A 53-minute corporate bloodbath where your soul is the only severance package.
"Patterns" was an American television play broadcast live on January 12, 1955, remade as a film the next year with some of the same cast. Fred Staples is the newest executive in a large firm. He strikes up a friendship with Andy Sloane, the Vice President to whom he nominally reports. Staples is good at his job and the company's hard-nosed president, Walter Ramsey, is pleased with his choice. Staples has a crisis of conscience when Ramsey tells him that he's been recruited to replace Sloane, someone who has devoted his entire life to the company at the expense of his family. Sloane knows what Ramsey is up to but digs in his heels and refuses to quit. Tragedy ensues forcing Staples to make a choice.
Acting
Ed Begley's trembling dignity vs. Sloane's volcanic menace.
Writing
Rod Serling's dialogue hits like a deposition under oath.
Direction
Cook squeezes claustrophobia from fluorescent-lit offices.
Director
Fielder Cook
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This live TV original made Serling a star and proved small-screen drama could punch like cinema.
Everett Sloane played the TV Ramsey too—he essentially fired himself in the film remake.
US
