TV and Movies

[Pearlee]

The Fugitive, "The Savage Street" starring David Janssen co-starring Gilbert Roland, Michael Ansara, Tom Nardini.

Kimble is a helper in a cigar store owned by Gilbert Roland. The action takes place in  a not great neighborhood in an unnamed big city. Roland's brother is a cop, played by Michael Ansara. Roland is pushing is son, played by Tom Nardini, to practice the violin so that he may some day be a world class violinist. 

While walking home from a violin lesson, Nardini is heckled and roughed-up by three teenaged boys (the first to hassle him is Bobby Diamond who was the boy in the TV show Fury -- "the story of a horse and the boy who loved him" 1955-1960). Nardini takes the beating and heads home. He has ongoing conflict with his father, who wants him to succeed as a violinist even though Nardini's heart isn't in it. Gilbert insists on calling Ansara, his cop brother, to arrest the 3 boys but Ansara thinks Nardini should toughen up against the thugs and fight them back (really?)  Ansara's partner thinks Kimble looks familiar and eventually identifies Kimble from a wanted poster.

There are some rather implausible turnarounds the main characters do in this epi. However. I must say how Kimble gets away is rather interesting in terms of ethical dilemmas. Watch that closely at the end of Act IV.  I wasn't certain exactly what I saw so I rewound my disc to watch it again. But it was all explained clearly in the Epilog, and I had indeed seen what I thought I had.

Handsome and rather exotic-looking Michael Ansara was born in Syria, was of Lebanese descent, and played native American Indian Cochese in the 1960s show Broken Arrow. He was at this time married to Barbara Eden,  Jeannie in I Dream of Jeannie.

One of the other boy thugs played almost the same role in an earlier Fuge. I think it was the one where  rich kids held a party in a girl's large house while her parents weren't home and Kimble the chauffeur or houseman or something was chaperoning but the party got way out of control. Or, he might have been in the epi where Mrs Gerard was blind and she and Kimble were terrorized by teen aged thugs.  At any rate, the teen thug in this epi played a teen thug in TF before.

This epi IMO was only OK. I don't think DJ had as many scenes in this one snd we mostly saw him lying down injured. The series is almost over and he was exhausted so perhaps by now the writers were trying to go a little easier on him.

[Tique]

Epilog

[drizzellla]

Well, I wished I read your summary @Pearlee before I watched the episode. 

Not sure what I was to watch for at the end of Scene IV. Hopefully it will be discussed.

I have to agree that there were some implausible turnarounds.

You brought up an excellent point about David Janssen being exhausted. It seems like they write into the script that  he is shot. That way he can spend half the episode sitting down and attempting to tend to his injury.

[Group 5 minus 1]

Have always enjoyed The Fugitive. Watched the 2 you mentioned-did not care for them. Think I am getting old.

[Pearlee]

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@drizzellla wrote:

Well, I wished I read your summary @Pearlee before I watched the episode. 

Not sure what I was to watch for at the end of Scene IV. Hopefully it will be discussed.

I have to agree that there were some implausible turnarounds.

You brought up an excellent point about David Janssen being exhausted. It seems like they write into the script that  he is shot. That way he can spend half the episode sitting down and attempting to tend to his injury.

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@drizzellla   Hi and thanks for your comments. I replayed the end of  Act IV to make certain of what I thought I'd seen  -- that Ansara had deliberately not  looked into the back of the truck. And then in the Epilog they confirmed that. Interesting that that's how he resolved the moral dilemma Gilbert put to him.

Do you remember the TV show Fury, with Bobby Diamond?

BTW, I enjoyed this rare occasion that Kimble told someone voluntarily that he is --or was-- a doctor.

@Group 5 minus 1  Even in a mediocre episode, I enjoy it by gazing at David Handsome! 😍 I'm never to old for that!

[twinsister]

This was an "OK" episode.  Too many implausibilities and definitely unethical on the brother's part. 

@Pearlee - while watching, I thought Ansara not looking inside the truck was what you were talking about, which helped Kimble.

I spent every Saturday morning watching Fury, so I remember Bobby Diamond.  One of the other young thugs looked familiar too.

I wouldn't watch this episode again.

[drizzellla]

Thanks @Pearlee, yes I noticed Ansara did not look at the back of the truck. Glad you mentioned it again.

I remember seeing Bobby Diamond from other shows but I didn't remember which ones until you mentioned it. 

[chloe4578]

I may be in the minority but I liked this episode.  Apparently, it took place in the slums of New York by the way the police dressed and the fact that the cop cars said NYPD.

I also liked the conversation they had when Kimble explained that his father was a doctor and wanted him to become a doctor.  Kimble went further saying he didn't think he was a better doctor than his father, but that was his fathers dream for him.  So he became a doctor following in his father's footsteps.  And that a better life was what GR wanted for his son.

That kind of explained the turnaround of GR when he showed up with a gun because he thought Kimble was holding his son hostage ruining his career and putting him in danger of jail.  Only to find his son wasn't being held against his will and didn't want to be a top violinist.  That was you're  dream, not mine.  That was when GR realized his son was a man with a mind of his own and decided to help Kimble.

The turnaround of the kids, I felt as implausible.  I don't know where that came from. In the end scene I felt Micheal Ansera and Gilbert Roland were related or had a bond of some sort.  IDK but Ansera certainly turned a blind eye and tried to get Roland to at least admit he helped Kimble escape.  Roland just kept smiling saying we all did what we had to do.  Nice ending!

[twinsister]

@chloe4578 - Ansara and Roland were brothers in the story.  I did not notice  NYPD on the police car, good catch.  I agree about the turnaround of the kids, it was implausible.

[Pearlee]

@chloe4578  That was an excellent analysis. 👍 I too very much liked what Kimble said about why he became a doctor.  

Like @twinsister , I didn't notice the police cars said NY.