[KING'S CORNER] The Fifth Quarter (2006)

The Fifth Quarter - King's Corner Review

Welcome to King's Corner. A recurring series of reviews based on the film and TV adaptations of Stephen King's novels and collections, reviewed and released in order of the original source material publishing date.

Director: Rob Bowman

Starring: Jeremy Sisto, Samantha Mathis, Christopher Morris, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Christopher Kirby

Written by: Alan Sharp

Produced by: Jeffrey Hayes, John McMahon

Cinematography by: John Stokes

Original Score by: Jeff Beal

Synopsis:

Willie, a just-released convict, learns from his dying friend of a map in four parts that reveals the location of $3.5 million from a robbery.

Thoughts:

When you hear Stephen King's name the first word that springs to mind is horror. It is the genre that has made him a pop culture phenomenon and it is a label he accepts, but to think of him solely in these terms would be a disservice to the diversity in his writing and his exploration of other genres. In the last decade or so of his career he has been writing mostly crime fiction. The most prominent examples of this are his Hard Case Crime novels and his work featuring the character of Holly Gibney. Whilst there is a supernatural element to these stories they are window dressing to allow him to indulge his passion of crime writing. It is this genre that helped inspire and hone his skills as a writer (particularly stories of a pulpish. variety) and at the height of his popularity as a horror writer one story that stands out in the realm of crime fiction is 'The Fifth Quarter'. 

The story was originally published in Cavalier magazine in April 1972 under the name of John Swithen before being added to the 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes' anthology in 1993. It is a tale of revenge that sees the narrator and criminal, Jerry Tarkanian seeking vengeance for his murdered friend Barney who was killed by his accomplices after a heist worth millions. His quest for revenge takes him on a journey to find the stolen money with a map that has been split into quarters. Not much is known about the origins of this story but in the notes section of 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes' King labels it as being a Bachman story or something George Stark (the alter ego of main character of The Dark Half) would have written. That certainly shows in this story, which has all the cynical and dark inclinations of King when he was leaning into the dark pulp side of his writing. 

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Given how there are no horror or supernatural elements to the story, it seems like a strange choice to be adapted for the 2006 miniseries 'Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.' It served as the sixth episode of the series and was directed by 'The X-Files' veteran director Rob Bowman (who also directed the 1998 movie of the show) and the script was penned by Alan Sharp (who was the screenwriter for Night Moves and Rob Roy). With this kind of pedigree behind the episode it would be interesting to see how this crime based outlier sat amongst the other more fantastical episodes in the show. 

The short story is a straightforward tale of revenge that is bolstered by King leaning into his pulpier inclinations so for an adaptation to a 45 minute piece of television some additions were required. With the adaptation it crafts an emotional core through Willie Evans (who is called Jerry Tarkanian in the source material and is played here by Jeremy Sisto) and his relationship with his wife Karen (Smanatha Mathis). He has spent several years in prison (which is alluded to being Shawshank in the source material) which has caused a huge strain on their marriage and his relationship with his son Jackson (Kodi Smit-McPhee). 

Writer Alan Sharp is in pure Noir mode with his writing, especially when it comes to the relationship between Willie and Karten as it taps into the tropes of infidelity stemming from estrangement and the notion of working on one last score to set them up for the rest of their life. Whilst this is nothing groundbreaking to the genre, it is nevertheless a welcome addition in adding meat to the bones of a very internally based story. 

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The changes also add more tension to the story as Willie's final showdown with Jagger (Robert Mammone) as he lurks in the shadows for most of the episode before his stand off with Willie when he holds Karen at knifepoint in their home. Through this standoff Willie gets shot and resigns himself to returning to prison before leaving his wife the map to the fortune (which is resolved in a clunky and unintentionally humorous manner). It is a nice tragic twist to the source material that tries to add more emotional depth to the story rather than letting it become just a simple tale of revenge. The performances from the likes of Sisto, Mathis and the supporting cast are perfectly fine throughout but none really sink their teeth into the material that they are presented. 

In terms of the look of the episode it is completely desaturated of colour tapping into blue and grey with its colour palette akin to popular American drama TV shows at the time like 'Prison Break'. It is a look that may be of its time but it ties in well with the timeless noir elements of the story as it highlights the gritty nature of the lives of the Evans family in their trailer park home, showing the hopelessness and desperation of their situation. Even when Willie tries to instil a sense of optimism about the future this cloud never lifts from the episode. 

'The Fifth Quarter' is a nice change of pace amongst the more horror leaning episodes of 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes' with Alan Sharp's script adding more emotional depth to the source material. As a breezy piece of noir inflected television it is a solid piece of work and at times outdoes some aspects of the source material. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Joseph McElroy