[Eerie music]
(Narrator) There is a fifth dimension
beyond tha t which is known to man.
It is a dimension as vastas space
and as timeless as infinity.
It is the middle ground between lightand shadow,
between science and s upers ti tion.
And it lies between the pit of man's fears
and the summit of his knowledge.
This is the dimension of ima Gina tion.
It is an area which we call the twilightzone.
[Snoring]
In this corner of the universea prizefighter named bolie Jackson.
One hundred and eighty-three pounds, and an hour and a halfa way
from a comeba ck a t St. Nick's arena.
Mr. Bolie Jackson, who by the standards of his profession
is an aging, o ver-the -hil I rel/c of what? t was,
and who now sees a reflection of a man who has left too many pieces of his youth
in too many stadiums for too many years
before too many screaming people.
Mr. Bolie Jackson,
who might do well to look for some gentle magic
in the hard-surfa ced glass tha t stares ba cka t him.
[Crack]
Feeling good, bolie?
Feeling sharp? Take the tiger tonight, huh, bolie?
I'm gonna take the tiger, Henry. I'll give him a left then a right.
And I'm going to the stomach, then pick him up by the tail
and throw him right up into the ninth row.
You're looking good, bolie. You're looking sharp.
You gonna watch?
You fooling? I'll yell so loud
you'll hear me all the way to St. Nick's.
[Laughs]
You know,
a fighter don't need a scrapbook, Henry.
Anyone know what he's done, where he's fought,
you read it in his face.
He's got the whole story cut into his flesh.
St. Louis, 1949.
Guy named sailor levitt.
Real fast boy.
Here, and this, memorial stadium, Syracuse, New York.
Italian boy.
Fought like Henry Armstrong. All hands and arms.
Just like a windmill, all over you.
First time I ever got my nose broke twice in one fight.
And then move south, Henry.
Miami, Florida.
That boy got me up against the ring post.
He did this with his la ces.
Tired old man.
Tired old man trying to catch a bus
and the bus is already gone.
Left a couple of years ago.
Arms heavy.
Legs like rubber. Short of wind.
One eye almost gone.
There I go, running down the street
trying to catch that bus to glory.
Bolie, you are going to catch the tiger tonight.
I'm gonna make a wish.
I'm gonna make a big, tall wish.
And you ain't gonna get hurt none either. You hear, bolie?
You been hurt enough already. And you're my friend, bolie.
You're my good and close friend.
You have quite a boy there, Frances. You got quite a boy.
Talks like a little old man, you know?
I'm his good and close friend. That's what he tells me.
Real, real intense. I'm his good and close friend.
Well, you're good to him, bolie.
Real good. Taking him to ball games all the time
and taking him for walks.
Take care of yourself, bolie. Don't get hurt none.
I'll work hard trying not to.
[Footsteps]
I'm gonna make a wish, bolie.
I'm gonna make a wish nothing happens to you.
So don't you be afraid, bolie.
Understand? Don't you be afraid.
Oh, go on.
Bolie, that boy's got you in a shrine.
Who? A scared old man who don't remember nothing except how to bleed?
I don't fit no shrines, Frances.
But you tell him, Frances, you tell him
how much I'm obliged to him for his wish.
He's all the time wishing.
Why, just the other night he...
What?
Oh, I needed $15 for the rent.
Henry said he was gonna make the big, tall wish.
That's the biggest wish. The big, tall wish.
He don't waste that on just anything.
That's what he calls the most important kind. That was last Friday.
And a woman I did some nursing for on the island sent me a check.
A check for $15.
Little boys.
Little boys with their heads full up with dreams.
And when do they find out, Frances?
When do they suddenly find out
that there ain't any magic?
When does somebody push their face down on the sidewalk and say to 'em,
"hey, little boy, it's concrete.
That's what the world is made out of, concrete."
When do they find out that you can wish your life away?
Good luck tonight, bolie.
Sure, Frances.
We'll be waiting for you.
Tell him I'll see him later.
Hey, bolie.
Good luck, baby. You can take him.
Take him for me.
Best of luck, bolie. We'll be watching.
Try it, bolie.
Feels okay?
Feels good, Joe. Thanks.
He's all ready.
Butt it out, will you, Thomas? I wanna breathe.
You hired me for the night, bolie baby.
It's a package deal. Me and the cigar.
I said butt it out.
[Oro wd yelling]
Feisty little old man.
The older they get, the louder they talk and the more they want.
And the less chance they got to get it.
How did I get you tonight?
Oh, I'm a bargain, bolie.
I'm a expert on has-beens.
I seen your boys.
Catches, aren't they?
Guaranteed two rounds each.
Shovel them in, shovel them out.
Sew them together for the next time.
[Chuckles]
Well, that's the only way to do it, champ.
A month or so from now maybe I'll sign you at the back door.
Why not? You're long gone, bolie.
You've had it. Wait till after tonight.
You'll wanna get in the stable, too.
All you have to do is guarantee two rounds.
Two, three prelims every month.
Why, you can do that standing on your head.
Can't you?
I thought the smell came with the cigar. You wear it all over you.
You stink, Thomas.
You tell 'em, champ.
You tell 'em.
[Man knocking] Jackson, ten minutes.
He'll be there.
What about tonight? What do I watch out for?
I've only seen this boy fight once. That was a couple of years ago.
I ain't never seen him.
You watched him fight. You've seen him fight six, seven times in the past year.
You piece of garbage, you.
You're betting on him, aren't you?
It ain't enough he sells flesh by the pound.
He comes in here for a dirty $20. Supposed to help me and bets on the other guy.
I may be a bum upstairs in another ten minutes
but now I'm gonna fight a beautiful first round.
You touch me and I'll have you up for ten years.
I swear to you, bolie, I'll fix your wagon good. Lay off me, you cunning freak!
Let me look at that. Sit down.
Wasn't enough spotting 'em all those years, bolie?
Wasn't enough how you gotta go in the ring with four busted knuckles?
Okay, Jackson, you're on.
Well?
Well, nothing. Let's do it.
Oh, poor little Henry temple.
I've given him two strikes on all his magic.
Two strikes.
Whose?
Nothing.
There ain't no such... [groaning]
There ain't no such thing as magic.
[People yelling]
[Punching]
(Announcer) There's another left. Another right.
Jackson's knees are wobbling. He's hurt.
Bolie Jackson is definitel y hurt.
Consiglio moves in on him.
[People cheer]
He jabs him to the right. Jackson is down.
Bolie, bolie, bolie.
One, two, three,
four, five, six,
seven, eight,
[no audio]
Nine.
[Silence]
Ten.
[Audience yelling]
You done dandy, bolie.
Hey, Joe, you were wrong.
Just bruised, I guess, huh?
Gee, it hurt like anything but somebody said I got him with it.
Couldn't have been broken after all.
Who said it was?
You said. Jeez, felt like it, too.
Could feel the knuckles coming right up to the bandages.
I could have sworn it was broke.
And then when he knocked me down...
What? When he what?
When he knocked me down, Joe.
When he knocked me down.
I don't even remember getting up.
The next thing I knew, there he was at my feet.
We must have been in different arenas together.
You didn't get knocked down, bolie.
You was never off your feet.
I wasn't?
No. You carried this one all the way, baby.
[Chuckles]
Joe! I wasn't off my feet?
I didn't go down?
Read about it in the papers.
Good night, old-timer.
I'm proud of you.
Beautiful, bolie, beautiful.
You were just great, man. Just wonderful.
You we great, bolie, we've seen you on television.
That was a right. That was the real right.
Hey, what do you say, Henry temple?
You are a tiger, bolie. You are a real tiger.
Did it look okay?
Just like a champ.
You know something? That boy must have hit me so hard
it knocked all the hurt right out of me.
I don't remember a doggone thing, Henry.
I must have really been punchy for a second
'cause I thought he had me on my back.
And there I was, lying there,
looking up at the ref waving his arm down on me,
staring at the light, blinking my eyes.
There must have been some kind of a dream or something 'cause...
Henry?
Henry, I never went down.
I was never off my feet.
Henry, I never went down.
Henry, was I? Was I on my back and on my way out?
Nobody remembers it.
Nobody at all except me.
I thought it happened, but it didn't.
I thought I was lying there on my back, being counted out,
and everybody tells me that...
Bolie, I made the big wish then.
I wished you was never knocked down.
I just shut my eyes, and I, I wished real hard.
It was magic, bolie. We had to have magic then.
Had to, bolie. Nothing left for us then. Had to makea wish.
There ain't no magic or wishing or nothing like that.
You're too big to have nutsy thoughts. You're too big to believe in fairy tales.
If you wish hard enough, bolie, it'll come true.
If you wish hard enough...
Somebody gotta knock it out of you.
Somebody gotta take you by the hair and rub your face into the world
till you get the taste and feel of the way things are, don't they?
Listen, kid, I've been wishing all my life.
You understand, Henry? I got a gut ache from wishing,
and all I got to show for it is a face full of scars
and a head full of-of memories
of all the hurt and misery
I've had to live and sleep with all my miserable life.
Crazy kid, you trying to tell me you wished me into a knockout?
You trying to tell me it was magic that made me get up off my back?
You're a little kook, Henry. That's what you are.
How did I ever get mixed up with you? I ain't got enough trouble.
I got mixed up with some dopey kid...
If you don't believe, bolie, it won't be true. That's the way magic works.
Listen. Listen, boy. There ain't no magic. No magic, Henry.
I had that fight coming and going. I had it in my pocket.
I was the number one out there. It was mewho done it. Me, bolie Jackson.
Hittin' and sluggin' and winnin'.
Winnin'!
Henry.
I can't believe. I'm too old.
And I'm too hurt to believe.
I can't, boy. I just can't.
Now, Henry, there ain't no such thing as magic.
God help us both. I wish there were.
Bolie, you've got to believe.
I can't, boy. I can't, boy.
You've got to believe.
I can't.
Plea se, believe.
I can't.
You've got to believe, bolie.
Ten.
[Audience yelling]
[Audience cheers]
You should've stood in bed.
How come you didn't use your right?
He's in bed, bolie.
Can I see him?
Sure. I expect he's waiting for you.
Bolie?
I'm real sorry.
Ah, I pulled a rock, Henry.
I threw a punch before I should have.
Hit a wall. Busted my knuckles.
I went in with half my artillery gone.
You looked like a tiger even so.
You looked like a real tiger.
I was proud of you, bolie. I was real proud.
Bolie?
Now you go to sleep.
Tomorrow we'll go to a hockey game,
and we'll get some hot dogs in the park maybe.
Sure thing, bolie. That will be nice.
Bolie?
I ain't gonna make no more wishes, bolie.
I'm too old for wishes.
And there ain't no such thing as magic, is there?
I guess not, Henry.
Or maybe...
Maybe there is magic, and maybe there's wishes, too.
I guess the trouble is...
I guess the trouble is there's not enough people around to believe.
Good night, boy.
Good night, bolie.
(Narrator) Mr. Bol ie Jackson, 183 pounds,
who lefta second chance I ying ina heap
on a rosin-spa ttered canvas a t St. Nick's arena.
Mr. Bolie Jackson, who shares the most common ailment of all men.
The strange and perverse disincl ina tion to bel ie ve in a Mira cle,
the kind of miracle to come from the mind of a little boy.
Perhaps onl y to be found in the twilightzone.
(Male presenter) Rod serl ing, the orea Tor of twil igh t zone
will tell you about next week's storyafter this word from our al terna te sponsor.
And noi/I/, Mr. Serl/ng.
Greetings from the low-rent district.
Next week we follow the fortunes and misfortunes of Mr. Larry blyden,
who plays the role of one rocky Valentine
an itinerant second-story man who's shot to death in an alley one night
and goes to his just rewards.
This little item here being one of them.
This one you can watch with the tongue in your cheek.
It's called a nice place to visit, next week on the twilightzone.
[Eerie music]
(Male presenter) Kimberl y-ola rk invites you to wa toh Steve McQueen
in wanted dead or alive.
Sa turda y nights o ver most of the same sta tions.