The Twilight Zone (TV Series) The Bard (1963) User Reviews

This Rough Magic I Here Abjure.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 15 February 2013]

Jack Weston, a failed writer, brings back Shakespeare by means of black magic and sells Shakespeare's work as a television series. The suits change everything in the play around so that, for instance, a balcony scene turns into a subway encounter. Shakespeare shows up at a rehearsal, watches speechlessly as his work is debauched, and storms out.

It's entertaining enough but has its weaknesses. Among the chuckles is Weston's ignorance: Weston keeps pestering his agent, trying to sell tired scripts, but he's an ex streetcar conductor who knows nothing about writing or literature. If a sign in a bookstore offers a first edition of Keats, he asks the saleslady for "a Keat." As for Njinsky, "Sure Njinsky was a great dancer but who remembers her last picture?" John Williams will be a familiar face to fans of 1950s movies. He was usually a detective or a lawyer. Here, he's The Bard, strutting around in 16th-century costume, full of himself, always quoting his own work. "Blow, blow, thou winter wind," and, "Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear," and on and on, until he gets to, "To be or not to be --" Then he stops, scowls with frustration and stalks off because he's forgotten the rest.

The cast list is studded with the names of famous actors or character actors. Among the best is Burt Reynolds as a Marlon Brando clone. As an actor in Shakespeare's mangled play, he's disheveled. He mumbles and wears a sweatshirt. He asks incisive questions like, "What's my tertiary motivation? Y'know, why do I walk through this door at this PARTICULAR time?" Williams clips Reynolds on the jaw and disappears.

The plot, enjoyable as it is, has a few kinks. First, a couple of time-consuming scenes could easily have been cut and pepped up the tempo. I'm thinking of the extended opening in which Weston importunes his agent. We get the picture long before the scene ends. And there is at least a full minute given to Weston strutting around his apartment describing what a big man he's about to become, while Williams regards him with disgust.

Finally, it's impossible to believe that Weston's agent or sponsors would find Shakespeare's words in any way appealing, no matter how they were revised. One of the network's suits objects to lines like, "He produced a pince-nez box and, anon, gave it to his nose, then took't away." The line itself is a near-perfect parody and is funny as hell -- but if you were the owner of Shannon's Soups would you pay for a series based on lines like that?

Not The Most Original Idea, but well played

[kenbarr-ny · 7/10 · 20 January 2012]

The idea for this episode is not the most original, bring a famous writer from the past and watch him (or her) get indignant over how modern times butchers his (or her) works. Bob Newhart did this with a sketch about what a Madison Avenue type would do to the Gettysburg Address ("Abe, you have to change 'four score and seven' to eighty seven"). However, it is well acted, with Jack Weston and John Williams as the hack TV writer and William Shakespeare respectively. Two story lines are the inanity of most TV writing and the unholy alliance between production and advertisers. Since this episode aired in 1963, two years after Newton Minnow's "vast wasteland" speech, it seems to show Rod Serling's take on that subject.

"Don' cha dig? I'm conjurin' baby, I'm conjurin'."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 13 July 2010]

Well it finally happened - a Twilight Zone episode that quite literally, was written and acted in The Twilight Zone. How else do you explain Burt Reynolds doing Marlon Brando, and then have John McGiver doing Burt Reynolds doing Marlon Brando? Now I have to say, I take delight in whimsy, and this is one that took extreme poetic license with the legacy of the Bard himself, William Shakespeare. It was kind of a neat idea actually, but sadly, the idea went nowhere. The best takeaway from this story (from the perspective of almost a half century later), is the recollection of the New York Mets in only their second year of baseball. They went 51-111 in 1963, as Julius Moomer's (John Weston) landlady laments the trade of Gil Hodges to the Washington Senators. Maybe it was Julius' book of the black arts that got them their first World Series win just six years later. (Now there's a Twilight Zone story all by itself).

There are a few other one-liner gems in the episode, but they're buried in the plodding story. Like Julius' dream of becoming a Wurlitzer Prize winner. But my favorite was the idea he pitched for a game show - 'Pick Your Own Embalmer'. Did you catch that? I didn't think so. You'll have to go back and listen for it, while I come to grips with the idea that this might be the next great reality TV show concept of the decade. It just might work.

Jack Weston is Pretty Good but So Passe

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 17 April 2014]

This was probably more accessible in the 1960's. Jack Weston plays an overbearing man who was once a streetcar conductor and who fancies himself a screenwriter. He has had numerous failed efforts to get the execs to look at his sad, trite imaginings for television series. He has all the lines that were appropriate for the job at the time, but he is an idiot. He talks his agent into allowing him to submit a script for a show based on black magic. Of course, he has no idea what to do. He goes to a bookstore to find a book on the subject, only to be met by its nutty proprietor who is obsessed with baseball. She thinks Weston is some former two-bit ballplayer. While he is talking, a book literally flies off the shelf, into his arms. He takes it home. It is full of spells. Because he has none of the materials called for, he is unable to get anything to work. He is taunted by the middle- school daughter of a woman in his apartment building. At some point, through no effort of his own, William Shakespeare shows up and offers his assistance. What happens is that Weston uses him in such a way to get things done his way. He is boorish and clumsy but using the bard's words, he manages to get hooked up with a commercial enterprise (a soup company CEO). He takes the plots that Shakespeare gives him and totally destroys them, using one of his ridiculous plots. Tension builds. There is a delightful cameo by a very young Burt Reynolds who is studying method acting. He has performed in two Tennessee Williams plays and is annoyed that Shakespeare has never heard of Stanislavsky or the aforementioned Williams. He pouts and prances and really annoys the great poet. This is played strictly for laughs and the Twilight Zone purists were probably annoyed. The episode is too long and often not terribly funny, but take it with a grain of salt.

Well, _I_ thought it was funny . . .

[kilocycles · 7/10 · 7 September 2018]

. . . but I was thirteen or so, and had just discovered "the theatea." It was my first glimpse of Jack Weston, whom I became a big fan of. It also had one of my favorite lines: "We'll go down in history with the greatest collaborations in history: Gilbert and Sullivan, Rimsky and Korsakov, MOOMER AND SHAKESPEARE!"

I missed Burt Reynolds at the time; his parody of Brando was pretty funny, in retrospect. I do remember Howard McNair, for some reason.

But for a country boy from North Carolina, I did get some of the TV jokes. Give me some credit, will ya?

The Hack

[AaronCapenBanner · 3/10 · 4 November 2014]

Last broadcast episode of the fourth season stars Jack Weston as Julius Moomer, a talentless hack TV writer who wont stop bothering his agent for jobs, so to get him out of the office, promises him a script if he can devise something worthwhile out of a black magic pilot. Sold on the idea, Julius finds a real book on black magic and somehow conjures up the spirit of William Shakespeare(played by John Williams) who is not impressed by modern Hollywood or Moomer, though he does have ideas... Dud episode is among the worst, featuring forced and unfunny comedy, a most silly ending, and Weston hamming it up with more relish than mustard...

This one single-handedly killed the hour-long format!!

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 11 June 2010]

I don't think it's any coincidence that this was the last of the hour-long episodes of "The Twilight Zone"--an experiment tested in the fourth season. While some of the episodes this season were poor, there were some gems as well. Sadly, "The Bard" is as far from being a gem as you can find. In fact, I suspect that this episode was saved for last because the producers knew darn well it was a bad show. But, since at this point they knew the series would return to its original half-hour format, "The Bard" couldn't do that much harm! Frankly, I think they should have just kept this turkey on the shelf!

Jack Weston plays Julius Moomer--the world's worst writer. You see him in an agents office pitching one horrible idea after another--all devoid of originality and consisting of nothing but clichés. Later, he discovers a book of magic (or, rather, it discovers him) and uses it to eventually bring William Shakespeare to the present to write for him! While this very, very goofy idea isn't that a bad basis for the show in a comedy anthology, how Moomer is played is just excruciating and the show just isn't appropriate to "The Twilight Zone". Part of it must be blamed on bad writing, part on Weston's over-acting and part on the show's director who did nothing to encourage a realistic portrayal. Simply put, a slightly more subdued performance would have helped immensely--as the show has all the subtlety of a 2x4 upside your head!! My wife and I sat in pure agony watching this mess of a portrayal. And, if it WAS to be on "The Twilight Zone", it should have been dramatically changed in tone.

Weston's over-the-top characterization isn't helped by the sensibilities throughout the show. When odd things happen, there are comical sound effects as well as silly music--like this show was scored by some vaudeville stage hands and band! It tended to telegraph everything and removed any possibility of subtlety or style. And, the fact that many of the people in the show are caricatures sinks the entire production.

Painful, unfunny and awful. There just isn't much to recommend this bilious mess. And, incidentally, the other two reviews for this show (so far) both gave it a 10. Wow.

As Unfunny As They Come

[lrrap · 2/10 · 17 June 2019]

Having seen "The Bard" in a TV edited version back in the mid-80's, I only felt it fair to try it again. Having just finished a complete viewing, I regret to say that my initial impressions were confirmed: "The Bard" is as hopelessly padded, deadly dull and lethargic in its pacing, and UNFUNNY as just about anything I can recall watching.

Were all of the script revisions in the summer of '62 responsible for it's utter lack of focus? Each of Serling's scenes goes on FAR too long for its material. Did director David Butler even attempt to liven things up, or did he just phone it in? Or was Serling, in the final analysis, just NOT a comedy writer? (Of all his TZ comedies, only "Showdown with Rance McGrew hits the mark; it is truly funny in its whimsical way).

Like "Rance McGrew", one would expect Serling's relationship with TV's corporate mindset to explode, not merely dribble, across the screen. The satirical element--the skewering of the TV industry--- is certainly present in the script, and the overall concept is rich in possibilities. But the final product is so painfully slow and contrived. What a wasted opportunity.

Even the great Fred Steiner contributed to the fiasco--- the brilliant musical mind that could create the "Perry Mason" theme and the beautifully elegiac score for TZ's "The Passersby", to name just a few (as well as "Rance McGrew's" goofy Western violin/guitar theme), only made things worse in "The Bard" with his silly Mickey Mouse-style musical buffoonery. I guess you can't blame him; I'm sure that's what Serling and company demanded.

The THREE highlights for me: 1.) The performance of Henry Lascoe as Mr. Hugo, who manages to deliver a restrained and deftly characterized performance, while all those around him are significantly over-the top. This is all the more remarkable (and ironic) since Mr. Lascoe had a lengthy stage career---and it's usually the theatrical actors who overdo it in front of the camera. 2.) Burt Reynold's excellent send-up of Brando and all that he represented as an actor in the '50's, 3.) the scene on the bus, which was filmed on location and neatly documents the feeling and look of the times.

One of the very worst, and an unfortunate way to bury TZ's half-hearted 4th season. LR

One of the funnier entries in the series

[chuck-reilly · 9/10 · 18 October 2006]

Failing playwright Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) conjures up the spirit of Shakespeare (John Williams) to appear in the present in his former earthly form. The bewildered Bard reluctantly agrees to write plays for the inept Moomer who quickly sends them (under his own name) to Broadway Producers. Soon, Moomer is the toast of the town and getting rich in the process. Alas, his fame and fortune are short-lived when he mistakenly invites the Bard to see the production of one of his plays in-person. Naturally, Shakespeare is taken aback by the Method acting he witnesses, and particularly by the artificial performance of one Rocky Roads (a young Burt Reynolds). Method-acting Rocky needs "motivation" for one scene and can't seem to find it---until the Bard provides it for him by sending him flying through a wall with a punch to the nose.

Moomer is forced to return the indignant Bard back into the past. But he's far from finished, however, as he now conjures up Lincoln, Washington, Napoleon...etc. etc. for more creative work.

The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of series 4

[darrenpearce111 · 5/10 · 15 November 2013]

For Shakespeare it was Peter Quince. For Serling it was Julius Moomer (Jack Weston). Both great writers conceived of a world's worst writer. Somehow for Shakespeare the idea worked better. The Bard is full of bad jokes. It could have worked much better, especially with Shakespeare (John Williams) up against the shallowness of commercial sponsorship in the form of a pompous businessman (John McGiver). That theme was really close to Rod Serling's heart as a TV writer. Unfortunately, the feckless protagonists in the Zone like Moomer were too often without any redeeming charm (a rare exception would be Andy Devine's Frisby).

'The Bard' is a curate's egg worth having a look at for Burt Reynolds as method actor Rocky Rhodes (appearing about 35 minutes in).

William Shakespeare; - ghost writer!

[Coventry · 4/10 · 15 February 2022]

"The Bard" is already the last episode of the overall very satisfying fourth season of "The Twilight Zone", so I genuinely wished I had more positive things to write about it. Alas, I found it one of the weakest entries of the season, and once again the poor attempts at inserting too much comedy elements are to blame. I said it before and I'll say it again, the very best TZ-episodes are bleak, disturbing, and frightening. Those just happens to be the last three terms you could use to describe "The Bard".

The idea behind this tale is nonetheless ingenious. An untalented but over-enthusiast aspiring writer with a silly name (what kind of surname is Moomer?) finds a way - via black magic - to teleport none other than William Shakespeare to contemporary Hollywood, and makes use of his still very vivid and genius imagination to write new stories. Shakespeare still got it, of course, but can he deal with modern day obstacles, like censorship, rewrites, stubborn method actors, and producer demands? "The Bard" is watchable but dull, with too many annoying characters (and ditto performances) and an insupportable lack of "Twilight Zone" trademarks. I am, however, giving it one extra point for Burt Reynolds' witty impersonation of Marlon Brando, and for the resemblance of Shakespeare's looks, and the looks of all the other historical figures, during the end sequence.

Definitly the worst overall twilight zone episode

[The-Right-Mike · 2/10 · 10 August 2020]

This episode was pretty bad and boring, along with obnoxious. The acting stunk and there is no good moral to the story. It's just stuff and things happening and who cares.

I get the sense everyone involved on this project just said "get a guy in shakespear costume and just do whatever, and we'll film it" It isn't believable that the annoying lead character keeps getting chances too. It's just weak storytelling throughout that doesn't really achieve much of anything believable really.

I am one of the few who seems to love the 1 hour format for season 4, but this was one of the few that needed to be shorter, but preferably, not made at all.

Annoying, Boring and Unfunny

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 8 October 2023]

The former bus driver Julius Moomer is an aspirant television writer without any talent. He is insistent with the agent Mr. Hugo to have a chance and he gives a couple of days to Julius to write about black magic. Julius goes to a book shop to look for a black magic book and the owner gives one to him. Julius accidentally summons Willian Shakespeare and forces him to write for him. However, when Shakespeare hears and see what is happening to his writing, there is a conflict with Julius.

"The Bard" is an awful episode of "The Twilight Zone". The plot is annoying, boring and unfunny, and the histrionic Jack Weston is irritating. The intention of the writer could have been how talentless people works in television, or how the sponsors affect the final work, but indeed the plot and the story are awful. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Poeta" ("The Poet")

Funny and Loaded With Awesome Actors!

[tay5jam · 10/10 · 8 February 2008]

This episode cracked me up! It was nice to watch a lighter Twilight Zone, but still have that other-worldly feeling. Keep an eye out for Burt Reynolds, he does a spot-on Marlon Brando impression... it is pretty amazing and very comical! John Williams plays William Shakespeare... he was in Dial M For Murder and is really great! Jack Weston is great as Julius Moomer who yearns to be a better writer in order to keep his job. I couldn't place him until I checked on his name and I remembered him from Dirty Dancing... Anyways, if you are looking for a Rod Serling-written episode that makes you think but also will give you a chuckle, check out "The Bard."

Should have been more serious.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 4/10 · 2 October 2019]

I don't loathe this episode but the story should have been written much more as a dramatic piece. The attempts at humour are met with failure, for the most part. Jack Weston does pretty well, he can handle light comedy. Humour was never Rod Serling's forte but he's only human like the rest of us. I agree with other reviewers that Burt Reynolds does a good job at spoofing Marlon Brando. His mannerisms and general demeanour prove to be effective. I've seen evidence that the one hour "Twilight Zone" episodes do work, in spite of what British critic Leslie Halliwell thought. However, "The Bard" has a plot which is too tightly stretched and incapable of lasting the whole hour. Luckily, the final season of this show was to provide several new masterpieces.

What's my Tertiary Motivation ?

[rcaliendo-424-345328 · 22 May 2020]

Honestly, the only thing I think of when considering this episode is the very strange and very funny take that Burt Reynolds does on Marlon Brando. It's an amusing send up of the typical coddled, self-obsessed and psychiatrically-tortured method actor as personified by Brando in those days. It's also a reminder of how much they really did look alike when they were younger. Assuming he saw it, this would have driven Brando crazy because, by his own admission, he hated Burt Reynolds and, by the time he became famous in his own right, he considered Reynolds to be the embodiment of everything wrong with the acting profession.

Apart from that, I never really cared for the episode. This is one script that did not benefit from an ability to stretch out in the one hour format and there seem to be a lot that could have been cut out to make it more concise. Weston is pretty funny as the untalented hack writer whose only interest is in making it big ... ya dig ?

It's not as bad as some claim.

[glennsmithk · 5/10 · 4 November 2019]

Serling incorporated some lighthearted episodes. This is the one everyone loves to hate. Jack Weston of Dirty Dancing fame is amazing with his portrayal of a bombastic buffoon TV writer. For Burt Reynolds' fans, it's interesting to see his early acting days before he became a superstar. It might not be that great of an episode, but it's worth a watch.

All that's written by Rod is not gold.

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 13 April 2022]

For his season 4 finalé, Rod Serling delivered a tale that satirised the entertainment industry in which he worked, opening the episode with a joke at his own expense: wannabe screenwriter Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) pitches numerous ideas for shows, all of them variations of the same story.

Exasperated agent Mr. Hugo (Henry Lascoe) gives Moomer one last chance to impress him: write a pilot for a show about black magic. For research, Julius goes to a bookshop where he finds 'Ye Book of Ye Black Art'; while studying the contents of dusty tome, he accidentally conjures up none other than the great bard William Shakespeare, who he uses to write scripts that he passes off as his own work.

Shakespeare's screenplays are subject to alterations by studio executives, in the same way that I imagine Serling's own writing may have been changed against his wishes to suit the medium and to please the sponsors. Naturally, the bard isn't too happy about his art being trashed by uncultivated businessmen, and he splits. Moomer doesn't give up though: he uses his magic book to help him with his next script about American History. Cue predictable ending.

The Bard is yet another comedic episode of The Twilight Zone, and like other humorous efforts from Mr. Serling, it isn't very funny. It also suffers from an overuse of hip '60s vernacular that makes it very dated. About the only thing that this one has going for it is the amusing pastiche of Marlon Brando by a young pre-fame Burt Reynolds, who mocks the pretentiousness of method acting.

2/10.

Awful, hard avoid

[imdb-71489 · 1/10 · 10 March 2024]

Total waste of time, an hour I'm never getting back. Never seen so much scenery being chewed. Non-existent story. TZ doesn't do comedy well very often, but this falls flat on its face. I've watched every episode in series 1-4 and loved most of it. Sure there's been a couple of stinkers and 'meh' episodes but this takes the whole packet of biscuits.

There's only two points of note: first, a young Burt Reynolds and secondly the sheer badness of this episode is a reminder that the series at a whole is so much better.

If you really feel the need to watch this, just to say you've watched all episodes of TZ, have something to hand to entertain you while it drudges on, because the episode itself sure won't.

HILARIOUS

[rms125a · 10/10 · 6 January 2021]

One of the funniest things I have ever seen in my 50+ years. Burt Reynolds, an actor I have never had much use for as stiff and pretentious, was, I must admit, absolutely hilarious mimicking Marlon Brando and sending up Method Acting, continually asking, "What is my character's tertiary motivation?" Eminent British actor John Williams as Shakespeare was brilliant throughout. Doro Merande was sweetly moving as the baseball-obsessed ditzy book store owner where Moomer finds his book on the dark arts/conjuring. Star Jack Weston as Brooklynish protagonist/antihero Julius Moomer was also funny but quite grounded and serious in his relentless self-promotion, which could have given J. Pierrepont Finch (of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying") a run for his money. Marge Redmond (Weston's real life wife at the time) plays a beleaguered secretary who is none too fond of Moomer. (Eventually, that would prove true in real life as well as Weston and Redmond eventually divorced.)

Humorless Reviewers Begone

[exuberantloquacity · 10/10 · 15 January 2021]

This is a great episode. For all those whining about the hour long format and the humour: this reminds me of the tongue-in-cheek X Files episodes, which may well have been influences by episodes like this. It also reminds me of David Lynch's scathing critiques of Hollywood in films like Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire. What I took from this is: as is portrayed in Mad Men and other TV shows and movies, a great TV show is being ruined by produces kowtowing to the advertisers.

The show (in the episode) is written by Shakespeare, one of the al time greats, and Reynolds' caricature of Brando thinks Shakespeare is an uncultured hack. He asks what his tertiary motivation is for walking through the door, making a great mockery of method acting, and of Brando himself. The fact the producers, at the command of the advertisers, remove Shakespeare's ideas, from balconies (no one has them anymore, they won't relate) to suicide (the advertisers don't want to upset the viewers), is a very scathing criticism of the way TV is controlled these days.

Considering how famous and successful tragedies are, including both Shakespeare and the Greek tragedies, it's ironic that now we can almost never have a TV show or film end tragically. People miss the point that tragic endings can be powerful, leaving the audience thinking about how badly the protagonists screwed up.

Given Lynch's several criticisms of Hollywood, I get the impression that film and TV were already that bad back in the 1960s and that Serling was making a very clear point about editorial oversight ruining good art; advertisers changing brilliant scripts to fit with product alignment; something which wouldn't have been possible in Shakespeare's time (although there was always the risk of the King having you killed if he didn't like your play. Old fashioned censorship).