User Reviews

Salvadore Ross would have been some commodities trader! I was intrigued by the idea of old Sal (Don Gordon) getting his wealth and compensating old age in one fell swoop, and then dealing for his youth a year at a time. You know, if you think about it, Sal could have turned this whole affair into a happy ending by moving the Maitland's into a new apartment, thereby expressing both his love for Leah (Gail Kobe), and respect for her father (Vaughn Taylor). That he was such a blockhead who couldn't figure out what was deficient in his character is what makes the story work. For a certainty, there are those kinds of people out there who can't see the bitter truth in a mirror, or the common sense to require a money back guarantee on all deals made in The Twilight Zone.

I can't improve on the.13 preceding reviews and their recaps of the episode, but I will offer some personal thoughts. True, as already stated, there is no explanation as to how Salvadore Ross has acquired this ability to trade and later buy his desired human characteristics, but this is the Twilight Zone. We don't need to know. That's why it's science fiction.

I'm always impressed by how so many veteran actors really respected Rod Serling and put their hearts into their work for him. Don Gordon is perfectly cast as the uneducated, working class, manners-challenged, cynical type who has his heart set on winning over the lovely Leah (Gail Kobe). No mention is made as to how they met, but as she's a social worker of some sort, I always assumed they met in such a capacity, like maybe he was working off community hours where she was working. When the episode opens, we learn that they had been dating for a little long, and that she had already broken it off. But she should have known better and never gotten involved with someone so obviously below her standards. What's immediately noticeable is his poor grammar and his lack of manners by the way he treats her and her wheel-chair bound father, well played by the great Vaughn Taylor. The old man in the hospital room is played superbly by J. Pat O'Malley.

After Ross trades his youth to the mega-wealthy but elderly Mr Halpert, he begins selling his years to the young men who work at the swanky hotel where he now lives, in order to become young again. This usually happens over night, gaining a year of youth at a time, except for the morbid scene in elevator where he gains 10 years of youth by the end of the elevator ride. This was a little far fetched and out of character, but it was creepy as intended.

Sal returns to seek out Leah at her home, and while waiting for her to return, insults her father, calling him a "loser." Definitely not the way to win friends and influence people. But he is now well dressed and his speaking with proper English. What's amazing to me is when he's asked by Mr Maitlin if he loves his daughter, why does he not answer "yes?" Seems to me any schmuck seeking to win over a daughter would easily lie.

A great episode, one I enjoy watching over and over again.

No-good bum Salvadore Ross (Don Gordon) is an angry young man who feels that life owes him; he tries to prove his worth by winning the affection of kind-hearted social worker Leah Maitland (Gail Kobe), but this prize escapes him like everything else. Unable to accept that her rejection could be due to his shortcomings as a person, Ross concludes that Leah considers herself too good for him.

Things are about to change for Salvadore when he discovers that he has an amazing ability that allows him to easily improve his social standing: he can exchange physical characteristics with others. When he breaks his hand, he makes a deal with a man with a cough to exchange ailments, and then he sells his youth to an ageing tycoon for a million dollars and a swanky pad. Then he starts to buy back his years from young men at a $1000 a year. Pretty soon, he's back to being twenty six, but now he's loaded.

The new, improved Ross tries his luck with Leah again, but she rejects him once more, telling him that he still lacks compassion. For Salvadore, that's an easy fix, but this being The Twilight Zone, there's a cruel twist in store for the man.

I like this one a lot. Don Gordon is great as Ross, utterly convincing as a volatile man who always seems just one step away from violence, at least until he makes his final deal with Leah's father. Gail Kobe, as Leah, is equally as impressive, delivering a great combination of courage and wariness in Salvadore's presence. Furthermore, the twist is genuinely clever on this occasion and for once I didn't work it out until the very last minute. Certainly, Salvadore is too slow on the uptake, a fact that costs him his life - and after he had worked so hard to make things just so. The Twilight Zone can be so cruelly ironic sometimes.

8.5/10, rounded up to 9 for IMDb.

Serling and his fellow writers for the Twilight Zone obviously had a soft spot for O. Henry, and this episode is another example of that fondness. It bothered me the first time I saw it years ago that there was no attempt at an explanation as to why Sal has this new power, but now, well, who cares? It's the Twilight Zone! It's one of those episodes that would lead to a good discussion after a group viewing; what would YOU do with this particular power. The only thing that doesn't really hold up: the encounter with the newly-old Sal and the very young bell boy -- viewing it now, it's incredibly creepy, as though Sal is about to offer the young guy money for... something that would certainly never get talked about on the Twilight Zone. Good performances all around, and a terrifically tragic end worth of O. Henry.