This was considered by most to be the high point for Night Gallery.
It is after 3 pm and Sales Director Randy Lane is not back from lunch. His ambitious worm of an assistant Harvey Doane suggests that he might be out drinking. When the owner Mr. Pritkin needs some info, Doane jumps in and throws Lane under the bus.
Lane’s secretary Lynn tries to cover for him. She mentions today is Lane’s 25th anniversary with the firm, so he might be at lunch celebrating. At 3:05, he finally rolls in, drunk and disheveled. He spent the last hour standing on the sidewalk looking at the shuttered Tim Riley’s Bar. How he got drunk standing on the sidewalk is not mentioned.
He gets very nostalgic about the bar which will soon be gone with no one to remember it with flowery speeches about the war and rumple seats. After work, he goes back to the closed bar and reminisces with a beat cop about the old days after the war when they were young. After the cop leaves, Lane has his first hallucination, of a celebration in the bar when he returned from the war.
The speechifying goes on a little long as Serling has always done, but the performances make the show. There is really no horror or shock to be found in the episode. I’d have to call it good for what it is. It just isn’t what I’m looking for in Night Gallery.
William Windom is great as Randy Lane. Diane Baker was also great as Lane’s secretary. She was completely convincing in her support for Lane; also pretty hot, reminding me of a young sexier Kate Mulgrew.
Post-Post:
- This episode also contained a short called The Last Laurel starring Jack Cassidy.
- This episode was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Single Program of the Year. It was beaten by The Andersonville Trial, also starring Jack Cassidy.
- Twilight Zone Legacy: William Windom and Henry Beckman were each in two episodes.
- Mr. Pritkin played George Costanza’s father in one episode of Seinfeld before being replaced by Jerry Stiller.
- Don Taylor also directed Escape From the Planet of the Apes, and The Final Countdown.
Nothing going on here. I just liked the shot.
On one level, “Tim Riley’s Bar” is heartfelt, well-paced and somewhat Capra-esque. At least that was my initial impression.
However, upon repeated viewings, I can see how emotionally manipulative and I hate to say it…..clichéd it truly was. William Windom never gives a sub-par performance, but then, that goes without saying. But “one of the best Night Gallery episodes ever” might be overstating things a little. C’mon – one of the supporting players in this story is Bert Convy. Let me repeat that, Bert “game show host’ Convy!
I can appreciate waxing nostalgic with the best of them, but the “flashbacks” (or should I say hallucinations) he has inside the bar while it is being demolished is an exercise in forced melodrama. Even his secretary’s “attention must be paid” speech to Lane’s boss should’ve been writing a lot better. Thank Goodness for the happy ending – but the wrecking ball parting shot makes an obvious allegory as subtle as a sledgehammer.
I forgot Bert was in this. I guess he acted more than I remember. I just saw him in an Alfred Hitchcock Presents.