User Reviews

I liked it very much. I liked the story and the character Davey. I felt very sorry for him. I think Jack Weston played him just perfect. I think Jack was a very good actor. I hated that mean brother of his, Frank. That must mean he was a good actor. I was shocked by the scene where Frank actually bull-whipped his own brother, Davey several times.

I have actually been hit with something similar, so i know that intense stinging pain. You just want to go and punch him and whip him instead so he could get a taste of his own medicine. Gladly, i seem to remember our great hero Dr. Richard Kimble coming to his rescue and gave that bully a punch. I like the outcome of this episode. I have seen season 1 and 2. I hope season 3 and 4 will have more great episodes as this one.

The doc gets a ride from a friendly stranger, who asks him to drive for a while so he can sleep. Kimble reluctantly agrees, and soon crashes the car. Not his fault, of course, but as he tries to recede into the scenery the sheriff decides to throw him in jail anyway. In the cell is Davey, a rather slow guy with drinking, eating, esteem and weight problems. Davey is played by Jack Weston, who a few years before was the father to 3 chimps in The Hathaways. The experience took its toll. Kimble tells him he likes big fat slobs, but in a nice way, and they become friends. Davey is there sleeping off a drunk and is released to catch a bus home. Kimble knocks out the sheriff, since he was fingerprinted and his true identity will soon be known, and escapes with Fatso. They hop a convenient freight to Davey's home town, where Kimble is surprised to see Davey's family has an impressive horse ranch. He is also surprised to see how cruelly Davey's brother, Frank, treats him. Davey's mother is glad to see him, but his bedridden father is very cold. Dick tries to help Davey gain some confidence around the horses, but his brother rides up and taunts Davey and starts whipping him. Kimble sees this, and he and his stunt double give Frank a good thrashing. Frank then questions exactly who Kimble is and threatens to find out, which causes Kimble to move on. Davey tells Kimble the sad story of getting drunk and setting the barn on fire, and Kimble tells him why he has to leave, about the one arm man and all. Meanwhile, Gerard gets word about the doc's fingerprints and runs off to Kentucky. Carpenter is getting fed up with Gerard's obsession by now, as Gerard refuses to do anything else but run after Kimble, and even if he catches him, loses him before he can bring him in. Anyways, Kimble gets a ride out of town from Davey's mama, who tells him that Davey planned setting fire to the barn for a long time. Dick doesn't believe that, and knows how people can be wrongfully blamed for stuff. So he goes to the barracks where Frank was stationed at the time, and then risks everything by coming back to Davey's house. He tells Davey's parents that Frank was AWOL at the time of the fire and was the one who did it. The cops, including Gerard, are approaching the house so it's real dramatic now. Kimble slips on out the side door and everyone covers for him, even Frank. Davey later gets a letter from the doc, addressed to his house in Ellsmore, KY. In truth, there is no Ellsmore, but there is an Elsmere. It's a wonder the letter got delivered.

It's said that Davey is 5-8, but in reality, Weston was 5-11. Janssen was 6-0.

Like most TV shows, "The Fugitive" spent the first nine installments figuring itself out, trying one basic story-line after another. (The previous installment, for instance, was more like what you'd expect from an Agatha-Christie whodunit than like "The Fugitive".) Now the basic pattern is established: Dr. Kimble helps troubled strangers face their demons and, in a climactic moment, take ownership of their lives, usually by unexpectedly helping him escape instead of turning him in. This installment is a particularly gratifying variation on the theme. It's so satisfying, and now it's the norm.

For the first time in the series, the amazing, versatile, infinitely productive Ida Lupino directs, and puts many hours worth of tension and subtlety into one hour of viewing-time. She loves these brief shots of someone's face in which the actor shifts his gaze from one direction to another, as the character considers his options and assesses the situation. For instance, watch the scene where Kimble confronts the nasty thin younger brother "Frank", who is horsewhipping the mentally impaired character "fatso". She gives a tight, masterful sequence of three of these rapid-eye-motion facial close-ups, about one second each, as each character shifts his gaze from one of the other two to the other. The whole hour is filled with directing-gems like this.

Finally, Barry Morse has fully understood his character (Lieutenant Gerard) now: passionate but disciplined, irritable, ultra-energetic, determined, observant, subtle, and keen, as if Sherlock Holmes had grown to middle age, moved to USA, and taken a job in the late 1950s' police force. When he's onscreen, you can feel how great the odds against Kimble are. He may escape this time, and maybe again next week, but sooner or later, the reckoning will come.