When we are young, all we think about is growing up. When we are grown up, all we want is to go back to a certain time in our lives where we had peace and find a reprieve from all that is the now.
@@basilmarasco1975 I think if Rod Serling was alive and he was to answer your question I think he would sum it up to it being just the evolution of man. Or human beings and that is just the process of life. I think very few people in this world have the luxury of being able to return back to a simpler time before the world burdens us. And I think that in the scene it's really to say that you can't change your past but you should look towards the future.
@@paulkersey1007 Yes. An objective, non-sentimental look at the past life shows that it was just another challenging time, for the grown-ups of that era, if not for the kids. I am *really* glad to have been too young for the draft during the Vietnam War, for just one example.
*"Martin Sloan, age thirty-six, vice-president in charge of media. Successful in most things but not in the one effort that all men try at some time in their lives-trying to go home again. And also like all men, perhaps there'll be an occasion, maybe a summer night sometime, when he'll look up from what he's doing and listen to the distant music of a calliope, and hear the voices and the laughter of the people and the places of his past. And perhaps across his mind there'll flit a little errant wish, that a man might not have to become old, never outgrow the parks and the merry-go-rounds of his youth. And he'll smile then too, because he'll know it is just an errant wish, some wisp of memory not too important really, some laughing ghosts that cross a man's mind, that are a part of the Twilight Zone."*
@@basilmarasco1975 For a lot of people, this scene is so relatable because the pressures of the world: bills, family, jobs, demands, etc have run our lives. We live a rat race and the world is unfortunately unforgiving. Most of us can not stop to enjoy what they work hard for being because it's always something.
The best part of this episode was dear old dad, still giving good advice over the distance of time. One of the best scripts written by Rod Serling himself.
Everybody at some time wants to go back and live those young years one more time. Remembering that Jr. High flame and the relationship that was so innocent and yet so mature at the same time. Remembering mom and dad as those heroes who did everything and could do anything. The boyhood friends, holding her hand for the first time, the summer fishing trips at the Thousand Islands; all things we want again in the midst of adulthood struggles but, alas, will never have. Only one summer per customer. Mine came in the sixties never to be had again. One of life's sad realities. Long live those good memories.
It's summer, June 2021. I am 36 going on 37 next month. A few days ago I took a short trip to my childhood neighborhood - Little Ferry, New Jersey. I parked, walked around my old stomping grounds on Liberty Street. I hoped to fall into the Twilight Zone and fall into a time warp like Mr. Sloan. But alas, this is real life. Everything I knew is gone. The old Chinese restaurant up the block is now a new-age burger spot. What was the empty, deserted lot across the street where I used to go sledding in the icy winters is now a Dunkin Donuts and Laundromat. What was Sal's Pizza, owned and operated by actual Italian immigrants is now Craig D's. The Garden State Deli where my dad would go every morning to get his newspaper and egg sandwiches/bagels is now a Subway. Mr. Serling was right, you can't go back. We all need to look ahead.
I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago. I lived near a small farm town in north central Illinois when growing up. It was about an hour or so west of Rockford, IL. The last time I went there to visit friends and family, I drove around the places where I used to hang out. And like you, many of the places I knew were no longer there. The big one for me was that there used to be an RPG and board game store in Rockford called Tomorrow is Yesterday. It was a favorite place to go when I had a little money to spend on a West End Games Star Wars RPG or some miniatures. When I last was there, they had converted the place into a comic book store. No more RPGs or board games or even the used book section off to the side. Now, I always knew that the past on many levels was gone, but it was at that moment when it really, really hit me. Friends and family in the area were either dead or had moved away. Pizza places I used to haunt are gone. Even my old junior high school building was now just an open lawn, with my old high school now massively expanded to include junior and grade school. That was then, and that was "his time" (referring to my younger self). Now it's just a ghost of a memory. But I won't let this stop me from living the remaining years of my life. However many there may be. I am a two-time cancer survivor. Maybe number 3 will get me. Maybe it won't. But that's in the future as well. In the meantime, let's keep going. I wish you all my best.
I grew up in Garfield NJ, and had an aunt and uncle in Little Ferry. We used to spend holidays in your neck of the woods. Although it was over 30 years ago, still feels like yesterday.
I can't go back, but I have a memory full of good times to revisit in my mind. Sadly many people's childhood was not good at all, which doesn't even leave them happy memories to remember.
@@tinasan3870 Tell me about it. When i was about 25, and went to stay with my father for awhile in another state, because me and my wife, had just broken up, i once was about to tell my father, that i had always thought, of him as someone i looked up to as a child, and wanted to be like. Just as i was starting that off, he told me, "🤬OH I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT PUNK SH*T, THAT OLE GAY SH*T! So i said, "Okay, fine." Then he said, ooohh go ahead and finish what you were going to say. I said, "naw, that's alright." Later on, about a couple months later after that incident, and a couple others, i said TO MYSELF, "I'm getting out of here, and dude, you're going to miss me before i miss you." And didn't see, write, nor talk to him for a good 14 years, and another 10 years after that. He was later sorry for saying that, and a few other things, concerning the way he treated his by then only son. So, after apologizing to me, shortly before his passing, i felt bad about it. Sometimes parents need to understand that's what they are like it or not, and understand the power of words, and actions.
I can never go home to 1973, with both parents alive, and my biggest worry was collecting a complete set of baseball cards. This episode haunts me, and is my favorite. Now I have as many friends who have died, as who are still alive. I am in the middle ground, and it is slipping away. Thank you for posting.
This is one of the most beautiful and haunting moments ever created for TV. It just so sums up the human condition- the yearnings for what was, the safety and security of childhood, the struggle to find happiness with our choices in life. I've been watching these episodes for years, never tired of them.
@@patriciagullickson9591 I think you are correct. I can't think of two actors working today who could do this scene with the tenderness Gig Young and Frank Overton do here. Just can't see Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks matching this. We just don't have actors like that today.
@@boblackey1. You are so right. One of my favourite episodes, it touched on something very deep. Great acting with haunting mood and soundtrack. You could never see anything like this on TV today, now it's just churned out piles of rubbish...talent not required anymore.
I relate this episode to this quote, “At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went out to play for the last time and no one knew it.” I think about that quote a lot and this episode reinforces the notion that one can never truly go home again.
We can't go home again, because home is right here, right now, not back when. Nowhere but here, while you're reading this comment. Either live it or let it go by unnoticed.
I was stuck in a rut after my wife died more than 14 years ago. Then I saw this episode and this scene and I cried for an hour on and off .Now i’m happily with another person in my life almost 7 years. thankful for Rod Serling for turning my life around by making me stop looking behind me and instead look ahead.
@@Paddy_Roche Prayer and patience is the answer while keeping yourself busy helping others. Before you know it a door will open and your new life will begin. PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens
Tiffany D. Yea me too plus I’m some form or way I’m like Martin Sloan too I miss my past everyday I wish I had what he had a chance to go back just once to feel nostalgic and meet my father just once I wish I could have had at least one conversation with him before he passed away I never got to know my father this episode this character super super lucky he got to do what a lot of us wish a thousand times a chance to revisit the past
It is easily my favorite episode and makes me cry like a child every time. Bernard Herrmanns music is so dark and beautiful. I’m so glad as others said that we aren’t alone.
This episode has the quality of a dream… Just as we might see a dead parent in our dream, and that parent will talk to us, give us a message of love or encouragement. Sometimes, it’s a parent who during their lifetime didn’t give such messages. These experiences can be very moving, can really fill a hole within us.
@@katherinkeegan8601 Kick the Can was more about how there's no actual law in the universe preventing you from playing those games you so much enjoy (like kick the can) and "you grow old because you stop playing" sort of adage, different than the message of Walking Distance.
Serling was a true genius. This is one of his best. And I'm sure he's still out there, hovering somewhere between the pit of our fears and the summit of our knowledge . . . somewhere . . . in the mystical realms of the Twilight Zone
If The Twilight Zone had ended after only one season, it would still be the greatest series ever to have aired on television. Serling's work is recognized to be more than just a "TV show." Rather, it is a series of profound essays on human self-reflection and discovery, each episode a masterwork of poetry, prose, and concerto combined. I believe "Walking Distance" to be the artists's best work in every sense. It is Mr. Serling's Opus.
I love the Twilight Zone still do since we all seem to be living in it at the moment God bless you all my Brothers and Sisters Have a Merry and Joyous Christmas Be safe God and Jesus love you 🙏❤and Peace
@@fredsawyer9845 Yes, the episodes with thoughtful endings (i.e., not necessarily horrific or creepy or scary) were some of the best, like "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby", "The Hunt", "The Changing of The Guard", "Mute", "A Hundred Yards Over The Rim", and a few others.
I find myself living so much in the past,, this episode says it all,, for me at least. I couldn't wait to grow up, now, I want to go back to the 70's,, just can't look ahead to much these days
I have to agree with JustAnnie51 and many others in this thread. I travel back to the late 50s and 60s in my dreams often. I was surprised to see so many in here with the same thoughts. Guess I am not alone. Yes, this has to be the best scene and probably my all-time favorite episode of The Twilight Zone.
This is my very favorite TZ Episode! Every single time I watch this episode I cry - not for sadness - but remembering the pure joy of my childhood - the purity of life and when America was Truly America🇺🇸
all men have a need to...go home again,...but they realize that it's not their home anymore,..it belongs to another boy or girl,.....and its time to just move on...this episode is my favorite, and rod serlings favorite too.
What you just said adds more to this episode, and it's meaning and message. The words you just typed are truly haunting as they resonate with me deeply, and give me that realization that I have to move forward.
"Maybe you haven't been looking in the right place. You've been looking behind you, Martin. Try looking ahead." I've always liked those lines. I got the impression at the end of the episode that he would try to do that. Like a lot of Twilight Zone fans, this is one of my favorite episodes.
It is my favorite, by far. This was the most moving scene. I think Serling wrote the script and obviously it came from deep within him. The acting, by Gig Young and Frank Overton, was excellent. The music was done by Bernard Hermann, who did a lot of the music for Alfred Hitchcock's movies, including "Marnie" and the great "Vertigo".
Gig Young was just fantastic, in this, my all time favourite episode. I had a dream something like this when I was twenty years old, or thereabouts. I time travelled back to 1960 and tried to stop my parents getting married, but i failed. It did not have, a happy ending. But it ended with me wanting to relive my childhood, and change things so that i could have the love of my parents that i felt i never had.
My Father died of a massive coronary when I was 11 and he didn't have a chance to say goodbye. Every time I watch this, I feel as if Frank Overton is my Father speaking to me.
This was one of my faves, along with, 'The Trouble With Templeton,' 'After Hours,' 'In Praise of Pip,' 'The Hitchhiker,' and a handful of others. Serling had the knack for bringing the vibe to us with each moment which allowed us to FEEL what was transpiring. From the casting, to the direction and even the lighting....suPERB. Another incredible show from that time is, 'One Step Beyond,' with John Newland as host. Amazing.
Just one of the best episodes, it encapsulates a longing so many of us have to turn back..unaware when those summers were ours, they would pass so quickly..and yet memories are always within "walking distance"..i miss you grandfather
Walking Distance I believe is the most poignant teleplay ever written and coupled with the haunting musical score if once seen will stay with you forever - especially among "Baby Boomers". I too, think about how 1959 was really not so different from 1935 - and compared to 2013 is terrifying. The soliloquy written by Serling in the final scene is again, haunting, "to go home again". Oh, to spend just one day again in 1954 Falls Church, Virginia walking the railroad tracks to the State Theater.
I'm usually quite strong and cold when I watch film and television but this absolutely wrecks me and has me in tears, the whole episode pretty much has me bawling, the topic of entering your past and not getting to go back there must be an emotional trigger for me
I know people pick episodes like Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, Time Enough at Last, and The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street as their favorites but to me, this is my personal favorite.
This is one of the best written and acted scenes from the Twilight Zone. I would have liked the older Martin and his dad to hug as they say goodbye to each other and go back to their lives.
I'd love to be able to talk to my mom, dad, & baby sister, all in Heaven now, just to tell them that I love them so much, but, I do believe that they know that. I still have my other sister, and we enjoy our visits, she lives not too far away.
This is the only episode of any TV show ever, that brings tears to my eyes. It did so when I was younger and does so even more now. For anyone with an attachment to the past, or their childhood in particular, this hits so many nerves. I probably suffer to some extent with nostalgia and envy not just the beauty and simplicity of my childhood in comparison to life today but in general, the era of those times as opposed to the present. Not that the world was perfect back then, but as a child, one's innocent perceptions of it bring it close to perfection. The Father's humble words of advice, his paternal humility and loving concern for a son, adrift out of time and place, creates a lump in my throat and an incredible wave of emotion. It is sad yet very beautiful and in some ways reassuring........it tells me others have felt this way, travelled the same road and that lamenting the passing of years may be very personal but not exclusive. It's extraordinary that 25 short minutes of television from half a century ago can still have such an emotional impact on so many.
Man, I love the twilight zone but we can all agree this is the best episode. It made me cry the first time I saw this scene, and it still does. Rod Serling and his show are the best things on earth.
This episode and “ Next Stop Willoughby” are my favourite Twilight Zone episodes because it’s basically the same storyline. It’s true you can’t go home again, and you only get one childhood…
I know that I speak for a lot of people when I say that I wish I could thank Rod Serling for all of the enjoyment and thought provoking moments his creation has given me. God bless you Rod.
Maybe because it reminds us of comforting times. when we were young and innocent, when life was easier and you didn't care. its easier to look back and find happiness rather than look forward and face uncertainty.
We can't yearn for a future we know nothing about. Its nothing but a blank wall. So all we can do is look back over the ground we have covered and most of us see some great times that happened and we want to go back to them. For me, I yearn to see my parents again, they way they were when I was 6.
I think it's when we let the negative start to overwhelm the positive in our lives that makes us temporarily forget all the good in our lives.Fortunately we can always choose to remember........like the old song says, "Try to remember and if you remember then follow,follow.follow"/peace and love and all good things to you and all!
I know we all have our favorite TZ episodes. I have several, but Walking Distance (written by Rod Serling) is at the top of the list. I think most people in my generation have that fantasy of going back in time to our youth. This scene always gets to me, emotionally. Maybe because I wish I could talk to my dad one more time.
Mine's "When The Sky Was Opened". I love the mistique and the way reality shifts around the main characters. No sadness, no emotions, other then terror. Reality just corrects itself. Mercilessly, coldly, without care or human touch. Love it. There is something infinitely realistic about it all.
I have watched this on my DVD numerous times. A good friend told me a few years ago...with this great analogy. Our cars have a small rear view mirror, and a larger windshield. We can occasionally look at those things behind us, but our focus should be what is in front of us. Martin learned this from his father.
Hi, Thomas. when looking thru your rearview mirror as your move, you're looking back into the past, and when you're looking thru your windshield, you looking at the future. Take care.
Almost all of Gig Young's movie roles were in comedies (he was always the guy in romantic comedies who didn't get the girl). But in this (and "They Shoot Horses, Don't They," his truly-deserved Oscar win) he shows what a fine serious actor he could be. Such a beautiful, touching performance.
Nostalgia is hard. I long for the days of past but at the same time look towards the future as with my kids. The thought of living in the 80s again as a kid. Playing outside, Nintendo, He-Man, transformers and morning cartoons. No responsibilities and more concerned with toys and having fun. Ahhhh to dream a dream :)
This is the best TZ episode ever and this scene is one of the greatest scenes that was ever put on film period-movies or television-completely magical-whenever I am sick over the years or even a little sad I put on this episode and this scene just gets me everytime-Serling's masterpiece and the score is majestic.Rod Serling was the most incredibly talented man I have ever come across in my lifetime-an American icon.
Still hard to believe Frank Overton was only 49 when he died. This was his best role but he was great in Fail Safe, To Kill a Mockingbird and on 12 OClock High as well.
He also did well in the TZ episode "Mute" (season 4, the hour-long episodes). He plays the good dad in that one too, though quite a different situation.
You can watch TZ episodes 100x and they never get old This is one of them A testament to the genius and Art of Rod Serling who I consider the Shakespeare of Television
I just started watching this series, and this episode in particular hit me like a ton of bricks. Almost like a psychedellic experience. I dont know how to describe it, but there is something very special about this episode. I cant wait to see what else im in store for..
oh yeah,the original twilight zone series was one of a kind. even the fact that it was filmed in black and white gives it a certain feel. if you're just now starting to watch the series you're in for some great viewing.
I loved the Zone but this was by far my favorite episode. I was born in 55 and spent summers in Marthas Vineyard our house was a block from the beach. We walked barefoot and could be unsupervised to the Flying Horses and had plenty of candy on circut ave,skimmed rocks and swam all day.My life since was never easy if I could just go back for 1 hour.
If I recall, Rod Serling did an interview around the time this episode aired and he said something along the lines of “You can never truly go home” which was referring to how he would like to return to his younger years. I still believe to this day that Walking Distance was based off of that feeling he had
Yes Rec Park (Recreation Park) was indeed wakking distance from his childhood home. Still is… word is he used to drive the streets once in a while… Class of ‘43 saw a large portion of young men go straight into WW2. Wow.
A great episode that resonates more and more the older I get. Another fabulous Frank Overton performance, one of the most underrated actors of all time
I started watching The Twilight Zone when I was a kid. Many of them served somewhat as a learning experience. They made an impact to me. This one was # 1 on the list.
I relate to this so much now that I am older (near 60). This just tugs at the heart strings and how much I miss the carefree days of my youth. I was moving and discovered a photo of myself around age 8 or 9 with my favorite dog watching from our gated fence. It's true you might only have that one Summer, the first love or just the care free feeling of innocence. We often would like to believe that life and its journey would go on forever. I have come to realize that there is and ending and life is finite. We must embrace and appreciate the here and now. I would however would enjoy a chance to see my younger self, even if it was just for one more day. 😢
The 1ST time I CRIED AT the MOVIE THEATER..BRIDGE 2 TERIBITHIA. I cried 4 ABOUT 2 HOUR'S STRAIT..EVEN AT HOME, when I was on the phone that NITE..I COULDN'T STOP CRYING.
Such powerful writing from a time when CGI and Michael Bay's explosions couldn't be done on a weekly tv show. How painful it must have been for the father to see his grown-u son unhappy and unable to "look forward" in his life.
This episode touched me I too yearn to go home back to the past where it all made sense everyday I wish I could go back relive some classic nostalgia and see my father and just have at least one one conversation with him just one before I have to go i never knew my father he died when I was 8 seeing this episode touched me
Every time I watch this scene, I go through a box of Kleenex. I know what it's like to not have band concerts anymore. There's only one place, back there. I can go home again "in my mind" and that's what I do. I often dream of getting in Rod Taylor's time machine, pulling the lever back to 60+ years ago, getting off, and destroying the machine. Anyone else feel this way?
Ironically, the makers of Kleenex- Kimberly-Clark - was the alternate sponsor of "THE TWLIGHT ZONE" at the time. And they just didn't understand episodes like this. They were used to co-sponsoring Steve McQueen in "WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE". Eventually, they pulled out of "TWLIGHT ZONE" at the end of the first season, and continued with the other series they bought ad time on.
Sometimes it's hard not to look behind and to wonder if those truly were the best days, if somehow they might still exist somewhere... I'll try to look for tomorrow's Merry-Go-Rounds, ice cream sodas, comic books, and games in the park, but it's hard some days... Anyway, Happy Father's Day Pop.
Yes. I sometimes wonder if the past is still out there and perhaps someday there will be a way to recapture it. I would settle for just being able to view the past as if you were watching a video. You couldn't interact or change anything. That would be good enough for me but most likely it would never be possible.
@@jamessilva7991 I wouldn't mind that, either. For me, there were bad times, but there were good times as well. I wouldn't mind at all watching the good times.
I sometimes wish I could go back in time and spend just one day with my family and tell them how much I loved them. They're all gone now. And I regret that I didn't say the words that now I wish I had.
Oh, how I wish I could do that! This episode so reminds me of Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town", in which the nostalgia of returning to one's past is explored.
Walking Distance is my favorite Twilight Zone. When Martin gets advice from his Dad, I cry because my Dad is dead. To be able to see and talk to your Dad one more time is something I would wish to have happen. Rod Serling understood. He was definitely a genius.
Yeah... It helps remembering all the worst things about our fathers, once they pass. It numbs this profound pain somewhat. Fathers are just human beings, after all.
@@viewtiful1doubleokamihand253 I don’t think his father had done things wrong, that’s why Martin wanted to go back to where his life was simpler and he wasn’t all alone. He had parents to talk to, give advice or just be there for him.
Very emotional episode and the music really captured the sadness of missing a wonderful childhood if we are blessed enough to have had one. My favorite episode.
Frank Overton (Pop) had great roles in (among others) "Fail Safe" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" with wonderful casts. A great actor. He passed unexpectedly of a heart attack, age 49, in 1967.
My favorite twilight zone episode, and this scene is so powerful , especially for those of us that long for simpler times and the way things “used to be.” For me , it was coming of age in the 1980s, An amazing time I still long for …When his father says , “Maybe there’s only one summer to every customer “ it hits me in my chest every time .
Yea i guess we all have our walling distance moment. I tried going back to my old college ironically at about the same age as the caracter in the story. Fortunately I didn't remember going there i still recognized the place but realized that part of my life was over. I know everyone who watches this video has experienced this sometime in there lives thats why your watching this video right now.
Gig Young brings to this role a world weariness and a yearning for the past that is so powerful. One of my favourite episodes of not just ‘The Twilight Zone’ but of any television show. RIP Mr Young and Mr Serling.
Scene never fails to choke me up- Kudos to writer Rod Serling, actors Gig Young, Frank Overton, and composer Bernard Herrmann for THE most beautifully haunting musical score ever written for television.
As improbable as it is to have a favorite TWILIGHT ZONE episode, WALKING DISTANCE is my favorite. I want to thank two amazingly talented men, Rod Serling and Bernard Herrmann who collaborated on this television production to create a Masterpiece.
This is such a beautifully written and acted scene....so poignant and touching. The background music adds an inexpressible sense of lament to the moment. Father giving future son final words of wisdom and future son realizing just how wise and right his father was. I remember watching this episode on rerun late one summer's evening in the summer of 75 or so. I was only 14 or 15 at the time, but as I sat there in the living room's late night darkness, I felt I was part of the scene. I could feel the central character's melancholy and his desire to go back to happier times...and realized that, as I sat there in our family home in the suburbs just outside Washington, DC, that these were MY happy times. As an adult, there were so many times when I realized, too late, that my father was, more often than not, like Martin's father here, correct in his counsel; yet I was too stupid and arrogant, to confident in my false belief of knowing better than my father, to listen to his wise and prudent guidance. Sometime in my early 30s, I awakened bolt upright one morning at around 3am to the thought "Did you think your father would lie to you???". In that late night epiphany, one of my rare moments of clarity and understanding, I realized that he was only trying to give me the benefit of his hard learned experiences. Although he died only a year or two after that realization, I did have the opportunity to thank him for all he had done for me and all that he had tried to do....and apologize for being such a block-headed ass. He looked kindly at me and said "That's ok. Its what most kids do". Dad was a master of the understatement. That precious moment of mutual respect and acknowledgement between father and son was over 30 years ago. I'm 62 now and would just like to say, once more....thanks Dad. You were the best father a kid could ever have. I love you.
The Twilight Zone is the best thing to come out of the invention of the television and this is probably my favorite episode, it's hard to choose. I've heard it was Serling's favorite too.
"You've been looking behind, try looking ahead."
I needed that.
When we are young, all we think about is growing up. When we are grown up, all we want is to go back to a certain time in our lives where we had peace and find a reprieve from all that is the now.
So true. What's wrong with us?
@@basilmarasco1975 I think if Rod Serling was alive and he was to answer your question I think he would sum it up to it being just the evolution of man. Or human beings and that is just the process of life. I think very few people in this world have the luxury of being able to return back to a simpler time before the world burdens us. And I think that in the scene it's really to say that you can't change your past but you should look towards the future.
@@paulkersey1007 Yes. An objective, non-sentimental look at the past life shows that it was just another challenging time, for the grown-ups of that era, if not for the kids. I am *really* glad to have been too young for the draft during the Vietnam War, for just one example.
*"Martin Sloan, age thirty-six, vice-president in charge of media. Successful in most things but not in the one effort that all men try at some time in their lives-trying to go home again. And also like all men, perhaps there'll be an occasion, maybe a summer night sometime, when he'll look up from what he's doing and listen to the distant music of a calliope, and hear the voices and the laughter of the people and the places of his past. And perhaps across his mind there'll flit a little errant wish, that a man might not have to become old, never outgrow the parks and the merry-go-rounds of his youth. And he'll smile then too, because he'll know it is just an errant wish, some wisp of memory not too important really, some laughing ghosts that cross a man's mind, that are a part of the Twilight Zone."*
@@basilmarasco1975 For a lot of people, this scene is so relatable because the pressures of the world: bills, family, jobs, demands, etc have run our lives. We live a rat race and the world is unfortunately unforgiving. Most of us can not stop to enjoy what they work hard for being because it's always something.
Rod Serling was a genius.
Even that’s an understatement. One of a kind
@@RodSerling. twilight zone is extremely good, its almost scary 😂
Definitely, he’s a genius.
The best part of this episode was dear old dad, still giving good advice over the distance of time. One of the best scripts written by Rod Serling himself.
Brings a tear to my eye every time and makes me think of my Dad and my time as a boy during the summer
More Merry go rounds....
@@fredsawyer9845 me too fred
Everybody at some time wants to go back and live those young years one more time. Remembering that Jr. High flame and the relationship that was so innocent and yet so mature at the same time. Remembering mom and dad as those heroes who did everything and could do anything. The boyhood friends, holding her hand for the first time, the summer fishing trips at the Thousand Islands; all things we want again in the midst of adulthood struggles but, alas, will never have. Only one summer per customer. Mine came in the sixties never to be had again. One of life's sad realities. Long live those good memories.
The line from the Wonder Years finale says it best, "The memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul."
It's summer, June 2021. I am 36 going on 37 next month. A few days ago I took a short trip to my childhood neighborhood - Little Ferry, New Jersey. I parked, walked around my old stomping grounds on Liberty Street. I hoped to fall into the Twilight Zone and fall into a time warp like Mr. Sloan. But alas, this is real life. Everything I knew is gone. The old Chinese restaurant up the block is now a new-age burger spot. What was the empty, deserted lot across the street where I used to go sledding in the icy winters is now a Dunkin Donuts and Laundromat. What was Sal's Pizza, owned and operated by actual Italian immigrants is now Craig D's. The Garden State Deli where my dad would go every morning to get his newspaper and egg sandwiches/bagels is now a Subway. Mr. Serling was right, you can't go back. We all need to look ahead.
I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago.
I lived near a small farm town in north central Illinois when growing up. It was about an hour or so west of Rockford, IL. The last time I went there to visit friends and family, I drove around the places where I used to hang out. And like you, many of the places I knew were no longer there.
The big one for me was that there used to be an RPG and board game store in Rockford called Tomorrow is Yesterday. It was a favorite place to go when I had a little money to spend on a West End Games Star Wars RPG or some miniatures. When I last was there, they had converted the place into a comic book store. No more RPGs or board games or even the used book section off to the side. Now, I always knew that the past on many levels was gone, but it was at that moment when it really, really hit me.
Friends and family in the area were either dead or had moved away. Pizza places I used to haunt are gone. Even my old junior high school building was now just an open lawn, with my old high school now massively expanded to include junior and grade school.
That was then, and that was "his time" (referring to my younger self). Now it's just a ghost of a memory. But I won't let this stop me from living the remaining years of my life. However many there may be.
I am a two-time cancer survivor. Maybe number 3 will get me. Maybe it won't. But that's in the future as well. In the meantime, let's keep going.
I wish you all my best.
My favorite Mexican restaurant in okc lost forever in the Twilight Zone
LOL - "actual Italian immigrants" - as opposed to imaginary ones?
LOL - "actual Italian immigrants" - as opposed to imaginary ones?
I grew up in Garfield NJ, and had an aunt and uncle in Little Ferry. We used to spend holidays in your neck of the woods. Although it was over 30 years ago, still feels like yesterday.
We spend our adult lives trying to get home.
yes, and we wind up going in circles.... alas!
Like me.I wish I could go back to my past.
I can't go back, but I have a memory full of good times to revisit in my mind. Sadly many people's childhood was not good at all, which doesn't even leave them happy memories to remember.
How true
eh, i just worked hard to make a new home with traditional values i learned as a kid.
This was always my dads favorite episode. He would cry while watching it. So glad he taught me about the Twilight Zone
You are so lucky to have had a dad who would cry in front of you.....
@@tinasan3870 Tell me about it. When i was about 25, and went to stay with my father for awhile in another state, because me and my wife, had just broken up, i once was about to tell my father, that i had always thought, of him as someone i looked up to as a child, and wanted to be like.
Just as i was starting that off, he told me, "🤬OH I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT PUNK SH*T, THAT OLE GAY SH*T! So i said, "Okay, fine." Then he said, ooohh go ahead and finish what you were going to say.
I said, "naw, that's alright." Later on, about a couple months later after that incident, and a couple others, i said TO MYSELF, "I'm getting out of here, and dude, you're going to miss me before i miss you." And didn't see, write, nor talk to him for a good 14 years, and another 10 years after that. He was later sorry for saying that, and a few other things, concerning the way he treated his by then only son. So, after apologizing to me, shortly before his passing, i felt bad about it. Sometimes parents need to understand that's what they are like it or not, and understand the power of words, and actions.
Pure unfiltered genius...
"This is HIS summer. Just as it was yours once... Don't make him share it. That line was profound and have always stuck in my mind.
Really does stick with me as I'm getting older
it sums up the awfulness of the boomer. perpetual adolescents who cling to the stage long after the universe wants them to move on.
💖💖💖 Me Too
@@jamesbloomfield8038 I'm 42 and I can remember the first time like it was only yesterday 💖💖💖
Willoughby is just (PROFOUND)... IT'S One of the best but that line in specific will go down as one of the best I've ever heard 💖💖💖
I can never go home to 1973, with both parents alive, and my biggest worry was collecting a complete set of baseball cards. This episode haunts me, and is my favorite. Now I have as many friends who have died, as who are still alive. I am in the middle ground, and it is slipping away. Thank you for posting.
I wish I COULD GO BACK 2 2002, WHEN MY LATE GRANDMA was ALIVE. :,0(
MY LATE GRANDMA DIED IN JULY OF 2002. R.I.P. GRANDMA.!!. :,0(
I feel the same
bobthebuilder914 I can totally relate; well said my friend
Same here my Mom passed away when I was 6 in 1978 my Father in 1984 how time passes 😢
The greatest gift and greatest curse mankind has, is memory.
This is one of the most beautiful and haunting moments ever created for TV. It just so sums up the human condition- the yearnings for what was, the safety and security of childhood, the struggle to find happiness with our choices in life. I've been watching these episodes for years, never tired of them.
RedTango nobody can play it nowadays....the acting is so Superior...and of course the music !!!
So true and well said . In so many of the Twilight Zone episodes there was a subtle message or a hidden lesson for us . Serling was a genius
You are so on point thank you I dream for those days again
@@patriciagullickson9591 I think you are correct. I can't think of two actors working today who could do this scene with the tenderness Gig Young and Frank Overton do here. Just can't see Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks matching this. We just don't have actors like that today.
@@boblackey1. You are so right. One of my favourite episodes, it touched on something very deep. Great acting with haunting mood and soundtrack. You could never see anything like this on TV today, now it's just churned out piles of rubbish...talent not required anymore.
I relate this episode to this quote, “At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went out to play for the last time and no one knew it.” I think about that quote a lot and this episode reinforces the notion that one can never truly go home again.
😢😭
We can't go home again, because home is right here, right now, not back when. Nowhere but here, while you're reading this comment. Either live it or let it go by unnoticed.
I was stuck in a rut after my wife died more than 14 years ago. Then I saw this episode and this scene and I cried for an hour on and off .Now i’m happily with another person in my life almost 7 years. thankful for Rod Serling for turning my life around by making me stop looking behind me and instead look ahead.
I pray you are still at peace Jay, I am still stuck where you were.
I hope you've found your own peace of heaven since then man. I
I lost my wife eleven years ago. I’ve remarried and keep going.
Jay you gonna make me cry.
@@Paddy_Roche Prayer and patience is the answer while keeping yourself busy helping others. Before you know it a door will open and your new life will begin. PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens
I have seen "The Walking Distance" at least 30 times and this scene makes me cry everytime, it is so brilliant.
I'm seriously glad to know its not just me.
Tiffany D. Yea me too plus I’m some form or way I’m like Martin Sloan too I miss my past everyday I wish I had what he had a chance to go back just once to feel nostalgic and meet my father just once I wish I could have had at least one conversation with him before he passed away I never got to know my father this episode this character super super lucky he got to do what a lot of us wish a thousand times a chance to revisit the past
It is easily my favorite episode and makes me cry like a child every time. Bernard Herrmanns music is so dark and beautiful. I’m so glad as others said that we aren’t alone.
Me, too. The BEST TZ episode of all time. Great writing, casting and acting.
I tear up too. It’s one of the best Twilight Zone episodes.
His father, showing love, telling his son to live his life to fullest.
Very well said.
At least, he recognized him..
This episode has the quality of a dream… Just as we might see a dead parent in our dream, and that parent will talk to us, give us a message of love or encouragement. Sometimes, it’s a parent who during their lifetime didn’t give such messages. These experiences can be very moving, can really fill a hole within us.
Rod Serling was nothing less than GENIUS
“I’ve been living in a dead run and I was tired” anyone over 40 with kids…job…get’s it and why it hits home with so many!
The episode for very nostalgic people who want to go back to their childhood.
In your mind, you can visit, but you can't stay there.
So is the other episode "Kick the Can"
@@katherinkeegan8601 Kick the Can was more about how there's no actual law in the universe preventing you from playing those games you so much enjoy (like kick the can) and "you grow old because you stop playing" sort of adage, different than the message of Walking Distance.
Serling was a true genius. This is one of his best. And I'm sure he's still out there, hovering somewhere between the pit of our fears and the summit of our knowledge . . . somewhere . . . in the mystical realms of the Twilight Zone
he's rotting in his grave
Well spoken!
Wishing he was here to add share his perspective on current times... although The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street makes a respectable substitute.
The love of a great father never fades. Spend time with pop before it's too late.
Mine died when I was 11
If The Twilight Zone had ended after only one season, it would still be the greatest series ever to have aired on television. Serling's work is recognized to be more than just a "TV show." Rather, it is a series of profound essays on human self-reflection and discovery, each episode a masterwork of poetry, prose, and concerto combined. I believe "Walking Distance" to be the artists's best work in every sense. It is Mr. Serling's Opus.
Great comment and I agree completely. This show was a masterpiece and deeply moving, as were many of the Twilight Zone episodes.
Agreed.
I agree , although the Changing of the Guard was another masterpiece he did ...That one was very touching as this was
I love the Twilight Zone still do since we all seem to be living in it at the moment
God bless you all my Brothers and Sisters
Have a Merry and Joyous Christmas
Be safe
God and Jesus love you
🙏❤and Peace
@@fredsawyer9845 Yes, the episodes with thoughtful endings (i.e., not necessarily horrific or creepy or scary) were some of the best, like "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby", "The Hunt", "The Changing of The Guard", "Mute", "A Hundred Yards Over The Rim", and a few others.
I find myself living so much in the past,, this episode says it all,, for me at least. I couldn't wait to grow up, now, I want to go back to the 70's,, just can't look ahead to much these days
I'm the same way JustAnnie51. The burden of being a grown up weighs heavy, I hate it! Life as a kid was adventurous.
I have to agree with JustAnnie51 and many others in this thread. I travel back to the late 50s and 60s in my dreams often. I was surprised to see so many in here with the same thoughts. Guess I am not alone. Yes, this has to be the best scene and probably my all-time favorite episode of The Twilight Zone.
I feel the same way. You can't go home again
Yeah the human tragedy of adulthood.
You feel that way partly because you don’t belong in this world. It is chaos and corruption and some of us just can’t tolerate it!
the background music, along with the conversation, makes this scene even more powerful
Bernard Herrmann.
This is my very favorite TZ Episode!
Every single time I watch this episode I cry - not for sadness - but remembering the pure joy of my childhood - the purity of life and when America was Truly America🇺🇸
all men have a need to...go home again,...but they realize that it's not their home anymore,..it belongs to another boy or girl,.....and its time to just move on...this episode is my favorite, and rod serlings favorite too.
What you just said adds more to this episode, and it's meaning and message. The words you just typed are truly haunting as they resonate with me deeply, and give me that realization that I have to move forward.
"Maybe you haven't been looking in the right place. You've been looking behind you, Martin. Try looking ahead." I've always liked those lines. I got the impression at the end of the episode that he would try to do that. Like a lot of Twilight Zone fans, this is one of my favorite episodes.
It is my favorite, by far. This was the most moving scene. I think Serling wrote the script and obviously it came from deep within him. The acting, by Gig Young and Frank Overton, was excellent. The music was done by Bernard Hermann, who did a lot of the music for Alfred Hitchcock's movies, including "Marnie" and the great "Vertigo".
Gig Young was just fantastic, in this, my all time favourite episode. I had a dream something like this when I was twenty years old, or thereabouts. I time travelled back to 1960 and tried to stop my parents getting married, but i failed. It did not have, a happy ending. But it ended with me wanting to relive my childhood, and change things so that i could have the love of my parents that i felt i never had.
My Father died of a massive coronary when I was 11 and he didn't have a chance to say goodbye. Every time I watch this, I feel as if Frank Overton is my Father speaking to me.
This,and LITTLE GIRL LOST.
This was one of my faves, along with, 'The Trouble With Templeton,' 'After Hours,' 'In Praise of Pip,' 'The Hitchhiker,' and a handful of others. Serling had the knack for bringing the vibe to us with each moment which allowed us to FEEL what was transpiring. From the casting, to the direction and even the lighting....suPERB. Another incredible show from that time is, 'One Step Beyond,' with John Newland as host. Amazing.
Just one of the best episodes, it encapsulates a longing so many of us have to turn back..unaware when those summers were ours, they would pass so quickly..and yet memories are always within "walking distance"..i miss you grandfather
Walking Distance I believe is the most poignant teleplay ever written and coupled with the haunting musical score if once seen will stay with you forever - especially among "Baby Boomers". I too, think about how 1959 was really not so different from 1935 - and compared to 2013 is terrifying. The soliloquy written by Serling in the final scene is again, haunting, "to go home again". Oh, to spend just one day again in 1954 Falls Church, Virginia walking the railroad tracks to the State Theater.
I'm usually quite strong and cold when I watch film and television but this absolutely wrecks me and has me in tears, the whole episode pretty much has me bawling, the topic of entering your past and not getting to go back there must be an emotional trigger for me
I know people pick episodes like Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, Time Enough at Last, and The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street as their favorites but to me, this is my personal favorite.
I Own monsters r due on maple street, and my pastor, literally lived on..MAPLE STREET.
Willoughby
This is one of the best written and acted scenes from the Twilight Zone. I would have liked the older Martin and his dad to hug as they say goodbye to each other and go back to their lives.
I'd love to be able to talk to my mom, dad, & baby sister, all in Heaven now, just to tell them that I love them so much, but, I do believe that they know that. I still have my other sister, and we enjoy our visits, she lives not too far away.
You just did!
I hope you and your sister are doing well
This is the only episode of any TV show ever, that brings tears to my eyes. It did so when I was younger and does so even more now.
For anyone with an attachment to the past, or their childhood in particular, this hits so many nerves. I probably suffer to some extent with nostalgia and envy not just the beauty and simplicity of my childhood in comparison to life today but in general, the era of those times as opposed to the present. Not that the world was perfect back then, but as a child, one's innocent perceptions of it bring it close to perfection.
The Father's humble words of advice, his paternal humility and loving concern for a son, adrift out of time and place, creates a lump in my throat and an incredible wave of emotion. It is sad yet very beautiful and in some ways reassuring........it tells me others have felt this way, travelled the same road and that lamenting the passing of years may be very personal but not exclusive.
It's extraordinary that 25 short minutes of television from half a century ago can still have such an emotional impact on so many.
Very well said. My favorite episode. Hits home!
One of the most poignant moments on television. I'd love to have another conversation with my late Pop.
John Moore my
Me as well.
If you like this see the movie frequency, it's really intense ,pulled at my heart
I think many of us would. My father has been gone thirteen years last February and I wish I could a conversation with him again.
You're lucky. There are those who do not miss their dads.
Man, I love the twilight zone but we can all agree this is the best episode. It made me cry the first time I saw this scene, and it still does. Rod Serling and his show are the best things on earth.
This episode and “ Next Stop Willoughby” are my favourite Twilight Zone episodes because it’s basically the same storyline.
It’s true you can’t go home again, and you only get one childhood…
And then Rod did it again with "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar", on "NIGHT GALLERY".
I know that I speak for a lot of people when I say that I wish I could thank Rod Serling for all of the enjoyment and thought provoking moments his creation has given me.
God bless you Rod.
Frank Overton and Gig Young...and Rod Serling and Bernard Herrmann...and the crickets in the background. And that's all.
My favorite T.Z. ever, simply unforgettable, they should show this episode in psychology classes, why is it that we always yearn for the past?
Maybe because it reminds us of comforting times. when we were young and innocent, when life was easier and you didn't care. its easier to look back and find happiness rather than look forward and face uncertainty.
Makes sense..
We can't yearn for a future we know nothing about. Its nothing but a blank wall. So all we can do is look back over the ground we have covered and most of us see some great times that happened and we want to go back to them. For me, I yearn to see my parents again, they way they were when I was 6.
I think it's when we let the negative start to overwhelm the positive in our lives that makes us temporarily forget all the good in our lives.Fortunately we can always choose to remember........like the old song says, "Try to remember and if you remember then follow,follow.follow"/peace and love and all good things to you and all!
Because it's now a safe place. We know everything that happened there.
I know we all have our favorite TZ episodes. I have several, but Walking Distance (written by Rod Serling) is at the top of the list. I think most people in my generation have that fantasy of going back in time to our youth. This scene always gets to me, emotionally. Maybe because I wish I could talk to my dad one more time.
Mine's "When The Sky Was Opened". I love the mistique and the way reality shifts around the main characters. No sadness, no emotions, other then terror. Reality just corrects itself. Mercilessly, coldly, without care or human touch. Love it. There is something infinitely realistic about it all.
I have watched this on my DVD numerous times. A good friend told me a few years ago...with this great analogy. Our cars have a small rear view mirror, and a larger windshield. We can occasionally look at those things behind us, but our focus should be what is in front of us. Martin learned this from his father.
Hi, Thomas. when looking thru your rearview mirror as your move, you're looking back into the past, and when you're looking thru your windshield, you looking at the future. Take care.
Gig Young .... remembered fondly.
lindsey lefrois yeah, Gig Young's role in 'Teacher's Pet' is my favorite...
@Johnny Pastrana: His role in "Kid Galahad" (the Elvis version) is mine. He plays a heel in that one but becomes a hero before it's over.
lindsey lefrois How about They shoot horses don't they?
@Tracy Simmons: I never saw "Horses" (and I soon should) but I know he won an Oscar for it.
Almost all of Gig Young's movie roles were in comedies (he was always the guy in romantic comedies who didn't get the girl). But in this (and "They Shoot Horses, Don't They," his truly-deserved Oscar win) he shows what a fine serious actor he could be. Such a beautiful, touching performance.
Makes me cry everytime... His old man telling him maybe things aren't so bad. Classic
This is by far my most favorite episode of any show I have ever watched.
Such simple words.
So simple, yet so profound.
A father's last advice on the battlefield of life.
"You've been looking behind you Martin try looking ahead."
Such a powerdul scene that echos even till today.
My favorite episode! Hands down!
+Tim Love👐🏼 👇 1-5-1962.
+Tim Love Mine too,You have good taste
I agree. In fact, it was the best episode of any series that I have ever seen on TV.
Mine, too.
One of the most brilliant scenes in the history of TV.
I love this scene so much. I wished I could talk to my Dad. GREAT Twilight Zone! Will be in my Heart Forever ❤️
Walking distance is a masterpiece
Nostalgia is hard. I long for the days of past but at the same time look towards the future as with my kids. The thought of living in the 80s again as a kid. Playing outside, Nintendo, He-Man, transformers and morning cartoons. No responsibilities and more concerned with toys and having fun. Ahhhh to dream a dream :)
This is the best TZ episode ever and this scene is one of the greatest scenes that was ever put on film period-movies or television-completely magical-whenever I am sick over the years or even a little sad I put on this episode and this scene just gets me everytime-Serling's masterpiece and the score is majestic.Rod Serling was the most incredibly talented man I have ever come across in my lifetime-an American icon.
This episode made me cry automatically
Still hard to believe Frank Overton was only 49 when he died. This was his best role but he was great in Fail Safe, To Kill a Mockingbird and on 12 OClock High as well.
He also did well in the TZ episode "Mute" (season 4, the hour-long episodes). He plays the good dad in that one too, though quite a different situation.
Hard to believe Gig Young was actually older than Frank Overton
Yes, he always looked a lot older than his years. Loved his voice.
Star Trek "this side of paradise" died a month after it aired.
@@danielstadden1149 Yes. Star Trek, The Virginian, and Bonanza were his last three television appearances.
You can watch TZ episodes 100x and they never get old This is one of them A testament to the genius and Art of Rod Serling who I consider the Shakespeare of Television
Rod Serling understood the human condition. His writing was touched with genius.
I just started watching this series, and this episode in particular hit me like a ton of bricks. Almost like a psychedellic experience. I dont know how to describe it, but there is something very special about this episode. I cant wait to see what else im in store for..
oh yeah,the original twilight zone series was one of a kind. even the fact that it was filmed in black and white gives it a certain feel. if you're just now starting to watch the series you're in for some great viewing.
You said it! "Walking Distance" is indeed special.
Watch the episode “The Hunt” !
I loved the Zone but this was by far my favorite episode. I was born in 55 and spent summers in Marthas Vineyard our house was a block from the beach. We walked barefoot and could be unsupervised to the Flying Horses and had plenty of candy on circut ave,skimmed rocks and swam all day.My life since was never easy if I could just go back for 1 hour.
Rod Sterling was a paratrooper in WWII and fought in the Pacific. What a brilliant man and true American.
If I recall, Rod Serling did an interview around the time this episode aired and he said something along the lines of “You can never truly go home” which was referring to how he would like to return to his younger years. I still believe to this day that Walking Distance was based off of that feeling he had
Of course. The merry-go-round was a staple of the park he played in as a youth in Binghamton, New York.
Yes Rec Park (Recreation Park) was indeed wakking distance from his childhood home. Still is… word is he used to drive the streets once in a while…
Class of ‘43 saw a large portion of young men go straight into WW2.
Wow.
Walking not wakking (sorry)
That's okay.
You’re right. His daughter Jodi confirmed this episode had a personal connection to him.
Life in the corporate world had me feeling the same many times over..the Willoughby episode was even more brutal on this topic
A great episode that resonates more and more the older I get. Another fabulous Frank Overton performance, one of the most underrated actors of all time
I started watching The Twilight Zone when I was a kid. Many of them served somewhat as a learning experience. They made an impact to me. This one was # 1 on the list.
I relate to this so much now that I am older (near 60). This just tugs at the heart strings and how much I miss the carefree days of my youth. I was moving and discovered a photo of myself around age 8 or 9 with my favorite dog watching from our gated fence. It's true you might only have that one Summer, the first love or just the care free feeling of innocence. We often would like to believe that life and its journey would go on forever. I have come to realize that there is and ending and life is finite. We must embrace and appreciate the here and now. I would however would enjoy a chance to see my younger self, even if it was just for one more day. 😢
Fatherly advice... priceless... in an age that mocks fathers and their crucial role in
holding things together.... a very powerful scene...
I cried at this one. AND I NEVER CRY because of movie/series.
Long distance call..MAKE'S ME CRY.!!.
Scripturegirl1990 That's a good one. A really creepy episode.
The 1ST time I CRIED AT the MOVIE THEATER..BRIDGE 2 TERIBITHIA. I cried 4 ABOUT 2 HOUR'S STRAIT..EVEN AT HOME, when I was on the phone that NITE..I COULDN'T STOP CRYING.
+marcus10 what's even sadder is the player here (GiG Young) killed himself and his wife, at a relatively young age
Scripturegirl1990 Well, it is quite similiar with "My Girl", so I was not that shock with that one. But it was definetly sad.
Such powerful writing from a time when CGI and Michael Bay's explosions couldn't be done on a weekly tv show. How painful it must have been for the father to see his grown-u son unhappy and unable to "look forward" in his life.
Whatever they paid Bernard Herrmann for the music, it wasn't enough.
There is a letter found on the internet from Rod to Bernard thanking him for his contribution to this particular episode
""Don't look back, but look ahead .!! "' Dad gives him wonderful advice 😌
I first watched
this episode at age 12. Now at 70 I'm happy that there still are carousels and ice cream sodas to look forward to.
.Don't look back!
This episode touched me I too yearn to go home back to the past where it all made sense everyday I wish I could go back relive some classic nostalgia and see my father and just have at least one one conversation with him just one before I have to go i never knew my father he died when I was 8 seeing this episode touched me
I doubt it’s a coincidence that “Martin Sloane” is the same age Rod Serling was at the time. This was an awesome episode.
Of course it isn't. "Walking Distance" was one of Rod Serling's most personal TZ scripts, another being "The Purple Testament".
Every time I watch this scene, I go through a box of Kleenex. I know what it's like to not have band concerts anymore. There's only one place, back there. I can go home again "in my mind" and that's what I do. I often dream of getting in Rod Taylor's time machine, pulling the lever back to 60+ years ago, getting off, and destroying the machine. Anyone else feel this way?
Ironically, the makers of Kleenex- Kimberly-Clark - was the alternate sponsor of "THE TWLIGHT ZONE" at the time. And they just didn't understand episodes like this. They were used to co-sponsoring Steve McQueen in "WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE". Eventually, they pulled out of "TWLIGHT ZONE" at the end of the first season, and continued with the other series they bought ad time on.
Worth mentioning about Bernard Herrman's sublime music for this scene too.
No doubt one of the best scenes in TW history!
U mean t.Z.
Antisocial Socialist I AM A CONSERVATIVE.!!.
Sometimes it's hard not to look behind and to wonder if those truly were the best days, if somehow they might still exist somewhere... I'll try to look for tomorrow's Merry-Go-Rounds, ice cream sodas, comic books, and games in the park, but it's hard some days... Anyway, Happy Father's Day Pop.
Yes. I sometimes wonder if the past is still out there and perhaps someday there will be a way to recapture it. I would settle for just being able to view the past as if you were watching a video. You couldn't interact or change anything. That would be good enough for me but most likely it would never be possible.
@@jamessilva7991 I wouldn't mind that, either. For me, there were bad times, but there were good times as well. I wouldn't mind at all watching the good times.
It's like he was talking to me wow
That's Frank Overton as the Father. A really good actor. Also in "Fail Safe" and "To Kill a Mocking Bird"
Dion1957 Also the TV Series "Twelve O'Clock High"...
Agree! This is one of my top Twilight Zone episodes.! Still gives chills and a valuable lesson about life.
I sometimes wish I could go back in time and spend just one day with my family and tell them how much I loved them. They're all gone now. And I regret that I didn't say the words that now I wish I had.
I feel the same way. Actually I would settle with having them back for an hour.
Oh, how I wish I could do that! This episode so reminds me of Thornton Wilder's play, "Our Town", in which the nostalgia of returning to one's past is explored.
Walking Distance is my favorite Twilight Zone. When Martin gets advice from his Dad, I cry because my Dad is dead. To be able to see and talk to your Dad one more time is something I would wish to have happen. Rod Serling understood. He was definitely a genius.
Yeah... It helps remembering all the worst things about our fathers, once they pass. It numbs this profound pain somewhat. Fathers are just human beings, after all.
@@viewtiful1doubleokamihand253 I don’t think his father had done things wrong, that’s why Martin wanted to go back to where his life was simpler and he wasn’t all alone. He had parents to talk to, give advice or just be there for him.
Agreed, best scene in the Twilight Zone story lines, done by two really good actors.
This one hits me in the gut every single time. Best episode hands down.
I watched this episode for the first time tonight. This scene made me cry. Well done.
Very emotional episode and the music really captured the sadness of missing a wonderful childhood if we are blessed enough to have had one. My favorite episode.
Frank Overton (Pop) had great roles in (among others) "Fail Safe" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" with wonderful casts. A great actor. He passed unexpectedly of a heart attack, age 49, in 1967.
My favorite twilight zone episode, and this scene is so powerful , especially for those of us that long for simpler times and the way things “used to be.” For me , it was coming of age in the 1980s, An amazing time I still long for …When his father says , “Maybe there’s only one summer to every customer “ it hits me in my chest every time .
Thanx dad
Yea i guess we all have our walling distance moment. I tried going back to my old college ironically at about the same age as the caracter in the story. Fortunately I didn't remember going there i still recognized the place but realized that part of my life was over. I know everyone who watches this video has experienced this sometime in there lives thats why your watching this video right now.
Gig Young brings to this role a world weariness and a yearning for the past that is so powerful. One of my favourite episodes of not just ‘The Twilight Zone’ but of any television show. RIP Mr Young and Mr Serling.
Scene never fails to choke me up- Kudos to writer Rod Serling, actors Gig Young, Frank Overton, and composer Bernard Herrmann for THE most beautifully haunting musical score ever written for television.
As improbable as it is to have a favorite TWILIGHT ZONE episode, WALKING DISTANCE is my favorite. I want to thank two amazingly talented men, Rod Serling and Bernard Herrmann who collaborated on this television production to create a Masterpiece.
Great episode..
sums my life up
takewhole How so.?. :S
This is such a beautifully written and acted scene....so poignant and touching. The background music adds an inexpressible sense of lament to the moment. Father giving future son final words of wisdom and future son realizing just how wise and right his father was. I remember watching this episode on rerun late one summer's evening in the summer of 75 or so. I was only 14 or 15 at the time, but as I sat there in the living room's late night darkness, I felt I was part of the scene. I could feel the central character's melancholy and his desire to go back to happier times...and realized that, as I sat there in our family home in the suburbs just outside Washington, DC, that these were MY happy times. As an adult, there were so many times when I realized, too late, that my father was, more often than not, like Martin's father here, correct in his counsel; yet I was too stupid and arrogant, to confident in my false belief of knowing better than my father, to listen to his wise and prudent guidance. Sometime in my early 30s, I awakened bolt upright one morning at around 3am to the thought "Did you think your father would lie to you???". In that late night epiphany, one of my rare moments of clarity and understanding, I realized that he was only trying to give me the benefit of his hard learned experiences. Although he died only a year or two after that realization, I did have the opportunity to thank him for all he had done for me and all that he had tried to do....and apologize for being such a block-headed ass. He looked kindly at me and said "That's ok. Its what most kids do". Dad was a master of the understatement. That precious moment of mutual respect and acknowledgement between father and son was over 30 years ago. I'm 62 now and would just like to say, once more....thanks Dad. You were the best father a kid could ever have. I love you.
This was a wonderful episode and one of the most moving from Twilight Zone.
The Twilight Zone is the best thing to come out of the invention of the television and this is probably my favorite episode, it's hard to choose. I've heard it was Serling's favorite too.
it makes me very happy to see that this episode struck a cord with so many people