The Fugitive - Season Three, Volume Two

Fugitive fans can now complete season three, which won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Dramatic Series, as Volume Two presents the last 15 episodes on a four-disc set. For those who don't know what the series is about, narrator William Conrad said it best:

The Fugitive, a QM Production, starring David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent victim of blind justice, falsely convicted for the murder of his wife, reprieved by fate when a train wreck freed him en route to the death house; freed him to hide in lonely desperation, to change his identity, to toil at many jobs; freed him to search for a one-armed man he saw leave the scene of the crime; freed him to run before the relentless pursuit of the police lieutenant obsessed with his capture.

Over this collection, Kimble turns up in a different location every episode in an effort to remain a free man and clear his name. His main pursuer, Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), appears in a third of these episodes. The one-armed man (Bill Raisch) makes his only appearance this season in "Wife Killer" as reporter Barbara Webb (Janice Rule) finds a one-armed man in a police roundup of transients. She uses his photo to lure Kimble to town and Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse) isn't far behind. When the one-armed man gets into a car accident, Kimble works to save his life and get a confession out of him.

Kimble has other compelling run-ins with Gerard. "Ill Wind" finds Kimble working as a farmhand near the Gulf of Mexico. Gerard learns of Kimble's whereabouts through a news story and captures him. However, they find themselves in the middle of a hurricane and Gerard gets badly hurt. Will Kimble save the man whose mission it is to put him in jail? "The 2130" finds Gerard teaming with Professor Ryder (Melvyn Douglas), who claims his computer can see Kimble's patterns of work and travel and calculate where 's he's going to turn up next.

"Running Scared" strikes close to home for Kimble. After learning of his father's death, he sets up a meeting with his sister. Kimble's prosecutor Mike Ballinger (James Daly) learns of it and thinks catching Kimble would help his run for governor. However, Ballinger's wife, Harriet (Joanne Linville), who already feels neglected, works to help the Kimbles to diminish her husband's chances.

Continuity goes right out the window this episode. In the first-season episode "The Girl From Little Egypt" Kimble's prosecutor is said to be Mr. Rand (Bernard Kates). Also, and more importantly, this is the second of three appearances in the series of Kimble's brother-in-law Leonard. All were played by different actors: here by Lin McCarthy, in "Home is the Hunted" by James Sikking, and in the series finale "The Judgment" by Richard Anderson.

What's even stranger is reconciling the lack of concern about key figures in the series mythology combined with the repeated use of some actors. Telly Savalas makes his third Fugitive appearance, all as different characters, in "Stroke of Genius." "In a Plain Paper Wrapper" finds Kurt Russell returning to the series, although in a less significant role, considering the season before he played Gerard's son.

The series also presents episodes where Kimble's story is not the focal point. In "With Strings Attached" Kimble is concerned about the lengths a violin prodigy (Rex Thompson) will go to get away from his agent (Donald Pleasence). In "Coralee" Kimble begins dating a woman (Antoinette Bower) considered a jinx by the locals because her boyfriend died. When Kimble discovers it was equipment failure, the man responsible tries to make sure that information doesn’t get out.

Unlike many television series that grow dated and stale over time, The Fugitive remains a quality drama over four decades later because of the high quality of the writing and the acting. The black-and-white photography looks exquisite with great contrast, sharp details, and is free of defects. The following and final season was shot in color. Yet again, CBS DVD/Paramount offers no extras to a series that deserves it.

The Fugitive - Season Three, Volume One

The third season of The Fugitive continues the adventures of Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen), a man falsely charged with killing his wife. He roams the country, taking on different aliases and odd jobs in an effort to stay away from the law, particularly the dogged Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), and in the hopes of finding the real murderer, the one-armed man.

"Volume One” is a four-disc set comprised of the first 15 episodes, which aired from September through December 1965. The third season won an Emmy for Outstanding Dramatic Series and was the last shot in black and white. While almost always well-written and engaging, the are a few standout episodes:

Kimble finds himself on a bus approaching a police roadblock on season opener “Wings of an Angel.” However, he’s not the fugitive the police are looking for and the target makes his presence known by taking a woman hostage. Kimble’s heroic nature gets the best of him and while rescuing her, he gets injured, resulting in his being taken to the nearest hospital, which happens to be at a prison. While there, an inmate who recognizes Kimble makes known he will give Kimble up if he doesn’t get him drugs.

Many people try to put Kimble’s identity to their advantage. In “Crack in the Crystal Ball,” a psychic wants to drum up business and thinks helping the police capture Kimble is just the ticket after seeing a wanted poster.

“Middle of the Heat Wave” finds Kimble reliving his fate as he is wrongly accused of attacking Laurel, a woman he has been dating. They were seen fighting earlier and Laurel doesn’t know who attacked her. Kimble must find out the assailant’s identity to clear his name before the police realize who he is.

There’s a break in the Kimble murder case in “ Trial by Fire” when a witness comes forward who can verify Kimble’s story about almost hitting the one-armed man with his car that fateful night. A judge is willing to reopen the case, but it means Kimble will have to turn himself in, which naturally doesn’t sit well with him.

While Lt. Gerard appears in a few episodes, the best is the two-part “Landscape With Running Figures.” While on vacation, Gerard drags his wife along in pursuit of Kimble. She is frustrated by what little attention she receives from her husband, and decides to skip town on a bus. The bus gets into an accident and she is temporarily blinded. A fellow passenger comes to her assistance and she discovers it is Kimble. She tries to get him to stay so the police will find him and she will get her husband back.

TV watchers will notice a bevy of guest stars: Greg Morris, Harold Gould, J. Pat O'Malley, Marion Ross, Richard Anderson, Edward Asner, Suzanne Pleshette, Kim Darby, Joseph Campanella, Clint Howard, Norman Fell, Earl Holliman, Bruce Dern. Before they all got full-time gigs with Star Trek the following year, fans can find William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, and James Doohan.

Season three of The Fugitive continues the high quality of drama the series was known for. “Volume Two” will be released December 8, 2009 to complete the season set.

The Fugitive: Season Two, Volume Two

This release presents the second half (15 episodes) of Season Two, which aired in 1965, of the classic Quinn Martin production about the ongoing adventures of fugitive Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen), a man wrongly accused of murdering his wife Helen, as he travels the countryside in search of the one-armed man he saw leaving his home that fateful night, all the while trying to stay one step ahead of the determined Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse).

The premise of the series made the stories' parameters limitless as Kimble could appear anywhere in the country in the lives of anyone. The four-disc set begins with Kimble in a variation of Double Indemnity entitled “Brass Ring” as Norma (Angie Dickinson) and her boyfriend Lars plan for Kimble to kill her invalid brother Leslie (Robert Duvall) so the lovebirds can make off with the insurance money.

In one typical storyline of the series Kimble is forced into exposing himself by doing the right thing. In “Nicest Fella You'd Ever Want to Meet,” he witnesses a dishonest sheriff (Pat Hingle) kill a prisoner (Tom Skerritt). In “Scapegoat” he has to return to a town where a man was convicted of killing one of his aliases after he left town.

Some episodes appear as if Kimble’s running will end. In “The End Is But The Beginning” while working as a truck driver, Kimble picks up a hitchhiker. To avoid an accident, they swerve off the road and only Kimble leaps from the cab as it plummets down a mountain and catches fire. Kimble sees a chance to trick Gerard into thinking he was the one who died. “May God Have Mercy” throws a monkey wrench at Gerard when a man (Telly Savalas) confesses to the murder of Helen.

Another plot device has people discover Kimble’s identity and attempt to use it to their advantage. The season closer, “Last Second of a Big Dream,” has Kimble working at a financially struggling circus. When Gerard comes around, the owner decides to hold off on turning Kimble in until he can get news photographers there to maximize the publicity for the circus.

Two of the more intriguing episodes strike right at the heart of the series. “Corner of Hell” has a role-reversal as moonshiners threaten to kill Gerard when they wrongly blame him for beating a man’s daughter. Kimble is his only hope. “The Survivors” are Kimble’s in-laws. He goes to see them when he learns of their financial troubles, but while Helen’s father and sister think Kimble innocent, her mother believes he is guilty.

The show had many guest stars familiar to classic television fans, such as Barbara Barrie and Harry Dean Stanton. Although likely common practice for the time, what’s surprising is how often some actors returned to the series playing different characters. During this half of the season, Celeste Holm, Norman Fell, James Doohan, and Jack Klugman each make one of their two appearances. For Michael Constantine, Edward Asner, and Savalas it’s one of three. Richard Anderson and Dabney Coleman make one of four while Bruce Dern tops the list with one of five.

The video has been remastered from the original negative and the black and white photography looks very good for the most part with occasional dirt and marking. The audio has been restored although the disclaimer the “music has been changed” will likely disappoint some completists. The new work sounds too modern and doesn’t mesh with the original music. Also, “some episodes may be edited from their original network versions.”

Even though the programs show their age at times due to some of the performances and situations being melodramatic and the pacing being a tad slow, the writing and acting of the leads will make you want to continue pursuing The Fugitive.

The Fugitive: Season One, Volume Two

The Fugitive follows the adventures of Dr. Richard Kimble, a man on the run after being convicted of murdering his wife. At the start of each episode in this set, the narrator informs the viewer that Kimble is innocent and was unable to prove “that moments before discovering his murdered wife’s body he saw a one-armed man running from the vicinity of his home.” On his way to Death Row, fate offered Kimble a reprieve in the form of a train accident, allowing him to escape his police escort, Lieutenant Philip Gerard.

Over the course of the series, Kimble travels the country searching for the one-armed man, following any lead no matter how slim, all the while trying to stay out of the clutches of the police, especially the determined Gerard. Kimble moves from town to town, taking odd jobs and false names, but since the case made national headlines, he runs into people who know or discover his identity. What keeps the viewer intrigued is never knowing how the characters are going to react to Kimble: do they believe he is a murderer and inform the authorities, do they believe he is innocent and try to help him, or do they believe they can take advantage of Kimble’s predicament for their own nefarious purposes?

The Fugitive is an all-time classic television drama and in 1993 was ranked by TV Guide as the best dramatic series of the 1960s. Produced by the legendary Quinn Martin, it ran four seasons from 1963 to 1967. The finale became the highest-rated dramatic program up to that time, bringing in 30 million viewers, which was then 72 percent of all households. It was unseated in 1980 by the revelation of who shot J.R. on Dallas.

The series has a number of assets, but its greatest is its writing. Kimble is compelling as a lead character because the audience roots for him to succeed. He’s an everyman wrongly accused, a successful plot device that Alfred Hitchcock used to great effect in a few films. The specter of Gerard and the law raises the stakes and creates tension. Kimble being a fugitive created infinite story possibilities for the writers because he could appear anywhere and alongside anyone, the only limitation being Kimble would have to move on by the episode’s end. “Come Watch Me Die” provides an interesting twist as Kimble is sworn in as a deputy and escorts a prisoner. The man-on-the-run formula became a successful template that many television shows have used over the years, both popular (The Incredible Hulk and The A-Team) and obscure (Run, Joe, Run and Two).

The cast is talented. David Janssen played Kimble and was nominated for an Emmy for his work this season. The only other actor to “appear” in every episode was series narrator William Conrad, a television icon for both his acting and voiceover work. Barry Morse played Lt. Phillip Gerard, an allusion to Inspector Javert from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Like many old series, it is fun for TV buffs to see what actors appear. The most well known include Claude Akins, Lee Grant, Carroll O’Connor, Warren Oates, Telly Savalas, Bruce Dern, and Diane Ladd. Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn shows up in a small role as a television reporter.

This four-DVD set presents the final 15 episodes of season one in airdate order. The shows have been transferred from the original negative with restored audio and according to the liner notes “some episodes may be edited from their original network versions.” The video looks crisp and clean, accentuating the beauty of the black-and-white footage. The Fugitive is a quality series that deserves to be in the video library of any serious TV-on-DVD collector.