The Gift (The Twilight Zone)

Last updated
"The Gift"
The Twilight Zone episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 32
Directed by Allen H. Miner
Written by Rod Serling (Based on his original script "I Shot an Arrow Into the Air".)
Featured music Laurindo Almeida
Production code4830
Original air dateApril 27, 1962 (1962-04-27)
Guest appearances
Geoffrey Horne: Williams
Nico Minardos: Doctor
Edmund Vargas: Pedro
Cliff Osmond: Manolo
Paul Mazursky: Captain
Vladimir Sokoloff: Guitarist (Ignacio)
Vito Scotti: Rudolpho
Carmen D'Antonio: Woman #1
Henry Corden: Sanchez
Lea Marmer: Woman #2
Joe Perry: Man #1
David Fresco: Man #2
Episode chronology
 Previous
"The Trade-Ins"
Next 
"The Dummy"
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) (season 3)
List of episodes

"The Gift" is episode 97 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone .

Contents

Opening narration

The place is Mexico, just across the Texas border, a mountain village held back in time by its remoteness and suddenly intruded upon by the twentieth century. And this is Pedro, nine years old, a lonely, rootless little boy, who will soon make the acquaintance of a traveler from a distant place. We are at present forty miles from the Rio Grande, but any place and all places can be the Twilight Zone.

Plot

A humanoid alien has just crash-landed outside a mountain village in Mexico, just across the border from Texas. He has killed a police officer and was wounded by another. When he reaches a village bar, he collapses. A sympathetic doctor operates on him, removing two bullets from his chest. The alien (who refers to himself as "Mr. Williams") becomes friends with Pedro, an orphan whose job is to clean the bar. Pedro receives a gift from Williams, who tells Pedro that he will explain it later.

Meanwhile, the bartender notifies the army about Williams' location. Williams attempts to escape back to his ship, but soldiers and villagers corner him. He tries to explain that he has come in peace and that the police officer getting shot was an accident. He tells Pedro to show the gift to the doctor, but the villagers take the gift from him and set it on fire, claiming that it must be black magic or of the devil. As the villagers watch Pedro and Williams reaching for each other, fear drives them to shoot Williams before they believe he has a chance to harm the boy. With Williams lying dead, the doctor picks up the remains of the gift from the fire. He reads the note on it aloud: "Greetings to the people of Earth: We come as friends and in peace. We bring you this gift. The following chemical formula is...a vaccine against all forms of cancer..." The rest is burned away.

The doctor states, "We have not just killed a man; we have killed a dream."

Closing narration

Madeiro, Mexico, the present. The subject: fear. The cure: a little more faith. An Rx off a shelf in the Twilight Zone.

Related Research Articles

"Perchance to Dream" is the ninth episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on November 27, 1959, on CBS. The title of the episode and the Charles Beaumont short story that inspired it is taken from Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" speech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street</span> 22nd episode of the 1st season of The Twilight Zone

"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is the 22nd episode in the first season of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The episode was written by Rod Serling, the creator-narrator of the series. It originally aired on March 4, 1960, on CBS. In 2009, TIME named it one of the ten best Twilight Zone episodes.

"Nightmare as a Child" is episode 29 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on April 29, 1960, on CBS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Stop at Willoughby</span> 30th episode of the 1st season of The Twilight Zone

"A Stop at Willoughby" is episode 30 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling cited this as his favorite story from the first season of the series.

"Eye of the Beholder" is episode 42 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on November 11, 1960, on CBS.

"Shadow Play" is episode 62 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on May 5, 1961 on CBS.

"Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" is episode 64 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on May 26, 1961 on CBS.

"The Passersby" is the 69th episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It was written by series creator and showrunner Rod Serling.

"It's a Good Life" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American television series The Twilight Zone, and the 73rd overall. It was written by series creator/showrunner Rod Serling, based on the 1953 short story "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby. The episode was directed by James Sheldon, and is considered by some, such as Time and TV Guide, to be one of the best episodes of the series. It originally aired on November 3, 1961. The episode was one of four from the original 1959 series which formed the basis of the 1983 film Twilight Zone: The Movie.

<i>Twilight Zone: The Movie</i> 1983 American science fiction anthology film

Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 American science fiction anthology film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis. Based on Rod Serling's 1959–1964 television series of the same name, the film features four stories directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Landis' segment is an original story created for the film, while the segments by Spielberg, Dante, and Miller are remakes of episodes from the original series. The film's cast includes Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow, Vic Morrow, and Kathleen Quinlan. Original series cast members Burgess Meredith, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Murray Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, and William Schallert also appear in the film, with Meredith assuming Serling's role as narrator.

"Probe 7, Over and Out" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Its plot is a shaggy God story.

"A Kind of a Stopwatch" is a 1963 episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a man acquires a stopwatch which can stop time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hocus-Pocus and Frisby</span> 30th episode of the 3rd season of The Twilight Zone

"Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" is episode 95 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

<i>Sátántangó</i> 1994 film

Sátántangó, also known in English as Satan's Tango, is a 1994 drama film directed by Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr. Shot in black-and-white and running for more than seven hours, it is based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai, whose works Tarr has frequently adapted since his 1988 film Damnation. Tarr had hoped to make the film since 1985 but was unable to proceed with production due to the strict political environment in Hungary.

"Valley of the Shadow" is a 51-minute episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a reporter is held captive in a small town after he discovers its incredible secret.

"Black Leather Jackets" is episode 138 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, three aliens disguised as young men in leather jackets encounter a kink in their plan to exterminate humankind when one of them falls in love with a human girl.

"The Fear" is the penultimate episode of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It is the last episode written by series creator/host Rod Serling.

<i>Guns for San Sebastian</i> 1968 film by Henri Verneuil

Guns for San Sebastian is a 1968 Spaghetti Western film based on the 1962 novel A Wall for San Sebastian, written by Rev. Fr. William Barnaby "Barby" Faherty, S.J. The film is directed by Frenchman Henri Verneuil, and stars Anthony Quinn, Anjanette Comer and Charles Bronson. The score is by Ennio Morricone, who would then use his work in this film as an inspiration for the main theme in The Mercenary. Filming took place in Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete, Mexico It was made as a co-production between France, Italy, Mexico, and the United States.

<i>The Cross of Lorraine</i> 1943 film by Tay Garnett

The Cross of Lorraine is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer war film about French prisoners of war escaping a German prison camp and joining the French Resistance. Directed by Tay Garnett, starring Jean-Pierre Aumont and Gene Kelly, was partly based on Hans Habe's 1941 novel A Thousand Shall Fall. The title refers to the French Cross of Lorraine, which was the symbol of the Résistance and the Free French Forces chosen by Charles de Gaulle in 1942.

<i>Mexico City</i> (film) 2000 Canadian film

Mexico City is a 2000 Canadian film directed and co-written by Richard Shepard, the story of a grieving woman searching for her brother who has gone missing on holiday in Mexico City.

References