So, how many of you were waiting for The Great Rudolph (Franchot Tone) to put on his 'specialty act' for detained Hollywood screen writer Cliff Allen (Roger Perry)? I have to admit, I was wondering what that was going to be, given how the subject came up about a half dozen times. The story takes a lengthy detour from the way it began, with Allen being pulled over for a variety of moving violations, and more significantly, a seeming abduction of an underage teen named Rosie (Sharon Farrell), who lies to the Clark County Sheriff (Kelly Thordsen) about her presence in Cliff's vehicle. What follows is a somewhat bizarre experience when local diner owner Rudolph (Franchot Tone) begins to regale Allen with tales of his glory days in vaudeville and how he's grooming Rosie to be the next partner in his routine, as well as his wife when she turns eighteen in a week! It's at that point you realize the guy is more than bordering on creepy. What didn't make sense to me was why Allen and Rosie planned to meet at eight, right at her cabin at Rudolph's. Wouldn't a secret rendezvous location have been a better idea? Be that as it may, along with Cliff Allen, we become witness to The Great Rudolph's all-time great premier act as the 'World's Greatest Ventriloquist'. I had to wonder whether Rudolph's first wife met the same fate as her replacement.
11 Reviews
He just couldn't say no
sol121825 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** After getting busted for speeding as well as having an underage female with him TV writer Cliff Allen,Roger Perry,is forced to stay at this out of the way one jalopy town until his car is fixed. It's there that Cliff meets this weirdo running the local diner Mr.Bitzirer, Franchot Tone, whom the girl he picked up Rosie, Sharon Farrell, was trying to escape from! Calling himself Rudolph the Great, not the Red Nose Raindeer, Bitzrier plans to marry the very reluctant Rosie next week when she becomes of age on her 18th birthday and make her part of his comedy act. Bitzrier was a big star during the vaudeville era and is planning,together with Rosie, to make a comeback on the live stage and TV circuit!
It's Rosie who tries to get to Cliff in talking him into leaving town with her to L.A after his car is finally fixed. After thinking the whole thing over Cliff agrees to check out with Rosie even though it means he can get rearrested by the local sheriff, Kelly Thordsen, for trafficking across state lines with a minor! Unknown to both Cliff and the soon to be bride of Rudolph the Great or Mr. Bitzrier he's been on to them right from the start! And plans a going away party or final performance for the two young lovers that they'll never forget!
***SPOILERS*** It in fact was an unforgettable performance that Bitzrier threw for Cliff & Rosie but only Cliff could really appreciate it. As for Rosie she paid the ultimate price in trying to leave Bitzrier standing alone at the alter on their wedding day. In her becoming as stiff and lifeless as Anthony Perkin's mother in the movie "Psycho" with her future husband Rudolph Bitzirer doing all the talking for her!
It's Rosie who tries to get to Cliff in talking him into leaving town with her to L.A after his car is finally fixed. After thinking the whole thing over Cliff agrees to check out with Rosie even though it means he can get rearrested by the local sheriff, Kelly Thordsen, for trafficking across state lines with a minor! Unknown to both Cliff and the soon to be bride of Rudolph the Great or Mr. Bitzrier he's been on to them right from the start! And plans a going away party or final performance for the two young lovers that they'll never forget!
***SPOILERS*** It in fact was an unforgettable performance that Bitzrier threw for Cliff & Rosie but only Cliff could really appreciate it. As for Rosie she paid the ultimate price in trying to leave Bitzrier standing alone at the alter on their wedding day. In her becoming as stiff and lifeless as Anthony Perkin's mother in the movie "Psycho" with her future husband Rudolph Bitzirer doing all the talking for her!
''so ya can say ya saw Rudolph The Great''
darrenpearce11112 August 2017
As reviewers are commenting on the motel setting like ''Psycho'', I would like to add the faded vaudevillian that Franchot Tone plays makes this like ''Psycho'' meets ''Whatever Happened To Baby Jane''.
A young man encounters a traffic cop and then gets involved with a bizarre old vaudevillian with an equally bizarre grip over a frightened young woman, Rosie (Sharon Farrell) who is found trying to run away.
I found the ending unsatisfying and one of the worst in any Hitchcock TV show. Until then its a good novelty for those who may have only seen Franchot Tone as a matinée idol of 30's and 40's movies.
A young man encounters a traffic cop and then gets involved with a bizarre old vaudevillian with an equally bizarre grip over a frightened young woman, Rosie (Sharon Farrell) who is found trying to run away.
I found the ending unsatisfying and one of the worst in any Hitchcock TV show. Until then its a good novelty for those who may have only seen Franchot Tone as a matinée idol of 30's and 40's movies.
it doesn't get any better
kdancat13 January 2007
This is a phenomenal piece of work by all concerned. Everyone delivered in every department, from the writing, acting, directing, to the sets, music etc. There's a kind of Andy Griffith/Mayberry meets "Psycho" vibe to the piece that is deliciously unsettling. I don't think it would be a stretch to say that genius director, David Lynch, in all possibility, could have seen this episode and been inspired by it. In fact, I'm jealous that I didn't write it and direct it. Director, John Brahm deftly directs, convincing veteran actor Franchot Tone and the excellent Sharon Farrell, Roger Perry, and Kelly Thodsen who all do a superb job with the great script by Clyde Ware and Lee Kalcheim based on a wonderfully twisted story by Robert Bloch. A young, screenwriter's road trip back to Hollywood is inadvertently cut short, causing him to become involved in the lives of a washed up vaudevillian, (who runs a ramshackle motel/coffee shop somewhere in the sticks), and the old man's teen age fiancé. The tension builds beautifully throughout this tale of desperation. A true gem, with a great ending. -Dan Kessel-
Shades of Psycho...
myemail33399912 January 2007
Driving down a lonely stretch of highway......checking into an isolated motel......a mentally unbalanced proprietor......an unexpected murder......an innocent victim......"Final Performance" may be Psycho's distant cousin, but the connecting elements are there.
Franchot Tone, an actor from Hollywood's Golden Years, has an apparent field day portraying the crazed proprietor of a rustic motel (the cabin variety) located somewhere in rural California. Actress Sharon Farrell is perfectly cast as an emotionally distressed young soul who is Tone's "white slave." She gains the audience's empathy within the first seconds of her screen time, and (we) hope that she attains her freedom by episode's end. If you haven't already read the other comment writer's "spoiler" summary or this web site's synopsis, you'll be surprised at what is disclosed in the final scene of "Final Performance"-- macabre, to say the least. Norman Bates, your Mother's calling......
Franchot Tone, an actor from Hollywood's Golden Years, has an apparent field day portraying the crazed proprietor of a rustic motel (the cabin variety) located somewhere in rural California. Actress Sharon Farrell is perfectly cast as an emotionally distressed young soul who is Tone's "white slave." She gains the audience's empathy within the first seconds of her screen time, and (we) hope that she attains her freedom by episode's end. If you haven't already read the other comment writer's "spoiler" summary or this web site's synopsis, you'll be surprised at what is disclosed in the final scene of "Final Performance"-- macabre, to say the least. Norman Bates, your Mother's calling......
Bates Motel, Wyoming Style
dougdoepke20 October 2016
First-rate Hitch. The hook's a real grabber. So what's going on with teen cutie Rosie (Farrell). Nice guy Cliff (Perry) picks her up hitchhiking on a country road. She's frazzled and desperate to get out of the little near-by town. So why then does she lie to the sheriff who stops good samaritan Cliff for speeding. Poor Cliff, he gets a ticket, then gets his clunker hauled back to town after it breaks down. Now he's stuck in a motel where unpredictable Rosie works with weirdo owner Rudolph (Tone) who is living in his show biz past and his big specialty act. But just what exactly was that stage specialty, and do we really want to find out.
Good suspense all the way through. There's some padding midway, probably to accommodate movie vet Tone. Nonetheless, he turns in a sinister, bravura performance. Farrell too shines as the desperately ditsy Rosie, while Perry makes a convincing bystander caught up in who knows what. Anyway, don't miss the highly suspenseful hour and its nifty climax.
(In passing—note that Cliff's clunker car is an Edsel, a notorious lemon in its day. Also, I'm surprised the script identifies Wyoming as where the events take place. Usually, the locale would remain understandably anonymous. But considering the arrogant sheriff, the mud hut motel, and the weird goings on, the hour's not exactly a tourist brochure for that wonderfully scenic state.)
Good suspense all the way through. There's some padding midway, probably to accommodate movie vet Tone. Nonetheless, he turns in a sinister, bravura performance. Farrell too shines as the desperately ditsy Rosie, while Perry makes a convincing bystander caught up in who knows what. Anyway, don't miss the highly suspenseful hour and its nifty climax.
(In passing—note that Cliff's clunker car is an Edsel, a notorious lemon in its day. Also, I'm surprised the script identifies Wyoming as where the events take place. Usually, the locale would remain understandably anonymous. But considering the arrogant sheriff, the mud hut motel, and the weird goings on, the hour's not exactly a tourist brochure for that wonderfully scenic state.)
Creepy Is an Understatement
Hitchcoc28 May 2023
This is about a weird town where a young man, a writer heading for Hollywood, finds his Edsel isn't running and needs it fixed. Before that, however, a pretty young woman flags him down and jumps in the front seat. She also wants to go to Hollywood and he agrees to, but circumstances start going haywire. He meets an old vaudevillian who has an act with Rosie. He is over the hill and has no idea what is working now. The young guy keeps getting propositioned, but the old guy keeps making demands on him. Ultimately we have about fifty minutes that lead to one of the most bizarre moments I've seen.
flat adaptation
HEFILM27 March 2013
Overlong flatly made adaptation of Robert Bloch's much better story. F. Tone is very good as the aging performer but the lead girl, though sexy as the part requires, is too old and knowingly sexy to be believed as a young unworldly country gal. Many Hithcock hour long shows are memorably filmed and photographed but this one is dull looking. The ending of the story is probably too gruesome to have been done in 1960s TV but the way director John Brahm tries to stage it doesn't work. The rest of the direction is very flat this time around and must be considered a missed opportunity. Still if you haven't read the story the ending may have some impact. Best scene is the intentionally terrible stage act that the aging performer and his young gal hope will make them famous. The lead character is a writer driving across country to work in Hollywood, which is somewhat true to how Robert Bloch started his own LA career. So perhaps his move out there inspired the setting for the story. The episode doesn't feel padded but a shorter run time and being able to stick to the story for the ending would have helped. The episode is scored using music for other episodes which also leads to a feeling of "been there done that."
Almost Made It
collings50025 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
SPOILER ALERT!! This thing runs along smoothly - believable characters, well-paced...suspense builds...and then the ending blows it. As soon as the guy walks into the theater-barn and sees the bad guy up on stage with his "fiance" in her wedding dress, we know. So, why not play out the scene as if we DO know? Have the girl all limp and dead with blood flowing all over the floor from the knife in her back? Have the old guy - now completely bonkers - grinning and doing a horrid ventriloquist act, moving the lifeless head back and forth, the eyes half-open, the mouth slack-jawed and not moving: a dead-dead-dead dummy. Our protagonist can only stare, frozen at the horror. Pan to a shot of the blood dripping on the trunk and running down the "World's Greatest Ventriloquist" logo on the front, then FADE OUT. Instead, we are asked to believe this guy accepts this nonsense and has a dopey "conversation" with the corpse and then just walks out. No need for this sort of cop-out at all. Too unbelievable, and downright stupid.
This one doesn't always make a lot of sense...but the ending is creepy.
planktonrules10 June 2021
Cliff (Roger Perry) is a writer driving cross country to Hollywood. On the way, he stops to pick up a hitchhiker and only moments later, the Sheriff arrives...announcing that Cliff has broken all sorts of laws....speeding, reckless driving, resisting arrest and trying to force the young lady to get into his car!! He obviously is being set up. However, suddenly this ISN'T the plot. Now, instead of Cliff being some victim of a small town shakedown, he finds himself in the middle of a bizarre love triangle....with Rosie, a broken down old man (Franchot Tone) and himself.
The ending of this episode is pretty weird and makes the film only mildly disappointing....but disappointing it was. The plot just seemed like a couple different episodes chopped up and shoved together. Mildly interesting and a bit frustrating as well.
The ending of this episode is pretty weird and makes the film only mildly disappointing....but disappointing it was. The plot just seemed like a couple different episodes chopped up and shoved together. Mildly interesting and a bit frustrating as well.
Typical Robert Bloch
Ripshin17 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Bloch does seem to get in a rut. Remote motel/hotel, weird innkeeper. Woman in peril.
This started out somewhat cartoonish, and does indeed, get creepy. The limited supporting cast, and the filming location, leave a lot to be desired. It is reminiscent of some lame 80s horror flick.
OK, the ending...is she dead, or paralyzed? A spinal injury? Yes, the second "Cliff" walks into the barn the final time, it is obvious what's going on.
Somewhat sad to see Tone in a role like this. He would act in a few more projects, before dying in 1968.
Perry is perfectly cast in the lead - he's probably the only reason I'd ever suggest that somebody watch this episode.
This started out somewhat cartoonish, and does indeed, get creepy. The limited supporting cast, and the filming location, leave a lot to be desired. It is reminiscent of some lame 80s horror flick.
OK, the ending...is she dead, or paralyzed? A spinal injury? Yes, the second "Cliff" walks into the barn the final time, it is obvious what's going on.
Somewhat sad to see Tone in a role like this. He would act in a few more projects, before dying in 1968.
Perry is perfectly cast in the lead - he's probably the only reason I'd ever suggest that somebody watch this episode.
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