# Can anyone ID this Twilight Zone-esque story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595 "2007-08-23T03:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/1 "2007-08-23T03:24:52Z")
A friend of mine remembers an episode in an anthology series about a wealthy older man who inveigles a gigolo-type guy into some unusual games of chance, with unusual stakes attached. One of the games involves being able to light a cigarette lighter three or four times in a row. Seems simple, but the gigolo fails. At that point, the wealthy older man’s wife, who is wearing gloves and has been sitting there watching, pulls off one of her gloves to reveal… stubs instead of fingers, because the stakes for not being able to light the lighter is having a finger chopped off. Does this strike a bell with anyone? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/2 "2007-08-23T03:28:00Z")
It’s in the film “4 Rooms”: [Four Rooms (1995) - IMDb](http://imdb.com/title/tt0113101/) Previously, it was Hitchcocks “Man from the South”: ["Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Man from the South (TV Episode 1960) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508196/) ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/3 "2007-08-23T03:31:17Z")
[Man from the South](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508196/), On Alfred Hitchcock Presents, based on a story of the same name by Roald Dahl. Also done in _Tales of the Unexpected_ in 1979. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/4 "2007-08-23T03:31:46Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] It’s in the film “4 Rooms”: [http://imdb.com/title/tt0113101/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0113101/) [/QUOTE] Damn, I love the Dope! **beowulff** , you rock. I owe you many rounds of the libation of your choice. I went to the IMDB link, and I can’t tell which segment it is! Tell me! (Segment…heh!) ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/5 "2007-08-23T07:28:23Z")
I thought it was from the Roald Dahl book “The Umbrella Man” it’s a collection of short, weird stories. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/6 "2007-08-23T10:25:31Z")
Triple damn! Ya’ll are good! ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/7 "2007-08-23T10:29:27Z")
I read it as a short story in Dahl’s _Tales of the Unexpected_. Here it is: [Man From The South](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_from_the_South) (ETA: Which, I see, **beowulff** has already named. Oh well.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/8 "2007-08-23T12:35:47Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] It’s in the film “4 Rooms”: [http://imdb.com/title/tt0113101/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0113101/) Previously, it was Hitchcocks “Man from the South”: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508196/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508196/) [/QUOTE] The story was also redone for the “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” anthology show revival in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/9 "2007-08-23T14:07:30Z")
BTW, this theme was also used (with a twist, of course) in a Steven King story “Quitters Inc.” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-twilight-zone-esque-story/416595/10 "2007-08-23T15:12:40Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] The story was also redone for the “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” anthology show revival in 1985. [/QUOTE] …with director John Huston reprising the Peter Lorre chopper role. Cool casting.