User Reviews

When the episode begins, 'Mike' (Richard Kimble) is saying his goodbyes to a family of migrant workers, the Kellys. Mr. Kelly swears that if Mike stays with them, the family will protect Kimble's identity, as they figured out a long time ago that he was on the run. Despite this and their daughter being infatuated with him, Mike leaves. Soon Girard arrives...and Mr. Kelly caves in and tells him where Mike is! Fair weather friends, huh?

Well, their allegiance to Mike gets another opportunity. By the time Girard catches up to his quarry, a hurricane has come into the area and the pair are forced to take shelter...in the same barn as the Kellys and other migrants that like Mike. Now they get to see again if they'll rise to the occasion or just sit back and watch Kimble being taken back to prison.

This is an interesting episode because it explores human nature...which can be fickle. Overall, well worth seeing and worth your time.

Even their persuer ,Gerard, who is badly injured inside the barn. Kimble tells Kim, every life is worth saving, and boy did he save Gerard several times throughout the series. Another good episode and excellent cast.

This is one of the very best episodes. Kimble is working as a farmhand near the Gulf of Mexico, where he has made friends with a family of migrant farmworkers, the Kellys: Lester (actor John McIntire), Naomi (actress Jeanette Nolan) and adult daughter Kate (actress Bonnie Beecher), each of whom is strongly and convincingly portrayed.

Kate is sweet on Kimble, and he seems to like her. Jonesie, played by actor Tim McIntire, is a farmworker with a guitar providing running commentary via folk songs throughout the episode. He is upset that Kate now feels about Kimble the way she used to feel about him.

A news article on migrant workers includes a photo with Kimble in the background, leading Lieutenant Gerard to the Crawford farm, a very large farm where the migrants in the photos are said to work. However, a hurricane arrives, making a huge demand for the services of Kimble. Conflicts between the manager and the farmhands raise the tension level.

Gerard captures Kimble, but both are caught by the storm. Kimble repeatedly saves Gerard's life, to the puzzlement of his friends, who cannot understand why Kimble would save the man trying to get him killed. Kate, whose love for Kimble is mature and unselfish, grows in character through her association with Kimble, and her folks learn a few things as well.

Richard Kimble as Mike Johnson has been picking cauliflower with the Kelleys, migrant farmworkers who took him in when he was ill. He bids them good bye in the first scene, off to hop a freight. Girard shows up, threatening to imprison Kelly for a year as an accessory unless he reveals where Kimble went. Kelley chooses reluctantly to reveal that "Mike" is waiting at the tracks, so that he can stay out of jail and protect his wife and daughter, Ida Catherine. Lester Kelly's code is to protect his community at all costs. Girard's code is to catch his man. Girard does nab Kimble at the tracks, and the look in Kimble's eyes says it all. But a hurricane forces them both to spend the night in the barn of the Crawford ranch back with the Kelly family and other migrant workers. Lester Kelley would like to redeem himself, and the migrants attack Girard to help "Mike" escape. Kimble's code now moves to center stage: as a doctor, he will do no harm, and will also do anything to save a life. Girard's and Kimble's relationship becomes deeper during this night. A portion of the barn collapses on Girard, severing an artery so that blood loss leaves him near death. Kimble puts together the equipment to stabilize him. "I guess I'm impressed," mumbles Girard. "But it doesn't change anything," asks Kimble. "It doesn't change anything," agrees Girard. Kimble needs the help of the migrant community to save Girard, but Kelley and his people do not understand why they should save the policeman who wants to execute a man they have come to trust and respect. Ida Catherine, a young woman of perhaps seventeen, is infatuated with Kimble. He respects and cherishes her admiration, but it goes no further. Her love for him leads her to go against her father's instinct to protect the community at all costs, and to embrace Kimble's code, as she volunteers to help Kimble save Girard. This is one of the finest Fugitive episodes. Folk music brings in the hopes of the 1960s. The song that Jonesie plays is about Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, the whole story is listed here http://www.desertusa.com/mag04/july/billy.html.

Kimble is back doing migrant farm work. In fact he's made a lot of friends, including John McIntyre and Jeanette Nolan, two of my favorite actors. Gerard has again tracked him down and, in a hauntingly filmed sequence, has trapped him in a train station. He captures his long- time prey but a hurricane forces them to take shelter with the migrants, putting Gerard in a situation similar to the one he faced with the back woods people in "Corner of Hell": they are on Kimble's side, not Gerard's.

Then Gerard gets hurt and Kimble cares for him. Gerard sees this as an attempt to gain his sympathy. The migrants don't understand it at all. What they are missing is that Kimble, as a doctor, has a sense of professional ethics that are just as strong as Gerard's, if more humane. Gerard needs a blood transfusion: are there any volunteers?

The hurricane in this one is done much better than the one in the first season's "Storm Center". They show less but hint at a lot more and it comes off much better. This episode is enhanced by Tim McIntyre, (John and Jeannette's son), playing and singing a ballad called "The Running Man", (why didn't they call the episode that?), throughout with the lyrics being changed as the situation changed. The ballad was written by the show's executive producer, George Eckstein.

Gerard once again catches Kimble. But once again, Kimble gets away. Gerard knows how to catch Kimble, he just doesn't know how to hold Kimble. And the holding is the most important part of the catching. And once again, there is a girl in love with Kimble. Just once, Gerard wishes a girl would fall in love with him. Gerard knows that Kimble has better hair and a hairier chest, but mostly it's those ears. He knows what they say about the size of a man's ears. But what frustrates Gerard most is that he's supposed to be the good guy here. Kimble is a convicted killer. People aren't supposed to be on his side, but they always are. He slowly comes to realize that people are drawn to Kimble because he is the better person. Once again, he could simply let Gerard die and be done with him once and for all, but again he risks his life to save Gerard's. The other people there can't figure that out, they just know that Kimble is a better person than any of them. Gerard's frustration boils over when Kimble runs away and Gerard can do nothing about it but scream KIMBLLLLE!! And then all the little kids do the same and laugh at him. And once again, Gerard has to go back to Stafford and fill out a report. No wonder people refer to him as Barney behind his back. The one new thing about this episode is Tim McIntire as a balladeer, singing songs about fugitives throughout the hour, including: The fug-i-tive.

He has to keep on running.

The fug-I-tive.

He has to keep on running.

If the one-armed man he finds.

He'll be acquitted of the crime.

The fug-I-tive.

He has to keep on running.

The fug-I-tive.

Watch him run away now.

I've got the DVDs of this show. Recently, I started from the beginning again, and am now into season 3.

Wow, after seeing the glowing reviews for this episode, I was excited to sit down with a glass of wine and be in the midst of a stellar episode. The guest cast had some really big named talent; and one of my favorite tv directors, Joseph Sargent, was running the show.

I was seriously disappointed. I don't know, maybe it's me, but.....except for Kathleen Nolan, the guest stars were actors trying too hard to turn themselves into low-wage vegetable pickers. The whole thing made me feel embarrassed for the actors. I mentioned that I enjoyed Kathleen Nolan, but as a matter of fact, she had very little to do or say.

And that young man who would break into song with his guitar and hackneyed lyrics at the drop of a hat: excuse me, but I got way tired of that young man after his first song. And through each of the 4 Acts, he always had at least one song to grate on my nerves.

The script was weak; the actors looked like that were trying too hard to be agricultural workers living on peanuts. Maybe Joseph Sargent did the best he could with a feeble situation.

I hope that I remember to skip this episode next time I start watching season 3 again.