"Showdown With Rance McGrew" is episode 85 of the

American television Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...

anthology series ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

''.

Opening narration

Plot

Actor Rance McGrew, who stars in a TV series as the fictional heroic marshal of the same name, arrives late to shoot the final scenes of an episode in which his character pursues Jesse James. According to the script, Rance turns away from a seemingly-beaten Jesse, who then tries to shoot him in the back. The man playing Jesse says Jesse James fighting dishonorably is historically inaccurate, and asks permission to shout at Rance before firing, but Rance argues that shouting out a warning to a gunman who has already proven himself to be a better fighter makes no sense. Suddenly, Rance finds himself in a real

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

saloon. The real Jesse James walks in and says that he,

Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at th ...

, and other famous outlaws are not pleased with the way that they are portrayed on McGrew's show. Calling Rance nothing but a fraud who makes his living off the reputations of true gunslingers, Jesse challenges Rance to a

fast draw Fast draw, also known as quick draw, is the ability to quickly draw a handgun and accurately fire it upon a target in the process. This skill was made popular by romanticized depictions of gunslingers in the Western genre, which in turn were insp ...

showdown. Rance quickly realizes that he has no chance against a real gunfighter, but Jesse will not allow him to walk away. When the countdown finishes, Rance struggles for several seconds to get his gun out of its holster, then unintentionally flings it in the air in his panic. His point made, an amused Jesse contemptuously remarks, "Just like I figured. This guy couldn't outdraw a crayon." As Jesse aims his gun at Rance's forehead, Rance drops to his knees, pleading that he will do anything if Jesse spares him. Jesse accepts and disappears. Rance finds himself back on the set, and his agent is announced. The agent turns out to be Jesse James himself, in Hollywood garb. He insists that the episode be revised so that instead of trying to shoot Rance in the back, Jesse James throws Rance McGrew out the saloon window and makes his escape. The scene is shot to Jesse's satisfaction. As Jesse drives Rance back home, he goes over revisions to future episodes in which Rance McGrew fights Jesse's afterlife buddies. From now on, Rance's TV series will show what those men could ''really'' do instead of just making Rance look good.

Closing narration

Cast

Larry Blyden Ivan Lawrence Blieden (June 23, 1925 – June 6, 1975), known as Larry Blyden, was an American actor, stage producer and director, and game show host. He made his Broadway stage debut in 1948 and went on to appear in numerous productions on ...

as Rance McGrew * Arch Johnson as Jesse James * Robert Cornthwaite as Director * Robert J. Stevenson as Bartender * William McLean as Property Man *

Troy Melton Troy Wilford Melton (March 2, 1921 – November 15, 1995) was an American stuntman and actor. Early life Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Melton migrated with his family to Los Angeles during the Great Depression. After three years of service in t ...

as Cowboy #1 * Jay Overholts as Cowboy #2

References

*Amory, C. (1966, January 15–21). "Review: The Loner". ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'', p. 2 *DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. *Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing.

Sources

*Zicree, Marc Scott. ''The ''Twilight Zone'' Companion'', Bantam Books, 1982.

External links

* {{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes 1962 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 3) episodes Television episodes written by Rod Serling