Written by Old Bluffer 3rd Jan 2007

Kindly written by Kooshmeister

Cressner is a wealthy and powerful gambler who appears in the second segment of the film entitlted "The Ledge." Cressner discovers that his wife has been fooling around with tennis pro Johnny Norris. Like most jilted husbands in these kinds of stories, Cressner enacts a complicated revenge plot against Norris, first having him kidnapped by his henchmen and brought to his penthouse apartment on the 30th floor of the building he lives in.

Cressner, who has a love of betting, tells Norris that if he can circumnavigate the titular 5-inch ledge surrounding the 30th floor, he can have "the girl, the gold watch, and everything," no strings attached. Without any other choice, Norris accepts the wager, and, much to Cressner's consternation, successfully completes the Herculean task. Cressner, a sore loser, reveals to Norris once he gets back inside the apartment that while he was out on the ledge, he had his wife killed, and presents her severed head to him.

This proves to be a mistake. Enraged, Norris attacks Cressner and his henchman Albert, killing Albert and holding Cressner at gunpoint with Albert's gun. Cressner, seemingly unafraid, offers Norris a lot of money in exchange for sparing his life, but Norris is uninterested. But he isn't going to simply shoot Cressner, either. Instead, he forces the gambler out onto the ledge himself, intent on forcing him to endure what he endured!

After further offers of higher sums of money fail to move Norris, an indignant Cressner begins attempting to navigate the ledge. He's just reached the first corner when a pigeon lands on the ledge and begins pecking at his ankle (this same bird had earlier pestered Norris in this fashion).

Cressner is unwilling to adjust to the new pecking order.

Attempting to kick the annoying avian away, Cressner loses his balance and then falls over backwards off the narrow ledge. He screams all the way down and lands on the novelty bicycle horn he'd used to startle Norris earlier and had then dropped, making it bleat loudly to signal his demise.



Screenshots provided by Kooshmeister