The Fugitive

directed by Roy Huggins
Category: "Television"
Year of Release:1963
Date Added:03/14/2019
Date Watched:03/13/2019
Description:Four-season series about a man, Richard Kimble (David Janssen) who is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. On the way to the penitentiary, the train carrying him and Lieutenant Gerard (Barry Morse) crashes and Kimble escapes. For four years, he flees Gerard's pursuit while attempting to find Fred Johnson (Bill Raisch), the one-armed man that Kimble saw fleeing his house on the night of the murder. In the final tw0-part episode, Kimble locates Johnson but is captured by Gerard. He convinces Gerard to give him 24 hours to prove his innocence, which he finally does when a neighbor comes forward and admits to having seen Johnson kill Kimble's wife. (The neighbor hadn't said anything earlier because he stood by like a coward and did nothing to try to prevent it.)
My Rating:8

Reviews for The Fugitive

Review - Fugitive, The

A great concept for a show—an innocent man fleeing his dogged pursuer while, in turn, pursuing the one person who can prove his innocence. Janssen was great as Kimble. Morse was good as Gerard, although he overplayed his ruthlessness at times.

There were some dull episodes, and a few ridiculous ones, but most were interesting. It was a bit odd how the many actors kept showing up playing different roles while a few kept appearing in the same roles. It was also obvious that the producers decided to up the love story angle in the final season. In most episodes, Kimble fell for some woman that he just had to leave after a week or two. Therre was a woman in the final two episodes, a girl from his home town who helps him escape capture and find Johnson. He ends up with her at the end, although she only appeared in the final story line. It was comical how Kimble's character managed to get tangled with the police in every episode, and how often he just happened to be around when someone was being kidnapped or murdered or chased by the police themselves.

It was far from perfect, but as the first TV show to actually have a final episode that resolved the plot, it was ground-breaking.
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