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Remember When Columbo Played Fidel Castro (Sort of) on The Twilight Zone?
Peter Falk's turn as rabid dog revolutionary Ramos Clemente is certainly a performance for the ages.
Aside from its groundbreaking approach to the nascent television format, timeless themes, and iconic twist endings, the original iteration of The Twilight Zone is also famous for the way it served as a proving ground for a new generation of acting talent.
Now-legendary names like William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Roddy McDowall, Dean Stockwell, Carol Burnett, Robert Redford, Telly Savalas, Cloris Leachman, George Takei, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, and Peter Falk all made youthful guest appearances on the Rod Serling's humble CBS anthology (episodes air regularly on SYFY) before they became internationally renowned celebrities.
Each actor and their respective episodes could, of course, be the subject of their own discussions. Today, however, we'd like to focus on Peter Falk's pre-Columbo turn as Central American revolutionary, Ramos Clemente, in The Twilight Zone's Season 3 episode, "The Mirror."
Remembering Peter Falk's turn as a Fidel Castro-type on The Twilight Zone
Clearly based on Fidel Castro, who seized control of Cuba just two years before the episode aired in October 1961, Clemente is depicted as a cigar-gesticulating firebrand in military fatigues, drunk on the victory of his successful revolt against the tyrannical government of General De Cruz (Will Kuluva). That ecstasy soon turns to ashes when Clemente takes possession of a mirror that shows him assassins lurking around every corner.
Fearing he'll be deposed, Ramos purges the members of his own inner circle and orders round-the-clock firing squads to dispose of political prisoners until the general population is thoroughly disgusted by the new regime. The moral of Serling's script, as you can probably imagine, is that ruthless dictators are responsible for creating the very people who eventually try to do away with them. "This was our impression of Castro at that time," producer Buck Houghton states in Marc Scott Zicree's The Twilight Zone Companion. "He was a very flamboyant Latin, which Peter isn't. It goes back to all those banana-boat republic strong-arm men."
While Falk's approximation of a Latin figurehead certainly wouldn't fly today, his central performance is nothing short of stellar. The way in which he carefully modulates his voice, keeping Clemente's temper palpably frothing just beneath the surface until it boils over at key moments, gives the character the air of a prowling mad dog capable of taking a chunk out of anyone who gets too close. Falk's acting choices here are full of nuanced, almost imperceptible, movements he'd later use to great effect on Columbo (now streaming on Peacock), which required him to use strategic body language as a way to lure guilty criminals into a false sense of security. In his heyday, Falk was a walking masterclass in marrying physicality with emoting.
To say Castro was a controversial figure would be quite the understatement, though Zicree argues "The Mirror" was too much of a "one-sided" portrait of a Communist leader in a time when American viewers were predisposed to revile the so-called Red Menace. Houghton seems to agree with that sentiment, admitting: "I think we had a fairly simplistic view of Castro at that time." Whether the makers of the show were right or wrong is up for debate. For the time being, let's file it under 'R' for 'Revolution' ... in The Twilight Zone.
Classic episodes of The Twilight Zone air regularly on SYFY. Click here for complete scheduling info! All 10 seasons of Columbo are now streaming on Peacock.
