Four o'clock
| "Four O'Clock" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 29 |
| Directed by | Lamont Johnson |
| Written by | Rod Serling - (Based on the story by Price Day. First published in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 14 of My Favorites in Suspense (1959) |
| Featured music | Stock |
| Production code | 4832 |
| Original air date | April 6, 1962 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Theodore Bikel: Oliver Crangle |
|
Theodore Bikel: Oliver Crangle
Moyna Macgill: Mrs. Williams
Phyllis Love: Mrs. Lucas
Linden Chiles: Luther Hall, FBI agent
"Four O'Clock" is episode 94 (season 3, number 29) of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
Oliver Crangle is a paranoid fanatic who lives in an apartment with his parrot, Pete. He maintains records of people he believes to be "evil". He makes phone calls to them and their employers at all hours, writes letters regarding their actions, demands their prompt firing, and threatens to involve higher authorities if they don't comply. Unsatisfied with the results of his anonymous calls and letters, he searches for a more effective way to eliminate evil from the world. He settles on the idea of shrinking all evil people to two feet tall. Throughout the episode, Crangle's parrot Pete periodically calls out, "Nut," asking for a nut to eat, which Crangle gives him, not realizing that Pete is also, in effect, calling Crangle a "nut."
Crangle calls a number of government agencies, and Agent Hall of the FBI is sent to investigate. Crangle tells him of his plan to shrink every evil person at 4:00 that afternoon through sheer force of will, also mentioning that he believes all evil people are collaborating in a worldwide conspiracy. Hall asks Crangle if he's ever had any psychiatric help, and tells Crangle that they don't need his kind of help because they have the law. Crangle accuses him of being in on the conspiracy. As Hall leaves, Crangle screams at him that he too will be two feet tall in just 20 minutes.
When 4:00 rolls around, Crangle is horrified to find that he himself has been shrunk to two feet tall. He struggles in vain to get up to his window sill, and one last time Pete calls out the word "Nut".
In the radio adaptation starring Stan Freberg, the ending was altered to be more gruesome as Pete the parrot mistakes the now-shrunken Crangle for a "nut".
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