FUGITIVE, THE {ORIGINAL SERIES}: FEAR IN A DESERT CITY {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The premiere of this series of dramas about Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent man convicted of his wife's murder. Unable to prove his innocence, Kimble escapes en route to prison and searches for the one-armed man who he believes is the murderer.
Dr. Kimble, a fugitive for six months, takes the alias "James Lincoln" and gets off a bus at Tucson, Arizona, where he quickly checks into a hotel and gets a job as a bartender. He continues to dye his hair so that the authorities will not recognize him. Lieutenant Phillip Gerard continues to track down Dr. Kimble; he expresses his desire to enforce the law, right or wrong. At his new job, Dr. Kimble gets confrontational with a bar patron who seems to have an unhealthy interest in Monica Welles, a piano player at the bar. Dr. Kimble manages to get rid of the man; Monica says she appreciates Dr. Kimble's help, but doesn't want him to get involved with the man; she seems upset at the encounter. When he gets out of work, Dr. Kimble sees the bar patron assaulting Monica in the parking lot. He manages to break up the fight and gets the man to drive off.
He and Monica return to her home, where she reveals that the man is Ed Welles, her husband. They used to live in Phoenix together but she left him because of his constant insane suspicions of her. She elaborates that she discovered she was pregnant with his child while he was fighting in the Korean War, and Ed began to believe that the child might not have been his. Upon his return his suspicions grew until Monica could stand it no longer. She left and got her job at the bar, but Ed found her eventually and continues to stalk her. Monica fears to go to the police, as Ed is affluent and has many social and political connections throughout Arizona. Her son Mark awakens and overhears this conversation; Monica introduces him to Dr. Kimble. Dr. Kimble feels he can do little to aid Monica, but she feels better telling someone about it and they arrange to go out with Mark to the local amusement park the following day.
After Dr. Kimble returns to his hotel room, Ed visits him and goes on a drunken rant. He makes a veiled threat against Dr. Kimble by showing him his loaded handgun. When Dr. Kimble tells Ed to leave Monica alone, Ed warns Dr. Kimble to get out of town before leaving. The next day, Dr. Kimble, Monica, and Mark go out to the amusement park together. Mark seems to be warming up to Dr. Kimble. Dr. Kimble tells Monica of Ed's visit and she points out he could go to the police about it since Ed overtly threatened him, but Dr. Kimble replies that he cannot; he does not explain why. Unbeknownst to them, Ed is at the amusement park and spies on them from afar. That night at the bar, Ed visits Dr. Kimble and Monica at work and reveals he was spying on them at the amusement park. He and Dr. Kimble argue before Ed departs.
When Dr. Kimble and Monica get out of work that night and call a cab, Dr. Kimble is taken into custody by a pair of police detectives; he instructs Monica to leave without him. The detectives ask Dr. Kimble some basic questions and he starts getting nervous. They drive him back to his hotel room and insist on inspecting it. They say Ed has lodged a complaint against Dr. Kimble for disrupting his marriage. Dr. Kimble tries to set them straight, but their suspicions grow when they find Dr. Kimble's hair dye. They warn him to leave Tucson that night. Dr. Kimble takes a cab to Monica's home, where he tells her he's leaving and warns her not to follow him. He decides to reveal the truth about his identity and explains the details of his situation: that he was a pediatrician whose wife was unable to conceive and unwilling to adopt. Upset, he took a drive and returned to find a one-armed man rushing out of his house and his wife dead. The ensuing eighteen month-long trial convicted him of the murder, but his train derailed before he could reach the site of his execution and he's been a fugitive ever since. He cannot go to the police because they are on a massive manhunt for him, spearheaded by Lt. Phillip Gerard, who is relentless in his search and whose seeming presence haunts Dr. Kimble constantly.
Despite all this, Monica decides to leave with Dr. Kimble and they kiss. Dr. Kimble, Monica, and Mark buy bus tickets to San Diego and prepare to leave, while Ed is hot on their trail. Just before they board the bus, Ed confronts them and tries to shoot Dr. Kimble, but Dr. Kimble stops him and they fight. Ed gains the upper hand and holds Dr. Kimble at gunpoint, but the police arrive and shoot Ed before he can act. Dr. Kimble tells Monica she has nothing more to fear and can return home, but he must part ways with her. He walks off into the distance as more police arrive. At Ed's funeral, Lt. Gerard confronts Monica, asking where Dr. Kimble is. She does not know, but lets Lt. Gerard know that she believes Dr. Kimble's story. The episode ends as Dr. Kimble, far away in a new town, walks off into the night fog. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: September 17, 1963 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:49:10
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:63298
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/detective; Crime and criminals
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1963-1967
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Quinn Martin … Executive Producer
- Alan Armer … Producer
- Arthur Weiss … Associate Producer
- Walter Grauman … Director
- Roy Huggins … Created by
- Stanford Whitmore … Writer
- Peter Rugolo … Music by
- David Janssen … Cast, Dr. Richard Kimble
- Vera Miles … Cast, Monica Welles
- Brian Keith … Cast, Edward Welles
- Harry Townes … Cast, Sgt. Burden
- Barry Morse … Cast, Lt. Phillip Gerard
- Paul Birch … Cast, Captain Carpenter
- Dabbs Greer … Cast, Sgt. Fairfield
- Donald Losby … Cast, Mark Welles
- Bryan O'Byrne … Cast, Ticket Agent
- Barney Phillips … Cast, Cleve Brown
- Abigail Shelton … Cast, Evelyn