“An old man and a hound-dog named Rip, off for an evening’s pleasure in quest of raccoon. Usually, these evenings end with one tired old man, one battle-scarred hound dog, and one or more extremely dead raccoons, but as you may suspect, that will not be the case tonight. These hunters won’t be coming home from the hill. They’re headed for the backwoods—of The Twilight Zone.”
Such is Rod Serling’s opening narration for the Twilight Zone episode: The Hunt.
By the third season of The Twilight Zone, which aired from 1961 to 1962, the show was doing rather well. Still, Serling was getting tired, after two seasons during which he contributed somewhere around 73% of the scripts being made. By the time season three came around, he was contributing around 56%. This was the last season that Serling would be a very active executive on the show.
Still, the show was doing very well. In its third season, it received its third consecutive Hugo Award for ‘Best Dramatic Presentation’, and for good reason. Many of the show’s most memorable and iconic episodes came from this season.
Such as The Hunt, written by Earl Hamner, Jr. and directed by Harold Schuster. Airing on January 26th of 1961, The Hunt was loosely based on an episode of The Kate Smith Hour, titled ‘The Hound of Heaven’, written by Hammer himself.
The episode goes as follows (Spoilers below!):
The story opens on an old man by the name of Hyder Simpson. He lives with his wife, Rachel, and his hound dog, Rip, in a cabin in the backwoods. Rachel isn’t terribly fond of allowing Rip in the house, but Hyder insists on it.
Why?
Because Rip once saved Hyder’s life. Ever since, Hyder has refused to part with him. As an avid dog-lover myself, I sympathize.
After some affectionate banter, Hyder announces that he intends to go raccoon hunting that night with Rip. Rachel, however, warns him, explaining that she’s seen some bad omens recently that ought to prevent him from going.
Undeterred, Hyder goes anyway.
After catching the trail of a racoon, Rip chases the animal into a pond, where he flounders. Determined to save his dog, Hyder jumps in after him.
A moment later, the racoon emerges, but no sign of Hyder or Rip.
The following morning, Hyder and Rip wake up alongside the pond. Sure that Rachel will be upset at him for staying out all night, Hyder makes for home, with Rip alongside. As they travel, though, Hyder notices something odd:
Men are trespassing on his property, men who can neither see nor hear him, digging a small grave for a beloved dog.
Certain that the men are blinded and deafened by grief, Hyder understands, offers his sympathies, and continues on home.
Much like in the case of Carnival of Souls, (a film previously analyzed on this very blog!) at this point in the story, a savvy audience is already several steps ahead of Hyder. We realize, almost immediately, that he, and Rip, are dead, drowned together in the pond.
But the point of this story, unlike Carnival of Souls, is not in the horror or surprise of the situation.
As a matter of fact, at this point, the impression is that the writer knows the audience knows. This is not meant to be a twist. This is a journey. The audience is not waiting to find out what happened, they are aware of it, and are now waiting for Hyder to realize the sad truth.
Hyder arrives at his house and enters, where he finds his wife, Rachel, wearing black and looking upset. Also in the house is the preacher, who is comforting the widow. Unsurprisingly, these two also cannot see or hear Hyder.
Hyder follows Rachel, the preacher, and the men assigned to bury the coffin of what the audience knows is Hyder. As Hyder and his dog follow the small funeral procession, they are stopped by what appears to be a strange fence. Halted in their progress, the pair turn to the road, following the fence.
While walking along the path, they come to a gate, guarded by a man who explains to Hyder that he is walking ‘Eternity Road’ and explains to him that he is dead. The gate, the man says, leads to the Elysian Fields.
Ready to go, Hyder begins to accept, until he is told that Rip, who doesn’t seem terribly fond of the gate-keeper, cannot go in with him. The man explains that Rip will have to enter a different afterlife, one that only dogs can enter.
Upon hearing this, Hyder declines the offer of eternal paradise, doubly offended when he hears that there are no raccoon hunts in paradise. He firmly says that he and Rip will continue walking along the Eternity Road, as he cannot imagine being happy in an eternity without dogs.
“Any place that’s too high-falutin’ for Rip is too fancy for me.”
As they travel on, eventually, Hyder and Rip stop to rest. As they do, they are approached by a young man, who explains that he is an angel, who is supposed to take them to heaven. Confused, Hyder asks about his previous experience.
As it turns out, the first gate was the entrance to hell. Rip was not permitted to enter there, the angel explains, because the dog would have smelled the brimstone and warned his master not to go.
(Also presumably because All Dogs Go to Heaven.)
“You see, Mr. Simpson, a man, well, he’ll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can’t fool a dog!”
The angel leads Hyder and Rip along the road towards heaven, telling Hyder that a raccoon hunt is scheduled for that night, assuring Hyder that his wife, Rachel, will be along soon, and that she would also not be fooled into entering hell.
And so, Rod Serling closes:
“Travelers to unknown regions would be well advised to take along the family dog. He could just save you from entering the wrong gate. At least, it happened that way once—in a mountainous area of the Twilight Zone.”
The Hunt stands apart from many of the memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone. There is no horror here, no science-fiction element. The surprise twist isn’t so terribly shocking. This isn’t a scary episode by any stretch of the imagination; it is a fable, a bittersweet, sentimental, old-fashioned story about an old-fashioned man.
The episode feels very comfortable, almost comforting, which is rather odd considering its subject. While it’s grasp on accurate depictions of heaven and hell is a bit theologically lacking, the idea is an interesting and simple one.
The Hunt feels almost nostalgic, a charming folk tale type story about a man and his beloved dog. It works, not with complex themes or characters, but instead with very simple ones. The dialogue is perhaps overly open and honest, and a bit on the nose, but again, for a story that feels like a fable, it somehow sounds a little more natural than it would otherwise.
There are no ‘special effects’, no costumes or otherworldly sets in The Hunt. Rather, it is a small, rural story, with an odd, hazy warmth and sobriety hanging over the entire runtime. It is this casual sense of almost drowsiness that saves the episode from its rather slow pace. It’s an oddly heartwarming piece, especially considering its subject matter. The performances, although possibly coming across as a bit stilted and the characters a bit slow (it does seem to take Hyder a long time to figure out that he’s dead) work as long as one keeps that awareness of the ‘fable’ style of the entire episode.
Overall, it’s a solid installment, if nothing terribly spectacular (unless you are a dog person, which I am). While not possessing any of the thrills and chills that made The Twilight Zone a huge hit, it does possess an odd rustic charm in its ambling story.
Still, it does entertain, make you think, and keep you at least somewhat invested, which is the purpose of good television. A slow, relaxing paced folk tale, The Hunt represents The Twilight Zone in its quieter moments, and remains a well-liked, well-remembered episode because of it.
Don’t forget that the ask box is always open for anything from suggestions and discussion ideas to questions and conversations! Thank you guys so much for reading, and I hope to see you guys in the next article.
Twentieth Century Fun With Film 