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01-23-2021 11:26 PM
2:00 a.m. Eastern, Monday-- The Fugitive "Masquerade" David Janssen, Norma Crane, Ed Asner, John Milford, H.M. Wynant, Ross Elliott, James Doohan
Are you guessing that this might have yet another hitch-hiking sequence in it? This time, snagging a ride in Oklahoma, Kimble unwittingly ties in with a witness, "Leonard Hull" (John Milford) in a Federal protection program, about to testify against some kind of crooked political boss in the state.
When police mistakenly identify him as the fleeing Hull, Kimble is once again brought under their "protection", and brought to a motel so that he can have a meeting and reunion with his wife, "Mavis" (Norma Crane).
If ever our Kimble needed to do some quick thinking....
It sounds a tiny bit complicated and confusing, but this episode is really fun to watch as the mistaken identities and assumptions pile up! I enjoy the scenes between Mavis and Kimble, and kept wishing they'd go on even longer...
Norma Crane had a 'smoky' kind of glamour that seems a little like a throwback to old Hollywood. It's furthered by her sultry, peek-a-boo bob in this, slightly reminiscent of Veronica Lake. But she looks just a wee bit like a brunette Ingrid Bergman (although, not as much of a brunette Ingrid Bergman as Bergman's own daughter Isabella Rosselini does, ha.)
She memorably played a totally different role in the exuberant 70's film of "Fiddler on the Roof", as Tevye's wife Golde. Sadly, she died very young, in her forties.
Ed Asner makes one of his multiple "Fuge" appearances as the frustrated local law enforcement, baffled by the shifting identity smokescreen. (And "Star Trek"'s James Doohan also has a small role as a plainclothes deputy.)
Yes, at some point, guess who gets to swing into medical mode....
I love this shot, with the tiny crouching fugitives in the foreground, caught between a danger they know, and a danger they don't --
Another of the pleasures of this episode, is the sense of place. Well, really, that's an ongoing pleasure of the series as a whole for me, but in this one especially. With the oil rigs pumping away as a backdrop, the feeling of Oklahoma's back roads, diners, small city police headquarters, motels-- the whole, pulsing, midcentury, mid-continent American scene is laid out. I love it!
Of course, in this case, they aren't on location-- the oil rigs are, of course, California ones (Bakersfield, maybe?) but who cares if they have to fudge that-- the "mood" is all!
Streaming live on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icFis48h8Xo
01-24-2021 11:13 AM - edited 01-25-2021 12:05 AM
Ed Asner looked so young!
James Doohan, for what little he said, did not have a Scottish accent (beam me up, American!😄).
@Oznell you mentioned the scenery. The oil rigs looked fine but there was at least one scene where the scenery looked really fake and cheesy -- like a painted wall.
@twinsister DJ's stunt double got a workout and Crane had one too I think for a rolling scene.
Oznell, I really didn't like this epi. Too much mention of characters we never saw and had to imagine and just not the right genre for The Fuge. It reminded me of when Jessica Fletcher switched from quaint Cabot Cove to international spy episodes-- wrong genre for her character, didn't work nearly as well.
ETA I did like the premise that the narrator stated at the beginning, that as a hitchhiker you never know with whom you are riding. I just wish the script would have gone in a different direction with that idea. I'll have more remarks tomorrow.
01-25-2021 10:17 AM
So, I already stated above the main reason I dislike this epi. Add to that (spoilers now that it has aired) the implausibilites.
Why on earth would the sheriff believe the real husband who comes in and says "I'm really him. That other guy had my jacket with I.D. in it" without any further proof and esp since his wife never said (of Kimble) "that's not my husband!" That was just so dumb of the sheriff.
Second, why didn't DJ or Crane take the villain's gun after DJ knocked him unconscious at the end? That too was really dumb!
As was Crane walking off to get help with her shoulder not seeming to bother her any more.
I would not watch this epi again unless I was starved for a DJ "fix" of handsomeness. I just think the script was bad and as I said above, the genre just didn't fit with TF episodes IMO.
01-25-2021 10:50 AM
I didn't like this episode. It reminded me of the old TV game show - To Tell the Truth with three men standing up and saying "my name is". That came to my mind when the real Leonard Hull told the sheriff his name and they don't know who to believe.
@Pearlee - Agree with the points in your post. Not believable.
Sorry, but I really don't have too much to add to this week's discussion.
01-25-2021 10:59 AM - edited 01-25-2021 12:17 PM
@twinsister wrote:I didn't like this episode. It reminded me of the old TV game show - To Tell the Truth with three men standing up and saying "my name is". That came to my mind when the real Leonard Hull told the sheriff his name and they don't know who to believe.
@Pearlee - Agree with the points in your post. Not believable.
Sorry, but I really don't have too much to add to this week's discussion.
@twinsister 😄 Great point about To Tell the Truth! I hadn't thought of that but you are quite right. No sheriff would just believe that about the real Hull without further proof. Esp because as I say, the wife accepted Kimble without showing any surprise.
01-25-2021 12:42 PM
Was there ever an episode where Kimble didn't go into it without having a pseudonym first? He wasnt Hull in this episode until police suggested he was. He had no name until that point. Also, any episode where Kimble's name wasn't brought up once?
So much to pick apart. There's a hit man after you and you pick up a hitchhiker? What?
And you're sitting in a diner with two coffee cups on the table, and a suit coat across the the opposite seat, but it never occurs to these two observant cops that there should be a second person around. Does Kimble ever finish a meal? Not that taking two bites, and not drinking the coffee is suspicious or anything.
And I agree about leaving the gun behind with the passed out hired killer. I can understand Kimble not wanting to have the gun, but hide it or have Mrs. Hull carry it. She had no aversion to guns.
01-25-2021 01:34 PM
I didn't dislike this one but I did dislike most of the people who appeared in it. With all that running and rolling, Kimble and Mavis managed to keep those white shirts cleaner than most people who put on a white shirt and walk around for ten minutes.
This episode did show clearly why Kimble has to remain on the run alone. Mavis slowed him down and as she later stated got him involved in a fight that wasn't his.
01-25-2021 02:32 PM
01-25-2021 02:46 PM - edited 01-25-2021 02:49 PM
@Etoile308 - You are right about the scene in the diner with the two cups of coffee and jacket. Maybe Kimble should have just sat there and told the cops he was waiting for someone.
01-25-2021 03:23 PM
Hey, I'm glad "Masquerade" has at least one fan in me! For me, this makes 3 in a row-- last week's, then "Masquerade", and next week's "Runner...." episode, that I enjoy. Especially nice after that run of drabbos like the "Hit in the Mouth" one. Not only did I like this one (for the reasons I outlined in the OP), I liked it quite a bit.
There's an additional reason, which I couldn't mention in the first post for fear of giving too much away before everyone viewed. This is the second episode in a row, where Dr. Kimble intersects with a married couple in an interesting way.
Of course, the "Leonettis" last week were very much intact, despite stressors, while these "Hulls" were very frayed indeed, as a couple. But there seemed hope at the end for them, perhaps. And it was refreshing to me that neither woman of the couples was romantically pursuing Kimble-- they each had a compelling reason for allying with him. Their conversations with him were adult, at times deeply substantive, and devoid of coyness. I liked that.
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