I wonder how many fans of the relatively recent masterful big-screen adaptation THE FUGITIVE (starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones) know that there actually was a pretty masterful TV series that preceded it by 30 years! This 1960s TV series, THE FUGITIVE, tells the story of one Dr. Richard Kimble (played brilliantly by David Janssen). Kimble is arrested and put on death row for the alleged murder of his own wife, Helen. The arresting officer is Lt. Philip Gerard (well played by Barry Morse), the only other major character in this series. Kimble and Gerard carried the show for 4 seasons until Kimble's acquittal of his wife's murder in the series finale in 1967, when it was proved (as Kimble always asserted) that a one-armed man committed the crime.
Kimble escaped from the train that was to take him to jail, thus the series focused on his adventures cross-country trying to find the elusive one-armed man. Basically an anthology series, each episode was self-contained and really focused more on life lessons than on Kimble's predicament. Kimble would drift into some town, get caught up with ne'er do-wells somehow, then actually play detective and solve the crime and help catch the bad guys, then disappear and thus stay one step ahead of Gerard.
You'll notice in watching the series that the same actor would play different characters from time to time, so if you think that is the character you saw before, you'd be wrong. The lady who played Kimble's sister was a recurring character though and she appeared in the last episode when Kimble was acquitted.
I got to see a summertime marathon of this show several years ago and was thoroughly engaged. Janssen was perfect in the role of Kimble. I can't think of another actor who could relay Kimble's reserve, calmness, humanity, and unabashed determination to clear his name. Morse (a very small man in stature) was solid as the cop who was obsessed with bringing Kimble to justice, at times conflicted as to whether or not Kimble really did kill his wife.
THE FUGITIVE is one of those old, forgotten series that gets lost in the shuffle due to modernization and all of the diluted stuff on TV nowadays. But trust me, this classic 60s series is a keeper!
Kimble escaped from the train that was to take him to jail, thus the series focused on his adventures cross-country trying to find the elusive one-armed man. Basically an anthology series, each episode was self-contained and really focused more on life lessons than on Kimble's predicament. Kimble would drift into some town, get caught up with ne'er do-wells somehow, then actually play detective and solve the crime and help catch the bad guys, then disappear and thus stay one step ahead of Gerard.
You'll notice in watching the series that the same actor would play different characters from time to time, so if you think that is the character you saw before, you'd be wrong. The lady who played Kimble's sister was a recurring character though and she appeared in the last episode when Kimble was acquitted.
I got to see a summertime marathon of this show several years ago and was thoroughly engaged. Janssen was perfect in the role of Kimble. I can't think of another actor who could relay Kimble's reserve, calmness, humanity, and unabashed determination to clear his name. Morse (a very small man in stature) was solid as the cop who was obsessed with bringing Kimble to justice, at times conflicted as to whether or not Kimble really did kill his wife.
THE FUGITIVE is one of those old, forgotten series that gets lost in the shuffle due to modernization and all of the diluted stuff on TV nowadays. But trust me, this classic 60s series is a keeper!