The Twilight Zone Spur of the Moment (1959–1964) Online

A beautiful young woman dressed in white goes horseback riding on a bright summer's day when she spots something horrific-an evil woman dressed in Black who yells out a scream and tries to hunt her down with the apparent attempt of doing harm.This begins episode along with "22" and "Perchance to Dream" has to be the 3 most scary Twilight Zones in the entire Twilight Zone series. I saw this when it 1st came out-I was 10 years old and have also seen it since. As a 10 year old it made me want to hide under the bed and close my eyes The following contains a spoiler so stop reading if you don't know the ending The episode was good and it sends a universal message that runs thru many of Serlings episodes-"what if we could turn the clock back and relive our lives all over again-would our choices be different? The thing that hurt this episode is the fact that you are not supposed to know who the black figured woman is. cameras got too close and you could see that both women-the one in black and the one in white (she is terrifying) are the same woman!! Although this is an episode which relied more on message than twist, it takes away from the impact. It was still one of the best episodes of that final season.You won't want to go horseback riding ever again !

I thought I had seen most Twilight Zones until I caught this one on a Newfoundland station at 2:00 am. It surprised me...and in a good way. A frightening visual to start. A strong twist midway through (not at the end as usual with The Zone). Also the story took the characters outside the series usual sets and back-lots. The characters show Serling's usual level of humanism but with a disturbing realistic edge for the series. Finally, it becomes a very personal story and leaves out the moralizing which could sometimes bog down the series. In many ways a perfect short story with just enough to fill out 24 minutes. The only flaw...the direction was a bit heavy handed at times.

I have given this episode a 7/10, but keep in mind that is on a scale in comparison to the rest of TZ episodes.

Rarely do TZ episodes truly give me the creeps, but this episode does. It is almost horrific in a way. I love TZ for so much, and being creepy is naturally a part of it. However, with this episode it is just disturbing. The reoccurring scenes and the simplicity of the makeup and long black hair are probably what makes this simple episode so frightening.

If you don't see this episode for everything it truly is then you won't be as disturbed by it. However, all the same, you should watch it. XD

A young woman in white is out horseback riding near her father's estate. On a ridge she sees a maniacal black figure. A middle aged woman who screams and then pursues her back to the house. She backs off as the young woman gets to her destination. The young woman is to be married soon to an accountant. As her father and fiancé try to comfort her, a handsome young man comes to the door to see her. Apparently, he is quite taken with her but has been told to stay away. There is obviously a spark still there. The father eventually pulls a gun on him. The father is a dominating figure and always gets his way. The rest of the episode is about the future results of these actions. We have two figures of the same person at different times in their lives; yet they are in the same time dimension. We get to see what will happen and it is not pretty. Quite a good episode with a lot of unanswered questions about what can be and what will be.

What lingers from this otherwise ordinary episode are several arresting visuals. While on a routine horseback ride, debutante Diana Hyland suddenly encounters a menacing black clad rider silhouetted against the sky. In a close-up, we see the ravaged face of a middle-age woman, her features twisted into a grimace. The figure swoops down from the hill top to chase after the fleeing Hyland. But who is this figure of doom and why is she pursuing such a harmless looking lass as the about-to-be-married Hyland. These first few minutes amount to an intriguing set-up, very well filmed, the color contrast between the riders both arresting and misleading. The rest of the episode may not equal this early plateau; however, the solution remains reasonably satisfying, and one, I suspect, many would like to apply to their own lives. The cast is notable for the presence of Hyland, an excellent actress who unfortunately died young, and for Marsha Hunt as the mother, the victim of a decade or so of political blacklisting.

Diana Hyland stars as Anne Marie Henderson, 18 years-old in 1939 who is being terrorized by a mysterious black-clad older woman on horseback who chases and screams at her. Anne returns home to her parents, who are with a young man named Robert that they want her to marry, but she is still in love with another man named David, with whom she does in fact run away with and marry, though 25 years later, her life a bitter disappointment, now understands who that dark rider was, and why she chased her... Reasonably eerie episode isn't quite as effective as it might have been(identity of the rider is obvious), but Hyland is quite good here, and unexpectedly ironic climatic twist is memorable.

Many Twilight Zone episodes have a moral, or lesson, and this episode is one of them.

The year is 1939. On the day she is supposed to marry Robert Blake, young heiress Ann Henderson, wearing a white blouse, is out riding horseback on her father's estate when she finds herself being chased by a hideous creature clad in black, also on horseback. This other rider screams what sounds like a screeching war cry, and seems to charge at Ann. Ann is terrorized and rides back home as fast as she can, losing the other rider. She tells her parents and her betrothed about her experience. Then, in bursts an impetuous young man, poor and rebellious David Mitchell, who is the opposite of Robert, who is well-to-do, well behaved, and approved by Ann's austere parents.

We soon learn, as does Robert, that Ann really loves David, when, on what was supposed to be his and Ann's wedding night, Robert spies Ann and David kissing like two true lovers. The sad, heartbroken expression on Robert's face is palpable.

Fast forward to contemporary times (1964). Ann is miserable and, like her lazy free-spending husband, David, her "true lover", she is an alcoholic. Her mother is still alive and widowed, and constantly lectures Ann about what she and David are doing to the late Mr. Henderson's estate and legacy. One morning, after another argument with David, which is a constant routine in their miserable marriage, Ann, clad in black, goes out horseback riding, her favorite pastime. While riding, she sees a younger woman, wearing a white blouse, also riding on the estate she now owns. We soon learn that the older Ann is herself the "hideous creature", chasing after the younger Ann (who is still in 1939), not to harm her, but to warn her that she is about to make a mistake she will regret for the rest of her life, their lives. That screeching scream the audience hears is merely her calling out young Ann's name. It was purposely made to sound so hideous and incoherent to us because that is how it sounded to young Ann, who is completely and hopelessly unaware of the black clad rider's true intentions. The older Ann will repeat this routine every morning, which will apparently be a repeat of the same morning back in 1939, the day she was supposed to marry Robert. Her efforts will end in vain every time, because, like the song says, "You Can't Ever Go Home Again".

Many of us do essentially what the older Ann was doing, trying to turn back time, undoing much of what we did wrong and do it over. But, alas, life does not grant such do-overs. Try to get it right the first time!

At the episode's end, we see the contemporary Ann stop riding, breathing hard. It might have been more dramatic, and fitting, if she had started to break down crying, a reflection of the fact that deep down she knows that this routine is a grand exercise in futility.

A really fascinating Twilight Zone story which begins with young Diana Hyland who is well fixed going riding on the family estate shortly before she is to be wed to Robert Hogan. A mysterious woman in black spots her from a distance as Hyland spots the mystery woman. The mystery girl rides after her chasing her back to the estate where Hyland's parents Marsha Hunt and Philip Ober try to calm her down. Young Roger Davis arrives who Hyland threw overboard for Hogan also comes to plead his case for the last time.

If you think you know what's going you do not. You might guess part of it, but not all of it. But this does involve three of the cast members giving a different view of themselves.

In the end just who exactly was in The Twilight Zone?

An eerie opening makes this one seem a lot more promising than it turns out to be. Anne (Diana Hyland),age 18, is out riding when she gets pursued by an older, black-cloaked, scary woman also on horseback screaming 'Anne'. Poetic, haunting sort of imagery for what was also a great plot idea idea from the great Richard Matheson. Unfortunately it all gets done in such a soap-like way. The characters don't generate much interest, not even Anne ,a spoiled rich girl, who needs to be more sympathetic for this to work. The chance is wasted to explore the subject matter deeper. If only this had been in the first series when Rod Serling saw to it that almost all the stories received a polished production! There is a clever dual perspective about it, but sadly it gets somewhat unseated in the middle.

Well it's a pretty safe bet this isn't the way Anne Marie Henderson (Diana Hyland) planned things out for herself. But that's how life usually works in the real world, much less The Twilight Zone. However you don't generally find a story like this - the young socialite runs off with the man she really loves instead of marrying the rich investment banker her folks approve of, and then he turns out to be a bum! Whoa, it's the guy she abandons that's supposed to be a louse! Then swirl it all together in that bizarre confluence of time and space and you have the ingredients of a surreal mind bender.

Here's the question mark I have - when were the events taking place? Was it young Anne or older Anne that existed in the 'present' day? Was the engagement party referred to held in 1939 or 1963? I guess it doesn't matter much, but I have to agree with another reviewer on this board. The way to make an impression on your youthful alter-ego is to forego the Halloween witch outfit and just introduce yourself without screaming like a banshee. Would the message have been any easier to accept? Maybe so, if Anne had brought along twenty five year older David for the ride.

Based on a short story by Richard Matheson this is an episode that had so much potential and although not bad ends up coming off a bit short. It goes without saying having watched "Spur of the Moment" that It's plot was fairly innovative and it's denouement a haunting one. Ultimately a cautionary tale about the choices that are made in life and how those who make them have to live with said decisions is one that we can all relate to, It's a shame then that with the slipshod way the story is handled that it quickly becomes predictable how it will pan out. The acting doesn't help either with Diane Hyland as the central protagonist hamming it up in her later scenes, chewing the scenery so that would have made Bette Davis blush. Co-star Roger Davis doesn't help much either although the rest of the cast put in adequate enough performances despite although this still can't quite make up for it.

In the end It's thematic premise makes it tolerable but you can't escape knowing that it could have been so much better than what it was.

This episode proves that even with very good show like "The Twlight Zone", there are going to be some duds and this one is a definite DUD. Anne (Diana Hyland) is a rich heiress. One day she's out on horseback when a mysterious figure in black approaches her on a horse yelling her name. It turns out this is herself from years later trying to somehow warn her not to marry some stupid bum, as it will ruin their lives.

Problem number one: When you DO somehow have the chance to meet an earlier version of yourself and you want to warn yourself NOT to do something, don't start screeching your name like a crazy person. This will make the younger you run in terror. In this show, the older Anne is apparently stupid and acts accordingly.

Problem number two: When some odd person calls your name, you could answer or talk to them. But instead, you get all histrionic and have palpitations and whine a lot after running away from her. Nuff said.

Overall, BOTH versions of Anne are morons and their actions make no sense. As a result, the entire episode is pretty much a waste of time. No irony, no twist...just a very dumb lady!

I suspect this episode was actually written by Rod Serling's cat. Seriously.

There is something to like about this TZ episode... but far more to dislike.

For one, there is little effort to conceal the "secret" of the mysterious woman who chases young Anne in the prologue. You basically know how at least part of this episode's "twist" will play out from the first frames. Also, the sheer illogic of this scene dispels much of the intrigue. The rest of the episode plays out as familiar (and poorly acted) melodrama.

The one positive to note is the twist on a classic theme... In this story, the forbidden love Anne pursues turns out to be her undoing. An interesting idea... but not enough to save an otherwise awkwardly constructed TZ episode.

I like the actress (Diana Hyland) that plays the girl in this episode. Diana was also in TZ ep "Two" where she and one man are the only people left after a war and are roaming the empty streets of the city together. In this ep, Diano is riding her horse in the country when chased by a mysterious screaming woman in black. Very frightened by it back at her home, we see she lives in quite a big, wealthy, nice house. Then her ex barges in, not to the likings of Diana, and definitely not to the likings of her rich aristocrat father, badgering her to come back to him. Her dad, who sort of looked like and reminded me of Daddy Warbucks from "Annie", along with Diana's present fiancé by his side, gets right on him to get out of their house and out of their lives. Due to having a listening problem, he pulls out a gun to get him out of there. I liked how when he finally left, Diana's fiancé says " I almost feel sorry for him", and her dad replies with a smile "but not quite, right?". Fiancé: "right, not quite". Dad: "I think it's time for a good, stiff, drink". Speaking of drinks, we then cut to about 25-30 years into the future where we see a noticeably aged Diana knocking back liquor and showing us how she has now become a bitter, middle aged, alcoholic. Her mom, who was in the earlier scene with Diana's dad and the whole ex and gun situation, is now also looking noticeably older and a lot more bitter than before. We learn how Diana's dad has now passed on, and that they are bitter because of how badly he spoiled them for so many years.The writers of this episode did an excellent job with makeup of making them look convincingly aged. It just makes me wonder why they didn't do this with TZ ep " sixteen millimeter shrine" when they made the main character Barbara Dean Trenton look exactly the same in her 30 years later scenes from her earlier scenes. That was the one problem that kept that ep from really being good. Oh well, the writers learned from that error in this ep. We also see that 40 something year old Diana ended up marrying the ex, who also looks a lot older, the guy that her dad chased away with a gun 25-30 years earlier. It's there where I assumed that Diana's dad had not only spoiled her, but controlled her, and it was him that forced her to be with that other yuppie fiancé instead of the ex that he chased out with a gun. We then see another scene from years ago when Diana runs from her fiancé to jump into the arms of her ex, and we learned who she really loved. I do understand though why Diana and her mother are so bitter, spending years being spoiled and controlled by someone, and then them passing away leaving them stranded can definitely mess someone up.

SPOILER BELOW

The mysterious screaming woman in black at the beginning of the ep was Diana's older self who apparently traveled back in time to scare her young self away from making the wrong choices. There are definitely better ways she could've approached her instead of screaming like a crazy woman, but that kind of is what she became, she was not too stable anymore, and was also drunk at the time since we saw her knocking back liquor right before jumping on her horse to go back into time to find her 19 year old self. This ep also did not show us how the middle aged Diana went back in time, we saw no machines or mechanisms. I suppose this was sort of like TZ ep "Walking distance" where you could just simply be walking through an invisible time change window and then you're there in the earlier time.

Interesting enough, this episode did have its twist in the middle, rather than the end, and it worked, as I was truly surprised. I do think this episode makes you think about the choices we make, and what "true love" is really about, is it enough? or should we look much deeper when we choose a spouse. However! the problem with the story here is that - first of all, who's to say that the other man was any good at all?? Anne might have been in just as worst a situation with the other guy her father meant for her to marry, and the story did not pay any attention to that very plausible possibility. The best thing for her to have done was to go to school and forget about getting married at all. but those were different times...

Acting could also have been better too, and quite over reaching... the script could have been better as well, suggesting Anne was a spoiled brat, when what she had meant was probably that she would be better off on her own.