The Twilight Zone (1959–1964): Season 1, Episode 27 - The Big Tall Wish - full transcript
Bolie Jackson is a professional boxer whose best years are behind him. He's well-liked in his neighborhood and adored by Henry, a young lad who lives next door. He hurts his hand in an altercation with sleazy boxing manager and as a result is badly beaten in a televised boxing match. He's apparently down and out for the count but young Henry has a special ability - something his mother calls the big wish - that changes the outcome of the match. When Bolie learns what he's done he refuses to believe in what Henry's done with the inevitable consequences.
The Big Tall Wish
First Aired: 8 April 1960
English Subtitles by
Pandorafilm - Heerlen
There is a fifth dimension.
Beyond that which is known to man.
It is a dimension as vast as space.
And as timeless as infinity.
It is the middle ground
between light and shadow...
between science and superstition.
And it lies between
the pit of man's fears...
and the summit of his knowledge.
This is the dimension
of imagination.
It is an area which we call:
The Twilight Zone.
In this corner of the universe a
prizefighter named Bolie Jackson.
183 pounds, and 90 minutes away...
from a comeback at St. Nick's Arena.
Mr Bolie Jackson, is an aging,
over-the-hill relic of what was.
And who now sees a that he has left
too many pieces of his youth...
in too many stadiums for too many
years before too many yelling people.
Mr Bolie Jackson, who might do well
to look for some gentle magic...
in the hard-surfaced glass
that stares back at him.
Feeling good, Bolie?
Take the tiger tonight, Bolie?
I'm gonna take the tiger, Henry.
I'll give him a left then a right.
Then pick him up by the tail.
And throw him into the ninth row.
-You're looking good, Bolie.
You're looking sharp.
-You gonna watch?
You fooling? I'll yell so loud you'll
hear me all the way to St. Nick's.
You know, a fighter don't need
a scrapbook, Henry.
Anyone know where he's fought.
You read it in his face.
He's got the whole story
cut into his flesh.
St. Louis, 1949.
Guy named Sailor Levitt.
Real fast boy.
Here, and this, Memorial Stadium,
Syracuse, New York.
Italian boy.
Fought like Henry Armstrong.
All hands and arms.
Just like a windmill,
All over you.
First time I ever got my
nose broke twice in one fight.
And then move South, Henry.
Miami, Florida.
That boy got me up
against the ring post.
He did this with his laces.
Tired old man.
Tired old man trying to catch a bus.
And the bus is already gone.
Left a couple of years ago.
Arms heavy.
Legs like rubber.
Short of wind.
One eye almost gone.
There I go, running down the street
trying to catch that bus to glory.
You are going to catch the tiger
tonight. I'm gonna make a wish.
I'm gonna make a big, tall wish.
You ain't gonna get hurt none either.
You hear, Bolie?
You been hurt enough already.
And you're my friend.
You're my good and close friend.
You have quite a boy there, Frances.
Talks like a little old man.
I'm his good and close friend.
That's what he tells me.
Real, real intense.
I'm his good and close friend.
Well, you're real good to him.
Taking him to ball games all the
time. And taking him for walks.
Take care of yourself.
Don't get hurt none.
I'll work hard trying not to.
I'm gonna make a wish. I'm gonna
make a wish nothing happens to you.
So don't you be afraid.
Understand? Don't you be afraid.
Oh, go on.
That boy's got you in a shrine.
-Who? A scared old man who don't...
remember nothing except
how to bleed?
I don't fit no shrines, Frances.
But you tell him, how much
I'm obliged to him for his wish.
He's all the time wishing.
Why, just the other night he...
What?
-Oh, I needed $15 for the rent.
He said he was gonna make the big,
tall wish. That's the biggest wish.
He don't waste that on just anything.
Only with the most important kind.
That was last Friday. A woman I did
some nursing for sent me a check.
A check for $15.
Little boys with their heads
full up with dreams.
And when do they find out, Frances?
When do they suddenly find out
that there ain't any magic?
When does somebody push their
face down on the sidewalk and says:
'Hey, little boy, It's concrete.'
'That's what the world is
made out of: Concrete.'
When do they find out that you
can wish your life away?
Good luck tonight, Bolie.
We'll be waiting for you.
Tell him I'll see him later.
Hey, Bolie.
Good luck, baby. You can take him.
Take him for me.
Best of luck, Bolie.
We'll be watching.
Try it, Bolie.
Feels okay?
-Feels good, Joe. Thanks.
He's all ready.
Butt it out, will you, Thomas?
I wanna breathe.
You hired me for the night.
Me and the cigar.
I said butt it out.
Feisty little old man.
The older they get, the louder they
talk and the more they want.
And less chance they got to get it.
-How did I get you tonight?
I'm a bargain.
I'm a expert on has-beens.
I seen your boys.
Catches, aren't they?
Guaranteed two rounds each.
Shovel them in, shovel them out.
Sew them together for the next time.
That's the only way to do it, champ.
A month or so from now maybe
I'll sign you at the back door.
Why not? You're long gone, Bolie.
Wait till after tonight.
You'll wanna get in the stable, too.
Just guarantee two rounds.
Two, three prelims every month.
You can do that standing
on your head. Can't you?
I thought the smell came with the
cigar. You wear it all over you.
You stink, Thomas.
You tell 'em, champ.
Jackson, ten minutes.
He'll be there.
What about tonight?
What do I watch out for?
I've only seen this boy fight once.
That was a couple of years ago.
I ain't never seen him.
You've seen him fight six,
seven times in the past year.
You piece of garbage, you.
You're betting on him, aren't you?
He comes in here for a dirty $20.
And bets on the other guy.
I may be a bum in ten minutes, but now
I'm gonna fight a beautiful round.
You touch me and I'll have you
up for ten years. I swear to you.
Lay off me, you cunning freak.
Let me look at that. Sit down.
Wasn't enough spotting
'em all those years?
Wasn't enough how you gotta go in
the ring with four busted knuckles?
Okay, Jackson, you're on.
Well?
-Well, nothing. Let's do it.
Oh, poor little Henry Temple.
I've given him two strikes
on all his magic.
Whose?
-Nothing.
There ain't no such thing as magic.
There's another left.
Another right.
Jackson's knees are wobbling.
Bolie Jackson is definitely hurt.
Consiglio moves in on him.
He jabs him to the right.
Jackson is down.
Bolie, Bolie, Bolie.
One, two, three...
Four, five, six...
Seven, eight...
Nine...
Ten.
You done dandy, Bolie.
-Hey, Joe, you were wrong.
Just bruised, I guess, huh?
Gee, it hurt like anything
But somebody said I got him with it.
Couldn't have been broken after all.
-Who said it was?
You said.
Jeez, felt like it, too.
Could feel the knuckles coming
right up to the bandages.
I could have sworn it was broke.
And then when he knocked me down...
What? When he what?
-When he knocked me down, Joe.
When he knocked me down.
I don't even remember getting up.
Suddenly, there he was at my feet.
We must have been in
different arenas together.
You didn't get knocked down, Bolie.
You was never off your feet.
I wasn't?
-No.
You carried this
one all the way, baby.
Joe. I wasn't off my feet?
I didn't go down?
Read about it in the papers.
Good night, old-timer.
I'm proud of you.
Beautiful, Bolie.
You were just great, man.
You were great, Bolie,
We've seen you on television.
That was a right.
That was the real right.
Hey, what do you say, Henry Temple?
-You are a real tiger.
Did it look okay?
-Just like a champ.
He must have hit me so hard it
knocked all the hurt right out of me.
I don't remember a doggone thing.
I must have been punchy for a second
'cause I thought he had me on my back.
There I was, lying there, Looking up
at the ref waving his arm down on me.
Staring at the light,
blinking my eyes.
There must have been some kind
of a dream or something 'cause...
Henry?
Henry, I never went down.
I was never off my feet.
Henry, I never went down.
Henry, was I?
Was I on my back and on my way out?
Nobody remembers it.
Nobody at all except me.
I thought it happened,
but it didn't.
I thought I was lying there on
my back, being counted out...
And everybody tells me that...
Bolie, I made the big wish then.
I wished you was never knocked down.
I just shut my eyes, and I
wished real hard. It was magic.
We had to have magic then.
Had to. Nothing left for us then.
There ain't no magic or
wishing or nothing like that.
You're too big to believe
in fairy tales.
If you wish hard enough.
It'll come true.
If you wish hard enough...
-Somebody gotta take you...
and rub your face into the world till
you get feel of the way things are.
I've been wishing all my life.
I got a gut ache from wishing, and
all I got is a face full of scars.
And a head full of memories
of all the hurt...
and misery I've had to live and
sleep with all my miserable life.
You trying to tell me you
wished me into a knockout?
And it was magic that
made me get up off my back?
You're a little kook, Henry.
How did I ever get mixed up with
you? I ain't got enough trouble.
If you don't believe,
it won't be true.
That's the way magic works.
-Listen. Listen, boy.
There ain't no magic, Henry.
I had that fight coming and going.
I had it in my pocket.
I was the number one out there.
It was me who done it. Me, Bolie.
Hittin' and sluggin' and winnin'.
Winnin'.
Henry.
I can't believe. I'm too old.
And I'm too hurt to believe.
I can't, boy. I just can't.
There ain't no such thing as magic.
God help us both. I wish there were.
You've got to believe.
-I can't, boy.
I can't.
-Please, believe.
You've got to believe, Bolie.
Ten.
You should've stood in bed.
How come you didn't use your right?
He's in bed, Bolie.
-Can I see him?
Sure. I expect he's waiting for you.
Bolie?
I'm real sorry.
Ah, I pulled a rock, Henry.
I threw a punch before I should have.
Hit a wall. Busted my knuckles.
Half my artillery was gone.
-You looked like a real tiger.
I was real proud of you, Bolie.
Now you go to sleep.
Tomorrow we'll go to a hockey game.
And we'll get some hot dogs maybe.
-Sure thing. That will be nice.
I ain't gonna make no more wishes.
I'm too old for wishes.
And there ain't no such
thing as magic, is there?
I guess not, Henry.
Or maybe...
Maybe there is magic,
and maybe there's wishes, too.
The trouble is there's not enough
people around to believe.
Good night, boy.
Mr Bolie Jackson, 183 pounds.
Who left a second chance lying on
a canvas at St. Nick's Arena.
Mr Bolie Jackson, who shares the
most common ailment of all men:
The perverse disinclination
to believe in a miracle.
The kind of miracle to come
from the mind of a little boy.
Perhaps only to be found in
the Twilight Zone.
English Subtitles by
B. Cornelis - Pandorafilm - Heerlen
First Aired: 8 April 1960
English Subtitles by
Pandorafilm - Heerlen
There is a fifth dimension.
Beyond that which is known to man.
It is a dimension as vast as space.
And as timeless as infinity.
It is the middle ground
between light and shadow...
between science and superstition.
And it lies between
the pit of man's fears...
and the summit of his knowledge.
This is the dimension
of imagination.
It is an area which we call:
The Twilight Zone.
In this corner of the universe a
prizefighter named Bolie Jackson.
183 pounds, and 90 minutes away...
from a comeback at St. Nick's Arena.
Mr Bolie Jackson, is an aging,
over-the-hill relic of what was.
And who now sees a that he has left
too many pieces of his youth...
in too many stadiums for too many
years before too many yelling people.
Mr Bolie Jackson, who might do well
to look for some gentle magic...
in the hard-surfaced glass
that stares back at him.
Feeling good, Bolie?
Take the tiger tonight, Bolie?
I'm gonna take the tiger, Henry.
I'll give him a left then a right.
Then pick him up by the tail.
And throw him into the ninth row.
-You're looking good, Bolie.
You're looking sharp.
-You gonna watch?
You fooling? I'll yell so loud you'll
hear me all the way to St. Nick's.
You know, a fighter don't need
a scrapbook, Henry.
Anyone know where he's fought.
You read it in his face.
He's got the whole story
cut into his flesh.
St. Louis, 1949.
Guy named Sailor Levitt.
Real fast boy.
Here, and this, Memorial Stadium,
Syracuse, New York.
Italian boy.
Fought like Henry Armstrong.
All hands and arms.
Just like a windmill,
All over you.
First time I ever got my
nose broke twice in one fight.
And then move South, Henry.
Miami, Florida.
That boy got me up
against the ring post.
He did this with his laces.
Tired old man.
Tired old man trying to catch a bus.
And the bus is already gone.
Left a couple of years ago.
Arms heavy.
Legs like rubber.
Short of wind.
One eye almost gone.
There I go, running down the street
trying to catch that bus to glory.
You are going to catch the tiger
tonight. I'm gonna make a wish.
I'm gonna make a big, tall wish.
You ain't gonna get hurt none either.
You hear, Bolie?
You been hurt enough already.
And you're my friend.
You're my good and close friend.
You have quite a boy there, Frances.
Talks like a little old man.
I'm his good and close friend.
That's what he tells me.
Real, real intense.
I'm his good and close friend.
Well, you're real good to him.
Taking him to ball games all the
time. And taking him for walks.
Take care of yourself.
Don't get hurt none.
I'll work hard trying not to.
I'm gonna make a wish. I'm gonna
make a wish nothing happens to you.
So don't you be afraid.
Understand? Don't you be afraid.
Oh, go on.
That boy's got you in a shrine.
-Who? A scared old man who don't...
remember nothing except
how to bleed?
I don't fit no shrines, Frances.
But you tell him, how much
I'm obliged to him for his wish.
He's all the time wishing.
Why, just the other night he...
What?
-Oh, I needed $15 for the rent.
He said he was gonna make the big,
tall wish. That's the biggest wish.
He don't waste that on just anything.
Only with the most important kind.
That was last Friday. A woman I did
some nursing for sent me a check.
A check for $15.
Little boys with their heads
full up with dreams.
And when do they find out, Frances?
When do they suddenly find out
that there ain't any magic?
When does somebody push their
face down on the sidewalk and says:
'Hey, little boy, It's concrete.'
'That's what the world is
made out of: Concrete.'
When do they find out that you
can wish your life away?
Good luck tonight, Bolie.
We'll be waiting for you.
Tell him I'll see him later.
Hey, Bolie.
Good luck, baby. You can take him.
Take him for me.
Best of luck, Bolie.
We'll be watching.
Try it, Bolie.
Feels okay?
-Feels good, Joe. Thanks.
He's all ready.
Butt it out, will you, Thomas?
I wanna breathe.
You hired me for the night.
Me and the cigar.
I said butt it out.
Feisty little old man.
The older they get, the louder they
talk and the more they want.
And less chance they got to get it.
-How did I get you tonight?
I'm a bargain.
I'm a expert on has-beens.
I seen your boys.
Catches, aren't they?
Guaranteed two rounds each.
Shovel them in, shovel them out.
Sew them together for the next time.
That's the only way to do it, champ.
A month or so from now maybe
I'll sign you at the back door.
Why not? You're long gone, Bolie.
Wait till after tonight.
You'll wanna get in the stable, too.
Just guarantee two rounds.
Two, three prelims every month.
You can do that standing
on your head. Can't you?
I thought the smell came with the
cigar. You wear it all over you.
You stink, Thomas.
You tell 'em, champ.
Jackson, ten minutes.
He'll be there.
What about tonight?
What do I watch out for?
I've only seen this boy fight once.
That was a couple of years ago.
I ain't never seen him.
You've seen him fight six,
seven times in the past year.
You piece of garbage, you.
You're betting on him, aren't you?
He comes in here for a dirty $20.
And bets on the other guy.
I may be a bum in ten minutes, but now
I'm gonna fight a beautiful round.
You touch me and I'll have you
up for ten years. I swear to you.
Lay off me, you cunning freak.
Let me look at that. Sit down.
Wasn't enough spotting
'em all those years?
Wasn't enough how you gotta go in
the ring with four busted knuckles?
Okay, Jackson, you're on.
Well?
-Well, nothing. Let's do it.
Oh, poor little Henry Temple.
I've given him two strikes
on all his magic.
Whose?
-Nothing.
There ain't no such thing as magic.
There's another left.
Another right.
Jackson's knees are wobbling.
Bolie Jackson is definitely hurt.
Consiglio moves in on him.
He jabs him to the right.
Jackson is down.
Bolie, Bolie, Bolie.
One, two, three...
Four, five, six...
Seven, eight...
Nine...
Ten.
You done dandy, Bolie.
-Hey, Joe, you were wrong.
Just bruised, I guess, huh?
Gee, it hurt like anything
But somebody said I got him with it.
Couldn't have been broken after all.
-Who said it was?
You said.
Jeez, felt like it, too.
Could feel the knuckles coming
right up to the bandages.
I could have sworn it was broke.
And then when he knocked me down...
What? When he what?
-When he knocked me down, Joe.
When he knocked me down.
I don't even remember getting up.
Suddenly, there he was at my feet.
We must have been in
different arenas together.
You didn't get knocked down, Bolie.
You was never off your feet.
I wasn't?
-No.
You carried this
one all the way, baby.
Joe. I wasn't off my feet?
I didn't go down?
Read about it in the papers.
Good night, old-timer.
I'm proud of you.
Beautiful, Bolie.
You were just great, man.
You were great, Bolie,
We've seen you on television.
That was a right.
That was the real right.
Hey, what do you say, Henry Temple?
-You are a real tiger.
Did it look okay?
-Just like a champ.
He must have hit me so hard it
knocked all the hurt right out of me.
I don't remember a doggone thing.
I must have been punchy for a second
'cause I thought he had me on my back.
There I was, lying there, Looking up
at the ref waving his arm down on me.
Staring at the light,
blinking my eyes.
There must have been some kind
of a dream or something 'cause...
Henry?
Henry, I never went down.
I was never off my feet.
Henry, I never went down.
Henry, was I?
Was I on my back and on my way out?
Nobody remembers it.
Nobody at all except me.
I thought it happened,
but it didn't.
I thought I was lying there on
my back, being counted out...
And everybody tells me that...
Bolie, I made the big wish then.
I wished you was never knocked down.
I just shut my eyes, and I
wished real hard. It was magic.
We had to have magic then.
Had to. Nothing left for us then.
There ain't no magic or
wishing or nothing like that.
You're too big to believe
in fairy tales.
If you wish hard enough.
It'll come true.
If you wish hard enough...
-Somebody gotta take you...
and rub your face into the world till
you get feel of the way things are.
I've been wishing all my life.
I got a gut ache from wishing, and
all I got is a face full of scars.
And a head full of memories
of all the hurt...
and misery I've had to live and
sleep with all my miserable life.
You trying to tell me you
wished me into a knockout?
And it was magic that
made me get up off my back?
You're a little kook, Henry.
How did I ever get mixed up with
you? I ain't got enough trouble.
If you don't believe,
it won't be true.
That's the way magic works.
-Listen. Listen, boy.
There ain't no magic, Henry.
I had that fight coming and going.
I had it in my pocket.
I was the number one out there.
It was me who done it. Me, Bolie.
Hittin' and sluggin' and winnin'.
Winnin'.
Henry.
I can't believe. I'm too old.
And I'm too hurt to believe.
I can't, boy. I just can't.
There ain't no such thing as magic.
God help us both. I wish there were.
You've got to believe.
-I can't, boy.
I can't.
-Please, believe.
You've got to believe, Bolie.
Ten.
You should've stood in bed.
How come you didn't use your right?
He's in bed, Bolie.
-Can I see him?
Sure. I expect he's waiting for you.
Bolie?
I'm real sorry.
Ah, I pulled a rock, Henry.
I threw a punch before I should have.
Hit a wall. Busted my knuckles.
Half my artillery was gone.
-You looked like a real tiger.
I was real proud of you, Bolie.
Now you go to sleep.
Tomorrow we'll go to a hockey game.
And we'll get some hot dogs maybe.
-Sure thing. That will be nice.
I ain't gonna make no more wishes.
I'm too old for wishes.
And there ain't no such
thing as magic, is there?
I guess not, Henry.
Or maybe...
Maybe there is magic,
and maybe there's wishes, too.
The trouble is there's not enough
people around to believe.
Good night, boy.
Mr Bolie Jackson, 183 pounds.
Who left a second chance lying on
a canvas at St. Nick's Arena.
Mr Bolie Jackson, who shares the
most common ailment of all men:
The perverse disinclination
to believe in a miracle.
The kind of miracle to come
from the mind of a little boy.
Perhaps only to be found in
the Twilight Zone.
English Subtitles by
B. Cornelis - Pandorafilm - Heerlen