"The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

You don't win anything, Harry. Because I had no knowledge of Ken's "Trek" appearance. Sorry.

But, as a consolation prize, I will award you a half-filled bottle of black hair dye (previously owned by Dr. Kimble).

But in order to win the complete "Edmund Hotel Sweepstakes" (as mentioned in Post #59), you've got to guess the 2 shows I'm thinking of. (And utilizing "TV.com" or "IMDb" as cheating tools will disqualify the applicant. Plus, such tactics will result in Officer Lynch donning his oft-worn pistol and sheriff's hat and tossing you directly into the pokey, with the key then tossed into Myers Lake in Mayberry.)

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

David, do I receive one night's stay if I guess one of the two shows? Without going to IMDb, right now I can think of only one non-cop appearance for Mr. Lynch. But there's a TV-cop connection with this appearance . . .

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Neither one I'm thinking of has any "cop" connection at all.

Sorry....no luxurious Edmund accommodations today.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

How about a ticket to Alaska?

In the episode I was thinking of, Mr. Lynch played a refrigerator repairman ("Is your name BUNKER?") who made a stop on Hauser Street, accompanied by one Ron Glass.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Well I disqualified myself--couldn't help going to IMDB.com. My recollectation of Mr. Lynch playing anything other than a cop is probably tainted by the six appearances of him as a patrolman/FBI type in "Gomer Pyle".


Or perhaps a nice little garden house...?

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Yes, that's one of the two I had in mind.

But I can see no "cop" connection in his repairman role at all. I must've missed that connection.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Ken Lynch played a bartender in the The Twilight Zone's Western-themed episode, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday".

One of the best things about the episode on DVD is that Martin Landau does an audio commentary and still remembers a lot of the character actors by name (including Mr. Lynch) and has very kind things to say about their performances or work in general.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Sorry, I was being vague in my first post in case someone else wanted to take a stab at it. I was thinking of the fact that Lynch appeared on that "Everybody Tell the Truth" episode of All in the Family with a future TV cop in Mr. Glass, of Barney Miller fame.



I feel like a rat in a corner, about to travel a lonely road to the storm center.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Oh, OK. That was a riddle inside a riddle, wasn't it? (hehe)

And Lynch's "T.Zone" appearance isn't the other one I'm thinking of either.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

David, given your deep knowledge of this series I am as to your feelings on Harrison Ford/Tommy Lee Jones - The Fugitive movie. And how it compares to the show.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

I like the movie quite a bit. But, IMO, there's really no "comparison" between the '60s TV series and the 1993 motion picture. The dissimilarities far outweigh any similarities.

For example, it's hard to compare Morse's "Phil Gerard" to Jones' "Sam Gerard". They are totally different in character and attitude. They are both chasing a fugitive named Kimble, yes. But that's where the similarities end, IMO.

You've gotta LOVE that train wreck at the beginning of the movie, though. A great start to the film.

And Tommy Lee is given some fun dialogue to say too, which I like:

"Kimble just did a kamikaze right off this ledge here! Just jumped right in! Holy cow!" [or "Holy one-armed man!"]

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

I reember the movie. I guess I'm probably the only one here that saw the movie before any of the series shows But I'm making up time now with these DVD's I just finished watching the last one in S1V1 with Mom (ny 2nd time around viewing the set). The last one we watched yesterday was "Glass Tightrope". I remember when I watched that one myself the 1st time a few weeks ago, it wasn't one of my favorites in the set at the time, but I'm finding out that the 2nd viewing of this show gives me a little more out of the ones that weren't my favorites the 1st time.

There are a lot of "Ken Lynch" fans out there. I remembered the Twilight Zone episode and one of the "Big Valley's" where he appeared as the sherriff of Stockton.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

VP, very funny

Well, how about....."One Adam 12...a 211 in progress....handle Code 2"

Didn't Ken Lynch play a stick-up guy at the restauarant in an Adam-12?

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

the interesting part of the series is how many episodes aired before we're given a flashback to the night of the killing. We have quite a bit of time to watch Kimble on pure faith that he's not the killer. We never doubt that Harrison Ford is innocent.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Well, you'd better re-think that "Code 2" stance there. A "211 in progress" would invariably yield a "Code 3" declaration from the dispatcher.

So get your "codes" straight, will ya pal? I don't want to have to send Bill Raisch over to your place to straighten you out, okay?




Could be. I have no idey(/idea).

Looks like I'll have to provide a "hint" for the other Lynch non-cop role ---

Think: "Tiger Pajamas".

A strange hint, yes. But appropriate, given the episode in question.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

No, that's not true. What you just said is not correct at all, Corey.

And that's because the viewing audience, right from the opening credits in Episode 1 ("Fear In A Desert City") is told by narrator Bill Conrad that "Richard Kimble is innocent".

So, we really don't have to rely "on faith" in those first several episodes that Kimble is innocent. We're told right off the bat that he's not guilty of the murder he was convicted for.

When you think about it from that unique perspective, it is kind of an interesting "spoiler"-like premise that Roy Huggins and Quinn Martin (et al) bring right out into the open for everyone to hear during the Main Titles for every single show. The credits vary a little from show to show (and season to season), but I think that Conrad tells us of Kimble's positively-"innocent" status at the beginning of all Main Title variations.

So, QM and the producers WANTED the viewers to realize right away that they would be watching a completely-INNOCENT man running for his life each week....versus allowing the viewer to simply guess as to whether this guy Kimble was truly innocent, or whether he was trying to "pull an O.J." on us (for lack of a better analogy).




Well, I'm still not too sure of his innocence myself, Corey.

After all, a few years prior to "The Fugitive" he was seen brandishing high-powered firearms and affiliating with unsavory aliens near Mos Eisley and roaming the galaxy with a "walking carpet" who wouldn't hesitate to pull the arm out of a person's socket if he got angry enough.

Sure, these items above don't make "Dr. Kimble" (alias: "Mr. Solo") a "killer", per se. But it's just food for thought when the D.A. takes the guy to court the next time.



"What a wonderful new smell you've discovered!"

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Here's something I wrote a couple of years ago which has a fun "Fugitive" connection to it. It's a tongue-in-cheek "Mock Trial" kind of thing revolving around Kimble's specific alibi that he used at his Indiana trial.

I inserted former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi into this simulated court scenario, because he is my favorite lawyer (and favorite true-crime author as well). VB's book on the JFK assassination is easily the best book ever written on the subject. (But, that's another kettle of fish altogether.)

It would appear, though, as if I'm placing my favorite attorney into a situation where he is, indeed, trying to convict an innocent man.

Well, I guess this will be merely the second defeat in Bugliosi's career. In real life, VB lost only 1 felony jury trial that he was involved in; and he was 21-0 in murder cases, so this "trial" will be a "Perry Mason" moment for Vince--his first-ever loss at a murder trial (assuming, that is, that the Stafford jury comes back with the proper verdict of "Not Guilty"; but, ya never can tell with juries).

==================================================



OK. 10-4. Point taken.

However -- there's still a pretty big problem/hurdle for Doctor Kimble
and his defense team to overcome in this timeline regard.

And that is:

If Kimble sees the boy fishing at a time quite a bit EARLIER than the
murder (which he obviously DID, seeing as how Kimble sees the killer
{one-armed man Fred Johnson} emerging from the Kimble house and picks
him up in his headlights, which was obviously AFTER DUSK) -- this
leaves an opening for the prosecution to argue (and rightly so) that
Kimble would have easily had enough time to get back home to murder his
wife, Helen, AFTER seeing the boy fishing in the rowboat.*

* = Unless the defense wants to argue the ridiculously-silly point that
Johnson murdered Helen Kimble, but did not exit the house right away
after the killing (possibly deciding to clean up in the bathtub or get
a bite to eat before departing the Kimble residence, a la the
Tate-LaBianca {Manson} killers on their two nights of senseless
slaughter in August 1969).

Obviously, the "delayed departure" argument is a stupid one that likely
never happened. Which means that even if Dr. Kimble IS telling the
truth about seeing a boy fishing (before dusk has fallen) and about
Johnson fleeing the murder scene and catching a glimpse of the killer
"in the headlights" (i.e., after dark), it still wouldn't necessarily
indicate a rock-solid alibi for Dick Kimble.

A good prosecutor like Vincent T. Bugliosi would certainly have
hammered home this "timeline" snafu re. Kimble's alibi and would have
exploited its weaknesses in front of the jury.

Let's listen in as Vince B. makes just such an argument to the Stafford
County (Indiana) jury of twelve.....

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.....this defense team of attorneys
wants you good folks to believe that just because Doctor Kimble saw a
young lad fishing on the lake at approx. 5:50 PM EST on September 17th,
1961, this gives the good doctor an ironclad, fool-proof, non-skid
alibi for the EXACT TIME OF HELEN KIMBLE'S MURDER!!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell this defense team that
IT'S NOT QUITE THAT EASY! It's not at all that easy!

For even if Doctor Kimble DID see young Mr. Smith fishing, alone, on
the lake near Stafford Point on the east side of town...the doctor
could STILL have easily gotten back home in time to murder his wife.
This timeline has been PROVEN by members of the prosecution staff,
ladies and gentlemen! It was proven via three separate re-enactments!

What it comes down to, ladies and gentlemen, is that Doctor Kimble, in
reality, HAS NO USEFUL ALIBI WHATSOEVER FOR THE PRECISE TIME WHEN IT
WAS DETERMINED BY THE STAFFORD COUNTY CORONER THAT HELEN KIMBLE WAS
BEING BRUTALLY SLAUGHTERED!

[Long Pause.....]

Ladies and gentlemen,

Helen Kimble is not with us here in this courtroom today...BUT FROM HER
GRAVE, SHE CRIES OUT FOR JUSTICE!" --- Vincent T. Bugliosi; Lead
Prosecutor; Mock Trial; The State Of Indiana Vs. Richard Kimble; circa
1962

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Yes, it was all pre-decided in advance, that the only way to get a show like THE FUGITIVE on network TV at all was to establish, right up front, that the man is innocent.

The idea that a network series would follow a wife-murderer around from week to week was just not going to happen. Not in 1963. These were the days when justice was always visited upon the committers of crimes, and Roy Huggins and Quinn Martin early on wanted everyone to know that "Richard Kimble is innocent."

Harry

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Ken Lynch - father of flamenco dancing son in the neighborhood talent show episode of Dick Van Dyke. Wasn't the youngest son from My Three Sons also in this episode?

Doug

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Yes....and yes.

Congrats.

Pack your bags (and your black hair dye) -- you are Edmund Hotel bound!

MORE PICS FROM THE S.1, V.2 DVDs.....

Additional DVD screen captures from "THE FUGITIVE: SEASON ONE, VOLUME TWO":

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Thanks, my hair has been grey for so long my wife might not recognize me if I used the dye.

Doug

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

I still want to know why the FBI never updated the wanted poster of Kimble to reflect his jet-black hair.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Yes, that probably would have made it easier to ID Richard Kimble. The FBI were using actually "mugshots" of people when they were arrested for their wanted posters at that time. The picture with greying hair would have been the only picture the FBI would have had on file.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Congrats, Doug! I remembered the Dick Van Dyke Show appearance but didn't remember the episode. (grey hairs).....I bet I have more of those than you

VP, thanks for the additional Screen Caps. I viewed "Garden House" last weekend so it's off to the races for me and the S1V2 set.

I scanned through the Ed Robertson book and see that there's some great stories/scripts in the V2 set. One that I'm looking forward to was something about Kimble getting amnesia and we see more "flashbacks" into the past.


Funny..... How about a silent alarm?

One-Adam-12....a 59376 in progress...."posting classic Reviews without a license"

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

SHERIFF ANDY TAYLOR -- "I warned him this morning on a 702."

JOHN MASTERS (Hotel Clerk) -- "Dippin' a hat in the horse trough."

ANDY -- "Right."


It's common knowledge around Mayberry to know that a "702" (or whatever number it actually was; I don't think it was exactly "702") was the official police department code for "Dipping Hat In Horse Trough".

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Well, something I previously submitted on this very post has taken on an entirely different meaning now.

THE ONLY BLACK MAN TO APPEAR ON THE FUGITIVE MORE THAN ONCE HAS DIED

Ivan Dixon passed away Sunday afternoon in North Carolina at the age of 76.

Besides his memorable turn on Hogan's Heroes as Kinchloe, Mr. Dixon was also a director as well as an actor.

Germanely speaking, Mr. Dixon co-starred with Miss Abbey Lincoln in the 1964 film, "Nothing But A Man", which was regarded as one of the finest films to openly and honestly take a look at the struggles of Black life in 1960s America as it was happening. The song was also notable for using Motowon music from the major Motown starts of the time.

From here, Mr. Dixon went on to appear in not one...but two episodes of The Fugitive in two different seasons. Those episodes were as follows:

1) ESCAPE INTO BLACK, November 18, 1964--Mr. Dixon played a doctor in this epsiode where Dr. Kimble, on the verge of closing in on the One-Armed Man, is rendered anmesiac as the result of a freak gas explosion at a roadside diner. The one-armed man manages to escape--but not before disclosing our doctor to the authorities.

THIS IS A SERIOUSLY IMPORTANT EPISODE IN WHICH THE ONE-ARMED MAN'S IDENTITY IS DISCLOSED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER AS FRED JOHNSON!!!!!!!!

Also of significance is that Mr. Dixon played the high-falutin' doctor treating Dr. Kimble whereas the social worker (played by Betty Garrett) goes on to fight for Dr. Kimble's innocence. A conflict between a black man and a white woman--they were at odds in this episode--played out in this classic black-and-white epsidoe. (The NuVenutres video box disclosed this!)

I will retire for the evening on this particular episode.

DOSSIER ON A DIPLOMAT, March 28, 1967 IN COLOR--in one of the series' final episodes, Mr. Dixon played an African Ambassador named Unawa who offers Dr. Kimble shelter in his embassy after the doctor helps Unawa up following a collapse on the street. As long as Dr. Kimble remains in the African litigation--which is considered International soil--he is safe from Gerard and his ilk. However, Mrs. Unawa (played by the late, great Diana Sands) fears the doctor's presence will hurt their diplomatic stability, so, needless to say, Gerard shows up, anyway.

Both these episodes made the NuVentures Home Video VHS cut back in the 1990s.

With all the mention of people making more than one appearance on the show, I only thought it was fair the passing of this fine actor-director deserved the same measure of dignity and respect as have all the other aforementioned figures from this fine show who has since passed away during these fine DVD releases of this classic TV series.

The "Escape Into Black" episode, BTW, is on tap for the very next DVD release of The Fugitive--just days before my birthday in June.

I shall dedicate that purchase to the memories of Lois Nettleton, Barry Morse, Suzanne Pleshette and Ivan Dixon--ALL OF WHOM ARE UP NEXT IN THE COMING VOLUME!!!!!!!!!!

R.I.P., Ambassador Unawa. Thanks for everything.

Like all the others, you left behind plenty to remember.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

I always wondered whether "Fred Johnson" was his real name or not. In WIFE KILLER they find several different aliases in his wallet. It was also a bit of a bland name for such a phantom-killer type guy.
Ever see Bill Raisch's appearance in LONELY ARE THE BRAVE with Kirk Douglas? He's playing essentially the same guy (nasty)

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Maybe that was the idea, for the name of such a phantom-type killer to have such a name as a Fred Johnson.

Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review

Watching the opening of the show, I have a question that maybe one of you mega Fugitive fans can answer- where does the shot in the opening of the show of the derailed train (with the conductors standing outside of the train) come from? I doubt a TV show in 1963 could afford to stage a train derailment so I assume it's pulled from a United Artist movie but I'm curious if anyone knows that shot's origin.