The Gift (1962) User Reviews (27)

Yes, Mr. Serling...people are stupid!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 October 2009]

There are a couple interesting actors in this episode of "The Twilight Zone". Vladimir Sokoloff plays a very typical role for himself as a Mexican--even though he was Russian by birth. He is one of those familiar faces from TV whose name you don't know. Another interesting one is the police officer. This is Paul Mazursky--who, though an actor with many credits, is more famous as a director of such moves as HARRY AND TONTO and MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON.

The episode is a minimalistic episode to say the least. Although it's about an alien landing on the Earth, you never see a space ship and he looks like a normal person. However, because the folks in this Mexican village are people, they are scared and stupid--and respond to the alien with anger and fear. Despite being attacked, he gives a gift to a little boy that he wants to give the world--but, given that people are REALLLLY stupid, the gift is destroyed.

All in all, the episode does a good job of illustrating how stupid mankind is and how a real alien landing might occur. It's pretty cynical but I can definitely see the point! The only problem is that the episode is good but not one of the better ones--just pretty ordinary for the show.

"You are a stranger and in a way, I am a stranger too".

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 10 June 2010]

On the surface this is a tale about the fear of the unknown, but Rod Serling was deft at layering his stories with subtlety and innuendo in a way that conveyed deeper meaning. Almost at the outset I viewed this episode as a parallel to the life of Christ, come to Earth as a benefactor and savior, but met with uncertainty and hostility. The village doctor calls Manolo a 'Judas' for calling the authorities, and there's the overt symbolism of the stranger's outstretched arms as he attempts to speak to the crowd and approach young Pedro. In death, the alien would have given the world an unimaginable gift but for the blindness of the citizens of Madeiro. Perhaps the older we get, the less sensitive we become to the intuition of children wise beyond their years. 'The Gift' can teach us about tolerance and humanity provided we keep an open mind, along with a healthy respect and appreciation for things we don't yet understand.

Gentle parable

[darrenpearce111 · 6/10 · 16 January 2014]

This is a fairly familiar story. A little boy befriends an alien in a society where both of them feel like outsiders. The TZs set outside of America tend to lose something of the vibrant and compelling nature of the show. 'The Gift',set in Mexico suffers from this and seems more dated than most other Zones. Still this gentle parable has it merits and comments on man's impulsive and destructive nature.

Has anyone ever noticed the amount of poetry references there are towards the end of season three ? In 'The Gift' the alien quotes Robert Burns 'The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry'. In 'The Fugitive' Old Ben quotes from John Leigh Hunts 'Jenny Kiss'd Me'. In 'The Trade-Ins' Robert Browning is quoted. The title of 'I Sing The Body Electric' is from Walt Whitman. Finally , John Donne's 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' is included in the poetry extolling season finale 'The Changing Of The Guard'.

Get over it folks. TZ almost always had an underlying message.

[glennsmithk · 7/10 · 25 October 2019]

For the people of this Mexican village, what would be the expected reaction to someone like this man coming to the town in the way that he did? If he had landed in NYC or Moscow, what would the military in either do? Likely the same outcome in both. It's a plot theme known as the Christ figure. This episode was a tasteful application of that plot device.

Classic Horror Movie Reaction

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 9 December 2008]

This has a sort of Day the Earth Stood Still quality to it. It's about a stranger who is pursued in a superstitious Mexican village. He is an alien and has come to earth to give us a gift. Unfortunately, he is confronted by one of them and in the struggle, the gun fires, killing one of the police. It then involves the connection forged between a lonely little boy and the "man." Of course, brutality has a way of rearing its head and things get mucked up. The wonderful gift the man has is seen as a work of the devil and the knotheaded populace react. Twain put this forth in Connecticut Yankee. I've always wondered how this would have faired in the religious community. It's a bit on the cynical side.

It's only a gift for those who truly accept.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 4 September 2019]

A stranger from another world (Geoffrey Horne) makes a mysterious appearance after claiming that he was accidentally involved in the death of a local man, and only local doctor Nico Minardos and young Edmund Vargas (as an orphan that nobody wants) believe in him, and after he presents Vargas with a beautiful gift, the townspeople arrive with weapons to arrest him. Vargas and Minardos beg the townspeople to accept Horne's gift which they believe is a gift from Satan. Stupidity, paranoia and prejudice take over, and when all is said and done, the townspeople truly feel as if they've been taken over by the twilight zone...and cursed.

There have been many analogies of the life of Jesus Christ. Some say that Frankenstein's monster was a gothic variation of Jesus, which certainly makes Tim Burton's character, Edward Scissorhands, very Christ-like as well. Of course there's room for debate on that as well, but it is very apparent that Sloane's character here, thanks to thegift which would have kept on giving, but that is rejected and those other fictional characters, the fictional variation must be sacrificed. Only a medical man and a small child show faith, ironic considering that these characters are supposed to be of a strong faith. How many times does a return from the son of God get rejected? It's a profound message and a moving episode.

Wise Serling says: "Do Not Fear Thy Neighbor!"

[Coventry · 6/10 · 5 April 2021]

In case it wasn't made clear yet in various previous installments in "The Twilight Zone", one of creator Rod Serling's definite hobbyhorse-themes is xenophobia and his aversion for it. The theme features again here, in "The Gift", albeit now narrated through the life and via dolorosa of Jesus Christ.

An alien "savior" in human form lands his ship in the outskirts of a small Mexican town, near the border with Texas, but before he can properly make contact with the locals, he's violently shot at. Even later, when the alien repeatedly states that he comes with exclusively peaceful intentions, the villagers are still petrified and hostile. Only a young child, Pedro, is open-minded and hearty enough to welcome the stranger. Pedro receives a gift the whole of humanity would enormously prosper from, but then still our typically human ignorance ruins everything.

Vintage TZ-material and vintage Rod Serling; - the author who grabbed every possible opportunity to rub in our faces that we shouldn't fear the unknown so much, and learn to be a lot more tolerant towards other cultures and races. Sixty years after the series and forty-five years after Serling's passing, however, still not much has changed.

Well-made episode, though, with a couple of familiar faces like Cliff Osmond and Paul Mazursky. Vladimir Sokoloff also briefly appears, naturally. Ever since his role in "The Magnificent Seven" he became a piece of mandatory equipment in films that feature small Mexican villages, I guess.

Christ-like overtones

[jcravens42 · 10/10 · 6 April 2010]

Serling was never one to try shy away from religious themes, and this is an example of such. It's not so much a science fiction story as a veiled retelling of the story of Christ: a mild-mannered man comes to Earth to bring a message of peace, but, instead, he is seen as a threat and killed, with a crowd calling for his death. One character is even called Judas for betraying his whereabouts to authorities. It's fascinating to see, as you watch this and other episodes of the Twilight Zone, just how much faith Serling put into religion and belief in God. One has to wonder what he would have been inspired to write today in the face of so many religious fundamentalists -- of a variety of religions -- with messages of hate and intolerance. This is also an interesting episode for featuring Paul Mazursky, who went on to become a well-known director and screenplay writer, wonderful character actor Cliff Osmond, and young Edmund Vargas with the most soulful eyes ever (whatever happened to him?).

Way to ruin it for everyone

[Calicodreamin · 7/10 · 20 June 2021]

Solid episode of the twilight zone with an authentic storyline, a fear of the unknown drives a small town into mob fever. Decent acting and well cast characters.

Not Well Received

[AaronCapenBanner · 5/10 · 29 October 2014]

Geoffrey Horn plays Mr. Williams, a human-looking but in reality alien man who has sadly crash-landed in a primitive and dirt-poor village in Mexico, near the Texas border. A young boy named Pedro has befriended Williams, but after an altercation with a local policeman, becomes a wanted man, and the fearful villagers get wind of his presence, and decide to hunt down and persecute him, though as it turns out, he has brought a gift for the whole human race, one that it may never get to appreciate... Though well-intentioned, this remains a dreary and unsatisfying morality play about the tragedy of not only human stupidity, but the bad luck of arriving in the wrong place...

What if...

[l-perez-dancer · 10/10 · 27 January 2018]

What if there were life on another planet? If you are new to the Twilight Zone, I do not want to give the story away. But what if a visitor from another planet was really just visiting us to help? How would we view that visitor?

This episode is one of the greatest ever Twilight Zone episodes, especially if one has no xenophobic tendencies and believes that all sentient life should work together for the common good. It will bring you to tears by the end!

Silly episode which fails on all levels.

[fedor8 · 6 April 2022]

This is Serling at not only his worst, but his dullest too. The dialog is preachy, full of corny moralizing, hence it's fitting that the story is preachy and corny as well. Cardboard characters with goofy accents talk and talk and talk some more.

The boy looks bizarrely unmoved by all of this, so in that sense he is like the viewers. He is one of us, a victim of this script. In a rare scene where something does happen, a man hits another man with a bottle on the head - yet the kid shows zero reaction. Serling seems to believe that children have no fear, or at least a lot less than adults. So from what planet is Rod?

Let's face it, the boy must be autistic. This is literally how an autistic child behaves. (Or a bad child actor.)

The alien is so very dull, so let's assume he's from planet Boring. This dialog is worse than most pulp fiction comics. It is plastic, cliched and completely uninteresting.

The guitar-strumming "soundtrack" is reminiscent of Ed Wood's "Jail Bait", just very cheesy and dreary.

Why didn't these Boring aliens simply send humankind their damn gift by post, with a nice little video or letter explaining everything? You gotta love these dumb, clueless aliens who botch every attempt to be do-gooders - and then Serling predictably blames everything on the humans! As if being fearful is unnatural or evil. Fear is normal, it's what protects us from danger, and these stupid left-wing Boring aliens should have known this in advance. But then again, left-wingers must be the same all over the universe - bloody confused and clueless.

These "superior" aliens know all about human literature (the Latino alien quotes from "Of Mice and Men") yet they're too stupid to bring their "gift" directly to a medical institution rather than land in a primitive village full of illiterate peasants. Truly dumb.

The Power of Ignorance

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 30 July 2023]

In a Mexican village, are scared when the police officer Sanchez tells to them that an alien spacecraft has landed nearby their village and another officer was killed by an alien. Soon a man comes to Manolo's bar, and the local doctor treats him. The boy Pedro stays with him and he gives a gift to the boy. But the ignorant population wants he destroyed and summon the army.

"The Gift' is a predictable episode of "The Twilight Zone" based on the ignorance of the locals from a Mexican Village. The plot is predictable and does not show anything new, but stupidity from the Mexican people of a small town. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Presente" ("The Gift")

Would we greet aliens like this? Depends on their intentions

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 9 August 2018]

Geoffrey Horne who is best known for playing the relatively innocent Lt.Joyce on the mission with Jack Hawkins and William Holden in The Bridge On The River Kwai plays an alien with a mission of his own in this Twilight Zone story. Unlike Michael Rennie he doesn't land in Washington, DC. Instead it's a remote Mexican village where he's shot by police investigating the UFO report.

Sadly this is probably how humankind might greet others from the great beyond as Horne phrases it. In a rather heavy handed simile he compares how people received Jesus back in the day.

The only two who are friendly are Nico Minardos the village doctor who has a bit more education than most and Edmund Vargas a young 9 year old orphan who has the innocence of childhood.

Thought provoking but it uses a sledgehammer to deliver its message.

I recognized Vargas right away

[michelleishappy · 7/10 · 18 February 2020]

He is an incredible actor who should do more! I saw him and asked myself, "Is that Wonder from Gunsmoke?" Yes, I found out. In this episode he is even better as an actor!

Seeing how afraid the villagers are of "Mr. Williams," is that not the way each wave of immigrants is viewed? That each is treated with an air of Nativism? Signs reading "No Irish need Apply" greeted Irish immigrants fleeing starvation back at home. The Italians, the Japanese, the German, the Vietnamese, the Mexican have all had their trials assimilating. Even the innocent unborn and those with disabilities are rejected. Can we do better as a society? Absolutely! Will we? I believe so.

And the gift was to bring great healing of suffering. How tragic! 😔

The folly of man

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 30 June 2018]

Gentle and benign alien Williams (a fine performance by Geoffrey Horne) crashes his spaceship nearby a small remote Mexican village where the frightened residents are apprehensive about Williams despite his claims that he comes in peace.

Director Allen H. Miner relates the engrossing story at a steady pace as well as offers a flavorsome evocation of the south of the border setting. Rod Serling's biting script makes a chilling central statement about the dire damaging consequences wrought by fear and superstition, with some interesting parallels to the story of Christ and an especially devastating surprise bummer ending. The sound acting from the capable cast rates as another substantial asset: Nico Minardos as a helpful doctor, Cliff Osmond as mean and selfish bar owner Manolo, Edmund Vargas as sweet orphan boy Pedro, and Vladimir Sokoloff as a compassionate blind guitarist. An excellent episode.

The folly of man

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 29 June 2018]

Gentle alien Williams (a fine and moving performance by Geoffrey Horne) crashes his spaceship nearby a small isolated Mexican village where the frightened residents are apprehensive about Williams despite his claims that he comes in peace.

Director Allen H. Miner relates the engrossing story at a steady pace as well as offers a flavorsome evocation of the south of the border setting. Rod Serling's biting script makes a potent and provocative statement about the dire damaging consequences wrought by fear and superstition, with some interesting Christ-like references and an especially devastating surprise bummer ending. The sturdy acting by the capable cast rates as another significant asset: Nico Minardos as a helpful doctor, Cliff Osmond as huffy bar owner Manolo, Edmund Vargas as sweet orphan boy Pedro, and Vladimir Sokoloff as a compassionate blind guitarist. An excellent episode.

You've not only killed a man you've killed a dream!

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 5 February 2017]

***SPOILERS**** Crashing in the Mexican desert the soul survivor of the space craft, Geoffrey Horne, soon finds his way to the nearest town not only seeking help for his injuries but offering a gift to mankind to prove to the inhabitants his good intentions. It's only 9 year old Pedro, Edmund Vargas, and the town blind man guitarist Vladimir Sokoloff, who aren't afraid of the clean cut and human looking alien but the rest of the population except the town doctor,Nico Minardos, are terrified of the stranger from outer space.

It's the greedy and butt-kissing, for anyone in authority,bar owner Manolo,Cliff Osmond,who drops a dime on him and calls the local police to come and arrest the barley alive from loss of blood Alien. That for the measly 30 silver pesos' reward that Manolo was paid off to do his dastardly deed. Seeing that he's about to be arrested by the police and trying to escape the alien is trapped in a police dragnet and his only hope to stay alive is to reveal the gift, that he gave to Pedro for safe keeping, that he brought to humanity!

****SPOILERS**** It's a sad end to the story or "Twilight Zone" episode when instead of receiving the gift that the alien brought to the human race he was blasted to Kingdom Come by the trigger happy police and as for the gift itself it was set on fire by the both stupid and mindless Manolo after all the smoke cleared. The gift was in fact a show of faith by the alien in it having a formula for a cure to all forms of cancer that was now gone forever. And it was the fear an ignorance of that great unknown, by the people of the town,that caused the people in it not to be able to look a gift horse in the mouth when it was standing right in front of them!

Not religious at all to me!

[lbowdls · 8/10 · 10 April 2024]

I some recollections of seeing this episode when I was quite young. I did not consider the alien the embodiment of Jesus Christ, considering people - I say unfortunately- believed what Jesus was saying. Okay maybe not straight away but a lot believed him straight away and that belief has been hindering us ever since.

Anyway, what I took from it and did again after just watching it, is the usual typicalness of humans from Earth never believing that aliens would be here to help us but to kill or destroy us. But it's one of the few alien tales TZ and Serling had a nice alien, nearly all had aliens being bad. Which is the only thing I didn't understand about Serling, considering he was so against prejudice. This is why I believe this was a story against prejudice. Not sure it was politically right to use a seemingly 'backward' Mexican setting. As citizens in the USA or anywhere in the world would have unfortunately acted the same.

What Would Alien Do?

[buccola13 · 1/10 · 19 May 2019]

Pointless Jesus references and comparisons that don't fit. Worst episode of the series and deserves a 1 rating for dragging the series down. Boring, slow, poorly acted, badly written.

Worst of all original Twilight Zone episodes

[ares_hot · 3/10 · 27 April 2019]

Take the end of the Jesus story, set it in 1950s Mexico and make Jesus an human-looking alien. That's basically it.

Probably the Worst Twilight Zone Episode.

[tomilleresq · 1/10 · 27 July 2022]

The acting is horrible and wooden - especially the poor child. The depiction of Mexicans is less nuanced than a Speedy Gonzalez cartoon. The twist ending is eye-rollingly bad. This is strictly a paint-by-numbers effort. It looks like at this point, Serling had already thrown in the towel. As it turns out, the mysterious stranger was, in fact an alien. And his "gift"? Turns out it was a cookbook. (Just kidding, it was much, much worse than that). .

A spaceman came travelling.

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 5 April 2022]

This episode of The Twilight Zone illustrates how mankind has always been quick to fear, distrust and destroy anything it doesn't understand, in this case a benevolent alien who has come to Earth bearing a gift: a formula for a vaccine for all forms of cancer. Ignorance, suspicion and dread drives the people of a small Mexican village to attack the visitor from outer space and torch his gift, believing it to be something bad.

Of course, it would be lovely to be able to trust every visitor from outer space, but if truth be told, there's a good chance they have come here to suck out our life force, steal our women or control our brains. Shoot first, ask questions later; better safe than sorry.

The Gift is one of the worst tales from The Twilight Zone, a heavy-handed religious parable (the alien is Jesus, on Earth to save the human race -- check out his Jesus Christ pose at the end) packed with horribly cliched stock Mexican characters (leetle innocent Pedro, the wise village doctor and greedy bartender Manolo, who, in the least subtle moment, is called Judas for betraying the alien). Save it for Sunday school, Rod!

Bad.

[bombersflyup · 1/10 · 8 November 2019]

In The Gift we have an alien being in the form of a human again / Jesus. Horribly acted, with an awful plot. It does have something going for it though, the music. Sounds like I'm playing Diablo.

Skip this one!

[mm-39 · 5/10 · 28 April 2023]

I saw the Gift years ago in a hotel room as a teenager while on vacation in Iowa. Well being a 14 year old The Gift had a hard time keeping my attention. Well a stranger comes to a small Mexican town. In true Serlling fashion, the town folks are paranoid, suspicious, and mod mentality. There is a gift so it has to be the Devil. Well the gift is the plot twist. I get it people are stupid. This tragic play is preachy, slow, overly wordy. I remember going to coke machine, come back and watch. Read some of my Mad comic then watch! Well lets say I would skip this episode if I catch this one channel surfing.