Turning back to the original discussion, I think that from the documentation that I read in Bill Warren's book and in Tom Weaver's commentary on the It Cam from Outer Space DVD, Bradbury might had had enough of Essex' position that he wrote the film and did not give Bradbury a fair shake, and so Ray might have lobbed a dirt clod back at Essex. Perhaps this first wave of pettiness reflects poorly on Essex, then Ray's lob casts him in not the most positive of light, but I think in the end both the writers' previous and subsequent works and careers speak for themselves.