"The name: Dr. Richard Kimble. The destination: death row, state prison. The irony: Richard Kimble is innocent." - Narrator William Conrad during opening credits to "Fear in a Desert City"
The Fugitive: Season One, Volume One DVD Review
By Casey Richards
Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) is an innocent man. There's only one problem-the state of Indiana doesn't think so. He was wrongly convicted of killing his wife and sentenced to death despite the fact that he saw a one-armed man running from the scene of the crime. As Kimble is being transferred by Lieutenant Gerard (Barry Morse) to death row, the train on which they are riding derails and Kimble makes his escape. Kimble travels from town to town taking on a new guise in each, hoping to not only stay one step ahead of Lt. Gerard but maybe even to prove his innocence. But Gerard is a tenacious foil, so obsessed with finding his quarry that he even shuns vacations.
The similarities to Victor Hugo's classic novel Les Misérables are obvious. Kimble is a modern-day Jean Valjean ruthlessly pursued by Gerard's Javert. Like Valjean, no matter how many good deeds Kimble performs validating his innate morality, he remains guilty in the eyes of the law. The series also employs an old-fashioned storytelling style. Its emphasis is not on Kimble's pursuit of the one-armed man, or even on Gerard's pursuit of Kimble. Instead, the show resembles an anthology series with somewhat picaresque tales about the people Kimble meets while on the run.
This leads to two of the series' main flaws. Kimble seems to fall in love with someone every other week which is a little odd for someone determined to prove that he did not kill his wife. He also reveals his true identity on a regular basis, undermining his position as a man on the lam.
The Fugitive is stylishly shot, often employing shadows and darkness in a noir-esque way. These film noir trappings are a perfectly appropriate match for the show's theme and subject matter.
Of the fifteen episodes presented here, the final two figure greatly in Fugitive lore. "The Girl from Little Egypt" features Pamela Tiffin (One, Two, Three) as Ruth Norton, an airline stewardess who, in a simply yet vividly shot scene, runs Kimble down with her car in San Francisco. She waits by his hospital bedside as he feverishly dreams about his former life, thus filling in the blanks of his relationship with his wife Helen (Diane Brewster, Leave it to Beaver) and her murder. Their marriage was nearly perfect until their son died in childbirth and Helen was given a hysterectomy in order to save her life. Devastated, she refuses to even discuss adoption, claiming that adoption is "a lie." She turns to liquor, and after yet another argument about the merits of adoption, Kimble drives away in a fit of anger. Upon returning, he nearly runs over a one-armed man who is fleeing from his house and discovers that his wife has been murdered. We also see the highlights of his trial, including a clucking jury, nosy neighbors, and his ultimate conviction. Combined with the story of Tiffin's affair with a loutish Ed Nelson (Peyton Place), this episode packs a wallop.
In "Home is the Hunted," Kimble returns to his hometown of Stafford, Indiana, when he discovers that his father, Dr. John Kimble (Robert Keith), has suffered a mild heart attack. He does this at great risk to his safety since Stafford is also the home base of Gerard. He is willing to take that chance, however, since he hasn't seen his family in over two years. He discovers that he still has the support of his sister, Donna Taft (Jacqueline Scott), but that his brother Ray (Andrew Prine, V) has begun to have his doubts. Kimble begins to realize that he isn't the only person affected by his being on the run. Ray, for example, lost his girlfriend of ten years and can't hold a job because he gets fired when his bosses figure out who he is. This episode is also a winner. Be on the lookout for Bill Mumy (Lost in Space) and Clint Howard (Gentle Ben) as Kimble's nephews and James Sikking (Hill Street Blues) as his brother-in-law.
Other familiar faces pop up in these fifteen episodes, including Vera Miles (Psycho), Madeleine Sherwood (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Elisha Cook, Jr. (The House on Haunted Hill), Bruce Dern (Big Love), Sandy Dennis (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Robert Duvall (Lonesome Dove), Ruby Dee (Roots: The Next Generations), Beverly Garland (Scarecrow and Mrs. King), Alejandro Rey (The Flying Nun), Brenda Vaccaro (Midnight Cowboy), J. Pat O'Malley (Maude), David White (Bewitched), Barbara Pepper (Green Acres), Leslie Nielsen (Police Squad!), Jack Klugman (The Odd Couple), James Best (The Dukes of Hazzard), Billy Halop (All in the Family), and Jerry Paris (The Dick Van Dyke Show).
The fifteen episodes that make up The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 1 are divided onto four discs. All four discs are housed in what, from the outside, appears to be a standard DVD keepcase. An interior swinging arms holds two discs while the remaining two discs are affixed to the interior front and rear covers. Each DVD is individually accessible, meaning that you won't have to fumble around and remove one disc to get to another. There is one flaw in the design - the keepcase is clear, allowing the double-sided coversheet show through to the inside of the case. The interior features episode titles, original airdates, and brief plot synopses. Because discs one and four attach to the interior covers, the discs must be removed in order to read the episode guide.
The static menus are functional. Viewers can choose to play all episodes on each disc consecutively or individually. There are no scene selection menus, but chapter stops are included.
