Mr. Denton on Doomsday stars Dan Duryea, Martin Landau, Malcolm Atterbury, and Jeanne Cooper. I know Martin from quite a few things, but most notable from Rounders as Abe Petrovsky and as Bela Lugosi in “Ed Wood”. Dan seemed to do a lot of TV shows for that era, your typical Westerns and was also in Flight of the Phoenix. Malcolm was in Hitchcock’s The Birds. Jeanne played Catherine Chancellor on the Young and the Restless for over 1300 episodes and also did a horror film with Bill Moseley and Corbin Bernson called “Dead Air’ and I am fairly certain that I have seen that before. It was a much less cool version of Pontypool. I can still remember the first time that I saw this episode. I had started to enjoy this series in college and I had gone to my friend, Bitty’s house, for a party, In the morning, I found this on and watched it while the hangover was funky fresh in my head, but I truly enjoyed the episode.
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration
Portrait of a town drunk named Al Denton. This is a man who’s begun his dying early – a long, agonizing route through a maze of bottles. Al Denton, who would probably give an arm or a leg or a part of his soul to have another chance, to be able to rise up and shake the dirt from his body and the bad dreams that infest his consciousness. [Shot of Henry J. Fate] In the parlance of the times, this is a peddler, a rather fanciful-looking little man in a black, frock coat. [a six-gun materializes beside Denton] And this is the third principal character of our story. Its function: perhaps to give Mr. Al Denton his second chance.
The Story
We start off in a “Western” setting with the bad guy in black, Dan Hotaling, pouring booze on Mr. Al Denton and telling him to pay for more booze by singing his song, “How Dry I Am”. Charlie, the bartender, and Liz, the waitress, are not at all happy seeing this happen. Dan breaks the bottle and Denton goes to the ground to get as much of it as he can. Denton now has his 6 shooter and Mr. Fate is looking on. Fate is a peddler who deals in tonics and whatnot.
Liz checks on Denton, and she remembers that he used to be great with a gun. He hasn’t held a gun in so long, he’s forgotten, plus the booze helps. She asks why he drinks so much, but he really doesn’t even know anymore. Here is Dan asking Denton to sing more for another drink. Denton starts singing and it’s just like the most pathetic thing you’ve ever seen. Dan notices the gun and suggests that Denton could even outdraw Dan. Dan continues to antagonize the situation. Dan says that he will do it left-handed. Denton asks Liz to help him and he accidentally fires the gun at Dan’s hand. Everybody is super proud and happy with Denton, except for Dan. Dan ain’t letting this one go. Mr. Fate watches all of this and Denton shoots the chandelier down onto Dan. One of the impressed guys asks to buy Mr. Denton a drink, and Denton is so excited to be called Mister again. Denton says that he’s finally had enough. Time to go out and get a shave instead. He walks up to Dan and backhands him and tells him not to call him Rummy anymore. That was the hoss-est move he could’ve done.
Charlie said that Denton used to be the best around and that every day, someone would ride into town to challenge him. But he shot a 16-year-old and that really got Denton down his drinking path. Denton wants that shave so he can look proper on the day that he dies. Fate is still looking on.
Denton cleaned up really nicely. 2 guys show up at Denton’s and tell him that Pete Grant is challenging him at the saloon. Denton doesn’t seem interested but accepts. You finally get your act together, and now just get right back in the game. Crazy! We see Denton practice shooting. I wish there was a sweet 80’s style montage to this. He’s not very good.
Denton strolls over to Fate. Fate has all kinds of goodies, including farm equipment and potions. Fate tells Denton not to run away. Denton curses his gun, but Fate suggests not to. Fate offers Denton an elixir. For 10 seconds, Denton can hit anything he aims at accurately. Denton downs it and Fate tells him to shoot at a lantern and he hit is spot on. He gives him another bottle. Fate won’t charge Denton because he considers it a service. Maybe Denton will remember the night that Fate stepped in. Such a good and cheesy line.
Everybody is waiting at the saloon. Charlie offers Denton and the Doc a drink but they both refuse. Grant has made his way to the saloon. The mood is tense. Grant is a young-looking dude, early 20’s I’d guess. It’s time to have the showdown for supremacy. Denton drinks his potion, so does Grant. Both are startled seeing this. But they both insist on going through with it. They shoot each other in their shooting hands. No blood, naturally. The doc checks on both of them. Neither will be shooting again for the rest of their lives.
Denton approaches Grant and says that they are both blessed because neither can shoot again in anger. Fate gives a knowing look to Grant. Denton comes outside as Fate is leaving and Fate gives a happy nod to Denton.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration
Mr. Henry Fate, dealer in utensils and pots and pans, liniments and potions. A fanciful little man in a black, frock coat, who can help a man climbing out of a pit – or another man from falling into one. Because, you see, Fate can work that way – in The Twilight Zone.
Final Thoughts
I don’t necessarily know if there is a moral to this story. Denton starts off as a drunk, gets his groove back, immediately accepts a duel, and then ties while losing the ability to shoot again. Obviously, Fate stepped in to prevent the cycle from repeating. It’s one of those stories that is simply well told, and that is all I care about. I thought that the acting was solid all around, considering what they were going for. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a happy ending, but I walked away happy.
Final Rating: 6.9