"And if by some chance you should ever come across him, you had better think good thoughts."
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Rod Serling
Composer: Stock
This is probably the second most popular Twilight Zone episode ever. Billy Mumy's character of Anthony Fremont is iconic enough, and was so prolific that they even had a sequel to this episode, "It's Still a Good Life," in the 2002 failed relaunch of the series. It's also based on a short story of the same name by Jerome Bixby.
In this episode, the town of Peaksville, Ohio has been practically laid to waste in terms of its human population. All that remains are a handful of villagers, and no outsiders. People disappear by the day at the hands of a so-called monster, a six-year-old boy named Anthony Fremont, who with just a thought, can whisk people away to a "cornfield" where they're never seen or heard from again. Anthony can also read thoughts, so he knows when people are thinking ill of him. As such, everyone always has to say and think nice things, though not just about Anthony.
While this episode is well-known for young Billy Mumy's portrayal of Anthony Fremont, it's riddled with nuance, interesting commentary, and excellent acting. Easily the best of the bunch is John Larch as Mr. Fremont, Anthony's father, who clearly does what his son asks but is the closest thing to a sense of authority that Anthony has. He keeps his wits about him at all times and it's clear as day upon his face that he wants to love his son but he's simply a monster. It almost seems as if he can't believe that this is real, that it's just a terrible dream he'll one day wake up from.
A couple of other standouts are Cloris Leachman as Mrs. Fremont and Don Keefer as Dan Hollis. Both play major-to-minor roles depending on what's happening in the story. Mrs. Fremont comes in and out as the one who doubts things the most, and Dan Hollis actively opposes Anthony's rule over the town.
Leachman plays Mrs. Fremont as a woman riddled with regret and doubt. It's obvious enough, too, that there's strife between the villagers and Mrs. Fremont, as she was the one who gave birth to Anthony, and, by some twisted proxy, paved the path for all of this to happen. Keefer's performance can be discussed more in the spoiler section of the episode.
But everyone's here for Billy Mumy as Anthony Fremont, who is quite possibly the strongest character that Rod Serling has created, rivaled only by Gregory West, but his time will come. Mumy plays him as just a kid, just a boy who dawdles about and does what he wants. Is he spoiled? Yes, but he doesn't ever flaunt it. He doesn't ever wipe in people's faces that he could obliterate them with a thought; moreover, he seems to be casual about it. It's just part of what he does and as a result he never makes a big deal of it unless someone prompts him to.
As such, it's clear that Mumy is being directed and is giving his lines well, but it isn't as if this is a groundbreaking child performance. It's almost as if he were just directed to act like himself, but to say these otherwise twisted, horrifying lines. This direction is what gives the episode its razor edge that everyone reveres it for. The fear and loathing everyone has of Anthony only comes about because Anthony never makes it so you would look at him and fear him; instead, you would look at him and think that he looks just like any normal kid in town. He's not a monster, he's a child.
That duality is what makes the episode so thematically interesting. Nobody punishes Anthony because they'd all be killed, but, he's also just a kid. He doesn't know any better. How do you raise a child that won't listen to you?
Initially, it's easy to see the episode as a commentary on bad parenting and the effects that being light on discipline on children can have, but, again, this is no mere child. This child is a god. It's an incomprehensible horror from some warped world. So, what do you do?
It seems that the only thing to do is to love the kid, to pour your heart into him, but what makes this such a genius concept is that Anthony only reads the love of his parents. He only ever responds positively to his parents; he does as his father asks, but not as his father says. If his father were to tell Anthony to go to his room, it's probably a one-way trip to the cornfield. But if he were to suggest, "It'd be real good of you to go to your room, Anthony, that way you can get a good night's sleep and be all rested for another good day tomorrow," then Anthony might be more inclined to listen. Anthony is open to reasoning, not suggestion.
The simple solution here is to murder Anthony, to possibly take things back to how they once were, but, again, he's a six-year-old boy. It's hard to say "he doesn't know any better," when he's willfully murdering people, but it's also the fault of the parents that they don't explain the consequences of his actions. If he were older? Perhaps he would get it. But as a child all Anthony knows is that he's exterminating the things in front of him that are just making him angry.
"It's a Good Life" is a seminal Twilight Zone episode and is one to show a newcomer to the series without a doubt. It's filled with memorable moments, lines, and images that have lasted the test of time.
***SPOILER SECTION***
I don't think I've ever thought about how seriously messed up the ending to the episode is. And I don't mean the jack-in-the-box thing, I mean where Anthony suddenly decides to make it snowy and cut their crops in half. There's the spark of aggression from Mr. Fremont that's quickly shut down and in just that one exchange you see that Anthony has won for good. The episode could have just been that final scene for the birthday party and been just as effective, but it's the minute details, the fact that Anthony just does this willingly, always without second thought, and that he has a close relationship with his father that add to the tension in the moment.
Keefer does an excellent job as Hollis in this scene, going from a drunken stupor to outright rage to a desperate plea for help that he knows will not come. It's obvious, from the moment he starts drinking the liquor, that he's toast, and it's interesting how Sheldon always kept him in frame, just reminding the audience of hte timebomb that awaited them in due time.
It's also a tense scene on everyone else's part, just trying to essentially survive the night with Anthony while they watch claymation dinosaurs fight each other. Probably much cooler to see now with our visual effects, but whatcha gonna do. Everyone is sweating, watching Anthony, reacting to him, and just trying to keep cool.
When Dan turns into a Jack-in-the-Box it's freaky not only for what happens in the moment, but two other key things: the music, and the visual, or lack thereof.
The music is so different from what's happened before that and has a phenomenal buildup with the fast drumroll leading to the odd music that plays next, matched with just the shadow of the jack-in-the-box, leaving it effectively up to the audience to figure out what the hell that thing is going to look like in real life.
This scene is arguably the most human that anyone acts. Aunt Amy going for the weapon to kill Anthony but not having the will to do it, Dan Hollis begging practically for his life, and then when he's transformed, Anthony's father begs him to put it away, but it's not because he's scared of Anthony but because he wants to protect the others.
Not only that but we get Anthony's only real moment of true malic here as he obviously warps Hollis but then turns to his wife and tells her she's next if she talks, and she complies as if completely forgoing anything she felt for her husband before. It's downright chilling. Again, this scene itself could have been just the episode and it would have still been one of the best of the series.
Let's continue our slew of famous Twilight Zone episodes into tomorrow, shall we? Imagine a world where beauty is everything, and looking like everyone else is literally a law. But what happens to those that may not look the same? Find out in "Eye of the Beholder." See you then!
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