Which version of "Nightmare at Twenty Thousand Feet" do you prefer?
Shatner's or Lithgow's?
shareShatner of course!! Lithgow is too campy for me.
share
MovieChat Forums > The Twilight Zone (1959) Discussion > Which version of "Nightmare at Twen...
I like both!
Shatner, frightening
Lithgow, funny!
Lithgow.
Shatner has always come across as too pompous and superficial.
I agree. Shatner's character comes across as more of an arrogant jerk than Lithgow's because real-life Shatner seeps into this role (as frankly it seeps into almost everything Shatner does -- though it can make for hilariously fun entertainment).
The fact though that Shatner's character has just recovered from a mental breakdown gives the episode at the outset an added dimension the remake sorely lacks.
Shatner's. The camp may have been unintentional, but I liked it all the same.
shareI like lithglows as it had great pace, suspense and the monster was more frightening. The scratch marks on the plane at the end was a nice touch as he wasn't crazy and a true hero.
share While I don't expect realism from "The Twilight Zone" I would have liked the original more if when Bob Wilson released the emergency door the cabin depressurized. George Miller depicting the utter chaos that ensues when the Lithgow character shoots out the window to get to the gremlin really added an extra layer of suspense the original was without.
Still, both versions are great and probably equal in my estimation.
I agree with you too that the monster in the remake was more frightening. But that was mostly due to Miller confining him to the shadows as oppose to the bear in the original who we see pretty clearly throughout.
Good point angular. It felt real instead of an hour in the other known known as the twilight zone.
I love how it's placed in lightning with it teaching the plane slowly reach time as if it would strike it. Reminds me of hitchrock's technique. Very effective. I think in a way it could be lightning and he did go insane or the gremlin was real.
Shatner! Why should this even be a question?
shareCan you imagine what Hitchcock could have done with this story? I would love to see a modern master of suspense -- like David Fincher -- take a crack at this one.
shareYes that would be interesting. I could see this episode being made into a movie. It would have to have more details but I think it could be good. Like your idea about David Fincher.
shareShatner's ...for the very specific reason that I remember seeing it, first run, on whatever night that was in 1963.
I was very young and my parents had allowed me to stay up to watch the show. I think they felt this episode looked to be kind of a "monster movie" type tale and in accord with what I liked to watch as a kid.
I remember vividly the creeping suspense of waiting for Shatner to pull that curtain open...it was MUCH more terrifying in that single-digit age I was back then that it is now...and then he DID...and
...I screamed and screamed. My father -- who rarely participated in these things -- laughed and screamed back at me, and then laughed again, calming me down. Then he chuckled, "I bet you wish we didn't let you watch that."
And he was right. For at least a week after viewing the episode, I approached any closed door or closed curtain with trepidation..WHO might be behind it? WHAT would happen if I opened it?
Thus did one particular episode of Twilight Zone lock in the shock for decades after.
The Lithgow version was more plush and expensive and movie-like, but not nearly the shockeroo. A matter of age...