Dr. Henry Fate

Story: Mr. Denton on Doomsday
Written By: Rod Serling
Series: The Twilight Zone (Original Series)
Season: 1

A town drunk in a western town was once a fast gunslinger, but everyone kept coming to challenge him, culminating in killing a 16 year old boy, and it drove him to the bottle.   Now he finds a gun and inadvertently defends himself from a guy bullying him, and he gives up the drink but the cycle of people coming to challenge him seems to be starting all over again.  A peddler known as Dr. Henry Fate, who seems to be guiding his sobering up and being able to shoot again, gives him an elixir that will make him a fast shooter again.

Ultimately, the episode leads to a showdown with a hotshot kid, only both are taking the fast elixir, and so they shoot simultaneously and they each hit their shooting hand, making sure they both live and will avoid shooting the rest of their lives.  Serling's message here: violence gets you nowhere.  The man is right.  While I am never going to put this high on my list of all time episodes, I thought it was okay.  

NEXT TIME:  Sunset Blvd in the Twilight Zone