User reviews

Not a great episode or one of the more memorable but still a charming and very likable piece of TZ. A story about priorities, friendship, and self-control. Ace (Dane Clark) dreams of making money through gambling and sees his opportunity in his friend Jimbo's (Buddy Ebsen) strange power of telekinesis. Ace wants to make money to get married to Kitty (Christine White, who played the wife in 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet') but displays an unhealthy addictive nature towards gambling.

There's a lightness about this one that contrasts with the much darker toned Las Vegas gambling story of series one, 'The Fever'. Buddy Ebsen is very good as the wise but humble Jimbo. An episode like this illustrates the essentially human orientation of TZ, rather than merely sci-fi/thriller/Gothic yarns.

Ace Larsen is the owner of a small diner and compulsive gambler. He works with his girlfriend Kitty Cavanaugh and his friend Jimbo Cobb. When Ace learns that Jimbo has telekinesis power, he decides to cheat the casinos in Las Vegas and make fortune. But grasp all, lose all.

"The Prime Mover" is an episode of "The Twilight Zone" with a story of ambition of an addicted gambler that changes his behavior when he learns that his friend has a hidden ability. The conclusion is predictable. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Grande Jogador" ("The Great Gambler")

Small time gambler goes big time.

Want the dice to roll a seven? Or eleven? Or maybe a snake-eyes for the other guy. You name the point and it will be there as long as Dane Clark's got his pal with him. That's every crap shooters dream and a great way to break the banks of Las Vegas, especially if you've been flipping burgers your whole life as Clark has. His pal Buddy Ebsen may be a little dim but he's got a special power to levitate objects if he just concentrates. So it's off to Vegas with Ebsen and the big time.

Clark's just right as the cocky little guy suddenly turned bigshot. It's fun but sort of sad to watch him get his few minutes of glory. The trouble is that Ebsen's thinking may be a little slow, but he's sly and his moral compass is a stickler. I'm not sure how plausible the ending is, but it all adds up to a rather sweet little cautionary tale.

Decent episode with solid effects and a well developed storyline. The characters were well acted and felt authentic.

As very, very often the case when I watch an episode of "The Twilight Zone", the plot instantly reminded me of a later film that "borrowed" the basic plot idea and turned it into a long-feature film. Normally I can instantly recall which film(s) copied & pasted their storyline from the episode in question, but in case of "The Prime Mover" I cannot. I distinctively remember seeing a film where the protagonist has telekinetic powers, but he's naïvely honest and never even thought about abusing his powers. Yet, instead, everyone else in his surrounding want to make us of them for their own benefit. Don't remember what film this was, so feel free to drop me a note if you know the title!

"The Prime Mover" is a fair episode, but definitely not one of the most memorable ones in the series. After discovering that his timid but loyal employee Jimbo disposes of telekinetic powers, the gambling-addicted snack bar patron Ace Larsen takes him to Las Vegas to manipulate dice games and roulette balls and make a fortune. Docile Jimbo obeys, even though he feels bad for cheating, but when Ace becomes overly greedy and starts neglecting his lovely fiancée Kitty, he blows a fuse; - literally! Personally, I don't like it when "Twilight Zone" episodes are too heavy on morals and valuable life lessons; hence this isn't a big favorite. The season one episode "Fever" used the same settings and similar themes, but it was much darker and more cynical. The highlight in "The Prime Mover" is the spectacular car crash at the beginning of the episode, taken from "Thunder Road" starring Robert Mitchum, but it's irrelevant to the actual plot.

Ace Larson and his partner Jimbo Cobb are co-owners of a small café in Nevada. There is a single slot machine near the door and Ace plays it often in an attempt to make a quick score. Ace's girlfriend works as a waitress and has not been paid for some time. The two men share a simple room, so it is clear that they have very little money. One night a car overturns and lands next to an electrical power transmitter. With the hot wires on the car and sparking, there is nothing that Ace can do. However, Jimbo demonstrates the ability to move objects using only his mind. When Ace is convinced that the power is genuine, he immediately contacts his girlfriend and the three of them go to Las Vegas. Jimbo's power is indeed genuine and Ace wins massive amounts of money at the gaming table. Ace completely ignores his girlfriend, and she rebels at the change in Ace over his ability to win at the games. Ace is completely caught up in his success and he contacts the most well known high roller that is in town and finds another girl. Even though Jimbo objects and tells Ace that he is getting tired, Ace simply ignores him. The obvious happens at the big game and then there is the predictable ending where all are back at the café. To many, this is a happy ending, to others, not so much. This is a story that has appeared many times with many different paths to the temporary success. In this case it is not well played with nothing in the way of tension.

Interesting that I happen to watch this episode while midway through a 5-part documentary series about the history of the mafia in America. It's well known that organized crime has had a heavy hand in the history of Las Vegas so the third act of this episode makes sense as far as the biggest gambler in town being a gangster, although there are plenty of the usual super hero problems with the rest of the episode.

As always when a character is endowed with some kind of superhuman ability, it is not just underused or misused, but the writers don't seem to have any idea of how to present the character who holds them. Buddy Ebsen plays Jimbo Cobb, a mental midget with telekinetic abilities but without the slightest understanding of his ability or even the simplest understanding of the world around him.

When Ace, our gambling hero, asks him how he has the power, Jimbo responds something like "I don't know why or how come or anything," and when asked why he never said anything, you may find yourself shocked out of your seat as Jimbo responds that he never knew there was anything unusual about it, he thought everyone could do it, like breathing.

Like breathing! A more entertaining twilight zone episode might deal with how Jimbo managed to live to this age without ever having seen or met or talked to another human being before.

At any rate, this is another episode that makes clever commentary about greed and gambling, and while the greed immediately takes control and takes away from the believability of Ace's character, it's still a fun and interesting warning about the dangers of gambling, even when things are going good.

But I will tell you one thing, I doubt that there were ever many high-powered gangsters in Vegas who answered calls from strangers and went up into hotel rooms to bet tremendous amounts of money while squatting on the floor tossing dice across the rug...

Buddy Ebsen plays roadside diner employee Jimbo Cobb, who one day develops telekinetic powers after a nearby car accident involving electrical wires seems to trigger it. His boss Ace Larsen(played by Dane Clark) finds out about it, and decides to get rich quick by taking his girlfriend Kitty and of course Jimbo to Las Vegas, and are a big success at the roulette table, since Jimbo can flip the dice to match their winning numbers. Ace becomes greedy though, entering a private game with shady characters, betting all their winnings to get one big score, much to Jimbo's disapproval... Slight but entertaining episode has a good cast make up for predictable outcome.