I must not be the only guy who thinks it's great, since there a movie, yet to be released as I write this review, entitled "Real Steel" involving... boxing robots. And this ain't your big brother's "Battlebots", either.
Lee Marvin is outstanding in this Zone half-hour, as the owner/manager of a creaky, washed-up robot fighter which is so out-of-date they can no longer get parts for it. Naturally, the robot boxer breaks down before the big bout, and Marvin takes the broken robot's place in the ring. But I won't disclose the ending here. You'll just have to watch for this episode.
Interestingly (to me anyway, as a student of Hollywood history) this episode, like the vast majority of Twilight Zones, was shot at what used to be one of the six MGM Studio lots in Culver City, CA. Now the last remaining lot is the Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures lot. Anyway, Serling & company must have rented a Culver City bus for the very first shot of this episode (that's the uncut version only - the bulk of that shot is missing from the edited-for-time version that you most often see on TV these days). I reach this conclusion from the fact that in the "destination window" above the windshield of the bus, it says "Sunkist Park". Sunkist Park is in fact an actual Culver City neighborhood, just a few minutes from the studio by car, and was built eleven years before this 1963 episode was filmed.
If you haven't seen this episode, you've really missed something - not the least of which is Lee Marvin at his best. It would be well worth your while to keep an eye on the TV listings for it. And just for grins, if you're lucky enough to catch the uncut version during a Twilight Zone marathon, take a good look at that bus in the first shot as it turns the corner and pulls into frame.
Lee Marvin is outstanding in this Zone half-hour, as the owner/manager of a creaky, washed-up robot fighter which is so out-of-date they can no longer get parts for it. Naturally, the robot boxer breaks down before the big bout, and Marvin takes the broken robot's place in the ring. But I won't disclose the ending here. You'll just have to watch for this episode.
Interestingly (to me anyway, as a student of Hollywood history) this episode, like the vast majority of Twilight Zones, was shot at what used to be one of the six MGM Studio lots in Culver City, CA. Now the last remaining lot is the Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures lot. Anyway, Serling & company must have rented a Culver City bus for the very first shot of this episode (that's the uncut version only - the bulk of that shot is missing from the edited-for-time version that you most often see on TV these days). I reach this conclusion from the fact that in the "destination window" above the windshield of the bus, it says "Sunkist Park". Sunkist Park is in fact an actual Culver City neighborhood, just a few minutes from the studio by car, and was built eleven years before this 1963 episode was filmed.
If you haven't seen this episode, you've really missed something - not the least of which is Lee Marvin at his best. It would be well worth your while to keep an eye on the TV listings for it. And just for grins, if you're lucky enough to catch the uncut version during a Twilight Zone marathon, take a good look at that bus in the first shot as it turns the corner and pulls into frame.