For me, this episode doesn't work. Pat Hingle's characterization is immediately over-the-top, annoying, even scary, instead of childlike and charming. His character should garner your sympathy, but instead, you wonder why his employer doesn't call security and have him escorted out of the building. Nan Martin is completely miscast as his wife -- their relationship is not believable at all. In fact, it's rather unbelievable that Horace would be able to find any wife, given his frightening behavior, let alone a wife that seems like a high-society gal rather than a homemaker. The mother is such a strange character as well -- I don't understand the point of even having her there. I guess this was supposed to be the dark side of "Kick the Can," and it could have worked... but it just doesn't.
The Twilight Zone (TV Series)
The Incredible World of Horace Ford (1963)
User Reviews
Review this title28 Reviews
The Twilight Zone: The Incredible World of Horace Ford
Scarecrow-882 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Overlong and poorly characterized (and, quite frankly, cast) episode seems more fitting as a back-end late season thirty minute exercise in futility. I like the general outline: a grown man has never escaped his childhood, forgetting the bad stuff and only remembering the good, with a TZ twist allowing him to see both. Pat Hingle was a strong actor but he just wears out his welcome as this temperamental brat in adult clothes. His disgruntled loudness towards his very polite, hospitable, and reasonable boss (Vaughn Taylor) doesn't help us relate to him or respond with an understanding of his frustration. Asked to redesign his robot toy design, Hingle's Horace instead yells at his boss! Then there's Nan Martin as his wife, a direct polar opposite of Horace. Sophisticated, mannered (unless talking to Horace's mom!), and just too classy for Horace, Nan's Laura seems more fitting for Horace's coworker (Philip Vine) than him! Anyway, the episode has Horace returning to his old street on Randolph reliving a childhood birthday memory soon to reveal a nasty bullying.
Repetitive scenes that reinforce the obvious, Hingle's shouting, and one hilarious scene after another of Nan pleading with Horace to communicate (she's more big sister than a realistic match as a wife), this episode might have worked better condensed. The dynamic of Horace, wife, and mom is amusing just in how they talk to each other. Nan running to her phone book when Horace heads back to his street had me cracking up...probably not the intention.
Repetitive scenes that reinforce the obvious, Hingle's shouting, and one hilarious scene after another of Nan pleading with Horace to communicate (she's more big sister than a realistic match as a wife), this episode might have worked better condensed. The dynamic of Horace, wife, and mom is amusing just in how they talk to each other. Nan running to her phone book when Horace heads back to his street had me cracking up...probably not the intention.
"I think I'm going back there right now".
classicsoncall6 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
With about equal parts 'Kick the Can' and 'Walking Distance', this episode of The Twilight Zone is another chapter in Rod Serling's nostalgic look back into the past. Usually it was done with a wistful fondness, but here, his main character Horace Ford (Pat Hingle) is left utterly disillusioned and emotionally broken at the finale. It didn't have to end on such a pessimistic note, as wife Laura offered an alternate way out - "We remember what was good, we black out what was bad". For the most part, I believe that to be true, however the emphasis on Horace's outcome here left an unsettling feeling with this viewer. It was directly the opposite stance taken by the protagonist in 'The Trouble With Templeton', who confronted his past realistically, and then made the choice to move ahead with renewed determination.
One of the cool things that caught my eye in this story was that old movie poster advertising "O'Shaughnessy's Boy", starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper, with an appearance by Spanky McFarland. I like the way Serling used those kinds of props, so I look for them whenever I'm watching a TZ episode. I also look for reminders of of my own childhood, as in the price tag of apples at nine cents for five pounds - there's a bargain! And how about 'Wienees' (really, that's how it was spelled here) at three cents each - wow! With the roll thrown in! On the flip side, Ford's salary at a hundred forty dollars a week seemed like a pretty nice piece of change for the early Sixties. My first minimum wage job just a few years later came at a dollar ten an hour if that helps putting things into perspective.
Sorry if I can't give this episode more than a passing recommendation. As I said earlier, it's just a lot more downbeat than it had to be and left old Horace more a victim than necessary. Not that every episode had to have a happy ending, but this just seemed like it was kicking a good man while he was down.
One of the cool things that caught my eye in this story was that old movie poster advertising "O'Shaughnessy's Boy", starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper, with an appearance by Spanky McFarland. I like the way Serling used those kinds of props, so I look for them whenever I'm watching a TZ episode. I also look for reminders of of my own childhood, as in the price tag of apples at nine cents for five pounds - there's a bargain! And how about 'Wienees' (really, that's how it was spelled here) at three cents each - wow! With the roll thrown in! On the flip side, Ford's salary at a hundred forty dollars a week seemed like a pretty nice piece of change for the early Sixties. My first minimum wage job just a few years later came at a dollar ten an hour if that helps putting things into perspective.
Sorry if I can't give this episode more than a passing recommendation. As I said earlier, it's just a lot more downbeat than it had to be and left old Horace more a victim than necessary. Not that every episode had to have a happy ending, but this just seemed like it was kicking a good man while he was down.
Hingle compelling, but "child-sized" plot fails to fill the hour
El Cine28 January 2011
Escaping to alternate worlds and/or one's childhood was a frequent theme on "The Twilight Zone" (TZ). TZ goes hopping and skipping again with "The Incredible World of Horace Ford." Unfortunately the results this time are unconvincing drama and a fantasy gimmick repeated to the point of tedium. You might think TZ was just running out of ideas, but surprisingly this was a Reginald "12 Angry Men" Rose story first televised eight years prior on the anthology "Studio One" (an old haunt of TZ's Rod Serling!). Art Carney starred as Horace, and Jason Robards was his co-worker Leonard O'Brien.
The redeeming factor of TZ's version is Pat Hingle in the title role. Horace Ford may strike some viewers as unrealistic; on the other hand, his odd, clashing traits are interesting to see, and Hingle certainly uses them to create a compelling TV character.
Horace is almost 38 but seems stuck in childhood. Immature in manner, he's also prone to gushing, endless reminiscences about the playground games and old neighborhood kids from long ago. However, this probably contributes to his success as a toy designer, valued by his company. (Amusingly, the story suggests his immaturity goes in hand with him just being a temperamental artiste. He resents the suggestion that he cancel the "light-up eyes" feature of the new robot he's designing, because light-up eyes are central to the toy's whole "meaning" or something!)
Also unexpected is that this childish man has a wife, although, in another infantile touch, the couple lives with his mother. Yet Horace is well aware that his work is what supports the whole household.
Serling's smug opening narration scores points against Horace for being too childish. It seems the fantasy plot that unfolds is meant to reform him in some way. In typical TZ fashion, Horace decides to revisit a childhood neighborhood, and his trip takes him further than expected.
But the resulting drama never comes together. It's uncertain what the episode wants Horace to do. Without spoiling anything, the denouement's conclusion goes too far in taking a proposal with a little psychological truth in it, and applying it sweepingly to a man's entire childhood. For this to work, Horace would have to be not merely eccentric, and immature, but deluded.
The drama is not well-done, and unfortunately neither is the episode is general.
When I complained about repeating the fantasy gimmick, I didn't mean merely that the episode is a rehash of other TZ trips to the past, though many viewers will likely conclude that. Rather, the episode repeats its big long trip two more times with almost no change. We are forced to sit through the same mundane collisions with pedestrians, the same mother screaming the same words out a window, etc. I think they literally reused the same footage. Picture "Groundhog Day" without the comedy or variations. This is just tedious TV.
Also a problem is the ambiguous character of Laura, Horace's wife. Like everyone else, she doubts his story of what happened on his return to the old hood. But then the episode makes a big to-do (again, done three times) about one of the hood kids showing up at her door in his outdated clothes, and returning the watch Horace keeps dropping. Yet nothing comes of this. It doesn't change Laura's disbelief at all, and in fact doesn't move the story forward.
It's surely a burden for a young wife to have to live with her mother-in-law, and do so in an apartment. But that's not enough to explain Laura's cruelty to the woman. At inappropriate times, and after the most minor offenses, she's always telling Mother Ford to be quiet and leave the couple alone. The worst is when the prospect arises of unemployment for Horace. Mother gives a long, impassioned speech about how unfair that would be for the talented Horace, and how worried she is about how the household would survive. All true. Laura's response?
"Shut up!"
Just bizarre.
Mother's speech makes sense, and is well acted, but this too is unnecessary to the story. It's pure filler. With stuff like this, and the tedious repetition, I guess they just didn't have enough material to fill an hour.
We are left with Hingle as what makes this worth watching. He's dynamite as the energetic, moody, sometimes exasperating Horace. Modern viewers who know him mainly from his minor role as Commissioner Gordon will be surprised at his strong acting.
You might just want to fast forward through most everything else, though.
The redeeming factor of TZ's version is Pat Hingle in the title role. Horace Ford may strike some viewers as unrealistic; on the other hand, his odd, clashing traits are interesting to see, and Hingle certainly uses them to create a compelling TV character.
Horace is almost 38 but seems stuck in childhood. Immature in manner, he's also prone to gushing, endless reminiscences about the playground games and old neighborhood kids from long ago. However, this probably contributes to his success as a toy designer, valued by his company. (Amusingly, the story suggests his immaturity goes in hand with him just being a temperamental artiste. He resents the suggestion that he cancel the "light-up eyes" feature of the new robot he's designing, because light-up eyes are central to the toy's whole "meaning" or something!)
Also unexpected is that this childish man has a wife, although, in another infantile touch, the couple lives with his mother. Yet Horace is well aware that his work is what supports the whole household.
Serling's smug opening narration scores points against Horace for being too childish. It seems the fantasy plot that unfolds is meant to reform him in some way. In typical TZ fashion, Horace decides to revisit a childhood neighborhood, and his trip takes him further than expected.
But the resulting drama never comes together. It's uncertain what the episode wants Horace to do. Without spoiling anything, the denouement's conclusion goes too far in taking a proposal with a little psychological truth in it, and applying it sweepingly to a man's entire childhood. For this to work, Horace would have to be not merely eccentric, and immature, but deluded.
The drama is not well-done, and unfortunately neither is the episode is general.
When I complained about repeating the fantasy gimmick, I didn't mean merely that the episode is a rehash of other TZ trips to the past, though many viewers will likely conclude that. Rather, the episode repeats its big long trip two more times with almost no change. We are forced to sit through the same mundane collisions with pedestrians, the same mother screaming the same words out a window, etc. I think they literally reused the same footage. Picture "Groundhog Day" without the comedy or variations. This is just tedious TV.
Also a problem is the ambiguous character of Laura, Horace's wife. Like everyone else, she doubts his story of what happened on his return to the old hood. But then the episode makes a big to-do (again, done three times) about one of the hood kids showing up at her door in his outdated clothes, and returning the watch Horace keeps dropping. Yet nothing comes of this. It doesn't change Laura's disbelief at all, and in fact doesn't move the story forward.
It's surely a burden for a young wife to have to live with her mother-in-law, and do so in an apartment. But that's not enough to explain Laura's cruelty to the woman. At inappropriate times, and after the most minor offenses, she's always telling Mother Ford to be quiet and leave the couple alone. The worst is when the prospect arises of unemployment for Horace. Mother gives a long, impassioned speech about how unfair that would be for the talented Horace, and how worried she is about how the household would survive. All true. Laura's response?
"Shut up!"
Just bizarre.
Mother's speech makes sense, and is well acted, but this too is unnecessary to the story. It's pure filler. With stuff like this, and the tedious repetition, I guess they just didn't have enough material to fill an hour.
We are left with Hingle as what makes this worth watching. He's dynamite as the energetic, moody, sometimes exasperating Horace. Modern viewers who know him mainly from his minor role as Commissioner Gordon will be surprised at his strong acting.
You might just want to fast forward through most everything else, though.
Flimsy story even having a promising premise!!
elo-equipamentos22 October 2023
Since The Twilight Zone became a full length fifty minutes long this certainly it was one the most slow paced story ever, even starting with a fair premise, Horace (Pat Hingle) shooting his friend Leonard (Philip Pine) at office with a notable sense of black humor from a man who didn't grow up yet, often remembering of his golden age at Randolph street when he was a ten years old, his most happiest time ever as he hardly implied by all ears, meanwhile his creative genius as toy's designer is about to be pruned due the highest coast of manufacturing becoming it almost too much expensive to be a fair return on sales.
His co-work pal Leonard advises him over make a simplify toy as suggested by his boss Mr. Judson (Vince Vaughn), in the meantime his wife Laura (Nan Martin) prepares to Horace a surprise birthday party to next weekend, nonetheless the upset man wonder see again his old neighborhood at Randolf street struck in a past scene, over and over again whenever he goes there, always dropping his watch at the sidewalk, thus every single night a little boy brings back his watch puzzling his wife, Horace stayed a loath man ever since, backing at Randoph street to find an answer to this odd event.
A pointless presentation saved by a convincing performance of Pat Hingle as good nature Horace, also the little boy whom he lives on the past there, the teethless boy steals the show often he appears on the episode, including the final scene.
Thanks for reading
Resume:
First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.
His co-work pal Leonard advises him over make a simplify toy as suggested by his boss Mr. Judson (Vince Vaughn), in the meantime his wife Laura (Nan Martin) prepares to Horace a surprise birthday party to next weekend, nonetheless the upset man wonder see again his old neighborhood at Randolf street struck in a past scene, over and over again whenever he goes there, always dropping his watch at the sidewalk, thus every single night a little boy brings back his watch puzzling his wife, Horace stayed a loath man ever since, backing at Randoph street to find an answer to this odd event.
A pointless presentation saved by a convincing performance of Pat Hingle as good nature Horace, also the little boy whom he lives on the past there, the teethless boy steals the show often he appears on the episode, including the final scene.
Thanks for reading
Resume:
First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.
Way Too Manic for My Tastes
Hitchcoc19 April 2014
While one can't fault an actor for a script that is sometime incomprehensible, Pat Hingle's Horace Ford is about as unlikeable as a character can get. I'm not sure if we are supposed to sympathize with his demons or see him as a silly child of a man. I would have been interested in seeing how the writers would have explained how he ever got married (and to a pretty attractive woman, for that matter). He is whiny and self centered, living in the past. His boss should be considered a saint for putting up with him. I suppose he could be called an eccentric genius, but he never really accomplishes much. He drops into long, insufferable trips down memory lane. He and his wife also live with his mother in a terribly unhealthy circumstance. She treats him like a little boy but depends on his fairly healthy income. He has responsibilities but can't abide even a bit of criticism. He longs to be back on the street where he grew up (which is apparently within walking distance of his home). One day he finds himself back many years, facing the kids with whom he grew up. They are snotty nosed, toothless bullies who steal from people and harass shopkeepers and bystanders. He seems unable to connect with them and ends up back at the apartment to the relief of his loved ones. Something about his life is being tested but we don't know what it is. The problem is that one gets the jitters just watching his erratic, chaotic behavior. The conclusion is also quite hard to comprehend.
Great drama, good psychological portrait
griggsda8 June 2017
I am surprised at how few positive reviews this teleplay gets. I consider this program one of television's finest hours. It seems that many viewers lack sympathy for the main character, Horace M. Ford. I see him as a man with a troubled childhood who has spent most of his life in denial about his psychological baggage. His unwillingness to face reality has caught up with him and he is having what they called in the 1960s a nervous breakdown. So, of course his behavior is childish, he is having a nervous breakdown. I assume that for most of his adult life he was able to act more like an adult, but at the age of 38 the wounded child within finally demanded attention. In a 'magical realism' sort of way, the resolution is convincing and satisfying. The acting, casting, and set designs are first rate. "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" is a meaningful psychological drama.
A character so well played we despise him
glennsmithk5 November 2019
Lot's of negative reactions to the protagonist in this episode. Why is that? Maybe because the writing brings that protagonist to life? I don't care for manic, whiny, or chattering characters. However, I know a good performance when I see it, and this episode has that. Serling created an awesome character. Pat Hingle's performance is stellar. That's why our emotions, be it sympathy or some other, are aroused by this character. The plot is not much, and the second twist is a bit odd. It's also too long for the one hour format of Season 4. Still, it's not terrible, just a little annoying for some of us.
It doesn't pay to try to forget things.
jsh-2371913 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I don't get why so many hate this TZ episode so much. Horace does get on my nerves but I can understand what's going on with him. He has pushed a terrible childhood memory down by making up a happy childhood. It finally has to come out. He was childish but it got worse as his birthday got closer. When he went to Randolph St. The first time, he was shocked to see the boys he knew as a child. On the second night he was beginning to remember that he was involved in what the boys were talking about but he couldn't remember how. On the third trip, it all came back. It leaves you hoping that his behavior got a lot better as he faced up to the truth. Of course, it is the TZ so there is him becoming a little boy again and Herme bringing the watch home. There are loose ends that don't get tied up. And you would think his mom would have remembered Horace coming home all beat up but, oh well. I enjoy this episode maybe because many of us bury bad childhood memories but thankfully they don't affect us like they did Horace. Oh, and the little delinquents he thought so much of were probably all in prison at his age.
Subject to the Worst Foibles of the One Hour Twilight Zones
William_E_Hunter2 July 2018
Pat Hingle is a lot of fun to watch as he exuberantly chews scenery, but the entire episode exhibits the worst faults of the extended 4th season episodes. His visits to his boyhood street are repeated and repeated, all coming to naught. And the final resolution brings us right back around to the beginning with no lasting impact. Avoid this episode when you review the series.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
darrenpearce1111 December 2013
TZ should have left back-to-childhood well enough alone by the fourth series. Unfortunately, as Serling stated, he wanted to go back to his youth, so far too many stories follow this path, even those by other writers (Reginald Rose, author of the excellent '12 Angry Men' in this case, and yet this is rubbish). I'm no fan of Walking Distance, Kick The Can, or Young Man's Fancy either. There's never a logical message to spring from these stories like giving your own children the most fun possible as you cant go back (though that comes up in the excellent In Praise of Pip).
Wishing to go back to a young adult state occurs in 'Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville', 'The Trade-Ins', 'Static','A Short Drink From A Certain Fountain', and 'The Trouble With Templeton'.
Horace Ford's immature little world is a padded and dull place inhabited by an irritating character. All too often in TZ the incorrigible protagonists with personalities to make you cross the road are too annoying to watch acted. The only actors ever to play a maddening lead without being maddening were Burgess Meredith as 'Mr Dingle' and Barry Morse in 'A Piano In The House' (I count Andy Devine's Frisby as a likable man, though full of bovine excrement).
This entry is almost devoid of any meaning. The little there is being spoken by Laura (Nan Martin) late on. Early on, the sensible colleague Leonard (Phillip Pine), gives a contrasting point of view to Horace's, saying in his case he just 'waited to grow up'.
Nostalgia within TZ doesn't make for nostalgia for me.
Wishing to go back to a young adult state occurs in 'Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville', 'The Trade-Ins', 'Static','A Short Drink From A Certain Fountain', and 'The Trouble With Templeton'.
Horace Ford's immature little world is a padded and dull place inhabited by an irritating character. All too often in TZ the incorrigible protagonists with personalities to make you cross the road are too annoying to watch acted. The only actors ever to play a maddening lead without being maddening were Burgess Meredith as 'Mr Dingle' and Barry Morse in 'A Piano In The House' (I count Andy Devine's Frisby as a likable man, though full of bovine excrement).
This entry is almost devoid of any meaning. The little there is being spoken by Laura (Nan Martin) late on. Early on, the sensible colleague Leonard (Phillip Pine), gives a contrasting point of view to Horace's, saying in his case he just 'waited to grow up'.
Nostalgia within TZ doesn't make for nostalgia for me.
Not A Fantasy... If Your I.Q. Is Above Average
floridacalisurferboy26 July 2021
Ignore ALL the previous reviews that have tried to like this Twilight Zone as a standard sci fi episode... It is not! Actually it is a sad realistic story of a man with too much responsibility and pressure slowing having a full nervous breakdown... THIS IS WHAT A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN would look like and feel like... Not only for the person having one, but for all the loved ones around watching it happen one step at a time. The "Twilight Zone Stuff" is just a surface mask to lighten the seriousness of the story and make it more endurance... It was never written as an episode of Twilight Zone... It was a full play written by the author for a tv drama in the 1950's... Watch This and pretend you aren't watching it on Twilight Zone and just see it for what it really is... The slow melting of a man's mind.
Man-Child
AaronCapenBanner4 November 2014
Pat Hingle stars as Horace Ford, a toy designer who is really just a boy in a mans body, as he frequently talks in an over-excited manner about how great his childhood was, where all he did was play fun games with no responsibilities. This greatly troubles his wife and mother(who still lives with them) so they plan a surprise birthday party for him, but he instead takes a nostalgic trip down his childhood street, but is stunned to see it unchanged, and becomes fascinated then alarmed by a group of boys who plot about getting back at a kid who didn't invite them to his birthday party... Hingle portrays a most overbearing title character who is far from incredible, thus making this obvious parable an acquired taste.
Living in the past becomes reality, yet old times not as good as remembered!
blanbrn7 September 2020
This "Twilight Zone" episode from season 4(the extended year) called "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" was one that was interesting and sentimental as it twist with a theme of the past. Horace Ford(late good character actor Pat Hingle("Batman" and "Batman Returns") is a likeable and young married man who's a toy designer only he spends much of his day on shift arguing with his tough demanding boss and laughing and making jokes and trying new far out designs on toys. Plus he loves to talk about and think about his past it's like he loved the good old glory days. Only in an odd and strange way when he visits his old streets and stomping grounds it's shown and revealed his childhood was not as good as he thought. The episode displays his discomfort and blocked out memories well, it's message is that it's important for one to come to reality and truth as finally they can be at ease and live in the present day. Overall well done episode a sentimental feel of memory lane showing how the past does effect one and can be relevant and the work of Pat was a pleasure to watch.
Annoying
kellielulu3 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Horace Ford may win the most annoying Twilight Zone character award. Not the worst in terms of being a bad person just an unbelievably irritating one . I am giving it two stars because the episode doesn't disgust me in any way but it's hard to watch. Too much padding to work in the hour format. I am not really against the hour format there are several I like a few amongst my favorites but it doesn't work here .
The Twilight Zone Companion gives this episode an unbelievable amount of praise which occasionally happened. Some episodes were overrated in that book while others were underrated.
I agree the episode would have been better in the half hour format but it also needed better writing and Horace, his wife and mother needed different casting.
The Twilight Zone Companion gives this episode an unbelievable amount of praise which occasionally happened. Some episodes were overrated in that book while others were underrated.
I agree the episode would have been better in the half hour format but it also needed better writing and Horace, his wife and mother needed different casting.
Can anyone be THIS annoying in real life?! I'd rather gargle glass than see this one again!!
planktonrules3 June 2010
Pat Hingle plays a guy who might just be the worst written and acted character in the entire "Twilight Zone" series. The problem is that the guy is simply unbelievable in every way. No person outside of a mental hospital or prison acts this way!! Hingle plays a toy designer who shows all the maturity of a five year-old--a very, very annoying an immature five year-old! All he can do is play and act like an arrested adolescent--to such a degree that you wonder who would hire this guy?! He's THAT annoying and ridiculous! And all he seems to do, aside from work on toys and act childish, is to talk about how great life was when he was a kid. Naturally, you can assume that this will be the point of this particular show--how life WASN'T that great back in the 'good old days'. Personally, I would have just rather they shot Hingle's character in the face to shut him up--now THAT'S a twist I'd love to have seen! Overall, because the acting and characterization were so broad that it's a huge chore to watch this particular show--it's awful and annoying. And, as an hour-long episode it's practically TV-smashing or suicide-inducing!!
By the way, as you watch this show and see how Hingle over-identifies with kids, doesn't this give you the creeps?! People like him sure seem like they might REEEALLY like kids...if you know what I mean! Also by the way, did you notice that Hermie is NOT missing a tooth and it's clearly been blacked out with putty? Well, on a 58" screen it was pretty obvious!
By the way, as you watch this show and see how Hingle over-identifies with kids, doesn't this give you the creeps?! People like him sure seem like they might REEEALLY like kids...if you know what I mean! Also by the way, did you notice that Hermie is NOT missing a tooth and it's clearly been blacked out with putty? Well, on a 58" screen it was pretty obvious!
Why a low rating for such a gem?
AnonymousBarber30 March 2024
I simply don't understand why people rate this episode so low, ok I am will to admit that Horace's character is annoying but that is the whole point. He obviously wasn't like this previously as we are told he has been working for the company for fifteen years and also he has a strong marriage with quite a company of friends who want to celebrate his birthday with him. Why is he so irritating now? The guy is in the final throes of a mental breakdown due to his repressed memories. Obviously unaware of his degenerating mental state he shows flashes of the kind , considerate, nice he is and it is these flashes which give the clues as to how he got a great job, wife and friends. The performances by the five main actors are great, the compassionate friend and their boss, Horace's devoted wife and his mother, who shows her mental fragility. All that said it would be nothing without a tour-de-force performance by Pat Hingle as Horace.
Some people say the scenes where he returns to the street are too many and that nothing happens differently but it does go subtly further each time, slowly marking his descent into the blackest depths of his illness. There really isn't a lot of actual action it is all very subtle, but beautifully paced.
This should be listed along with To Serve Man or Eye Of The Beholder, hopefully people will eventually see it for what it is and upgrade their ratings. I gave it 9/10 so why not 10/10 ? Well, nothing is perfect but this is close.
Some people say the scenes where he returns to the street are too many and that nothing happens differently but it does go subtly further each time, slowly marking his descent into the blackest depths of his illness. There really isn't a lot of actual action it is all very subtle, but beautifully paced.
This should be listed along with To Serve Man or Eye Of The Beholder, hopefully people will eventually see it for what it is and upgrade their ratings. I gave it 9/10 so why not 10/10 ? Well, nothing is perfect but this is close.
You can tell that Serling didn't write this
mrartiste31 August 2020
I was curious to see how this hour-long Twilight Zone would compare with the previous half hour shows. Sadly, it didn't hold up at all. I don't know if it suffered more from not being written by Rod Serling or just the expanded timeline, but everything about it seemed to suffer in this longer format.
Watching it felt more like an exercise in endurance than entertainment.
Watching it felt more like an exercise in endurance than entertainment.
Possibly THE WORST episode of the series
erickmclark29 July 2020
We all have an annoying Horace Ford in our lives
Coventry9 February 2022
This certainly isn't a good episode "Twilight Zone" episode, but neither is it a hopelessly bad one. It's mainly a very frustrating and upsetting installment, and this entirely due to the unbelievably irritating persona of lead character Horace Ford. But do you know what is worst? His character is recognizable. Don't we ALL have a type of Horace Ford in our circle of friends and acquaintances? Hopefully not as extreme as this guy, but there's always someone - usually at parties - who keeps bringing up memories from childhood, dreamily wishing he/she could rejuvenate, and stating everything was better in the old days. Annoying for everyone, especially for the partners because they weren't there, because they always repeat the same 3 or 4 stories and they don't allow you to change the subject. Well? Don't you know someone like that? I know I do...
What makes Horace Ford even more loathsome, apart from his non-stop whining and egocentrism, is that he's surrounded by likeable, caring and unrealistically understanding people who would have every right to ditch him. Horace's boss at the toy-designing company is patient and concerned about his mental health, which is quite unique for a 60s working environment. His friend/colleague does not try to steal Horace's wife, even though he easily could if he wanted to. Probably, that's what I would do. And his wife Laura, well, she truly deserves a gold medal. For starters, because she does not only live together with a nagging child in the body of a 38-year-old geek, but also with an intrusive and hysterical mother-in-law! And, even more admirably, she keeps tolerating his self-centered escapes into the past.
I stated at the beginning of the review that "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" isn't a bad episode, and I do want to stick to that. Given the time of release (especially since the original script dates back to the 50s), the story is very progressive and ahead of its time in the domain of psycho-social analysis. Horace's boss mentions he's heading straight towards a mental breakdown and offers help, which is phenomenal for a 60+ year old TV story. The script, and particularly the climax, also gives some very accurate insights in the functioning of the human mind and memories, namely that we block out the bad things from the past and focus on the good stuff. It's really a lot more intelligent than it seems, but nearly all you can focus on is how irritating Horace Ford is.
What makes Horace Ford even more loathsome, apart from his non-stop whining and egocentrism, is that he's surrounded by likeable, caring and unrealistically understanding people who would have every right to ditch him. Horace's boss at the toy-designing company is patient and concerned about his mental health, which is quite unique for a 60s working environment. His friend/colleague does not try to steal Horace's wife, even though he easily could if he wanted to. Probably, that's what I would do. And his wife Laura, well, she truly deserves a gold medal. For starters, because she does not only live together with a nagging child in the body of a 38-year-old geek, but also with an intrusive and hysterical mother-in-law! And, even more admirably, she keeps tolerating his self-centered escapes into the past.
I stated at the beginning of the review that "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" isn't a bad episode, and I do want to stick to that. Given the time of release (especially since the original script dates back to the 50s), the story is very progressive and ahead of its time in the domain of psycho-social analysis. Horace's boss mentions he's heading straight towards a mental breakdown and offers help, which is phenomenal for a 60+ year old TV story. The script, and particularly the climax, also gives some very accurate insights in the functioning of the human mind and memories, namely that we block out the bad things from the past and focus on the good stuff. It's really a lot more intelligent than it seems, but nearly all you can focus on is how irritating Horace Ford is.
Annoying!
mszouave17 October 2021
This is certainly the hardest episode of TZ to get though. The story would have been better as a half hour episode with a different actor as Horace Ford. Pat Hingle is not one of my favorite character actors and in this he is so annoying it is hard to stand. Acting like a bratty 5 year old is not the way to portray a man coming apart, if that is what was actually supposed to be happening. The episode is so poorly written that it is hard to tell. Hingle's Horace Ford is so obnoxious, it is hard to believe that he has a job, friends and a wife that puts up with that behavior. It is not at all apparent that he just started acting that way. It seems like he was always that way just not as preoccupied as he was at the time.
It all adds up to a very long hour.
It all adds up to a very long hour.
Easily the worst episode of a great series
mourya-b24 January 2019
Horrible Horace.
BA_Harrison11 April 2022
Toy designer Horace Ford (Pat Hingle) is probably the most annoying character to have ever entered The Twilight Zone: he's petulant, childish, loud, and thoroughly obnoxious. Spending the best part of an hour in his company is sheer torture.
Rod Serling was clearly running out of ideas by this point: The Incredible World of Horace Ford is yet another tale in which someone yearns to return to the halcyon days of their youth and unexpectedly gets their wish. When Horace decides to pay a visit to the street he grew up on, he finds himself thrust back in time and encounters the children he grew up with. Returning home, he tries explaining what has happened to his wife Laura (Nan Martin), but she finds his story hard to believe (I find it hard to believe that Horace actually has a wife).
This being an hour long episode that requires some padding, Horace returns to the street two more times only for the exact same things to happen to him each time. On his final visit, he gets a painful reminder that perhaps his childhood wasn't the idyllic time that he thought it was. Laura, who for some reason hasn't yet filed for divorce, takes him back home where his grown-up friends are waiting to celebrate his birthday. He has friends as well as a wife? Talk about far-fetched...
Hingle's grating performance as insufferable dolt Ford qualifies this episode as one of the worst from all five seasons. 1/10.
Rod Serling was clearly running out of ideas by this point: The Incredible World of Horace Ford is yet another tale in which someone yearns to return to the halcyon days of their youth and unexpectedly gets their wish. When Horace decides to pay a visit to the street he grew up on, he finds himself thrust back in time and encounters the children he grew up with. Returning home, he tries explaining what has happened to his wife Laura (Nan Martin), but she finds his story hard to believe (I find it hard to believe that Horace actually has a wife).
This being an hour long episode that requires some padding, Horace returns to the street two more times only for the exact same things to happen to him each time. On his final visit, he gets a painful reminder that perhaps his childhood wasn't the idyllic time that he thought it was. Laura, who for some reason hasn't yet filed for divorce, takes him back home where his grown-up friends are waiting to celebrate his birthday. He has friends as well as a wife? Talk about far-fetched...
Hingle's grating performance as insufferable dolt Ford qualifies this episode as one of the worst from all five seasons. 1/10.
Aaarrgh! Bad, bad, unforgivably bad!
DoctorOod19 July 2021
This episode exposes the weaknesses inherent in forcing a one-hour format onto a successful half-hour show. It's overlong and obviously padded with pointless scenes and occasionally laughable dialogue, this one has the special added detraction of a shrill, one-dimensional performance by the miscast Pat Hinkle. He is absolutely intolerable as the bipolar self-absorbed lout who can't think of anything or anyone else but himself and his lost childhood. The repeated family bickering and shouting fail to develop character and only add to the irritation factor. Like most of these hour-long TZ's, you can figure out the ending about 15 minutes in. The concept and writing on this one is thin at best.
Interesting but fatally flawed.
rms125a9 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is quite interesting but is so flawed that it makes little sense and was a waste of talent and effort. The story pretty much, as others have noted, makes a 360 (rather than 180) degree revolution.
Pat Hingle's "Horace Ford" -- who looks like Drew Carey (more on that later), sounds like Jerry Van Dyke, and acts like Chris Farley -- is believable as a guy who makes toys but not remotely convincing as the kind of man who could be married to the statuesque, buxom, and drop-dead gorgeous wife Laura (played by Nan Martin) and their scenes as husband and wife are more like that of a distracted mother with a very troubled son. Hingle does, however, look a lot like Ruth White, the acclaimed actress of stage and film who delicately plays his nervous and increasingly confused mother who has a somewhat tense relationship with her daughter-in-law.
As mentioned earlier, Hingle bears a startling resemblance here to Drew Carey. Many decades later, Nan Martin (who played Laura), played Carey's boss and sometime foil, the devious and manipulative Mrs. Louder on The Drew Carey Show (1995). Sadly, Martin (suffering from emphysema and many decades older) bore no resemblance to her younger self.
Pat Hingle's "Horace Ford" -- who looks like Drew Carey (more on that later), sounds like Jerry Van Dyke, and acts like Chris Farley -- is believable as a guy who makes toys but not remotely convincing as the kind of man who could be married to the statuesque, buxom, and drop-dead gorgeous wife Laura (played by Nan Martin) and their scenes as husband and wife are more like that of a distracted mother with a very troubled son. Hingle does, however, look a lot like Ruth White, the acclaimed actress of stage and film who delicately plays his nervous and increasingly confused mother who has a somewhat tense relationship with her daughter-in-law.
As mentioned earlier, Hingle bears a startling resemblance here to Drew Carey. Many decades later, Nan Martin (who played Laura), played Carey's boss and sometime foil, the devious and manipulative Mrs. Louder on The Drew Carey Show (1995). Sadly, Martin (suffering from emphysema and many decades older) bore no resemblance to her younger self.
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