[eerie music]
(male narrator) There is a fifth dimension
Beyond that Whichis known to man.
It is a dimension As vast as space
And as timeless as infinity.
It is the middle ground Between light and shadow
Between science And superstition
And it lies between the pit Of man's fears
And the summit Of his knowledge.
This is the dimension Of imagination
It is an area Which we call The twilight zone.
[expiosion]
[gunfire and bombs]
[machine gun firing]
Keep those trucks coming!
Close it up!
I said close it up!
(male narrator) Infantry platoon, u.S. Army, Philippine islands, 1 945.
These are the faces Of the young men who fight.
As if some omniscient painter Had m ixed a tube of oils
That were at one time Earth-brown, dust-grey
Blood-red, beard-black, And fear, yellow-white.
And these men were the models.
For this is the province Of combat
And these Are the faces of war.
Evening, captai n.
Ain't it a crummy night?
Roug h?
We've got the bri dg e, Whatever they want it for.
Here you go.
Japs have got naval gu ns Stuck in the grou n d. They're zeroed in.
That bri dg e gets it Every three minutes.
[explosion]
If the gen eral wants to know Where the jap fleet is
It's dug in On the road to man I la.
Serg eant,
Who'd we lose?
Lots of wou n ded.
Maybe ten, twelve.
Four dead. [suspense music]
H I bbard, horton, Morgan and levy.
All right, serg eant, Bed them down.
Check with the mess.
Make sure they got Hot coffee and a meal.
If they're not h u ng ry, Eat anyway.
Yes, s I r.
"A" com pany, First platoon, chow down!
F itz,
S I r?
Look, I have got me a bottle Of ph I li pp in e tu pa in my tent.
Now it's not exactly Bottled in bon d
But you'd be surprised what It does to a man's outlook.
Come on.
Ch eers.
[artillery Whistling overhead]
[explosion]
Bad day, huh, f itz?
A lot of wou n ded, Four dead.
All in two And a half hours.
1 2 wou n ded, four dead.
Anything special About the fou r?
Anything special?
What do you mean?
Well, f itz, We've lost four men before.
We've lost eight and ten.
You seem to be taking this A little harder than usual.
I just won dered If there was something
Special.
These four men Were all u n der 2 1.
Does it have to be More special than that?
No, but this has Gotten to you, fitz.
More than I've ever seen.
I'd just like to know why.
You're a perceptive man, ph I l.
It's the mark of a good Officer, isn't it?
To ward off trou ble By antici pating.
Are you gonna give me A hard time?
I don't think so, f itz.
You're a good officer.
You got guts and brai ns.
But something Has gotten to you.
I told you, I'd like to know what it is.
Would you?
H I bbard, horton, morgan, levy.
Ki lled in action, Luzon, p. I., 1 3 jan uary 1 945.
So?
So you want to know
What's gotten into me, phil,
I wrote those names Down yesterday.
I wrote them down Before we went up.
Why did you write down The names, f itz?
Well, we had a weapons check
And I looked into their faces
And those four men
[artillery Whistling overhead]
[explosion]
Feel better?
I looked into forty fou r Faces yesterday morning
And when I got to those fou r, There was something special
A light or something.
I can't describe it to you.
There isn't any description.
I looked into their Faces and I knew.
I knew this Was their last day.
I knew they were Going to get it.
I knew, and there
There wasn't Any dou bt about it.
Well, that's, uh,
That's fu n ny. That's real fu n ny.
I haven't slept much.
I keep won dering
Is this the way It's going to be?
If every time I stand In front of a platoon
Am I going to be able To look down the lin e
And know which ones Aren't coming back?
F itz, when did you write These names down?
You're sure it was yesterday?
You're sure it wasn't today On the way back in the truck?
Yesterday.
Yesterday morning, I swear to you.
I wrote those Nam es down yesterday.
Well?
(man) I can't tell, captain.
The stuff you've given me Is inconclusive.
I looked up his records. He's never been wou n ded.
Looks like a pretty Steady custom er,
No evi dence of battle Fatig u e or anything.
Why he shou ld su dden ly get This we I rd idea is hard to say
But we better ru n some checks.
He believes it. You hear him tell it
You almost believe it yourself.
I'd appreciate you Taking a look at him.
He's a good man.
He's one of the best Officers we've got.
I'll do what I can, captai n.
He's here now, you know.
No, I didn't know.
He's in the ward vis iting
One of the boys From his platoon.
I'm f in e, li eutenant. How's the rest of the boys?
Oh, they're all fine.
Porky got a p I ece Of sh rapn el on his fing er
You know porky, that's about As bad as he ever got.
[coughs] He's a lucky kid.
That he is.
And you're not Doing too bad.
You get that all patch ed up And you'll be going hom e.
That's not so hard To take, is it?
No, s I r.
It sure isn't.
No, no. Thank you, s I r.
Could you lay it Down over there, lease?
I won't be needing It for a while.
U h, listen, sm itty, I got Some stuff to do so I'll See you tomorrow.
You take it easy, You hear?
Yes, s I r.
U h, anything you need-- You got stuff to read?
All I need.
Okay, you take Care, sm itty.
Thanks for coming, li eutenant.
Good-bye.
Good-bye, sm itty.
[suspense music]
You okay, li eutenant?
Yeah. I--
Yeah, I'm okay.
He's dead.
Just like that.
They go awfu l Qu ick sometimes.
Awfu l qu ick.
F itz?
I was up seeing sm itty.
Yeah, I know. I read his tag.
Doc said h e's Going to be okay.
No, he isn't.
I took a look at his face.
I took a look at his face, And I knew.
And a minute later, He's gon e.
Same thing?
Same thing.
The look.
The fu n ny-- The fu n ny light Or whatever it is.
And I knew, And I knew.
F itz, I can't Explain this, but--
I don't want You to explain it.
How can you explain it?
How can anybody Explain it?
I just want you To believe it, captai n. That's all I want from you.
I want you to believe it.
(paramedic) Bed five, sir. Sm ith. He just died.
I'll have A look at him.
For what?
(fitz) There's nothing To look at but a body.
He's dead.
And I knew He was going to die
'cause I read it On his face.
Go on back, Corporal. I'll Be right in.
So you knew, Li eutenant?
You bet I did.
I tabbed four men The other day.
That's odd, Don't you think?
(fitz) Odd? That's Not odd, captain.
Odd when is you go 30 days on the line
And you don't Lose a man.
That's odd!
Odd is when you walk 25 miles and you don't Get a blister.
Now you're talking odd!
This isn't odd, captai n.
This is nightmare.
This is a lousy, Dog-faced, lying officer
Who can see death On people's faces.
(doctor) You're a dog-faced, Lying officer
Who's cracking u n der The strain from having Done too much
And felt too much. F I nally having to Succu m b to it!
I'm five For five, captai n.
How many co I nci dences Add up to a fact?
How many men Do I have to tab
As the least likely To succeed?
How many more faces Do I have to look into?!
What I want to know
Is what does it take To make you guys realize
That somewhere Along the lin e
I p icked up a talent They don't teach at o.C.S.
One thing you might do
While you're waiting And scratching
You might put Tape over my eyes Or poke them out
Or do something Where I won't Be able to see
So I won't Have to look At any more faces!
Now we spearh ead The attack moving Across at the po I nt
Followed by baker And charlie and com pany.
Now, at this po I nt To the east,
Some f I li p I no G u erri llas will be Crossing the river by boat.
Now their job Will be to knock out Any and all jap guns
In that side of the river. So that we should be able To move across the bridge
Against only Small arms fire.
We've got about 22 minutes before We load up the trucks.
Give your platoons A good bri efing.
Make sure that each man Has a belt, five grenades, Six am mo cli ps,
And no backpacks.
All right. That's it. Good luck.
Captai n,
You still want my platoon To take the po I nt?
I don't know yet, f itz.
I think that probably--
[suspense music]
What's the matter, f itz?
Are you well enough To take the platoon?
Now, gu nther thinks You'd be better off
With three weeks Back at divis ion. I ag ree with him.
This thing will take A few hours but it Will be messy.
Captai n, you better not go.
Why, f itz?
[suspense music]
Yeah.
It's on your face too.
If you go, You won't be coming back.
F itz, get Your platoons set.
You've only got About 1 5 minutes left.
Please--
I'll tell you What we'll do!
We'll talk about it When we get back. We'll Have a drink to it.
We'll drink To an I llus ion, To a couple of co I nci dences.
Now that's it, f itz! I'll see you at the trucks!
Captai n, you won't be Drinking to anything.
'cause you're Not coming back!
[suspense music]
[waiia]
[far away explosions]
Li eutenant?
What about it?
Everybody says You can tell.
Everybody says you know Who's going to get it
And who isn't.
Well, how about it, Li eutenant? Give us A break, huh?
Come on, li eutenant.
It ain't fair-- You knowing!
Knock it off, freeman.
(captain) All right, sergeant.
Now look, somebody Started this wild gag
And somebody Will get bu rn ed for it.
There's nobody In this com pany
Who's a mind-reader.
I nclu ding li eutenant F itzg erald.
(captain) All right, lieutenant?
Yeah. That's right, s I r.
All right, Serg eant, let's go.
Yes, s I r. Let's go!
(sergeant) Okay, load 'em up.
Let's go!
In the trucks!
In the trucks, everybody!
[expiosions]
Close it up!
All right, close it up!
Okay, first platoon, Fall in.
Forget about extra detai ls. Let's do it the sam e.
Yes, s I r.
Come on, Hurry it up.
Fall in. Roll call.
Verall.
(verall) Here.
Ashbar.
(ashbar) Here.
[roll call continues]
(commander) Fitz.
Just thought I'd drop around And cong ratu late you boys
On the good job you did.
Thank you, s I r.
The odds fell On our side.
M ust be all those Right-han dy job on those gu ns
And you fellows Walked right across.
Right across.
That's fortu nate.
The air force M ust have p icked off
At least six or seven Of those 25s.
Of course those gu ns Were operating.
That might have been The long est bri dg e
You've ever been on, Or the shortest.
Sn I per f I re, That's all you had?
Yes, s I r, Sn I per f I re.
M m-h m m.
We lost one man.
Oh, that's a p ity.
He was a good man.
You were good friends, Weren't you, f itzg erald?
So much for mrs. Ri ker's Lovely wedding.
Seven happy years.
Two f in e sons.
Man, war stin ks.
(sergeant) Lieutenant?
Captain gu nth er Wants to see you.
Li eutenant, you are To report back to divis ion.
Back to divis ion?
Yeah. They want To look you over.
It'll be a nice couple Weeks rest for you.
Take your gear with you.
Okay.
Thank you, captai n.
[suspense music]
(soldier) Lieutenant fitzgerald?
The jeep's ready To take you back To division, sir
Any time You're ready.
Li eutenant F itzg erald?
What?
This your bag, s I r?
Yes, that's my bag.
May I put it In the j eep For you, s I r?
Thank you very much.
Well, s I r, We're ready
Any time you are.
[suspense music]
Well, it's A little bou ncy, s I r
But it sure Beats walking.
You're Going back To divis ion?
Yeah.
Fu rther back I get, The better I like it.
You're taking The conven I ent road?
Yeah. There's a bri dg e U p there on the highway.
The eng in eers Think they've spotted Some m in es up the road
They haven't Dug them up yet
So stay close To the shou lders.
I want you To take good care
Of the Li eutenant here.
Sergeant, I'm the Most careful driver
In the united States army.
If I can li ft this Here j eep and walk Ti ppytoe carrying it
Believe me, broth er, I'd do it.
Lieutenant, You may as well Get comfortable.
I guess we got about A four-hour ride
Ahead of us.
Do we?
I dou bt it.
[suspense music]
[soft harmonica playing]
You play that Pretty good.
One han d.
[loud explosion in distance]
Did you hear that?
Th u n der?
I don't think so.
It sounded more like An explos ion.
[suspense music]
Maybe it was th u n der. Yeah.
That's what it was-- Probably th u n der.
[piays harmonica]
(male narrator) From william shakespeare, Richard the third,
A small excerpt, The line reads,
"He has come to open The purple testament
Of bleeding war."
And for lieutenant William fitzgerald--
"A" company, first platoon, The testament is closed.
Lieutenant fitzgerald Has found the twilight zone.
(male presenter, off) Rod serling, the creator Of twilight zone,
Will tell you About next week's story
After this word From our alternate sponsor
And now, r. Serling.
Next week, On the twilight zone
We offer you the u n beli evable Along with an explanation.
Three men vis it A strang e new world
With people, cars, Houses, the works.
But something's Wrong in the scene.
Something very abnormal Am I dst the normal.
You'll see what I mean When next week we bring you "Elegy" by charles beau mont.
It stars ceci l kellaway. Thank you and good night.
(male presenter, off) Kimberly clark invites You to watch steve mcqueen
In wanted dead or alive.
Saturday nights over most Of these same stations.