User Reviews

Rod Serling had an affinity for boxing in his stories--in particular, the life of an old and haggard journeyman boxer. In addition to "The Big Tall Wish", he penned the gritty and sad script for "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (which was both a made for TV movie and feature film). It's obvious that Serling must have hated what this 'sport' did to men and he had a deft touch with such stories.

This particular tale is about Bolie Jackson (actor/director Ivan Dixon)--a sad man whose face show the scars indicating a man who has stayed too long in the fight business. He has a special friendship with a young neighbor boy who looks up to him and adores him. Though Bolie is all washed up, to Henry he is somebody to admire.

Oddly, Henry seems to believe that if he wishes hard enough, that ANYTHING can come true--even Bolie winning a match he has no chance of winning. Like the movie PINOCCHIO, if you wish hard enough anything can happen. Through a twist like you might expect in "The Twilight Zone", this wish seems to come true...as long as you believe.

Overall, this episode lacks much of the weirdness and strange twists that I loved from the show. However, at the same time, it also had wonderful acting and a superb script about people--something you often did not see in other episodes. While not a great installment, it had heart and was sad but well-written and worth seeing. It also was nice that for once in this era a Black man and cast be featured in a mainstream TV show.

I'm having difficulty assimilating the message of this episode, it doesn't come across as all that positive to me. You have young Henry who thinks the world of Bolie Jackson - "You're my friend Bolie, you're my good and close friend". I have to tell you, that kind of friendship is worth more than anything else in the world. With not enough people in the world to believe in magic and wishes, I found it almost cruel that Bolie would take away Henry's big, tall wish to do something wonderful for his friend. Yes, I know, Bolie was trying to help Henry realize that the 'real' world doesn't work on hopes and wishes, but would it have been so bad to help Henry believe in miracles? You know, the kind of miracles that resemble 'Yes, Virginia', the kind that turns a loser into a winner with a prayer and a just make it so. I thought it just a little sad that Henry 'grew up' at the end of the story by realizing that he might be too old for magic and wishes. I'm trying hard to come up with an alternate ending for the story, but I'm coming up empty. It seems like this time, Rod Serling painted himself into a corner and couldn't come up with a clever way out. A better take away might have been for Henry to learn that trying and failing is better than not trying at all, and would have made Bolie a better friend for being that teacher.

This is a poignant story set in a hard world but with some heart . Bolie Jackson is a boxer past his prime but his young friend Henry believes in him even if he has to wish his friend into winning. Henry's mother even tells Bolie about how Henry made one of his big tall wishes for the extra money needed for the rent and his mother earned just the right amount. It's not clear if she completely believes he wished it but she doesn't overthink it. She takes things as they come . Contrast it to Bolie not accepting anything but the harsher realitie or Henry's believing in the magic. Bolie in anger smashed his hand before the big fight and thinks he lost but everyone remembers it different . Henry it seems wished the reversal. There is a catch though Henry tells Bolie he has to believe it Bolie can't and the wish goes away. The ending is a little sad and a little hopeful. Bolie goes to see Henry his mother lets Bolie see him as he is already in bed . Henry says maybe it's time to stop making wishes and Bolie says maybe there isn't enough people to believe in magic but it might be there. . The magic I think is their relationship endures they plan their next outing to the hockey game and what they will eat . It could have ended that would be the harshness Bolie sees but their different thinking doesn't ruin their bond and friendship.

I'm old, so I was the same age as Henry the first time The Big Tall Wish was broadcast. It was deeply touching to me, but then I didn't see it again for many decades. It's a sad, melancholy, bittersweet story, very different from Rod Serling's other scripts. Bolie is an aging has-been prizefighter who has nothing but facial scars to show for a courageous life devoted to the fight game. Most of the outside world considers him to be just another insignificant bum, but his 6-yr-old neighbor Henry knows he's someone special and idolizes him. Bolie has a match that night with a young contender, but we find out later that he's just a guaranteed win for the high-ranking fighter to destroy.

But Henry promises Bolie he will protect him with his most special wish, The Big Tall Wish, and Bolie will win without coming to any harm. We then meet Henry's mother Frances, who tells Bolie that Henry believes greatly in his wishes and one recently did in fact come true. But Bolie's too cynical and stubborn to accept or believe in Henry's gift and he heads to the arena.

When he finds out that his sleazy manager has set him up and bet against him, he swings at the manager but misses and hits the cinderblock wall, breaking his right hand. So he marches bravely into the ring with only one hand and absorbs a frightful beating. When he gets knocked to the canvas, Henry hugs the TV screen and makes his Big Tall Wish. A bewildered Bolie suddenly changes places with his opponent and is standing with the referee holding his right hand high in the air in victory. Plus his broken hand now feels fine.

Bolie knows something otherworldly has happened and that Henry holds the answer. He questions the boy, who admits that his wish caused it all. A sobbing Henry then tells Bolie he must believe or the magic won't work. The boy pleads with him with all his heart, but Bolie is too bitter and too disillusioned to believe in magic and accept Henry's wonderful gift.

Suddenly, the spell is broken and Bolie is back in the ring being counted out and his hand is throbbing again. The Big Tall Wish is now gone forever, but Bolie still remembers all of it. He returns to Henry, who tells him he is very proud of him and that he is still Bolie's good and close friend. Then Henry says he is too old for magic and he won't make any more wishes, ever again. Bolie then realizes that Henry has forgotten the results of his wish and it is now his secret alone. He tells Henry that maybe there just aren't enough people who believe in magic, and that's why it doesn't work anymore. An exhausted Henry falls asleep and Bolie leaves.

It's a very heartbreaking ending, but necessary. This episode works on several different levels, and it's partially about the end of childhood innocence and the need to grow up and face harsh reality. But Serling has softened the blow, because we also realize that Bolie still has Henry as his one true friend. So he's really a winner, not a loser.

Serling used black actors and actresses for the three main characters and the people in Bolie's neighborhood. This was a rarity in 1960 and everybody turned in excellent performances, as did the white actors playing the trainer and the manager. Ivan Dixon, Steven Perry, and Kim Hamilton all made the most of their extremely rare opportunity. They provide very moving portrayals.

Anyway, The Big Tall Wish is a sadly overlooked and forgotten Twilight Zone episode, but it clearly deserved a far better fate. Watch it and you'll see for yourself.

The innocence of a child holding destiny in their hands folded in prayer lands aging professional boxer Ivan Dixon in the winner's circle in this episode of The Twilight Zone which is the first of the series to deal with a black character. In fact, this could have actually been dealing with a white character but casting directors chose to change the dynamics by making the three major characters non-white. Steven Perry is the epitome of Innocence as the young little black boy filled with hope, with Kim Hamilton as his mother who is presumed to be dating Dixon. Dixon is lying on the ring's floor about to be declared knocked out when thanks to young Perry's prayer finds himself declare the champion. But when Dixon learns the circumstances surrounding his victory, his inability to believe in miracles changes what Perry refers to as "the magic", returning Dixon to that floor with the referee standing above him.

Only a few episodes up until this one featured children in major parts, and Perry will steal your heart as idol worshipping little boy who absolutely adores Dixon. The themes are vast, with the spiritual one certainly prominent, as well as showing the power of Innocence over cynicism. It's simple surface wise but when analyzed, the complexities become so much greater. That shows the strength of the script, aided by the strong performances that will hold your attention and have you discussing it in a different light than many of the other episodes. By the simple change of the race of the hero and the majority of the characters surrounding him, it becomes an entirely different theme altogether. Other episodes may not have had that impact, but this one manages to increase its strength with that decision.

I am a big fan of the Twilight Zone, and aside from breaking down racial Barrie's at the time, this episode seems to fall a bit flat in terms of plot. I couldn't get past the fact that the boxer looked like he never lifted a weight in his life. Even if he was old, it doesn't add up. A boxer would be in better shape. No muscle tone and man-boobs. It's distracting and takes away from the story. Also, the trainer looks eerily like Willem Dafoe. Switching places during the knockout scene was just a lazy twist. The scene with all of the crowd close ups is just cheesy and a waste of time. The whole episode seems like they just wanted an excuse to break racial barriers and didn't focus on the plot.

"The Big Tall Wish" (episode 27) was first aired on television April 8, 1960.

Anyway - As the story goes - An over-the-hill prizefighter gets a boost from a little boy who's a big fan with a very rare gift in a disillusioned world - An unswerving belief in magic.

Rod Serling was truly a ground-breaker when it came to African Americans in his "Twilight Zone" series. Without injecting racial issues into the equation, he would portray them simply as people with the same goals and drives as everyone else. In 1960's "A Big Tall Wish", Ivan Dixon stars as a washed-up boxer (Bolie Jackson) who is given one last chance to win a big fight and stay in contention. Henry (Stephen Perry), a next-door neighbor's young son, is confident Bolie can win the fight because he made a magical wish that it would come true. It can only happen for real, however, if Bolie himself believes the wish can be fulfilled. You might call it a "two-way" wish, but then anything is possible in the Twilight Zone.

Ivan Dixon, who recently passed away, was a fine actor (he starred with Bob Crane in "Hogan's Heroes" for many years) who later became a prolific television director. He is excellent here as a fighter who has taken far too many tough punches in his life to believe in miracles. As hard as he tries to believe in Henry's wish, he just can't seem to do it. There's an undercurrent of basic human failure that seems to envelop this entry of the Twilight Zone, and it sticks with you long after the final rounds are played out. As it stands now, "A Big Tall Wish" is one of the more under-rated stories in the series and well worth a second look.

Rod Sterling was unconventional, and groundbreaking in 1960 to have an episode with a primarily black cast. But the episode itself is poorly written.

Bolie Jackson is an boxer nearing old age (for a boxer, that is). His son, who is young and still believes in magic likes many kids do, wishes that his dad will win the fight. Bolie WOULD have actually lost, but the wish made him win. To teach his son a lesson, he has him reverse the wish, and history is changed and Bolie loses the fight. He lost the fight to teach his son a lesson. Maybe if handled better, it could have been more engaging, but it's a weak message, and one that was obvious from the start.

Aging washed-up boxer Bolie Jackson (a fine and convincing performance by Ivan Dixon) wins a fight that he thought he had lost thanks to a wish made up little boy Henry (a lively and charming portrayal by Steven Perry). However, the bitterly cynical Bolie can't bring himself to accept Henry's miracle.

Director Ron Winston relates the engrossing story at a steady pace as well as adroitly crafts a gentle melancholy tone. Rod Serling's thoughtful script not only astutely captures the weariness and wreckage of Bolie's hard scrabble existence (the scene in which Bolie talks about all the scars on his face is quietly devastating), but also delivers a strong, yet heartbreaking message on how living a hard life can destroy one's faith in magic and negate being able to have a more positive and optimistic outlook. Dixon and Perry do sterling work in their roles; they receive excellent support from Kim Hamilton as Henry's sweet mother Frances, Walter Burke as loyal trainer Joe Mizell, and Henry Scott as sleazy promoter Thomas. Kudos are also in order for Jerry Goldsmith's harmonic score and the crisp black and white cinematography by George T. Clemens. One of this show's most moving half hours.

The Big Tall Wish is entirely uninteresting and has nothing to say. It's my nature and probably doesn't bother others, but at the start all I'm thinking's the bus is waiting for you. Bolie talks forever, then starts up another conversation.. frustrating. The discussion with the smoking corner man's decent, but then Bolie lamely punches the wall...