspaper boy
  • John Hanek as Policeman
  • Robert McCord as Passerby

Production notes

External shots (involving the car) of Pope's home and the park were filmed in a Culver City, California, neighborhood. The house that served as Pope's home still stands at 4183 Keystone Avenue (the address appears on an exterior shot in the episode) and the nearby park where the accident took place is the Dr. Paul Carlson Memorial Park. It is located a few blocks from the Sony Pictures (formerly MGM) lot. The scenes where Pope is chased by his car were filmed on Jasmine Avenue. The home at 4262 (as shown in the episode) has since been replaced. However, the adjoining yard that he runs through (and house) are still there and readily identifiable.

Edward Andrews refused to appear in the scene where Oliver Pope is almost run over by his car. His stand-in was actually "pinned" underneath the front tire.

When Mrs. Pope calls the tow truck operator from a phone booth, she says her car is at the intersection of 3rd and Park. When Mr. Pope hears the late news report from his car radio, the newscaster says the accident took place at 3rd and Elm.

References

    Sources

    • 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
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.