THE FUGITIVE "END OF THE LINE" DAVID JANSSEN MONDAY 2:00 A.M. EASTERN METV

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

2:00 a.m. Eastern, Monday-- The Fugitive "End of the Line" David Janssen, Barbara Dana, Crahan Denton, Andrew Prine, Richard Roat, James Hong, Len Wayland

A series of almost random incidents results in Kimble having to hurriedly catch a train in Florida, not realizing he has lost his money and wallet earlier when he hitched a ride with a none-too-scrupulous trucker.

On board the train, when the conductor nears him to get payment for the ticket, he has a choice-- he can risk exposure and arrest on the police-laden train-- or he can nab the wallet and cash of a seemingly solid citizen (Crahan Denton) nearby, escorting his pregnant daughter (Barbara Dana) home from a trip.

The choice Kimble makes results in further entanglement with the problematic father-daughter duo, and also, just what he wanted to avoid: increasing, unwanted attention from the police....

Multiple Fuge performer Crahan Denton as the father, is a refugee from the film "To Kill a Mockingbird", just like Collin Wilcox (from last week's show) was! It would have been even more interesting if those two had been on the same Fugitive episode, but here they follow each other. Producer Quinn Martin clearly found his acting talent everywhere, from both big and little screens, and from theater.

And lo and behold, from a past Kimble "family" episode, we have Andrew Prine, who not so long ago was Richard Kimble's younger brother, the disgruntled race car driver...

I was unfamiliar with Barbara Dana, but I like her. Her character is intelligently quirky, a little mixed-up, and a little feisty. Was surprised to learn the actress/writer was for some time married to fabulous Alan Arkin, and the mother of one of his sons, Anthony. She apparently throttled down her career somewhat while married to Arkin.

Well, once more we have youtube "challenges". The only 'free streaming' video I could find, is not "End of the Line" after all-- it is another episode entirely, obviously mislabeled. And no more of "End..." videos were to be found.

It appears someone is going through at least some of the free Fugitive online episodes, and deleting them-- perhaps b/c of copyright issues? Or, who knows. But hang on-- I believe there will be more available farther on.

In the meantime, erratic MeTV had better not stop airing theirs!

Cool shot above. As always, Kimble has an eye and a heart for the issues of those who struggle....

twinsister · ‎03-12-2010

@Oznell - I just set my DVR so I wouldn't forget, since we don't have the YouTube version available. Hopefully, like you said, the Youtube videos will show up again.

I also never heard of Barbara Dana. I'm glad it is not another "rural" episode.

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

Exactly, @twinsister . Even though it's still somewhat a small town milieu, in this one there's a sense of bustle and "life" going on all around them. Come to think of it, that's one of the many things I value "The Fugitive" for-- the sense you get of teeming life, and all the variety we get to sample all over this huge country....

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

Thank you for the heads up, Oznell. I might even break down a have the episode recorded. Just in case I dose off while watching.

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

Oh, I hope you do record, @drizzellla -- there's something about those 'post-2:00 a.m.' TV airings, rarely do I not nod off, no matter how good the show. Good antidote for insomnia!

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

Well, unfortunately I haven't time to sort my thoughts on this episode properly, but here's a quick take. I did like all the varied and interesting characters popping up-- the cynical fellow con observing Kimble on the train, the quirky cab driver, the Asian American restauranteur who good-naturedly hired Kimble for just a short stretch.... That part of the story was entertaining and almost 'novelistic'.

The fight between the father "Roy Unger", and the boyfriend, "Neil Hollis" seemed especially brutal-- I'm not sure how brutal, because I was cringing and hiding behind my fingers!

And "Betty Jo" 's attitude toward Neil, until the end, was perplexing to say the least-- even after she knew what he had done, whoa. (Wondering if I missed something, because that baffled me). But I had a sneaking sympathy for her character, and she certainly made the right choice in the end...

Sorry this is a jumbled series of impressions, more later...

twinsister · ‎03-12-2010

This episode was good, but again some stuff was implausible. The daughter confessing to her father's murder was to me, just unbelievable. She would rather be in jail for years and lose her baby so her boyfriend would be free. It was nice that she helped Kimble saying he was innocent, even though she had an ulterior motive and he in turn tried to help her. I thought at some point, she was going to go into labor and Kimble would have to deliver the baby!

Kimble was so conflicted about returning the wallet, that he set himself up for more trouble. He should have dropped the wallet in the mail box and be done with it. The other thing that was so implausible for me, was at the end when the sheriff knew Kimble was innocent. He literally got a "get out of jail free" card and instead of leaving town, he goes back to Unger's house. He should have high tailed it out of town, but doing the right thing always stops him,

I like the little half smile he does sometimes.

I think the title of this episode "End of the Line" would have been appropriate for the finale.

twinsister · ‎03-12-2010

@Oznell - You are so right - there were definitely a real varied cast of characters.

Pearlee · ‎06-11-2011

@twinsister wrote:
This episode was good, but again some stuff was implausible. The daughter confessing to her father's murder was to me, just unbelievable. She would rather be in jail for years and lose her baby so her boyfriend would be free. It was nice that she helped Kimble saying he was innocent, even though she had an ulterior motive and he in turn tried to help her. I thought at some point, she was going to go into labor and Kimble would have to deliver the baby!

Kimble was so conflicted about returning the wallet, that he set himself up for more trouble. He should have dropped the wallet in the mail box and be done with it. The other thing that was so implausible for me, was at the end when the sheriff knew Kimble was innocent. He literally got a "get out of jail free" card and instead of leaving town, he goes back to Unger's house. He should have high tailed it out of town, but doing the right thing always stops him,

I like the little half smile he does sometimes.

I think the title of this episode "End of the Line" would have been appropriate for the finale.

@twinsister "End of the Line" IMO had a double meaning, one of which referred to that milk assembly line and the milk falling off the end of it and smashing. Then there was the end of the line for several characters, in various ways including death for one.

I watched it on my disc from my set and it sounds, from yours and oznell's comments, like something was edited out. I too wondered why she would confess and have to spend years in jail and give up her baby until, in the version I watched, she said that Prine would have to go to jail for a long time as a repeat offender but that, considering the baby, she thought she'd "get one year and maybe not even that" which was why she was confessing.

Her treatment of her father reminded me of the Kimble-as-lifeguard epi and how Telly Savalas' daughter treated him. In the 1960s kids didn't talk back to their parents like so many do today, so those two daughters doing that back then was much more unusual and not as tolerated back then as it is these days so even had more force in the script.

I didn't think the sheriff letting Kimble go in this epi. was nearly as unbelievable as some of the others where Kimble acted so guilty that the sheriffs knew he was running from the law but let him go anyway (like when Lin McCarthy was law enforcement and drove Kimble to the bus station not wanting to know what he did, and also. the one with Lois Nettleton I think it was when the deputy who let Kimble go had always been sweet on her. It was the week before the Lin McCarthy one because 2 weeks in a row law enforcement let him go. At least this sheriff knew Prine was his guy so he had no reason to hold Kimble.

By the way, Prine played Earl Holliman's younger brother in the show Wide Country back in the 1960s so it would have been fun if Prine had been in last week's show with Holliman.

Next week's epi is a favorite of mine.

twinsister · ‎03-12-2010

@Pearlee - I never thought about the milk assembly line in regards to the title - very good point!

You're right - we didn't talk back to our parents in our day and I remember that Telly Savalas episode.

Regarding what I said about the ending being unbelievable, I meant that I found Kimble going back to Unger's house was far fetched., not the sheriff letting him go. As you said in previous episodes, there were similar instances when the sheriff releasing Kimble was more unbelievable.

Thanks for filling in the reason as to why she confessed to the murder. I wonder if ME TV edits out a few minutes each week. It's good you have the full version on your DVDs, enjoy them.