A Game of Pool

Infobox Television episode
Title = A Game of Pool
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Jonathan Winters and Jack Klugman in
"A Game of Pool"
Season = 3
Episode = 70
Airdate =October 13, 1961
Production =4815
Writer =George Clayton Johnson
Director =Buzz Kulik
Guests =Jack Klugman : Jesse Cardiff
Jonathan Winters : Fats Brown
Music=Stock
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = The Passersby
Next = The Mirror

"A Game of Pool" is an episode of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone".

Opening narration

ynopsis

It is after hours at Lister's Pool Room, and once more pool shark Jesse Cardiff is alone, polishing his pool game. Jesse bitterly muses that he would be considered the greatest pool player of all time, if it were not for the memory of the late Fats Brown overshadowing him. "I'd give anything, anything to play him one game!" he declares aloud.

"At your service!" comes a sudden voice from the corner of the room. It is indeed James Howard Brown — "known to his friends as Fats" — who has been dead for fifteen years, but who has come from the afterlife to answer Jesse's challenge. Fats tells Jesse it is time for him to put his money where his mouth is and play a game of pool to see who the best truly is. But Fats ups the stakes: If Jesse wins, he will indeed be acknowledged as the greatest. If he loses, it means his life.

Jesse is undaunted, and the ultimate high stakes pool game begins. All throughout the game, Fats subtly tries to warn Jesse; he laments that Jesse has done nothing with his life but play pool. Jesse ignores Fats' comments, convinced that Fats is just trying to get Jesse's mind off the game. When it comes down to one final, easy shot for Jesse to win the title, Fats again warns him that he does not understand the burdens that come with it. But Jesse ignores him and sinks the shot. He exults in his victory; he is now the best ever.

Fats' response is to thank Jesse for beating him. Jesse is angered, declaring that Fats is a sore loser. Only years later, after he has died, does Jesse finally understands Fats' warnings. Jesse is obliged to spend his afterlife defending his title, going from pool room to lonely pool room, to play against challenger after challenger, just as Fats must have had to do until he finally lost.

Closing narration

Preview for Next Week's Story

Alternate ending

Johnson's script originally featured an alternate ending in which Jesse loses the game. Seeing that Jesse is bedazzled that he has lost a life-or-death game and is still alive, Fats explains that he will die "as all second raters die: you'll be buried and forgotten without me touching you. If you'd beaten me, you'd have lived forever." This ending was eventually filmed when this episode was remade in 1988, during the first revival of "The Twilight Zone". It also featured a different closing narration:

References

*Zicree, Marc Scott: "The Twilight Zone Companion". Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). "Trivia from The Twilight Zone". Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
*Grams, Martin. (2008). "The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic". Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

*imdb title|id=0734540|title=A Game of Pool
* [http://www.tv.com/the-twilight-zone/a-game-of-pool/episode/12655/summary.html TV.com episode page]

Twilight Zone links

*The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
*Episode List
*Season 3