Needful Things (film)
A mysterious proprietor named Leland Gaunt, claiming to be from Akron, Ohio, arrives in the small town of Castle Rock, Maine in a sinister-looking black car and opens a new antique store called "Needful Things".[1] The store sells various items of great personal worth to the residents (some of which, like a pendant that eases pain or a toy which predicts the outcome of horse races, are clearly supernatural).Gaunt's first customer is a boy named Brian Rusk who buys a rare baseball card featuring Mickey Mantle in exchange for 95 cents and a prank on his neighbor Wilma Wadlowski Jerzyck.One victim of a prank is a corrupt boat salesman and gambler named Danforth Keeton who embezzled $20,000 of the town people's tax money to pay off his gambling debts.To help Keeton with his problems, Gaunt sells him a clockwork horse-race game that predicts the outcome of any horse race from which he might recoup the $20,000 and replace the money before the townsfolk find out officially.He also learns of the rivalry between the Catholic priest, Father Meehan and Baptist minister, Reverend Willie Rose when he sells to both of them objects from his shop.The first hint of Gaunt's true nature is when he has Brian throw muck from the turkey farm onto the newly laundered crisp white sheets hanging on the washing-lines at the house of Wilma Jerzyck.In return she goes to Dan Keeton's house and places citation notices, allegedly from Deputy Sheriff Norris Ridgewick, all around the interior, accusing him of all his misdemeanors.Gaunt takes a personal measure towards Alan by giving a necklace to his fiancée Polly Chalmers that cures her crippling arthritis.Getting everyone's attention, Alan convinces the townsfolk of Castle Rock to come to their senses, exposing Gaunt's true nature and his web of lies and manipulation.Everyone stops fighting and admits their pranks, but Keeton, who is despondent, walks up to Alan and Ridgewick, pointing a gun at them with a bomb strapped to himself, threatening to blow everyone up.Gaunt walks up to Alan and Polly, telling them they make a cute couple, and he will encounter their grandson in 2053—then departs, presumably to continue his vicious evil work elsewhere, leaving in the same black car in which he arrived.[13] The Character of Alan Pangborn (Ed Harris) would also appear in The Dark Half based on the 1989 novel of the same name, where he is portrayed by Michael Rooker.