Tales from the Crypt (TV Series) Top Billing (1991) User Reviews

Great tale from the crypt.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 18 March 2007]

Tales from the Crypt: Top Billing starts as down on his luck failed actor Barry Blye (Jon Lovitz) is yet again refused work because of the way he looks, if that wasn't bad enough his wife Lisa (Kimmy Robertson) leaves him & he is evicted from his apartment. Taunted by just about everyone including his good looking acting rival Winton Robbins (Bruce Boxleitner) who gets all the good jobs Barry decides to audition for Hamlet at a local rundown theatre, to prove the point that looks not talent matters Winton also auditions & is given the part straight away by an eccentric director named Nelson Halliwell (John Astin). As the count down to the opening performance draws near a bitter Barry wants to prove his point...

This Tales from the Crypt story was episode 5 from season 3, directed by Todd Holland this is another top episode as season 3 improves from a slow start. The script by Miles Berkowitz was based on a story from the 'Tales from the Crypt' comic book & makes for a fantastic twisted piece of entertainment, the build up is great, it moves along at a nice pace & ends in a terrific twist ending that I genuinely didn't see coming & there's even a bit of Shakespeare in here which the twist ending revolves around to give this story an unexpected touch of class! This is a proper horror themed episode just the way Tales from the Crypt should be & just when I thought it was going to end up as a morality tale about superficial looks vs. talent it completely ditches that theme in favour of a morbid & memorable twist, great stuff from start to finish & the Crypt Keeper (John Kassir) gets to wear a smart suit during his segments complete with the usual puns & jokes.

This episode looks as good as usual & is well made with some good gore at the end including some dead bodies, a ripped out skull & someones sliced off face. This has a good cast including Boxleitner & the alway watchable Astin who has a painted on moustache which becomes a bit distracting when he's on screen.

Top Billing is a great tale from the crypt story, it's certainly one of the highlights of season 3 & a top episode in it's own right, well worth a watch.

Outrageously creepy n hilarious twist.

[Fella_shibby · 8/10 · 3 April 2018]

Saw this in the 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently on you tube. This episode is about a failed n not so good looking actor who struggles to get a part. His girlfriend n agent ditches him for being a failure n his friend advises him to change his looks n clothes. But our guy believes in "art" n he will do almost anything to play hamlet. The episode doesnt have tension or scares but the twist compensates it very well.

Very predictable but still good

[bellino-angelo2014 · 8/10 · 19 June 2021]

Barry Blye is a failed actor because he is not a good looking man. After a failed encounter with two agents (Sandra Bernhard and Louise Fletcher) he returns home and, if that wasn't bad enough, he finds that his girlfriend left him and he is evicted from his apartment. Taunted by everyone including his rival Winton Robbins (who always gets the roles because he is a better looking guy) he goes to audition for the role of Hamlet at a local theatre because he is of the opinion that looks are not important as talent. Winton goes there and he is given the part by eccentric director Nelson Halliwell (John Astin). When Barry visits Winton in his dressing room he strangles him and hides the body. When he goes down he finds two nasty surprises; first, Nelson wants to use his skull for the role of Yorick: second, when he tries to flee he notices that the place in reality is an asylum with everyone dead and the phone always ringing without nobody answering. Nelson succedds and after we see the beginning of Hamlet we see the police that enters the place and then Barry's face lying in the sidewalk until a dog snatches it away.

The episode is predictable in the sense that I always knew what was happening, yet the story was told in a subtle and clever matter that I was involved with it and the unlucky lead. Not to be missed.

Gomez Addams does Shakespeare!

[Coventry · 2 February 2006]

This utterly cool "Tales from the Crypt" episode perhaps features the best casting job of them all! Jon Lovitz is excellent as the frustrated actor who can never seem to get work because he hasn't got "the look" and – especially – the immortal John Astin (Gomez in the original 60's TV-series of "The Addams Family") is sublime as the insane and overly perfectionist director, obsessed with his personal adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Failed actor Barry Blye would do everything to get the part of Hamlet, and that includes eliminating the competition, but he had better informed about the requirements of the role first… John Astin clearly had a lot of fun and he brilliantly goes over-the-top in his devotion to Shakespeare's oeuvre. The twisted ending, which is the number one reason why this TV-show was so good, is marvelous and actually quite shocking. The make-up effects and set pieces are more professionally handled than usual in the show and guest director Todd Holland (who specializes in TV-work) is in total control of his gifted cast. There also are terrific supportive roles for Bruce Boxleitner, Kimmy Robertson and even Louise Fletcher. This episode is one of the reasons why the third season was the best of all seven.

"We've had a hell of a time casting the part..."

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 10/10 · 27 April 2014]

This is one of my favourites of the series because, apart from the typical wicked charm and a bunch of performances that go great together, it also uses and combines two of the best horror scenarios: the macabre theatre of blood that's playing for real, and the mental asylum which unbeknownst to the hapless victim trapped within until it's way too late, has been usurped and taken over by the insane and murderous inmates. The twist in this actually makes for a tad more internal logic than what you usually get, and it sets it up brilliantly with subtle little hints here and there that something definitely ain't quite right about this particular run-down theatre in a bad part of town. The brazen lunacy on display by several of the whacked-out theatre troupe that lurk within should have perhaps raised a red flag or two for the unwitting Barry Blye, who was played to perfection by Jon Lovitz who looked every bit the unlovable downtrodden toad of a struggling actor. It makes me smile just the way the guy speaks and his manner than what he's actually coming out with, even though in this role he's playing it almost totally straight. For me he makes this episode, and the bad day he suffers throughout the first half of the story where he's repeatedly rejected by woman because they basically tell him he's ugly including his own cheating girlfriend makes for a great buildup to his final audition - and I *do* mean final! Bruce Boxleitner is also good as the arrogant 'face' actor who has a disdain for the Lovitz character's more artistic point of view of the craft, and tries to teach him that it's looks not talent that makes for a successful actor.(Oh, I sincerely hope not!) I also love John Astin's hilarious and pretty scary turn as the delightfully mad booming-voiced theatre director from hell. And rather than "distracting," I find his noticeably drawn-on moustache kind of eerie in that when you know the secret of the story, it's a reminder that this freaking lunatic is only this great larger-than-life irate director character in his own demented mind. And in classic Crypt fashion, Barry dooms himself with his own actions when he snaps and throttles his hated rival when all he really had to do all along was absolutely nothing. And the effective and thrilling little sequence that comes straight from nowhere that leads to the finale is so creepy and tense, the way the three guys menacingly approach to collect his head as he finally learns just what part it is he's expected to be playing... For some reason the thing that I find the most shocking in the story is the horrific sight of that gore-drenched hood! Well to his credit he did at the very least make for one great-looking skull prop, and he did get a little recognition at last for his 'acting', which is all he really wanted. Poor Barry! That's uh..life? I don't like the little extra sequence at the end with the police breaking down the doors of the place and what's left of the flesh of Barry's face being carried off by the stray dog. I get it, he's still getting crap even after his death, but the scene just feels like unnecessary padding to me. The ideal scene to close the episode on was clearly the one that occurs just before with the psycho production commencing. Whatever, this one's so well done that I don't find that the scene spoils anything. It's funny when it has to be, the pacing and atmosphere are superb, the shocks have impact despite the minimum of blood that's seen, and it all comes together to make a real gem of an episode that I rank right up there with the best of the show's classics. A joy, now "Get off my stage!!!"

First-rate episode

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 23 March 2011]

Frustrated struggling actor Barry Blye (superbly played by Jon Lovitz) is having a hard time finding work because despite the fact he's talented he alas doesn't have "the look." Barry goes out of his way to score the lead role in a stage production of "Hamlet," but doesn't realize that there's more to this particular gig than meets the eye. Director Todd Holland and writer Myles Berkowitz expertly craft a wickedly witty and scathing satire on show business and the miserable plight of your average journeyman thespian that takes some really pointed potshots at the emphasis on style over substance. The top-drawer cast have a field day with the juicy material: Bruce Boxleitner as Barry's handsome, but untalented rival Winton Robbins, Loiuse Fletcher as Barry's jaded seen-it-all-twice agent, Paul Benedict as effeminate prop master Beaks, Sandra Bernhard as snarky producer Sheila Winters, and, in a truly bravura turn, the always great John Astin of "The Adams Family" fame as kooky and demanding perfectionist director Nelson Halliwell. The surprise twist ending is a real beaut, with a spot-on punchline at the very conclusion. Jay Ferguson supplies a fine jazzy'n'quirky score while Levie Isaacks' polished cinematography gives this episode an attractive glossy look. One of the definite crowning achievements of the whole series.

The stage!

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 20 April 2024]

"Good evening, culture vultures and welcome to another installment of Mash-to-Pieces Theater. Tonight we ask the question - 'To be or not to be?' Or in this case, an actor stuck with an average face who's so sick and tired of auditioning he's willing to do almost anything! Did I say almost? I call this sickening saga "Top Billing."

Barry Blye (Jon Lovitz) is a struggling actor - "Acting!" as he would bellow as The Master Thespian - who is angry that an old classmate by the name of Winton Robbins (Bruce Boxleitner) is wasting his skills by doing commercials. Barry has the dream of being in Hamlet, yet he is destroyed when his agent (Louise Fletcher) leaves him, his girlfriend Lisa (Kimmy Robertson) breaks up with him and director Nelson Halliwell (John Astin) picks Winston over him.

Of course, Barry kills Winton, only to learn that he was playing Yorick and not Hamlet. As for the director and other actors, they are all escaped mental patients (including Sandra Bernhard) and they needed a skull for the show. Barry's skull is perfect for the part, even if Nelson once doubted his look.

Directed by Todd Holland, who is from Kitanning, PA and helped create The Larry Sanders Show, Malcolm In The Middle and Wonderfalls, and written by Myles Berkowitz (who directed, wrote and appeared as himself in the documentary 20 Dates), this is a pretty fun episode.

This episode is based on "Top Billing," which was in Vault of Horror #39. It was written by Carl Wessler and drawn by Reed Crandall. The comic story has the actors being in the early 1800s and Blye killing Winton and Nash, his fellow actors, before learning that he was not in a theater. He was at the Woltham Insane Asylum for Actors and they needed his skull.

Awesome episode!

[TalesfromTheCryptfan · 10/10 · 23 November 2017]

When a talented hardworking struggling actor named Barry (Jon Lovitz) has been turned down for roles because he doesn't have "the look" when talent is more important than looks. As even his girlfriend (Kimmy Robertson) and agent dumps him, opportunity knocks when there is gonna be an upcoming Hamlet play ran by Nelson Helliwell (John Astin) and he has competition by the name of Winton (Bruce Boxleiter) to get the part of Hamlet.

A very well directed/shot/well written episode that is one of the best episodes in the series and one of my all time favorite episodes. The music score by Jay Fergeson has that 80s/early 90s feel to it and has a charm to it. It's darkly funny and the performances is excellent even Jon Lovitz who was born for the part of this episode. It deals with what show business can be a pain in the butt sometimes, Astin is fantastic as the director of the Hamlet play for this episode and there's also a nice gruesome but funny twist in the end that you should see for yourself.

Up there with the best of them.

[shellytwade · 9/10 · 6 April 2022]

There really isn't too many episodes that are better than this one. Supremely dark with a twist you don't see coming at all. The acting is also pitch perfect. There's just so much fun to be had here, it's easy to go back to this one over and over again. Masterpiece.

I wasn't into the story

[SleepTight666 · 5/10 · 24 July 2009]

After two excellent episodes, the season takes another plunge.

It seems to be a well-liked episode, but I wasn't into the story or the humor up until the end. The nice plot twists saves it from scoring lower.

The episode is about a failed, unlucky and unattractive actor searching for work. His rival is everything but that. They both audition for a role in a Shakespeare production, and they chose the pretty rival. Barry decides to put an end to it and kills the handsome guy, only to discover that the part they were offering was the one of a skull.

If was kind of a tragic episode, full of dark humor. But it failed to keep me interested.