The Twilight Zone (TV Series) The Prime Mover (1961) User Reviews

Filed under 'C' for 'Charming' in The Twilight Zone.

[darrenpearce111 · 8/10 · 30 December 2013]

Not a great episode or one of the more memorable but still a charming and very likable piece of TZ. A story about priorities, friendship, and self-control. Ace (Dane Clark) dreams of making money through gambling and sees his opportunity in his friend Jimbo's (Buddy Ebsen) strange power of telekinesis. Ace wants to make money to get married to Kitty (Christine White, who played the wife in 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet') but displays an unhealthy addictive nature towards gambling.

There's a lightness about this one that contrasts with the much darker toned Las Vegas gambling story of series one, 'The Fever'. Buddy Ebsen is very good as the wise but humble Jimbo. An episode like this illustrates the essentially human orientation of TZ, rather than merely sci-fi/thriller/Gothic yarns.

Is Enough Ever Enough?

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 17 November 2008]

Just like the episode with the magical camera, you are introduced to people incapable of stopping once they reach a level of financial success. This guy has more money than once could imagine, but instead of taking it an living a long and happy life, he has to take one more shot. He has to keep going. Yes. It's the compulsive gambler who heads down the road to perdition. We have to feel for Buddy Ebsen, who has those horrible headaches. He does everything for the ungrateful jerk, and the guy doesn't consider his pain for a second. He would let his friend die to make a few more bucks. I won't spoil the conclusion, but I thought, "This guy is a loose cannon!" Be careful.

Out of luck

[Calicodreamin · 7/10 · 7 June 2021]

Decent episode with solid effects and a well developed storyline. The characters were well acted and felt authentic.

Every Crap-Shooter's Dream

[dougdoepke · 31 July 2006]

Small time gambler goes big time.

Want the dice to roll a seven? Or eleven? Or maybe a snake-eyes for the other guy. You name the point and it will be there as long as Dane Clark's got his pal with him. That's every crap shooters dream and a great way to break the banks of Las Vegas, especially if you've been flipping burgers your whole life as Clark has. His pal Buddy Ebsen may be a little dim but he's got a special power to levitate objects if he just concentrates. So it's off to Vegas with Ebsen and the big time.

Clark's just right as the cocky little guy suddenly turned bigshot. It's fun but sort of sad to watch him get his few minutes of glory. The trouble is that Ebsen's thinking may be a little slow, but he's sly and his moral compass is a stickler. I'm not sure how plausible the ending is, but it all adds up to a rather sweet little cautionary tale.

Solid and enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 May 2010]

The show begins with the viewer seeing that Dane Clark is an inveterate gambler--and will gamble on anything. Outside the café, there is soon an accident and a car flies off the road. Clark and his friend, Buddy Ebsen, respond but it doesn't appear there is much they can do--the vehicle has flown into an electrical transformer. However, at this moment, Ebsen uses his hidden telekinetic powers to pull the car off the transformer and Clark immediately sees the potential for gambling. He convinces Ebsen to accompany him to a casino and they go on an unbelievable winning streak--all thanks to Ebsen's ability to manipulate the rolls of the dice. Eventually, after earning $200,000, Clark just can't stop...and not surprisingly there is a "Twilight Zone" twist--as the show just can't end with everyone becoming rich and living happily ever after!! Overall, not a great episode but one that is charming and enjoyable. A solid entry of the series. By the way, this one was directed by Richard l. Bare--the same guy who directed "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres".

Grasp All, Lose All

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 17 June 2018]

Ace Larsen is the owner of a small diner and compulsive gambler. He works with his girlfriend Kitty Cavanaugh and his friend Jimbo Cobb. When Ace learns that Jimbo has telekinesis power, he decides to cheat the casinos in Las Vegas and make fortune. But grasp all, lose all.

"The Prime Mover" is an episode of "The Twilight Zone" with a story of ambition of an addicted gambler that changes his behavior when he learns that his friend has a hidden ability. The conclusion is predictable. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Grande Jogador" ("The Great Gambler")

"I guess you might say it's this power I got".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 27 April 2010]

With a roast beef dinner going for a buck and a quarter at the Happy Daze Cafe, it wouldn't take a whole lot to live like a king back in the Sixties. I also noticed that coffee and donuts went for twenty cents; I wonder how many donuts it took to make the limit. Boy, those were the good old days.

The Twilight Zone tackled addiction to gambling a second time with this entry. The first season offered #1.17 - The Fever, in which a character fell victim to the seduction of a one armed bandit. In this episode, Ace Larsen (Dane Clark) tries to take advantage of his buddy Jimbo Cobb (Buddy Ebsen), who's mental feats of levitation offer the potential for millions in the grand casinos of Las Vegas. Funny, but I still recall names like the Silver Slipper, The Thunderbird, The Dunes and The Flamingo, but I have no idea if any of them are still around. I kind of doubt it.

You know what would have really made this a memorable show is if Jackie Gleason showed up as Big Phil Nolan. That's all I could think of when I saw all the overweight gangsters show up in Ace's hotel room. That would have been very cool, especially with a few side bets on a billiard table. Think of the possibilities.

This is one of those TZ episodes I don't ever recall seeing before, having been there at the beginning when the series first got started. I think it held a lot more potential than what it actually delivered, but it still managed to put across it's message well enough. What's unusual is that Ace came full circle without regrets, happy enough in the knowledge that he still had his girl and that a good friend is more valuable than money. For what it's worth, I'd like to think old Jimbo laid down on purpose, which contrary to the way his character was portrayed, would have made him the smartest guy in the room.

Nifty comic episode

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 3 October 2017]

Compulsive gambler Ace Larson (a nicely smarmy performance by Dane Clark) convinces his psychic friend Jimbo Cobb (likeable Buddy Edsen) to use his telekinetic powers to win big at the casinos in Las Vegas.

Director Richard L. Bare keeps the entertaining story moving along at a zippy pace and maintains an amiable lighthearted tone throughout. Charles Beaumont's witty script offers a solid central message on the perils of too much of a good thing as well as how greed can get the best of a person. Moreover, there are sturdy supporting contributions from Christine White as Ace's long-suffering girlfriend Kitty Cavanaugh, Nesdon Booth as fearsome high roller Big Phil Nolan, and Jane Burgess as sultry cigarette girl Sheila. The sharp black and white cinematography by George T. Clemens boasts several snazzy stylistic flourishes. An amusing show.

What movie stole the concept of this episode?

[Coventry · 6/10 · 13 February 2019]

As very, very often the case when I watch an episode of "The Twilight Zone", the plot instantly reminded me of a later film that "borrowed" the basic plot idea and turned it into a long-feature film. Normally I can instantly recall which film(s) copied & pasted their storyline from the episode in question, but in case of "The Prime Mover" I cannot. I distinctively remember seeing a film where the protagonist has telekinetic powers, but he's naïvely honest and never even thought about abusing his powers. Yet, instead, everyone else in his surrounding want to make us of them for their own benefit. Don't remember what film this was, so feel free to drop me a note if you know the title!

"The Prime Mover" is a fair episode, but definitely not one of the most memorable ones in the series. After discovering that his timid but loyal employee Jimbo disposes of telekinetic powers, the gambling-addicted snack bar patron Ace Larsen takes him to Las Vegas to manipulate dice games and roulette balls and make a fortune. Docile Jimbo obeys, even though he feels bad for cheating, but when Ace becomes overly greedy and starts neglecting his lovely fiancée Kitty, he blows a fuse; - literally! Personally, I don't like it when "Twilight Zone" episodes are too heavy on morals and valuable life lessons; hence this isn't a big favorite. The season one episode "Fever" used the same settings and similar themes, but it was much darker and more cynical. The highlight in "The Prime Mover" is the spectacular car crash at the beginning of the episode, taken from "Thunder Road" starring Robert Mitchum, but it's irrelevant to the actual plot.

I knew that was Buddy Ebsen!

[ericstevenson · 8/10 · 29 July 2018]

This episode features a guy with telekinetic powers. His friend realizes that he can use this to win at gambling. It was so cool to see Buddy Ebsen in this role! With an anthology series, you get lots of unexpected actors. I admit this isn't anything the show hasn't done before. You know, use magic powers to get rich.

As you might have guessed, it doesn't work out well for this guy. The ending actually is kind of nice. You'd expect something really bad to happen to the cheating guy. While he does lose his money, he still gets the girl he wants. Yeah, it's weird how this show can be heartwarming. I remember "The Beverly Hillbillies". ***

"The Prime Mover" is effective cautionary tale

[chuck-reilly · 6/10 · 1 August 2008]

Although written by one of Rod Serling's main collaborators, Charles Beaumont, 1961's "The Prime Mover" has the Twilight Zone creator's hand-prints all over it. It explores one of Serling's most familiar themes: too much of a good thing is no good for you. Veteran actors Buddy Ebsen ("Jimbo") and Dane Clark ("Ace") play two short-order cooks slaving away on the outskirts of Las Vegas in a dingy diner. Clark longs after his favorite waitress Sheila (played by Jane Burgess) but, alas, he has nothing to offer her except the sweat off his brow. By sheer accident, Clark finds out that his partner has a unique power that can enable him to win millions of dollars. It seems that Ebsen can move objects anywhere he wants to put them as long as he concentrates really hard. Clark soon figures out that it won't cause old Buddy too much brain-strain to move a few dice cubes around a casino. After Clark coaxes Ebsen into "assisting" him, off the two go to the strip in Vegas to win their fortune. But the money, the bright lights, and all the beautiful girls who come with it, do nothing but cloud Clark's judgment. It doesn't take long for him to forget all about Sheila as he becomes drunk with his newfound power and high-flying lifestyle. Luckily, Ebsen is more grounded in reality and he throws an intentional "curve-ball" to his partner to get him back down to earth.

"The Prime Mover" is a nice tidy cautionary tale of greed, power, and ultimately the corruption of the human spirit. Dane Clark was noted for playing over-aggressive tough guys and this late-career role suited him well. Ebsen, as always, plays his laid-back second banana part with the usual aplomb and straight face. Nesdon Booth has some good moments as a gambling gangster who doesn't like losing. All's well that ends well in "The Prime Mover" thanks to Mr. Ebsen's "clear" conscience and a little contrived lapse of concentration.

The greediness and a friend who lost power

[AvionPrince16 · 7/10 · 25 June 2023]

So we saw that man whi will take advantage of his friend's power to gain money and to have some privilege with it. We saw him completly lose his mind because of that and we will see also how the money change him and how he also changed his girlfriend for another girl who work at the casino. The friend will pretext a lose of power and that will make the main character lose. But we will see that his friend didnt tell the whole truth and we will understand that he didnt lose it but just wanted something else for him and his friend. The wedding finally get planned with the first girl. And goodbye casino!

Not one of the show's winners.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 10 March 2022]

Compulsive gambler Ace Larsen (Dane Clark), owner of the Happy Daze Cafe, barely scrapes a living, but when he learns that his friend Jimbo (Buddy Ebsen) possesses telekinetic powers, he sees an easy way of making a fortune: break the banks of Las Vegas by using Jimbo's mind tricks to tip the odds in his favour. But as his mountain of money grows, Ace's gambling addiction takes control, leading him to alienate his sweetheart Kitty (Christine White) and take huge risks by playing all or nothing against notorious Chicago gangster Big Phil Nolan (Nesdon Booth).

The Prime Mover, which ends with its central character without a penny to his name but his life all the richer for his experience, is designed to leave the viewer feeling warm all over, but I didn't quite get the feels that were intended: still a little upset at the thought of Ace greedily gambling away a life-changing sum of money, I felt even more nauseous that he goes back and proposes to Kitty only hours after dallying with money-hungry, pneumatic, blonde cigarette girl Shiela (Jane Burgess), who drops him like a hot coal when he loses his cash. Call me old-fashioned, but a rat like Ace doesn't deserve happiness.

5/10. It's fun seeing Jimbo do his thing, and the twist - that Jimbo lied to Ace about losing his powers - is fun, but the overall sentiment doesn't sit right with me.

Some people possess talent, others are possessed by it...

[Anonymous_Maxine · 8 July 2008]

Interesting that I happen to watch this episode while midway through a 5-part documentary series about the history of the mafia in America. It's well known that organized crime has had a heavy hand in the history of Las Vegas so the third act of this episode makes sense as far as the biggest gambler in town being a gangster, although there are plenty of the usual super hero problems with the rest of the episode.

As always when a character is endowed with some kind of superhuman ability, it is not just underused or misused, but the writers don't seem to have any idea of how to present the character who holds them. Buddy Ebsen plays Jimbo Cobb, a mental midget with telekinetic abilities but without the slightest understanding of his ability or even the simplest understanding of the world around him.

When Ace, our gambling hero, asks him how he has the power, Jimbo responds something like "I don't know why or how come or anything," and when asked why he never said anything, you may find yourself shocked out of your seat as Jimbo responds that he never knew there was anything unusual about it, he thought everyone could do it, like breathing.

Like breathing! A more entertaining twilight zone episode might deal with how Jimbo managed to live to this age without ever having seen or met or talked to another human being before.

At any rate, this is another episode that makes clever commentary about greed and gambling, and while the greed immediately takes control and takes away from the believability of Ace's character, it's still a fun and interesting warning about the dangers of gambling, even when things are going good.

But I will tell you one thing, I doubt that there were ever many high-powered gangsters in Vegas who answered calls from strangers and went up into hotel rooms to bet tremendous amounts of money while squatting on the floor tossing dice across the rug...

Knowing When to Stop

[Samuel-Shovel · 6/10 · 16 October 2019]

In "The Prime Mover" a gambling addict learns of his friend's telekinetic ability and uses him to win lots of money in roulette and dice games. But when he's left by his girlfriend and starts gambling with big time gangsters, we find out he may have taken it a bit too far.

This episode is pretty par for the course. The effects used to portray the telekinetic abilities isn't bad. The ending of this you can see coming from a mile away but the acting is good enough to keep you entertained throughout. Not a hugely memorable episode but not as bad as a few of the recent ones we've gotten.

Very predictable and uninteresting outcome

[cashbacher · 6/10 · 14 February 2021]

Ace Larson and his partner Jimbo Cobb are co-owners of a small café in Nevada. There is a single slot machine near the door and Ace plays it often in an attempt to make a quick score. Ace's girlfriend works as a waitress and has not been paid for some time. The two men share a simple room, so it is clear that they have very little money. One night a car overturns and lands next to an electrical power transmitter. With the hot wires on the car and sparking, there is nothing that Ace can do. However, Jimbo demonstrates the ability to move objects using only his mind. When Ace is convinced that the power is genuine, he immediately contacts his girlfriend and the three of them go to Las Vegas. Jimbo's power is indeed genuine and Ace wins massive amounts of money at the gaming table. Ace completely ignores his girlfriend, and she rebels at the change in Ace over his ability to win at the games. Ace is completely caught up in his success and he contacts the most well known high roller that is in town and finds another girl. Even though Jimbo objects and tells Ace that he is getting tired, Ace simply ignores him. The obvious happens at the big game and then there is the predictable ending where all are back at the café. To many, this is a happy ending, to others, not so much. This is a story that has appeared many times with many different paths to the temporary success. In this case it is not well played with nothing in the way of tension.

Mind Power

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 27 October 2014]

Buddy Ebsen plays roadside diner employee Jimbo Cobb, who one day develops telekinetic powers after a nearby car accident involving electrical wires seems to trigger it. His boss Ace Larsen(played by Dane Clark) finds out about it, and decides to get rich quick by taking his girlfriend Kitty and of course Jimbo to Las Vegas, and are a big success at the roulette table, since Jimbo can flip the dice to match their winning numbers. Ace becomes greedy though, entering a private game with shady characters, betting all their winnings to get one big score, much to Jimbo's disapproval... Slight but entertaining episode has a good cast make up for predictable outcome.

An opening that makes you say "wow!', but it loses it from there.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 23 April 2019]

With two great leading man in Dane Clark and Buddy Ebsen, desk tough-talking episode of "The Twilight Zone" starts off great (with a horrific looking car accident) but loses steam when the effects that take over Ebsen take over the episode. all of a sudden, he has the ability to make things move on their own (like a phone) and is able to get the dice for gambler Clark to roll the way he wants them to. But as fast as they roll his way, they began to roll the opposite way, and this isn't a great way to use tricks in the dice business.

When the car accident happens, it is so abrupt and the accident so Frightening that it appears that the people inside the car are being electrocuted alive. But somehow Ebsen is able to rescue them and this apparently is what gives him magical powers. It's an interesting premise that just doesn't gel even though the two actors are great. it's just by this point there really isn't any suspense that you know it's going to fall apart within the last few minutes. It's rare in a series however to have such few letdowns, and when they do, they are just average rather than good and very good which was the norm throughout the entire series.

Not great, but watchable.

[bombersflyup · 3/10 · 8 September 2019]

In The Prime Mover, Jimbo stops Ace from attaining all the money, but he's still the same guy who's a different person with money even though he learned from the experience. It's true in wealth or being good at something, it isn't necessarily going to make you happier. Could of made it less suspicious by losing every so often. Get off the screen Serling!