Another Innocent Fugitive

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31079, 7 June 1966, Page 16

Another Innocent Fugitive

Box Populi

Dr. Richard Kimble, hero of “The Fugitive,” is “innercent,” just like the song says in “Branded.” His stethoscope is not broken across the medical superintendent’s knee, but, like Jason McCord, he will take a long time to prove his innocence—at least 26 episodes.

In the American TV world an innocent man convicted of murder and on the run from the police has to keep running as long as the viewer ratings tell him to. The first episodes of “The Fugitive” held some suspense and interest in spite of the vague resemblance to “Branded.” David Janssen, who plays Richard Kimble, was a most indifferent actor in “Richard Diamond, Detective,” a second-class privateeye programme. Now he has a better role in a better production, and he can convey with some conviction the haunting fears, tensions, and natural wariness of a man on the run.

“The Fugitive” does resemble “Branded” in its suggestion that the hero will eventually establish his innocence. Its basic plot has much older origins. It is a blood brother to that of Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” where the unhappy Jean Valjean is relentlessly pursued by Inspector Javert. Dr. Kimble is unlikely to be hunted through the sewers of Pam, but there is a Javert

always close behind him—the police detective, Lieutenant Gerard, who is concerned only with enforcing the law which has decreed that Kimble is guilty. For a TV series the man on the run theme is ideal. In “The Fugitive” each episode can show Richard Kimble in a different set of circumstances, and against a different background. New characters can be introduced, and new situations. The hero will hold the viewers’ interest at the start because he has no friends, no future, and no identity. He will survive each episode, keep one step ahead of the law, and hold out the carrot of hope that next time he will come a little closer to the man responsible for the death of his wife. At the moment “The Fugitive” has the appeal of something new on our screens. There is an admirable discipline and restraint about both the scripting and the acting. The episodes are as well-made as those of “Peyton Place,” and the series has a reputation for good plots, varied characters, and fine acting. But will the suspense survive?

THE PATTERN In “Branded” Jason McCord keeps trying to prove to Mm-

self that he was not a coward at Bitter Creek. The viewers, who know he is innocent, are left each Saturday evening with the consolation that official proof is just around the corner. There just has to be a happy ending. Until it arrives we have to make do with the formula of gun and fist fights, last-minute rescues, and romances cut short when Captain McCord rides away again.

After a few more episodes “The Fugitive” seems likely to fall Into the same pattern. Richard Kimble will keep on evading the law and searching constantly for the one-armed man he believes to be the real killer.

It will not be long before we will be quite unmoved by Dr. Kimble’s hounded expression. And the escapefromtrain scene at the beginning of each episode will become just as tiring as the sabre snapping and button tearing in “Branded.”

“The Fugitive” has been running for three years In the United States. This year it received an “Emmy” award for the best dramatic series. This is an award for excellence in the TV industry. The film industry has its Oscars which don't always go to the best films. In the case of "The

Fugitive” the E seems to stand for endurance, not excellence. IDEA REVERSED “Green Acres” is another formula programme which has arrived from the United States. After one episode it is too soon to say whether it will improve. But the theme suggests that the producers believe they can have another success just by reversing a basic idea. The Clampetts made it in TV by moving to Hollywood suburbia; now it is the turn of city dwellers to try the sticks. Paul Henning has been successful with “The Beverley Hillbillies” and “Petticoat Junction.” In “Green Acres” he has transferred a New York lawyer with a love of the soil and his elegantly socialite wife from a Park avenue penthouse to a farm in Petticoat Junction. The prospect before us is of the mink-laden wife running a decrepit farmhouse, and the Hooterville hayseeds putting it across the city legal slicker. Buddie Ebsen has been the chief element in the success of “The Beverley Hillbillies” That fine actor Eddie Albert might hold “Green Acres” together. He will need all his talents with Eva Gabor as his wife, the Petticoat Junction characters who have outworn their welcome, and an irritating background of synthetic applause. —ARGUS.