Fugitive comes to DVD in a 33 disc set on Nov. 1st 2011 (5 Viewers)

[Harry-N]

So, only one player in the game who thinks he knows the answer to my trivia question.

Well here are the answers:

J.D.Cannon and Diane Baker, along with Brian Keith all were actors in the film KRAKATOA: EAST OF JAVA. (Yes, I know the geography of the title is wrong!)

The film that won the Oscar instead for special effects that year was the David Janssen-starring MAROONED.

Harry

 

[Doug Wallen]

Nice bit of trivia. I am familiar with Marooned, did not know it won the Oscar for effects. I saw it many years ago on tv in the early 70's maybe.

I have only heard of the other one.

 

[stevelecher]

I cheated and looked it up, though I didn't know which Janssen film it would be. I figured one of the actors had to be Brian Keith, looked up his output for the period, and found a movie that had two guest stars from The Judgement. Didn't expect it to be those two, thought Richard Anderson would be one of them.

I couldn't reveal the answer because of the cheat.

 

[Carabimero]

Marooned is one of those movies I used to watch on TV late at night when I was little. I remember someone telling Janssen something was impossible, asking "How do we do it?" and Janssen crosses out two pages of a tech manual and replies "That's how." I don't know why that particular scene sticks in memory (or even if I am recalling it accurately), but it does.

 

[Harry-N]

A little under the weather last evening, I decided to head to bed around 10 PM and thought, gee, Tuesday, 10 PM, must be time for a FUGITIVE episode. Realizing that we're closing in on many 50th anniversaries this year, I thought I'd check which episode would have been on 50 years ago last night. It turned out to be "Coralee", not a favorite of many. I didn't get very far though, the "sleepies" won out.

Since "Coralee" was the last new episode of the third season, our next 50th anniversary won't be until the fall, Sept. 13th, with "The Last Oasis".

 

[stevelecher]

I thought I'd check which episode would have been on 50 years ago last night. It turned out to be "Coralee", not a favorite of many.

For pretty good reason. It's a bit of a stinker.

 

[Harry-N]

The worst part of "Coralee" has to be the logic at the beginning. Someone dies that Kimble works with. He has to know that there might be the potential of police involvement, yet he risks that to help out the pretty, shunned woman. He should have kept on going as he walked off the dock.

 

[stevelecher]

And then at the end, with the police hot after him, finds the defective helmet and takes the time to tie it to the line that they would soon be pulling up. Remarkable.

 

[stevelecher]

Lois isn't nearly as twitchy as Sandy Dennis, though, the all-time Queen of Twitchiness. I find it nearly impossible to watch Sandy Dennis, with all of her twitchy business -- momentary clearings of the throat, half-started sentences -- I find myself yelling at the screen, "Finish your damn sentence, Sandy, and get on with it!"

I'm going to have to watch Other Side Of The Mountain now. Didn't think she was too twitchy there.

 

[Harry-N]

I always found it an interesting quirk of scheduling that Lois Nettleton appears in episodes #89 and #92. Of course there was an entire summer season in between originally, but these days with binge watching, her sudden reappearance can be a bit jarring.

Harry

 

[rjd0309]

R.I.P. Madeleine Sherwood

 

[stevelecher]

I find it nearly impossible to watch Sandy Dennis, with all of her twitchy business -- momentary clearings of the throat, half-started sentences -- I find myself yelling at the screen, "Finish your damn sentence, Sandy, and get on with it!"

Oops, I feel that I've gone off on a rant once again.

Well, I watched Other Side Of The Mountain tonight, paying close attention to Sandy Dennis. I haven't seen that much of her work but, in this instance, her performance seems totally appropriate for the part. Perhaps she honed her twitchy style as she matured. There may be just a bit here but I was watching awfully closely. I like her here. Then there's Bruce Dern, R.G. Armstrong, and Frank Sutton and we have a fine episode.

Followed this up quickly with Smoke Screen. You can see what's going to happen from a mile away but I've always liked it. The scene with Kimble and the nurse trading their educational backgrounds is fun and who wouldn't be as incredulous as that nurse? Dismayed and saddened to read that the actress playing the pregnant wife died in 1964 of suicide at the age of 30. What a shame.

 

[rjd0309]

Well, I watched Other Side Of The Mountain tonight, paying close attention to Sandy Dennis. I haven't seen that much of her work but, in this instance, her performance seems totally appropriate for the part. Perhaps she honed her twitchy style as she matured.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. I watched it recently, too, and found her to be just as annoying as I had remembered. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[stevelecher]

Ha, I wondered if this specific performance bugged you or not. Of course we can differ on this. I just never thought about her twitchiness until you mentioned it. At least you can tolerate Lois Nettleton's twitchiness.

 

[Carabimero]

I skip to the second disc most times I start watching the series. While The Other Side of the Mountain is IMO the best the first disc has to offer, and probably the first show done in what would later become the Fugitive style, her character borders on a caricature for me, and I almost always skip that episode. I don't think the reason is all her, though. It's just not an episode I have ever cared much for, despite having Gerard in it.

 

[rjd0309]

Ha, I wondered if this specific performance bugged you or not. Of course we can differ on this. I just never thought about her twitchiness until you mentioned it. At least you can tolerate Lois Nettleton's twitchiness.

JULES: Lois has got personality. Personality goes a long way.

VINCENT: Ah, so by that rationale, if Sandy had a better personality, she would cease to be annoying.

 

[stevelecher]

Lois is far more interesting for me than Sandy Dennis. Hmm, suddenly I'm hungry for a Royale with cheese.

You know Carab, I generally start with disc 2 also, for just your reasons. Never Wave Goodbye, the first episode I saw in 1963, is almost as good as Fear In A Desert City as an introductory episode. It starts off with Gerard's conversation with the Captain about the case, his feelings about it all, he tells us a bit about Kimble, and then we meet the very likable and sympathetic character of Richard Kimble in a very exciting episode. I don't think Fear nor The Witch would have reeled me in back then like Never Wave Goodbye did.

 

[Dan McW]

Then there's Bruce Dern, R.G. Armstrong, and Frank Sutton and we have a fine episode.

I love R.G.'s line in this episode about the search dogs' ability: "Them dogs couldn't track a bear through a flour mill."

 

[Carabimero]

I like RG's line about Gerard having gumption. I think that's probably my favorite part of the episode. The respect between the men at that moment is something I always enjoy.

 

[rjd0309]

I've become accustomed to the fact that Richard Kimble is constantly on his guard. He's always on the lookout for the police. When a policeman comes around the corner, Kimble thinks fast and comes up with a clever escape.

Which is why I was disappointed with World's End. There is a scene in which Kimble is checking out of his hotel room. At the same time, Gerard and a local policeman (Dabney Coleman) are headed to Kimble's room to arrest him.

As the police take the elevator Up to Kimble's floor, Kimble takes the other elevator Down to the lobby. Kimble avoids capture by mere seconds -- no quick thinking necessary, no clever escape plan, just dumb luck.

At the end of the episode, Gerard and the police have set a trap for Kimble at an airfield. Kimble's girlfriend (Suzanne Pleshette) reveals that the one-armed man did not die in a fire, but is still very much alive.

Kimble realizes that his search for the OAM must continue, and that he cannot leave the country with Suzanne as planned. He departs the area by flagging down a passing bus -- no quick thinking necessary, no clever escape plan, just dumb luck that a bus just happened to be passing by.

Kimble pulls off two miraculous escapes, and in neither instance was he even aware that Gerard was moments from pouncing on him. This strikes me as really sloppy writing.

Yet the writer, Stuart Jerome, also penned the classics Nightmare At Northoak and Search In A Windy City. They don't come any better than those two episodes. Stuart must have had a case of writer's block with World's End, and just couldn't come up with anything better.