''Two-Fisted Tales'' is a 1992 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

consisting of three separate segments, based on the

EC Comics E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...

publication '' Two-Fisted Tales''. Only one of the stories is actually adapted from a story appearing in an issue of EC Comics.

Plot

Cast

* William Sadler – Mr. Rush (Presenter)

Segment: "Showdown"

* David Morse – Tom McMurdo * Neil Giuntoli – Billy Quintaine *

Roderick Cook Roderick Cook (9 February 1932 – 17 August 1990) was an English playwright, writer, theatre director and actor of stage, television and film. Cook is known for creating, directing and starring in the musical review '' Oh, Coward!'' and portr ...

– Cornelius Bosch * Thomas F. Duffy – Scorby * Monty Bass – Frank Little Bear * Mel Coleman – Blacksmith * Grant Gelt – Little Boy * Paul T. Murray – Harley * Tommy Townsend – Big Bart

Segment: "King of the Road"

* Raymond J. Barry – Garrett *

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

– Billy * Michelle Bronson – Carrie * Jack Kehler – Mole * Alva L. Petway – Dispatcher

Segment: "Yellow"

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...

– Sr. Calthrob * Eric Douglas – Jr. Calthrob * Lance Henriksen – Ripper *

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

– Milligan * Dominick Morra – Priest * Steve Boyum – King * Chuck Picerni Jr. – Jones * R. David Smith – Soldier

Production

In 1991, the comic book was adapted for a TV pilot by producers

Joel Silver Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer. Life and career Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School ...

Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American film director, producer and actor. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the mo ...

Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies, often blending cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades incl ...

and others. Apart from an opening montage of covers from the comic book and use of comic's logo, the pilot had little connection with Kurtzman's creation. In imitation of EC's horror books, the hour-long anthology drama featured the ghostly gunfighter Mr. Rush (Bill Sadler) as a host and a device to connect the segments, although Kurtzman's war-adventure stories had never been introduced by a host. Two of the stories, "Showdown" (written by Frank Darabont and directed by

) and "King of the Road" (written by Randall Jahnson and directed by Tom Holland), were original scripts and not adaptations from EC (although "Showdown" did share a title with a story from issue 37). The third story, "Yellow" (written by Jim Thomas & John Thomas and A. L. Katz & Gilbert Adler and directed by

), was adapted from a story written by Al Feldstein and illustrated by Jack Davis for the first issue of EC's '' Shock SuspenStories''.

Broadcast

Although it contains a 1991 copyright notice at the end of the credits, the pilot had a single telecast in the USA on January 18, 1992, generating little interest, and "Showdown" and "King of the Road" were later extracted to become individual episodes of HBO's '' Tales from the Crypt'' television series (though "Yellow" had been broadcast as an episode in the year before).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Two-Fisted Tales (Film) 1992 films 1992 horror films 1992 television films 1992 comedy horror films American auto racing films American supernatural horror films American comedy horror films 1990s English-language films American horror anthology films American horror television films Films based on American comics Films produced by Walter Hill Films produced by Joel Silver Films directed by Richard Donner Films directed by Tom Holland Films directed by Robert Zemeckis Films scored by Michael Kamen Films scored by Alan Silvestri Carolco Pictures films Fox Broadcasting Company original films Television pilots not picked up as a series 1992 comedy films Films with screenplays by Jim Thomas (screenwriter) Films with screenplays by John Thomas (screenwriter) 1990s American films English-language comedy horror films