This Ray Bradbury penned story probably fits more into a "Twilight Zone" episode format than the usual Hitchcock entry. That said, old Alfred straddled that thin line quite a few times over the years and this is certainly one of them. Two retired insurance salesmen (John Qualen and Robert Harris) have found a new sideline; they walk through the city streets together to pick out the next "accident waiting to happen." They find one in a wreck of a 45-year-old woman named Mrs. Shrike (a nearly unrecognizable Jo Van Fleet). She lives in a miserable slum tenement with a drunken husband prone to violence. His abuse and nastiness to her is matched equally by her own and she serves everyone else she encounters with more of the same. To put it in literary terms, she's a modern-day Madame DeFarge without the revolutionary fervor. Making matters worse, the temperature in the city is boiling over and everyone's nerves are frayed. Harris and Qualen visit Ms. Van Fleet to try to warn her of her dire situation and to give her some much-needed comfort. Her response to their kindness is to literally rip into them with the same diatribe as she did with all her other acquaintances of the day and their efforts are mostly futile. Meanwhile, her disgusting husband is already plastered with alcohol and is heading home with a longshoreman's hook stuffed in his back pocket. It's obvious that he's not going to use it to hang up his shirt. "Shopping for Death" is a tour-de-force for the acting talents of Jo Van Fleet and she gives a performance for the ages. The Academy Award winning Ms. Van Fleet could play everything from a glamour girl to a working class hag. There's no glamour in this role, but there's plenty of "hag." Look for Michael Ansara in a small part as the neighborhood butcher. He gets an earful from Jo but keeps his cool--even though the thermometer is exploding. He's still around today.
19 Reviews
"The direct approach is the only approach."
classicsoncall22 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A pair of retired insurance salesmen (Robert H. Harris, John Qualen) apparently feel the need to intervene in the lives of ordinary people they feel meet actuarial statistics favoring imminent death, and set their sights on a curmudgeonly woman (Jo Van Fleet) who browbeats everyone she comes in contact with. What struck me about this episode was the reference that Clarence (Harris) made about the 'subconscious mind', and how it relates to a person's sense of well being, or in this case, lack of. I don't know when the study of the subconscious entered the mainstream, but this early reference to it in a television program was certainly notable.
Also notable, and something I pick up on when watching these old shows, is how they serve as a time capsule reminder of the way things used to be. With this story set in the present day of the 1950's era, one can appreciate the prices of everyday items before inflation really took hold. How about apples at eighteen cents per pound at the local grocer, or celery at two for a quarter! And then you had pork chops at seventy five cents per pound at the butcher shop. I don't think proprietor Michael Ansara was guilty of a bait and switch, but if you checked the sign for ground round on the outside window of his shop, it read forty nine cents per pound, but inside the store it was sixty seven cents!
Anyway, because he couldn't get the abusive Mrs. Shrike (Van Fleet) to share his concern about inadvertently inviting personal tragedy, and with the temperature reaching the ideal ninety two degree temperature the statistics indicated were ripe for homicide, Clarence almost resorted to physical assault himself before being dissuaded by his partner. However his instincts on this one was good, as the story ends with Mr. Shrike returning home with an alcohol fueled greeting for his wife, complete with longshoreman's hook in his back pocket. I don't think he was going to unload on anyone but the Mrs.
Also notable, and something I pick up on when watching these old shows, is how they serve as a time capsule reminder of the way things used to be. With this story set in the present day of the 1950's era, one can appreciate the prices of everyday items before inflation really took hold. How about apples at eighteen cents per pound at the local grocer, or celery at two for a quarter! And then you had pork chops at seventy five cents per pound at the butcher shop. I don't think proprietor Michael Ansara was guilty of a bait and switch, but if you checked the sign for ground round on the outside window of his shop, it read forty nine cents per pound, but inside the store it was sixty seven cents!
Anyway, because he couldn't get the abusive Mrs. Shrike (Van Fleet) to share his concern about inadvertently inviting personal tragedy, and with the temperature reaching the ideal ninety two degree temperature the statistics indicated were ripe for homicide, Clarence almost resorted to physical assault himself before being dissuaded by his partner. However his instincts on this one was good, as the story ends with Mr. Shrike returning home with an alcohol fueled greeting for his wife, complete with longshoreman's hook in his back pocket. I don't think he was going to unload on anyone but the Mrs.
An interesting story from legend Ray Bradberry, but, it suffers from some issues.
b_kite1 June 2019
Clarence and Elmer are retired insurance agents, and hope to use their years of experience to save people they believe will die soon, especially in high heated temperatures above ninety degrees. Clarence has his sights of Mrs. Shrike, a boorish and loud mouthed alcoholic who he believes has a death wish. They try to advise her to change her life and fix her house, but this just causes her to lash out. The thing I loved so much about Ray Bradberry was he could really right some interesting stories of peoples behavior, here you have an interesting story penned by him (even Hitchcock name drops him in the opening narration) about the likelihood of people to lose control and commit horrible acts when the heat level is high. It's an OK premise, but, it defiantly has some issues. The first of which is I don't know how neither of these two men expect to get far by just walking into someones house and literally telling them that there horrible behavior Is gonna get them killed, your more then likely to get murdered yourself trying to pull something like that off. The other issue is our lead actress Jo Van Fleet who was on the grasp of winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the James Deen film "East of Eden", here she comes off extremely unlikable, which I get is suppose to go along with the story, but, Van Fleet spends most of the episode literally screaming her lines, and it gets old really quick. Your suppose to feel sorry for here towards the end as a woman who has been pulled down in poverty, and for 10 seconds they sorta pull it off, but, its right back to screaming and overacting again. The ending is alright and what you figure will happen happens, however the opening and closing shots of Harris and Qualen going threw the smoke is a nice added on touch, both of which are really good here by the way.
More Van Fleet Than Story
dougdoepke17 January 2010
Looks to me like the material was chosen because of the distinguished author, Ray Bradbury, and the recent Oscar-winning actress Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden, 1955). In my book, it's not a very good episode. Two retired insurance men try to apply their expertise to help an angry slum dweller (Van Fleet) during an urban heat wave. The trouble is the plot is slender, and Van Fleet goes way over the top in making Mrs. Shrike hateful. With Shrike's out-of-control attitude, it's hard to see how she could survive even one day in a tough neighborhood. It's a showcase role, but overwhelms the story itself. Reviewer Hitchcoc is right: the episode is talky, too talky. At the same time, the expected payoff is too mild for a series that specialized in strong payoffs. On the other hand, the entry is well produced—the sets effectively suggest an over-heated urban slum. And the cast does feature two series favorites, Harris and Qualen. However, the sum total is memorable only for the chew marks Van Fleet leaves on the scenery.
Watching all episodes in order
sdot878721 March 2021
The logical concept about the ambient heat!!!!
elo-equipamentos3 October 2020
Jo Van Fleet somehow pervaded my unconscious since "Wild River" as hard matron who denied leaves his land about to be flooded, on this episode she plays Mrs. Shrike a sort of self-destruction woman due his life is so wretched, meanwhile two retirees old men Clarence Fox (Robert Harris) and Elmer Shore (John Qualen) the former insurance employers trying to help people about to die, after three triple underachievement, they driven forces at the whacky Mrs. Shrike, firstly they behold her behavior at neighborhood, then they come over at her sloppy apartment on a hottest afternoon, according Clarence Fox has an ultimate concept, everyone stays in jeopardy when the ambient heat reach at 33 degrees Celsius, upon this premise he explains to her how close is the probable death around her, the outcome is predicable on account of her weird behavior, sounds strained at first look, but has an engrossing point of view, also the episode has a special guest the fine Michael Ansara as the butcher!!
Resume:
First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25
Resume:
First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25
Shopping for death
coltras3529 August 2022
Two retired salesmen (Robert Harris and John Qualen) propose a theory that most murders occur in hot weather. They see a potential murder victim (Jo Van Fleet) in the nagging wife of a longshoreman Mrs. Shrike. They tell her to take precautions, but their efforts fail ...
Quite an unusual story, and though it's interesting, it can be talky and lacks clarity, however, the performances, especially from Jo Van Fleet, a gloriously solid performance as Mrs Shrike, gives this entry a boost. I didn't get the ending at first, but it slowly dawned on me that what the retired insurance salesmen were saying Mrs Shrike's impending disaster was spot on.
Quite an unusual story, and though it's interesting, it can be talky and lacks clarity, however, the performances, especially from Jo Van Fleet, a gloriously solid performance as Mrs Shrike, gives this entry a boost. I didn't get the ending at first, but it slowly dawned on me that what the retired insurance salesmen were saying Mrs Shrike's impending disaster was spot on.
What does all this mean?
planktonrules17 February 2021
The show begins with some sloppy footage of people dying that was cut out of old films. Then you see two older men who are apparently retired insurance salesmen. They apparently can predict who will violently die next and they follow a god-awful woman as she treats everyone around her like garbage. When they talk to her about impending death, she attacks them and throws them out...and you only assume then that she is murdered in the next scene...but there is no next scene...it just ends.
I feel strange saying I really didn't like this episode since both the show is well respected as well as the author of this particular installment, Ray Bradbury. But I didn't like it and found it to be incomplete and confusing....and a bit sloppy at the start. I also found the lady's acting WAY over-the-top and hard to believe anyone could be that awful!
I feel strange saying I really didn't like this episode since both the show is well respected as well as the author of this particular installment, Ray Bradbury. But I didn't like it and found it to be incomplete and confusing....and a bit sloppy at the start. I also found the lady's acting WAY over-the-top and hard to believe anyone could be that awful!
The great Jo Van Fleet
gregorycanfield24 February 2022
Yes, I do mean "great." Not surprisingly, some of the other reviewers criticized Jo's performance in this episode. Apparently, some people don't know great acting when they see it. As this character, Jo Van Fleet looked terrible, and she had the personality of a pit bull with a bad disposition. I loved her! She had me laughing throughout the episode. Van Fleet is the only actress that could have made this character work. She had the ability to play unlikeable characters, and absolutely make you believe what you were seeing and hearing. She was that great. This story is actually is not that great. It becomes great because Van Fleet's performance makes it great. The two insurance salesmen, played by Robert Harris and John Qualen, were not particularly effective. The overall dynamic of the story is vague. It's only Van Fleet's performance that makes everything palatable. Again, I can't praise this woman enough! Jo Van Fleet was on the same level as Bette Davis. Jo wasn't as famous as Bette, but she should have been.
Shopping for Death
Prismark105 August 2022
Two retired insurance salesman want to save lives from the information they have learned from their decades in the insurance trade.
Mrs Shrike (Jo Van Fleet) is a grinch. An angry 45 year old woman but she looks older who is war with the world.
It is a hot summer's day in her New York tenement. If the temperature reaches 92 Fahrenheit. People reach boiling point.
There is a knockout performance from Jo Van Fleet who won an Oscar for East of Eden in the year this was broadcast.
However this story from Ray Bradbury needed a better ending. Despite Hitchcock saying too many people want spoon feeding these days.
Mrs Shrike (Jo Van Fleet) is a grinch. An angry 45 year old woman but she looks older who is war with the world.
It is a hot summer's day in her New York tenement. If the temperature reaches 92 Fahrenheit. People reach boiling point.
There is a knockout performance from Jo Van Fleet who won an Oscar for East of Eden in the year this was broadcast.
However this story from Ray Bradbury needed a better ending. Despite Hitchcock saying too many people want spoon feeding these days.
Dougdoepke Is Incorrect
ricknelson5328 March 2019
Dougdoepke's review is fine but he is incorrect on one fact. He mentions "the recent Oscar winning actress Jo Van Fleet ". This episode was originally shown on January 29th, 1956; The academy Awards were not held until March 21st. She had not won the Oscar at the time of the original broadcast.
Searing Heat!
Hitchcoc8 October 2008
Ray Bradbury, who wrote the story, had many insights into human behavior. Two retired salesman have made it their post retirement work to try to save people who are self destructive and hopeless. They seem to always be on the scene of suicides and accident scenes. They make it a project to try to save a forty-five year old woman who is abusive and angry. She baits the butcher, chases kids, turns her radio up to annoy her fellow tenants. In short, she is one ugly being. I won't give it away, but they do their best to intervene, but succumb to their own baser instincts when the chips are down. Bradbury characters are talky and introspective and often reach for the unattainable. This is a good episode. The acting, especially the woman, is quite good. But it is cynical and sad. She is a human being and has been victimized by her poverty and her hopelessness.
Amazingly bad.....
peace-power-love7 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This episode has the thinnest plot of any Hitchcock Presents episode I have ever seen. Without any doubt, the fact that it was submitted by Ray Bradbury is the only reason that it was produced. The first few minutes provided an interesting set-up, despite the scene of the man plunging to his death (it was an embarrassingly phony shot of a mannequin being thrown out of a building). As the episode progressed, I had an overwhelming feeling of 'who cares?'
Jo Van Fleet's Mrs. Shrike was merely a caricature and the fact that the temperature was stifling was beat to death to the point of unreality. When Shrike's husband returns at the end, I find it hard to believe that any viewer would really care what happened next. Thirty minutes wasted.
Jo Van Fleet's Mrs. Shrike was merely a caricature and the fact that the temperature was stifling was beat to death to the point of unreality. When Shrike's husband returns at the end, I find it hard to believe that any viewer would really care what happened next. Thirty minutes wasted.
Shopping for a (much) better episode
TheLittleSongbird23 February 2022
What a disappointment! "Shopping for Death" had the potential to be halfway decent. That it had Jo Van Fleet, a great actress as evident in 'East of Eden' and 'Wild River' for examples. That it was directed by Robert Stevens, who directed some fine episodes (really liked to loved all his previous entries in the series). That it had the involvement of Ray Bradbury, whose portraying of human behaviour and psychology was insightful. That the idea was quite good if not novel.
This quite good idea is not very well executed at all in "Shopping for Death" (great title!). The episode had a lot going for it but wastes almost all of it. Have said about my high opinion of Stevens' previous episodes, and it was a shame that he went from one of his most interesting episodes in "The Older Sister" to one of his worst in "Shopping for Death". Also consider this entry one of the lesser ones of Season 1 and the worst 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode since "Triggers in Leash".
"Shopping for Death" has its moments. There are moments of atmosphere in the photography and lighting. The series' main theme is still wonderfully haunting.
Hitchcock's bookends are insightful and amusingly droll, better written and more interesting than the rest of the episode. John Qualen and Robert Harris give good performances.
A lot unfortunately does not work. Van Fleet was a big disappointment. The episode goes way too far in making her character unlikeable and Van Fleet tries far too hard to the point of scenery chewing and comes over as too neurotic. Bradbury's usually insightful character writing is not much in sight here, or at least the character writing does not feel like him. His portrayal of human psychology is more complex usually and Van Fleet's character comes over as cartoonish, a word that one doesn't associate Bradbury's character writing with. Stevens' direction is strangely workmanlike at best too.
Furthermore, some of "Shopping for Death" is cheap looking. Looking especially phony at the beginning. The script is far too talky and much of it is over-heated and melodramatic. The story lacks suspense severely and is paper thin, like 15 minutes over-stretched, which made the pacing feel very dull. The ending veered on silly.
In summary, rather disappointing. 4/10.
This quite good idea is not very well executed at all in "Shopping for Death" (great title!). The episode had a lot going for it but wastes almost all of it. Have said about my high opinion of Stevens' previous episodes, and it was a shame that he went from one of his most interesting episodes in "The Older Sister" to one of his worst in "Shopping for Death". Also consider this entry one of the lesser ones of Season 1 and the worst 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode since "Triggers in Leash".
"Shopping for Death" has its moments. There are moments of atmosphere in the photography and lighting. The series' main theme is still wonderfully haunting.
Hitchcock's bookends are insightful and amusingly droll, better written and more interesting than the rest of the episode. John Qualen and Robert Harris give good performances.
A lot unfortunately does not work. Van Fleet was a big disappointment. The episode goes way too far in making her character unlikeable and Van Fleet tries far too hard to the point of scenery chewing and comes over as too neurotic. Bradbury's usually insightful character writing is not much in sight here, or at least the character writing does not feel like him. His portrayal of human psychology is more complex usually and Van Fleet's character comes over as cartoonish, a word that one doesn't associate Bradbury's character writing with. Stevens' direction is strangely workmanlike at best too.
Furthermore, some of "Shopping for Death" is cheap looking. Looking especially phony at the beginning. The script is far too talky and much of it is over-heated and melodramatic. The story lacks suspense severely and is paper thin, like 15 minutes over-stretched, which made the pacing feel very dull. The ending veered on silly.
In summary, rather disappointing. 4/10.
An Odd Hitchcock Show, With An Odder Score
reprtr24 April 2016
I must admit that I haven't seen every installment of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS -- a fact made obvious from the admission that this particular show was new to me in 2016. And I do realize that a lot of movie music was "libraried" and used elsewhere, especially the scores done on the cheap, which was certainly the case with the score to which I'm about to refer. But amid the criticisms of the writing, the structure, and the overall tone of this particular show, did anyone ever notice that "Shopping For Death" makes use of Elmer Bernstein's inimitable music for Phil Tucker's oft-maligned 1953 science fiction film ROBOT MONSTER? It's definitely in the final section of the story, and not just the central "Ro-Man Theme" either. Obviously, Bernstein's publisher or whoever wanted to maximize the money to be made from his efforts, and Universal music director Stanley Wilson decided to take advantage of a suitable (and, most likely, very inexpensive) sting-like body of music to underscore the denouement.
TURN THE HEAT UP HIGHER, PLEASE!
tcchelsey11 August 2023
I agree with the last reviewer; legendary sci fi writer Ray Bradbury, who penned this episode, was an observer of people, particularly how they conducted themselves in unique situations. Not too long after this episode, he wrote the screenplay for MOBY DICK, based on the iconic story by Melville, starring Gregory Peck.
Two Hitchcock regulars, John Qualen and Robert H. Harris play retired insurance salesmen who seem to be preoccupied with people who are a danger to themselves? Their bizarre journey delibertly takes them into the city on a miserably hot day, only to have the good fortune to run into a middle-age woman called Mrs. Shrike (don't y'all love that name), who is certain to have a fatal encounter, largely due to the atmospherics.
The story, while original, is only average to the outstanding performance of Oscar winner Jo Van Fleet, who turns this into a poignant one woman show. Her life is a disaster, past her prime and having not much else to look forward to but a date with death. The macabre question, a la Hitchcock, is not if she will meet a horrible demise, but WHEN?
Her son, in later years after her death, wrote that his mom was frustrated with scores of roles in which she played older, forgotten woman, sometimes much older than her actual age. At times she was insulted, but that's Hollywood and stereotypes. To her credit, Jo Van Fleet was a master at what she did, an actors actor, who became the very character she played, regardless of age. That is a rare talent.
Jo Van Fleet next co-starred opposite Clark Gable in A KING AND FOUR QUEENS, set in a western ghost town.
Fact; the stats are right. 92 degrees is documented as the perfect temp. When most murders are committed, again documented in 2022.
Recommended and a tale that will stick with you for awhile. From Season 1 remastered Universal dvd box set.
Two Hitchcock regulars, John Qualen and Robert H. Harris play retired insurance salesmen who seem to be preoccupied with people who are a danger to themselves? Their bizarre journey delibertly takes them into the city on a miserably hot day, only to have the good fortune to run into a middle-age woman called Mrs. Shrike (don't y'all love that name), who is certain to have a fatal encounter, largely due to the atmospherics.
The story, while original, is only average to the outstanding performance of Oscar winner Jo Van Fleet, who turns this into a poignant one woman show. Her life is a disaster, past her prime and having not much else to look forward to but a date with death. The macabre question, a la Hitchcock, is not if she will meet a horrible demise, but WHEN?
Her son, in later years after her death, wrote that his mom was frustrated with scores of roles in which she played older, forgotten woman, sometimes much older than her actual age. At times she was insulted, but that's Hollywood and stereotypes. To her credit, Jo Van Fleet was a master at what she did, an actors actor, who became the very character she played, regardless of age. That is a rare talent.
Jo Van Fleet next co-starred opposite Clark Gable in A KING AND FOUR QUEENS, set in a western ghost town.
Fact; the stats are right. 92 degrees is documented as the perfect temp. When most murders are committed, again documented in 2022.
Recommended and a tale that will stick with you for awhile. From Season 1 remastered Universal dvd box set.
Thanks for nothing.
bombersflyup25 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
What the hell was this suppose to be, very lazy. She annoyed him to the point he wanted to kill her. She's irritated by everything she has to live with, so she irritates everyone else. Irritants breeds more irritants, and???
Horrendous episode
Ripshin23 December 2023
The lead actress is a screeching horror. What's with all of the perspiration? This THING is unwatchable.
Ok, I need to keep typing for this. I really don't get this episode. It's so over the top.
Ray Bradbury? SERIOUSLY???? This is really bad TV, on so many levels.
This show often showcases really bad acting. Perhaps a 50s thing?
OK, I'll keep typing. Don't waste your time with this.
Typing some more. Let's see what else I can say to "add up the necessary characters."
It's bad. Again, almost unwatchable. Let's get back to everyone having so much perspiration. Is there a reason? Please explain.
Ok, I need to keep typing for this. I really don't get this episode. It's so over the top.
Ray Bradbury? SERIOUSLY???? This is really bad TV, on so many levels.
This show often showcases really bad acting. Perhaps a 50s thing?
OK, I'll keep typing. Don't waste your time with this.
Typing some more. Let's see what else I can say to "add up the necessary characters."
It's bad. Again, almost unwatchable. Let's get back to everyone having so much perspiration. Is there a reason? Please explain.
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