The Old Man in the Cave
| "The Old Man in the Cave" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 7 |
| Directed by | Alan Crosland Jr. |
| Written by | Rod Serling, adapted from Henry Slesar's short story, "The Old Man" |
| Featured music | Stock; most cues from "And When the Sky Was Opened" by Leonard Rosenman |
| Production code | 2603 |
| Original air date | November 8, 1963 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
James Coburn: French |
|
James Coburn: French
John Anderson: Goldsmith
Josie Lloyd: Evie
John Craven: Man
John Marley: Jason
Leonard P. Geer (uncredited): Douglas
Jimmie Horan (uncredited): Townsman
Natalie Masters (uncredited): Woman
Frank Watkins (uncredited): Harber
Don Wilbanks (uncredited): Furman
"The Old Man in the Cave" is a half-hour episode of the original version of The Twilight Zone. It is set in a post-apocalyptic 1974, ten years after a nuclear holocaust in the United States. The episode is a cautionary tale about humanity's greed and the danger of questioning one's faith in forces greater than oneself.
In a sparsely populated town in 1974, ten years after a nuclear war has devastated the US, the townspeople have discovered a supply of canned food. However, they are waiting for Mr. Goldsmith, the town's leader, to return with a message from the mysterious and unseen "old man in the cave" who will tell them whether the food is contaminated with radiation. Some of the townsfolk want to take their chances and eat the food, but they refrain from doing so after seeing the disastrous harvest yielded when they failed to take the old man's advice about which farming areas were contaminated. When Mr. Goldsmith returns, he informs them that the old man has declared the food is contaminated and that it should be destroyed.
Shortly thereafter, a group of soldiers enter the town, led by Major French, and clash with Goldsmith as they try to establish their authority. The soldiers may or may not be representatives of the US government; Goldsmith claims that wandering packs of self-styled military men have previously intruded on the town and tried to establish authority—all unsuccessfully. French, meanwhile, reveals that there are maybe 500 people left alive between Buffalo, New York and Atlanta, Georgia, and also talks of small, isolated primitive societies on the shores of Lake Erie and in "what used to be" Chicago. He claims his job is to organize the region so that society can be re-built. However, Goldsmith believes that French and his men simply want to strip the town of its food.
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