topic Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV in TV and Movies

THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Oznell — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 02:42:39 GMT

2:00 a.m. Eastern MeTV -- The Fugitive "Corner of Hell" David Janssen, Barry Morse, Bruce Dern, R. G. Armstrong Sharon Farrell, Dabbs Greer, Sandy Kenyon

As with last week's episode, "Scapegoat", ironies abound in this one. Kimble, escaping police and Lt. Gerard in what appears to be an Appalachian or Ozark setting, runs straight into the turf of local moonshiners.

While the ever- pursuing Gerard runs dangerously afoul of the ill-tempered clan, Kimble at least manages to somewhat blunt their instinctive mistrust of "foreigners". Again, the heavy irony is, that he's put in the position of trying to help Gerard out of a situation in which he is blamed for another's actions...

While Kimble remains true to form in this one, and is an eloquent exemplar of selfless behavior, much of the rest of the cast is forced to embody, and to voice, some of the worst possible stereotypes of any group I've seen on the show. Even Dabbs Greer, the local sheriff, is portrayed as a cravenly lazy excuse for a lawman. And most of the others are shown to be ignorant, malign, loutish yahoos with not a spark of true wit or much humanity among them.

So, although the script comes through with some pointed statements about the relative positions of Gerard and Kimble vis a vis the legal universe, the episode's crude caricatures leave a sour taste, to me.

Oh, as you can well imagine, Bruce Dern as a toothy, despicably amoral backwoodsman makes the most of his flamboyant role. R. G. Armstrong is predictably good as the "patriarch" of the group, "Tully". And at the end, we do get to briefly see Gerard's superior, level-headed Captain Carpenter, (Paul Burch) who is an amusing counterpoint to, and always seems a bit baffled by, the fiercely obsessive Gerard.

Edited to add-- and here's the live streaming episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6KP0F5sHGY

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

twinsister — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 03:36:29 GMT

@Oznell - It sounds like this week's cast of characters are unlikeable as last week's bunch!!

My DVR is set.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 14:32:43 GMT

@twinsister wrote:
@Oznell - It sounds like this week's cast of characters are unlikeable as last week's bunch!!

My DVR is set.

@twinsister You're going to watch the chopped up (edited) MeTV version?

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 15:26:05 GMT

I just watched this, which I wouldn't have again but for our film class since I've never liked it much. Interesting that it said it's from 1964 at the beginning when we've been watching ones from 1965! And as @Oznell stated in her OP, Bruce Dern sure is toothy! 🦷🦷🦷

Of course when I first watched this epi I had no idea who Bruce Dern was. I'm surprised that I didn't dislike this epi as much as I remembered I had. I still don't like it much but as I say. It's not as bad as I was remembering it.

@twinsister I remember Gerard's model of car when those were on the road.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

twinsister — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 15:26:08 GMT

@Pearlee - If I get a chance today, I'm going to watch it on the Youtube link Oznell provided.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 15:38:23 GMT

@twinsister. There were a couple of sound skips on her link but they only lasted a couple of seconds. And no commercials YAY.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 20:45:56 GMT

By the way, this week's title was quite right.

And DJ never came close to cracking a smile. He looked very handsome but also pretty grim throughout.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

drizzellla — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 13:58:18 GMT

Now I know why I don't like Lt. Gerard. He juts his chin out when he talks. Like he's Mr Hot Stuff.

I want to have a car just like Lt. Gerard. The car was smashed into a tree and damaged on the right side. Then in the final scene it was in pristine condition again. I could have used a car like that a few times in my life.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Oznell — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 14:08:57 GMT

Agreed, @Pearlee , he looked appropriately grim (but nevertheless, appealing, natch ).

Ha, @drizzellla , that is funny about the "restored" car- I didn't even notice that. I've found that with the episodes I don't particularly care for, a lot of that kind of interesting detail often escapes me...

Perhaps you also noted as I did, a certain, conceivably chastening, if not humiliating, request that Gerard had to make of Captain Carpenter at the end-- that might have been good in "taming" his rather inflated view of himself, ha.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

twinsister — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 16:08:51 GMT

I liked this episode more than I thought I would.

@Pearlee - thanks for pointing out about the sound quality in the link. I would have thought it was my laptop. I do remember those cars back then. You are so right about the title - perfect for this one.

Anyone notice the stunt double when Kimble jumped out of the truck?

Evie made me laugh when she tried to doll herself up to impress Kimble. When she woke up from the concussion seeing him brought a smile to her face.

The dialogue between Kimble and Gerard was very ironic. When Gerard said "there was a man" and Kimble responded "but you couldn't prove it" I thought turnaround is fair play.

I was surprised that at the end Gerard didn't offer Kimble at least a nod or some kind of acknowledgement that because of him, Gerard was alive. I thought that after being falsely accused, that might have chipped away at Gerard's steadfast belief that RK was guilty. Maybe think to himself if it happened to me....

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 17:09:54 GMT

@twinsister. Many of your comments are similar to mine. I enjoyed your post and am glad you watched the YouTube version.

First of all, yes, the point of this entire show was the irony of Gerard being accused of something he didn't do but couldn't prove he didn't do, and facing death for it. I was glad to have watched this epi again if only for the look --daggers shooting from his eyes--- that DJ gave Gerard when Gerard said to him desperately "I didn't do it!"

DJ really was underrated as an actor. As I say, that look alone made watching the epi worthwhile.

And remember Gerard running through water briefly? That brief scene duplicated the old opening in Season 1 when Kimble ran through water and the frogs croaked. Nice touch to put in. Although like your wrecked car observation @drizzellla Gerard wasn't wet from the waist down after that!

Twinsister, I noticed something like you did.When Kimble was tending to Evie's concussion when she first woke up, at one point he asks her "will you try?" And she gives him that "look of love" he received so many times from women.

@Oznell In response to some of your dislikes, I didn't feel the same way about the sheriff because he was right about the hill people! Also, although I do think there are hill people like the ones in the show, I really disliked the fiddle music that played in the early scenes of them. The "turkey-in-the-straw-like" music mocked them as country bumpkin hillbillies which was mean and not necessary. We certainly got the point about them without the need to mock them.

I agree with your comments about the ending, twinsister. I thought Gerard didn't learn a darn thing! And by the way, I haven't heard a firearm / gun/weapon called a pistol in years.

So as I said earlier, although I always remember this epi as being preposterous (as I do an upcoming one where Gerard gets shot) I liked it better than I remembered it. The idea of the irony shown in Gerard's situation (which is mentioned by the narrator in the beginning) was a good one.

ETA Yes I noticed the stunt double!

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 17:04:17 GMT

@drizzellla I just noticed you edited your earlier post from saying you didn't like Kimball (sic) because he jutted his chin out and thought he was Mr. Hot Stuff

I see now you meant Gerard. Glad you edited it because I was going to suggest to @Oznell that she either expel you from class or at least put you on detention for not liking Kimble! 😄

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Tique — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:02:44 GMT

@Pearlee wrote:
@drizzellla I just noticed you edited your earlier post from saying you didn't like Kimball (sic) because he jutted his chin out and thought he was Mr. Hot Stuff
I see now you meant Gerard. Glad you edited it because I was going to suggest to @Oznell that she either expel you from class or at least put you on detention for not liking Kimble! 😄

@Pearlee @drizzellla I saw the original post last night also and thought to myself: Now that's a brave woman.

Was happy to see it was corrected this morning.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:06:22 GMT

@Tique wrote:
@Pearlee wrote:
@drizzellla I just noticed you edited your earlier post from saying you didn't like Kimball (sic) because he jutted his chin out and thought he was Mr. Hot Stuff
I see now you meant Gerard. Glad you edited it because I was going to suggest to @Oznell that she either expel you from class or at least put you on detention for not liking Kimble! 😄

@Pearlee @drizzellla I saw the original post last night also and thought to myself: Now that's a brave woman.
Was happy to see it was corrected this morning.

@Tique @drizzellla. And the post didn't made sense to me because Ive never seen DJ jut his jaw out. And I wondered why Drizzella was even watching the show if she didn't like Kimble!

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Oznell — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:07:31 GMT

Rats, I missed the stunt double, @twinsister ! But then, I'm terrible at that-- even the skating scenes in "The Bishop's Wife" have fooled me, until it was explained to me!

I could not agree more with your last paragraph, @twinsister -- would have loved to have seen more of an acknowledgement from Gerard toward Kimble, or at least more of a kind of bemused look of reassessment, or something! I think it would have enriched the character...

Good point about "running through water" parallel, @Pearlee ! That's astute. Also, about the mocking music. I'm less inclined to give writers a break on this one-- there have been a few too many episodes that almost gleefully (and sometimes, quite ignorantly) depict rural characters in a cartoonish way. I loathe when scripts treat groups-- even "moonshiners"-- as 'monolithic'-- at best, it seems like lazy writing, and at worst, verges on bigotry, I think....

Random observation-- I'm not sure I would have recognized Sharon Farrell if I hadn't seen her name in the credits.... I seem to remember her mostly as "glammed up" in other Sixties' roles....

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

drizzellla — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:15:03 GMT

@Pearlee wrote:
@Tique wrote:
@Pearlee wrote:
@drizzellla I just noticed you edited your earlier post from saying you didn't like Kimball (sic) because he jutted his chin out and thought he was Mr. Hot Stuff
I see now you meant Gerard. Glad you edited it because I was going to suggest to @Oznell that she either expel you from class or at least put you on detention for not liking Kimble! 😄

@Pearlee @drizzellla I saw the original post last night also and thought to myself: Now that's a brave woman.
Was happy to see it was corrected this morning.

@Tique @drizzellla. And the post didn't made sense to me because Ive never seen DJ jut his jaw out. And I wondered why Drizzella was even watching the show if she didn't like Kimble!

I posted that as I was watching the episode. I did it in a hurry because I didn't want to miss too much of the show. It was right at the beginning of the show. I have no idea why I wrote Kimball.

Imagine my surprise when I got up this morning and saw what I wrote. I could not believe that I did that. It is not too hard to tell the men apart. So I corrected my mistake and hoped no one saw what I wrote last night. Guess I was wrong - you did see my mistake.

Well, have to admit it is not the first mistake I have made and sadly won't be my last. Thanks for bearing with me.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

twinsister — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:20:00 GMT

@Pearlee - I had forgotten about Kimble and the water in the old opening sequence.

@Oznell - So true about Sharon Farrell. She was in a lot of 60's shows as the glam, se*y swinger!

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Pearlee — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:26:32 GMT

@twinsister How could you ever forget those annoying frogs? 🐸 😄

@drizzellla That's easy to do, esp if you are typing while watching the show. Thank goodness you don't have to go to detention now!

😄

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

chloe4578 — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:58:38 GMT

@Oznell

The reason I liked this episode is because Gerard finally learned what it was like to be convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and almost hung for it. The one cornered was Gerard, not Kimble. Gerard almost said thank you, when released from the rope but just couldn’t get the words out. Kimble finally had the upper hand, Gerard couldn’t stand the fact that he lost Kimble again. Also thought Kimble understood this group. He understood Farrell trying to steal his wallet, plus the fact that Tully was on his side didn’t hurt.

In retrospect I do agree. The characters, written as being hillbillies of the day were more cartoonish than real, like the Beverly Hillbillies were over the top but a hit series. It really was the times. It’s appropriate to call it bigotry today. Bruce Dern was toothy as you mentioned in your original comment. His early works were horrid characters which he played well. As for Sharon Farrell, I thought she was a very underrated actress.

Re: THE FUGITIVE "CORNER OF HELL" DAVID JANSSEN BARRY MORSE MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Oznell — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 00:29:21 GMT

That's a good 'bottom line' point, about what Gerard had to learn in this episode, @chloe4578 -- I'm understanding a little more about why some of you like the episode better than I do, or at least, don't dislike it as much as I!

How interesting that you mention "The Beverly Hillbillies-- I was thinking of them in relation to this episode too! The difference, I concluded, was that even with the Bev. Hillbillies, they were shown in all their variety. A few were quite shrewd in their own way-- "Jed", and even "Granny" too. Among their extended family were some interesting characters, some benign, some not-- but there was at least variety in their humanity.

Having the Fugitive DVD's, over time we did notice that, for whatever reason, the rural characters were often caricatures, sometimes a whole community, craven or looney or both, etc. I wouldn't have noticed just a one-off, but there did seem to be a bit of a pattern. Not to belabor the point, but it seems to me now to be one small weak factor in what I consider to be one of the best series ever on American TV...

I wonder what it is about Bruce Dern that he seemed to gravitate toward wild, fringey characters right from the start of his career-- they fit him like a glove, and you can almost feel the enjoyment he has in creating them, the more flamboyant, the better!