The Ray Bradbury Theater (TV Series) The Town Where No One Got Off (1986) User Reviews

Pretty chilling

[calsinic · 8/10 · 29 August 2013]

This a satisfying episode of this series even though it doesn't pay off in the way that one would suspect, given how the story builds. This is a story that could've ended in one of two ways & I think either would've still been fine. This episode chose to end it by leaving it up to the viewer to ponder whether Cogswell really was carrying a gun with him that he intended to stop in an unsuspecting town & murder someone or if he simply came up with the best defense he could when backed into a corner by a man who has now made known his intention to kill Cogswell, just because he's always fantasized about killing someone who got off a train. The episode does a good job of leaving that debate open, while Cogswell (acted with a pitch perfect arrogant naivety by Jeff Goldblum)did seem to be just a curious man met with a surprising & suspicious hostility by the quiet, small town he also SEEMED perfectly fine accompanying a strange old man who had been stalking him into an abandoned building. No one would be that naive, would they? It also ends with Cogswell jumping on a train (that appropriately enough only stops when an emergency flare is on the tracks, hinting that he tossed the flare...perhaps out of fear?) & when asked if he found what he was looking for has a face that is a perfect mix of disappointment & horror.

The other way that this story could've ended would've been more of a twist, which would be with we as the viewer being the only ones aware of the old man's ulterior motives only to have Cogswell in a shocking turn shoot the man & explain coldly how they shared the same fantasy. Of course that would've definitely left us with less to think about after, which I think for horror anthology tales the ones that keep you thinking are always the scariest.

The Town Where No One Got Off

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 1 September 2011]

In this particular tale of Ray Bradbury Theater, his often harmonious view of the small rural town is abandoned as we follow city writer Jeff Goldblum when he accepts the challenge of a businessman on board a train to get off at the next stop to really get a reality check—that the often preconceived notion regarding a warm community who know each other's name, offer kindness and friendship, in this Mayberry fairy tale that is supposedly the antithesis of the rough city life is a façade. Goldblum will encounter the "cold shoulder", rudely ignored or greeted with a sense of hostility, considered an outsider with no business stopping off at this town. It isn't like Goldblum presents any sort of threat, but yet he represents something foreign to these people and is simply not wanted. Ed McNamara is this creepy old man who starts following Goldblum around, the two eventually chatting it up (although, Goldblum is rightfully weirded out by this haggard local denizen who seems to be up to something), the topic of conversation being obsessive rage and a longing to harm/kill, stemming from mistreatment over the years. Goldblum humors this odd duck, basically because McNamara is the only local willing to talk to him. There's an ulterior motive McNamara has, intentions for Goldblum since this outsider, no ties to the community, just a stranger who arrives for a visit to some place he has never been, fits a particular criteria the old man's been waiting for 20 years. There is a bench at the train station McNamara has been resting his ass for two decades, Goldblum getting off supposedly an answer to this sick, twisted dream. Goldblum will have to use his intuition to outwit an obviously troubled old-timer with serious anger issues. For some reason, despite the atmospheric, autumnal setting of this practical ghost town, and the presence of the always-great Goldblum (I give his character credit, he tolerates the rudeness and coldness of the certain locals he does meet, shrugging off their unnecessary behavior instead of reacting in kind), "The Town Where No One Got Off" never quite satisfies mainly because nothing much happens—there's a hell of a lot of Goldblum walking in this town, encountering less-than-hospitable citizens (shop owners who go out of their way to make him feel unwelcome), and a long scene where he and McNamara are talking as they tread the same ground previously covered by our lead character beforehand. While there is a threat to Goldblum's life, because the potential killer lacks a menacing presence (and informs Goldblum of what he plans to do in elaborate detail) and speaks too much of what he has fantasized about for such a long time, I never felt a sense of suspense. I still kind of liked seeing Goldblum in an unusual setting, even if his character isn't given much to do. I just think there is something missing, a real reason to recommend this to someone besides the positives I previously mentioned. I do think Goldblum fans will want to seek this out if just as a curio.

Best Yet of Bradbury Theater

[movies-109 · 8/10 · 24 May 2018]

I haven't been that big of a Ray Bradbury fan. He was a very prolific writer and I never tried to read it all but found a few stories memorable. I started watching this series on Prime when it turned up as a freebie. It wants to be Twilight Zone but lacks the punch line, it drags at times. This episode made me smile not only with the appearance of Ward Kimball and Bradbury at the beginning, but with the ending, which is quite clear to me. The old man's chair is empty and just for a second, you think Goldblum might have done away with him. But then he appears, to continue his waiting, as Goldblum watches from the window.

The train is actually a pair of Via Rail Canada RDCs. I don't know if the entire series was filmed in Canada but this one, and "Crowd" before it, which features a Canadian Pacific switch engine, certainly were.

This episode made me smile, and I'll watch it again. It is slow moving, but it's just weird enough to keep me interested and the stalemate ending is as good as any. One other reviewer mentioned two possible endings... but then you get the unexpected third option. Ok, this doesn't measure up to the classic small town story "Willoughby" from Twilight Zone. In fact, Goldblum probably is expecting Willoughby and gets something else instead.

Read The Story. It's Way Better.

[cutterccbaxter · 21 September 2022]

I think these stories in the RBT series would have worked better as period pieces. That is, the setting should have stuck to the era when Bradbury originally wrote them.

In reading his tales I always imagined a warped and twisted Norman Rockwell world - middle America in the mid century turned inside out. The "contemporary" 1980s thing just feels weird, and not in a good way. Trains are cool, but who was riding them in 1985? It made sense for the old guy to wait around in 1958 for someone to possibly get off since he had started waiting when trains were still a popular mode of transportation. In the setting of this story it seemed forced.

I also don't think screenwriting was RB's strong suit. This is an intriguing and disturbing short story but his adaptation to the screen falls flat.

The original short story has none of the small-town's aren't-friendly-to-outsiders cliché. That's just padding in this story. The town in the original story is mundane. It's the kind of town where nothing happens, which makes the conflict more powerful. The unfriendly nature of the town in this version is ultimately irrelevant to the story.

I think less dialogue would have been better. Let Jeff Goldblum (who does a great job, despite a weak script) get off the train and wander around without saying anything. Or at the very least have a little VO at the beginning of the story. The opening scene on the train is just plain clunky. In the original it was two salesman talking. Turning the protagonist into a "writer" struck me as self conscious. It was like Bradbury realized salesmen didn't travel by train by the 1980s, so the next best option was to make the hero a writer because writers do quirky activities like travel by train.

In the original story the protagonist is just as intent as the old man in committing murder. In this version it makes it seem like the Jeff Goldblum character was using his wits to avoid being a victim. The climax loses its dramatic punch.

The Perfect Crime

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 27 March 2009]

While traveling by train, the aspirant writer Cogswell (Jeff Goldblum) is challenged by a salesman to get off the train and settle in a small town to have a boring life. Cogswell asks the conductor to stop the train and arrives in a calm town. He wanders through the town and finds hostile dwellers; further, he notes that an old man is following him. The man tells Cogswell that he has been waiting for twenty years for a strange to commit the perfect crime. Cogswell replies that he has had the same feeling, reason why he got off in the town to kill a stranger.

I found this tale very disappointing. The situation of the hostility of the dwellers with the newcomer in town is easily understood, but the weird situation of the confrontation of the old man and Cogswell is silly. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "The Town Where No One Got Off"

The Train to Nowhere

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 23 March 2015]

This is quite an intriguing episode. I was once told that certain ticks can wait for four or five years, waiting to fall on a water buffalo or some other warm blooded creature. It they miss, it's back to the tree to die or wait some more. In this episode, Jeff Goldblum, an aspiring writer, is pressured by a man on the train to stop at the next town. Goldblum's view of rural life is that it is a bucolic, non-threatening piece of heaven. When he asks the conductor what the next town is, he replies "Erewhon." With all due respect to Samuel Butler (from which it was stolen), note that it is pretty much "Nowhere" spelled backward. When he gets off the train there isn't a soul in town that will give him the time of day. People are really nasty and indifferent. He does notice an old man, sleeping in front of the train station, who then seems to follow his every footstep. When they finally talk, he tells the Goldblum character that he has been waiting twenty years for someone to get off the train because he is full of hate and wants to kill someone. There are some interesting questions here. Try to imagine yourself in a similar situation.

"Son, there's no answers out there."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 7 December 2021]

I found this episode kind of fascinating, as Jeff Goldblum's character responds to a challenge offered by a fellow train passenger to test his idyllic assumptions about small town life. At first I was a little dismayed when the train conductor mentioned the name of the next stop as 'Erewhon', since I thought that was a bit too gimmicky. But then things got unusually weird and creepy as Cogswell (Glodblum) made his way through the town meeting rejection and outright antagonism along the way. It bothered me that Cogswell didn't make the first move to confront the old man (Ed McNamara) from the train station; that would have seemed the logical thing to do. However when the man who had been 'waiting for twenty years' for someone to show up, proceeded to delve into his fantasy about killing someone, I know my response would have been to get the heck out of there real quick. I did like the way Goldblum's character handled it though, remarking that he had the same feelings about committing homicide, while suggesting the appearance of a handgun in his pocket. The reverse psychology appeared to have worked, allowing Cogswell to take his departure from Erewhon, with a vey quick inkling that he might have done away with the old gent himself, until said gentleman returned to his regular haunt at the train station, perhaps to wait for another twenty years. Although considering his age, he might have been well past making his killing fantasy come true. For my part, I'll consider Cogswell's bluff with the gun to be just that; I don't think he had one. Nor did I ever hear Cogswell's name mentioned in the story. I only used it because that's his name in the credits.

Menacing Ed McNamara

[bigfootmurf-72304 · 6/10 · 20 August 2022]

Jeff Goldblum - looking very young - gets off the train after an argument with another passenger about what life is like in these little towns in the middle of nowhere. His idealistic vision is soon punctured as the locals are less than friendly, and one follows him. I thought the ending was a little unconvincing but not impossible. No fantasy element here, just straight psycho drama.

Cop-out ending

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 22 October 2014]

The setup is promising, if clichéd: big city man Jeff Goldblum (happy birthday, by the way; I had no idea it was today!) decides, on the spur of the moment, to get off his train and stay for a few days in a small, nice, quiet little town in the middle of nowhere. Small and quiet, yes; nice, not so much. The few remaining townspeople are unfriendly, to put it kindly, and a strange old man seems to follow Goldblum everywhere he goes....There are atmospheric moments, and things get quite unsettling near the end when the old man finally confronts Goldblum and explains to him what he wants....but just when the story seems to be leading to a good, dark twist, it cops out. The final feeling is one of disappointment. ** out of 4.

Odd strange episode that's hard to call.

[blanbrn · 5/10 · 30 August 2020]

This episode "The Town Where No One Got Off" from season one of "The Ray Bradbury Theater" is one that's strange and odd as it is really hard to call and get a take on. As you the viewer will ask what would you do in that kind of a situation. It stars Jeff Goldblum(before he became a big star) as Cogswell a train traveler who has interest in seeing a different land mostly the country and rural life where things are suppose to be peaceful. However when he gets off the train and tours the town and finds it to be different really a surprise, then an old man appears which is like somewhat of a wild card of the story. And things spin and take a twist. In my opinion not one of season one's better episodes still one that does spark interest still you the viewer have to form your own conclusion.

The Town Where No One Got Off

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 17 July 2022]

That is Ray Bradbury as the drama begins. Jeff Goldblum plays Cogswell who takes up a challenge to get off a train and wander around a small town to see what life is like away from the big cities.

This town does not take kindly to strangers and no one gets off the train.

As Cogswell brushes off the hostile locals, one old man follows him about. Eventually confronting Cogswell and telling him that he has waited for almost 20 years for a man like Cogswell to arrive.

Even though this is a short drama, there is a lot of Jeff Goldblum walking about and nothing much else going on.

The story only gathers steam at the end with Cogswell turning the tables on the old man.

Stranger in town

[AvionPrince16 · 5/10 · 4 February 2024]

So we basically follow a man who arrived in a weird town where no train passed by . But our main character get followed by an old men who want to murder him .

It was kind of weird and i didnt get into the story . I like the ambience and the music but the story is kind of meaningless and i didnt get interested by it . But it was great to follow despite that and still enjoyed that sci-fi part of the episode of the show.

So i didnt really fully understand and i think the episode try to get complex but it lead to more confusion than anything complex anyway . So yeah pretty disappointed and expected way more but its ok anyway.

A premise that is both absurd and original.

[fedor8 · 8 June 2022]

A very original premise that builds up the mystery rather nicely. The twist, if we can even call it that - or "Goldblum's solution" if you like - is somewhat far-fetched and unrealistic. The old man believes Goldblum's desperate ploy, which doesn't appear too realistic. But Bradbury is forgiven because it's such an original "twist".

The introductory scene is more problematic. Bradbury actually tries to sell us this notion that a stereotypical "do-gooder" American writer has a romanticized fondness for small-town America, that such a man idealizes such rural environments. To the contrary, American (left-wing) writers (and the vast majority are left-wing because hardly anybody dares employ right-wingers) rarely leave out an opportunity to portray non-urban American communities as corrupt, violent, racist, stupid, in-bred and primitive.

It's hence bizarre that Bradbury never noticed this. In the western neo-Marxist world the belief that anything rural represents moral/social decay is deeply ingrained, as is the romantization of urban life.

where have i seen this before?

[jthomp-91394 · 4/10 · 26 December 2021]

Ray should stick to sci-fi. Hitchcock does this stuff much better, ripped off pieces of strangers on a train, but humorless.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................