User Reviews

I grew up watching The Fugitive, but did not see the first episode of this superb series until years later. It's incredibly suspenseful, right from the start...beginning with William Conrad's opening narration which dances perfectly with David Janssen's always subtle body language. The musical score augments the tension in every scene.

In this first episode, which is my personal favorite, Kimble is working as a bartender in a Tucson nightclub under the pseudonym, Jim Lincoln. Vera Miles, who portrays a depressed pianist there, becomes understandably attracted (as do most women in the series) to our shy though always supportive hero. The problem is that she's being stalked by her estranged, though possessive cowboy husband, performed perfectly by Brian Keith...who also owns half the state and apparently has significant influence with the local police.

Being a physician with keen clinical acumen, Kimble is quick to pick up on the husband's dangerous paranoia, but is confronted with an internal moral conflict to flee in the interest of self-preservation versus to stay out of Hippocratic devotion to the desensitized pianist and her son. This turns out to be a recurring theme throughout the series, and exemplifies just how much doctors were deified in those days. Ultimately, there is a climactic and unnerving confrontation between Kimble and the psycho husband. (Janssen actually broke a couple of ribs in this scene, which is a testimony to its realism.)

In the epilogue, Phillip Gerard, "the police lieutenant obsessed with his capture" (as he is described in the opening credits), interrogates Miles' character on the whereabouts of Kimble. Now convinced of his innocence regarding the murder of his wife, she provides no clues to the perennially frustrated Gerard.

At the end of Fear in a Desert City, the viewer is left with mixed feelings of relief and sympathy for the good doctor, as well as a compulsive desire to follow Dr. Richard Kimble's plight to its end...4 years and 120 episodes later.

This, the first episode, is a very fitting beginning to the saga of Dr. Richard Kimble, fugitive. Kimble (using the name Jim Lincoln) takes a job at a bar in Tucson, Arizona, and meets the piano player, Monica Welles, played by actress Vera Miles. Monica is bothered by a male patron of the bar. Kimble repeatedly protects her, thereby acquiring an enemy. He later learns the man bothering her is Ed Welles, her husband. Actor Brian Keith does an outstanding job as Ed.

Ed Welles is a major landowner in the state, with enormous influence over the police. He is also paranoid, jealous, controlling and violent where his wife is concerned. She fled Phoenix to Tucson a month earlier to get away from Ed, but he found her and followed her.

Kimble takes the opportunity to explain his story to Monica, thereby informing viewers about why he is on the run. Due to his impeccable, protective behavior, she of course believes in his innocence. Meanwhile, we see Lieutenant Gerard back in Stafford discussing the case with Captain Carpenter. Carpenter suggests that maybe Kimble is innocent, but Gerard declares it does not matter to him whether Kimble is factually innocent or guilty. The law declared him guilty, and it is not up to Gerard to decide on guilt or innocence, but merely to obey the law and bring in the fugitive.

Child actor Donald Losby (who later plays Sean in "Cry Uncle") plays Monica's son, who at first is cold to Kimble, but later comes to like and trust him more than his own dad.

Actors Harry Townes and Dabbs Greer are very credible as the two police officers whom Ed employs to chase Kimble out of town. Kimble faces severe danger from the police, and from the violent behavior and desire for revenge of Ed Welles.

This classic series begins with an extended version of its eventual opening as we see Richard Kimble handcuffed to Lt. Gerard in a train, on his way to the death house, (today he'd be on his way to death row for decade or more). The train derails and we see Kimble escaping with the now broken handcuffs. Then we jump 6 months later and Kimble is in Tucson, Arizona. William Conrad's narrator, (sounding much like Mark Hellinger in the 1948 movie of Naked City), tells us it's 6 months later and describes Kimble's plight , traveling the country looking for the one-armed man he thinks killed his wife while avoiding Gerard, who is obsessed with recapturing him. "Another journey, another place. Walk neither too fast nor too slow. Beware the eyes of strangers. Keep moving."

Kimble finds a job as a bartender where he develops a relationship with a piano player (Vera Miles) and a very unwanted feud with her possessive and abusive husband, (Brian Keith). Keith is rich and influential and totally crazy, the last thing Kimble needs in his life. Miles is pretty and sensitive, which is something he does need, but scared. She also has a son who is scared for his mother. Kimble tries to leave with them but fate, of course, moves its huge hand….

I think Kimble sees in this woman and her son the family he could have had, making it particularly poignant. That's why I would like to have seen them return for the finale four years later. I would also like to have heard more of the narration from Conrad, highlighting the story and giving voice to Kimble's thoughts, instead of just describing the beginning and end of episodes, as does for most of the series.

As an initial episode, the Fugitive series couldn't have generated a better start. Of all the women Dr. Kimble came across over the course of his life on the run, the one most perfectly suited for him IMO was Monica Welles played superbly by actress Vera Miles.

As a finale, I would have loved to see Kimble go back to the very beginning of his journey and rediscover the love he found with Monica and her son. It would have been a fitting ending.

I was very surprised tonight when I was looking around on YouTube. This is because I found the unaired pilot episode of "The Fugitive" and while the quality of the print sure ain't great, it was well worth seeing.

When the show begins, there is an extended version of the usual opening scene from the series. This time, William Conrad went into more depth about Richard Kimble and his back story. However, you never see anything about the murder, the murderer or the trial. It starts on the train...and soon it derails and Kimble escapes the Death House.

The first plot of the show involves a woman who has a jealous, angry and violent husband. Monica (Vera Miles) plays piano at the bar where 'Jim Lincoln' (Kimble) works. While he's tending bar, a nasty man seems to be trying to provoke him. It turns out it's Edward Welles (Brian Keith)....Monica's husband. Later, when 'Jim' leaves work, he sees Edward in the parking lot beating the snot out of his wife. Naturally he intervenes and Edward speeds off in his car...nearly hitting them both. What's going to become of this poor lady...and how can Kimble help them, as he's ALWAYS out helping others throughout the series? He's sort of a wanted man and social worker all rolled into one. What makes situation tough, however, is that Edward is involved in politics and he's an important man...and he can make it really tough for 'Jim'.

This is a very good installment of the series...too good not be be seen. Perhaps the network chose not to air it because the ending is VERY dark as well as violent. Well written, well acted and a treat for fans of the series.

The plot for this first show has been well covered by others so just a couple of comments.

This episode shows three themes that will be hallmarks of this show's four-year run. First, as with all QM productions, the guest stars are always first rate. This is not only true with the main characters portrayed by Brian Keith and Vera Miles, but also the supporting characters acted out by Harry Townes, Dabbs Greer, and Barney Phillips. All were well established actors and probably cost a little more than other lesser-known performers, but QM always maintained these standards.

Second, the standard Fugitive plot device of Kimble helping out people when he would be better served to run is first seen here. Despite the bad guy have influence with the police and a deteriorating situation, Kimble doesn't run but stays and helps. We will see that about a hundred more times over four years.

Third, women falling for Kimble will be another situation we will see many times. Of course, it is created by the writers, but I give David Janssen lots of credit here. He is a likeable guy with a bit of vulnerability mixed in. If you read many of the comments made by co-stars over the years, he was a nice guy in real life too. Many reviewers, me among them, had wished the producers had brought back one of the many women that Kimble had meet along the way for the two part series finale rather than create a new character just for the ending. I had opted for Suzanne Pleshette or Janice Rule but Vera Miles would have been a great choice. Having her there at the beginning and the ending would have been nice symmetry.

A great start to a superb series. Enjoy!

Watched 'Fear in a Desert City', (1963) an episode of The Fugitive today with David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, on the run, until he can prove his innocence. I recall avidly watching this series & being absolutely in awe, of the acting 'teeth' of Janssen~ Such a fine & respected actor. Poignant exchanges with Vera Miles when he spilled his guts as to his true identity & his soul goal until he could clear his name. The lonely stroll down an anonymous street in an inhospitable city, encountering a kitten, which he picks up & comforts echoed his own plight.... This series, produced in the 60's had everything, great actors, pithy story lines & William Conrad's resonant narration moving the narrative along. Pulsating instrumental music adding depth to the most suspenseful themes, as Kimble followed his quest....to remain anonymous until he hunted down his wife's killer....'Another journey, another place. Walk neither too fast nor too slow. Beware the eyes of strangers. Keep moving'....I absolutely revered him as an actor....

The Fugitive is a Quinn Martin production whose shows were mercilessly parodied in Police Squad.

The Fugitive has all the signs of a kind of television series they made 50 or more years ago. The pacing now looks glacial.

After a prologue as to what occurred to Dr Richard Kimble we jump 6 months later. Kimble adapting to a life on the run where he could be caught at any moment. Lt Philip Gerard is hot on his tail but always arrives just a bit too late.

The first episode sees Kimble under an alias taking a bar job in Tucson. Kimble comes to the aid of a piano player Monica Welles who herself is on the run from her wealthy abusive husband. Ed Welles is suffering from PTSD from the Korean war.

Kimble has now upset the husband and fallen for the wife. Kimble tells Monica everything about his wife being murdered by a mysterious one armed man.

Ed has managed to convince the police to run out a troublemaker like Kimble out of town not realising that he is a wanted fugitive.

Disappointingly I expected the pilot episode to show Kimble on the fateful night like the 1993 film version did. This could be any episode where Kimble shows up somewhere strange and places himself in jeopardy to help out someone.

Brian Keith is very good as the brutish Ed Welles. Despite this being a successful show, there is an element of hokum about it all.

The Fugitive, Fear in a Desert City: the first episode in this unforgettable suspenseful four-year television series begins with Dr. Richard Kimble arriving by bus in Tucson, Arizona.

The opening scenes are filmed at and inside the old Greyhound Bus station, roughly a block south of the old downtown and the historic Congress Hotel. This was where John Dillinger stayed in January 1934 before he was nabbed by the coppers and brought back north to justice. The Tucson bus station has since been relocated, but the Congress Hotel still has rooms to rent.

"Fear in a Desert City" aired in 1963, two months before President Kennedy's murder in Dallas, roughly 950 miles east of Tucson by bus.