Al Denton, who would probably give an arm or a leg or a part of his soul to have another chance, to be able to rise up and shake the dirt from his body and the bad dreams that infest his consciousness.
[The camera pans up to a figure standing before a stagecoach] In the parlance of the times, this is a peddler, a rather fanciful-looking little man in a black frock coat.
The still-weary and not-so-sure-handed Denton practices in the desert for his suicidal duel, but he misses his targets miserably and concludes that he must skip town.
Thank you and good night.In his 1959 promotional film shown to potential sponsors, Rod Serling summarized an earlier version of this episode's plot under its original title, "Death, Destry, and Mr. Dingle".
As told by Serling, the basic premise is similar, but the earlier version seems to have been more comedic in tone, involving a meek schoolteacher who quite unintentionally gains notoriety as a top gunslinger.
Al Denton's speech to Liz Smith, in which he describes having been a top gunfighter until he turned to drink after being "called out" by a 16-year-old boy, was parodied in the Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles.
In that film, the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) had also been a top gunfighter until he was challenged (and shot) by a six-year-old child, leading him to become an alcoholic.