Ok, this is a long shot. I need help finding a tv show that aired in the 70s. I think it was either part of a 'twilight zone' type show or a standalone tv movie. I remember that the main actor in this episode was possibly Jack Lord, but it was about a man who takes his girlfriend (wife?) to visit his old hometown, but it doesn't exist when they get there. Also, he comes across characters he knew growing up, but they either shun him, or in at least one case a woman runs away screaming when he mentions where he's from. I think there was a street sign with the name of the town in the closing shot. Don't know why, but it's been driving me nuts lately trying to remember this. Anyone got any ideas?
I remember a similar programme to this. It was about an American soldier being held captive in a jungle prison during the Vietnam War. He and another soldier were chained up in a swamp and he kept his spirits up by telling his buddy about his perfect life/ wife etc in a small American town. They eventually escape and he takes his new friend back to his hometown but it turns out that it is all a figment of his imagination. Apparently a coping mechanism his subconcious has created to help his cope with the daily horrors and torture he is enduring. Can't remember all the details but I know it finishes with a shot of a street sign, which is crucial and it shows two street names which he has amalgamated to invent the fictictious town name. Can't remember who was in it but it definitely wasn't Jack Lord.
Sorry, don't remember the street names, think they were quite ordinary. Its something I have always wanted to see myself again. I think I was about 10 when I saw it, (about 1980). It was definitely in colour but from memory seemed quite a low budget thing. That's about all I can remember at the moment but if anything else comes back to me I will let you know.
Thank you, osprey! I knew I'd seen this and it was bugging the hell out of me (enough to go through episode descriptions for every Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Night Gallery ever made!).
The production starred Martin Landau as a career officer who is rescued after two years in a bamboo cage. To remain sane in prison camp, he remembers every detail about his home town, Charles, Vermont. When he is released, he discovers that no one has ever even heard of this town and that he actually lives at the corners of Charles and Vermont in a rough part of Philadelphia.