This is one of the more compelling and provocative segments of The Twilight Zone, but it took me a couple of viewings to capture the nuance. Initially it's tough to get a good read on Jagger (Terry Becker), who's murder of a Klan White Knight is positioned as a cover up by the local authorities, including Sheriff Koch (Michael Constantine) and his bigoted Deputy Pierce (George Lindsey). Evidence pointing to a self defense argument has been discredited by witnesses in favor of convicting a man based on a community's bias. Jagger's description of the man he killed is that "He handled the whipping of some poor scared colored guy". So in that respect, Jagger might have been seen as going against the white citizenry at large in the name of racial equality.
But then things take a turn as Jagger is confronted by black Reverend Anderson (Ivan Dixon), who attempts to bridge the divide between men of different faith and different color. As the Reverend tries to comfort Jagger, the doomed man defiantly declares that he WANTED to kill and he enjoyed it. At that point, any evidence to the contrary convinces Reverend Anderson that Jagger WAS guilty. Scriptwise, Serling daringly allows Jagger to describe the lynch mob as 'you muckers', cleverly displacing a single letter to get Jagger's rant past the censors. This might have been one of Serling's more brilliant efforts.
The darkness theme to symbolize 'too much hate' was also cleverly used to place in context the state of the country and the world during this era of the Sixties. With blackness enveloping a busy street in Dallas (the Kennedy assassination), the Berlin Wall (Communism vs the Free World), Birmingham (race riots) and Viet Nam (still an under-reported conflict in a remote corner of the globe), Serling pin-points trouble spots teetering on the edge of the abyss, virtually begging for sanity to prevail and offer the opportunity for light to shine through the darkness.
I had a thought about Michael Constantine as I watched this story. With the right breaks he could have gotten the Rod Steiger role in 1967's "In the Heat of the Night". Not that he fared that badly in the long run, with a respectable career and a ton of TV and movie credits. Similarly, George Lindsey might have gotten the nod as Andy Griffith's deputy instead of winding up a Goober, but he just didn't show the personality here for it. Rounding out the cast, Paul Fix is competent in everything I've ever seen him in (surprised he wasn't the sheriff in this one). As for Terry Becker who portrayed Jagger, perhaps the 'ordinariness' of his appearance works against him; I can't recall a single other vehicle I might have seen him in. It's too bad, because I also can't think of any Western movie or TV character who faced the end of a rope with so much defiance and no regrets.
But then things take a turn as Jagger is confronted by black Reverend Anderson (Ivan Dixon), who attempts to bridge the divide between men of different faith and different color. As the Reverend tries to comfort Jagger, the doomed man defiantly declares that he WANTED to kill and he enjoyed it. At that point, any evidence to the contrary convinces Reverend Anderson that Jagger WAS guilty. Scriptwise, Serling daringly allows Jagger to describe the lynch mob as 'you muckers', cleverly displacing a single letter to get Jagger's rant past the censors. This might have been one of Serling's more brilliant efforts.
The darkness theme to symbolize 'too much hate' was also cleverly used to place in context the state of the country and the world during this era of the Sixties. With blackness enveloping a busy street in Dallas (the Kennedy assassination), the Berlin Wall (Communism vs the Free World), Birmingham (race riots) and Viet Nam (still an under-reported conflict in a remote corner of the globe), Serling pin-points trouble spots teetering on the edge of the abyss, virtually begging for sanity to prevail and offer the opportunity for light to shine through the darkness.
I had a thought about Michael Constantine as I watched this story. With the right breaks he could have gotten the Rod Steiger role in 1967's "In the Heat of the Night". Not that he fared that badly in the long run, with a respectable career and a ton of TV and movie credits. Similarly, George Lindsey might have gotten the nod as Andy Griffith's deputy instead of winding up a Goober, but he just didn't show the personality here for it. Rounding out the cast, Paul Fix is competent in everything I've ever seen him in (surprised he wasn't the sheriff in this one). As for Terry Becker who portrayed Jagger, perhaps the 'ordinariness' of his appearance works against him; I can't recall a single other vehicle I might have seen him in. It's too bad, because I also can't think of any Western movie or TV character who faced the end of a rope with so much defiance and no regrets.