Dead Man's Shoes (The Twilight Zone)
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"Dead Man's Shoes" is episode 83 of the American television
anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...
''
The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
'', and is the 18th episode of the third season. It was written by past series contributor
Charles Beaumont Charles Beaumont (January 2, 1929 – February 21, 1967) was an American author of speculative fiction, including short stories in the horror and science fiction subgenres.Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, "Beaumont, Charles" in David Pringle, ed., ''S ...
, and was originally aired on January 19, 1962 on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
.


Opening narration


Plot

A homeless man, Nate Bledsoe, snatches a pair of shoes from Dane, the target of a mob hit dumped in an alley. Two of his homeless associates try to con him out of the plainly expensive shoes, to no avail. Wearing the shoes infuses him with the personality and memories of the victim, and he continues his life as Dane. Nate stops by the home of Dane's girlfriend, who recognizes his manner but remains confused by his appearance. Nate then goes to a bar to confront Dagget, the boss who had him killed. Dagget is at first unsettled, but then realizes who Nate is and has him gunned down. Before he dies, he promises, "I'll be back, Bernie, and I'll keep coming back… again, and again, and I'll get you." The body is dumped in the same place as the original victim. A homeless man finds the corpse, takes the shoes, puts them on and the cycle begins anew.


Closing narration


Cast

*
Warren Stevens Warren Albert Stevens (November 2, 1919 – March 27, 2012) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Early life and career Born in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, Stevens entered the United States Naval Academy in 1937 but was medical ...
as Nate Bledsoe *
Richard Devon Richard Devon (born Richard Gibson Ferraiole, December 11, 1926 – February 26, 2010) was an American character actor and voice actor who between the late 1940s and 1991 performed in hundreds of roles on stage, radio, television, and in f ...
as Dagget *
Joan Marshall Joan Marshall (born Joan Schrepfermann; June 6, 1931 – June 28, 1992) was an American film and television actress. She is best known for her appearances in ''The Twilight Zone's'' " Dead Man's Shoes", and '' Star Trek's'' "Court Martial". ...
as Wilma * Ben Wright as Chips * Harry Swoger as Sam *
Ron Hagerthy Ronald F. Hagerthy (born March 9, 1932) is an American actor on television and in films. Early years Hagerthy was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, but moved to Glendale, California, before he started school. He attended Glendale City College and ...
as Ben *
Florence Marly Florence Marly (2 June 1919 – 9 November 1978) was a Czech-born French film actress. During World War II, Marly moved to neutral Argentina with her Jewish husband, film director Pierre Chenal, where she appeared in several films. She also acted ...
as Dagget's girlfriend


Production

The soundtrack uses recycled music from a previous episode, "The Fever".


Remakes

The episode was remade in the 1985 revival as "
Dead Woman's Shoes "Dead Woman's Shoes" is the first segment of the ninth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series '' The Twilight Zone''. It is a remake of " Dead Man's Shoes", an episode of the original ''Twilight Zone''. It stars Helen ...
" and in the 2002 revival as "Dead Man's Eyes". This makes it the only original episode to be remade in two of the revival series.


References

*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. *Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing.


External links

* {{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes 1962 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 3) episodes Television shows written by Charles Beaumont Television episodes about spirit possession