Working at a remote construction site, Dr. Kimble tries protect a coworker with a low I.Q. from being lynched when the caring married woman who's been teaching him to read, is assaulted by a... Read allWorking at a remote construction site, Dr. Kimble tries protect a coworker with a low I.Q. from being lynched when the caring married woman who's been teaching him to read, is assaulted by an unknown attacker.Working at a remote construction site, Dr. Kimble tries protect a coworker with a low I.Q. from being lynched when the caring married woman who's been teaching him to read, is assaulted by an unknown attacker.
- Ruth Harmon
- (as Betty Ellen)
- Lt. Philip Gerard
- (credit only)
- Charley Hendricks
- (as Richard Wessell)
- Narrator
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Introductory Narrator
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSix years prior to this, James Best guest starred in Merry-Go-Round Case (1957) with David Janssen. Later, they would both appear on The Scream of Eagles (1979).
- GoofsWhen Murray throws the silver dollar into the muddy puddle, it immediately sinks into the cloudy water. But when he get Jammie to come over to fish it out, when the camera does a close up on the silver dollar, it is no longer hidden in the muddy water, but on and above it. A platform had obviously been made (of mud?) in the mud to make the silver dollar protrude above the water.
- Quotes
Narrator: [Opening Narration. Viewers see earth-moving machinery at a construction site] The place: Utah - the hills above Salt Lake City. The project: to move a mountain. Giant machines and armies of men moving millions of tons of earth to make way for a river - a river which one day will turn the desert into Eden.
[Viewers see Richard Kimble, clipboard in hand, emerge from a shack]
Narrator: For Richard Kimble, the mountain offers protection, Here, he is Paul Beaumont, timekeeper, lost among the other workers. Here, he feels he can rest awhile. Here, he is safe.
- SoundtracksTheme from The Fugitive
Music by Pete Rugolo
The scene where they are all terrorizing the poor kid was difficult to watch and I wondered what kind of person could treat another human being like that. Thankfully Kimble felt the same way and kicked the crap out of the head goon.
I liked how Kimble kept standing up for Jamie when the boss kept wanting to let him go. And when we learn just why the boss is so uncomfortable around Jamie, it's a very understandable and valid reason that made me not hate him as much as I did throughout much of the episode.
The boss's wife Ruth is another person like Kimble, who takes Jamie under her wing and gives him friendship as well as reading lessons after his work is done. I really liked how both Ruth and Kimble chose to help Jamie rather than terrorize or shun him.
In the final season, Kimble comes across another young man similar to Jamie but he isn't as kind and sensitive towards him as he is here and he's almost downright cold and mean. Perhaps being on the run for 4 years had taken it's toll by that point and he just didn't care to be everyone's savior anymore.
But it's really interesting to me how he treats both people with the same disability in season 1 and then again in season 4. It's like night and day. Btw, that 4th season episode i'm referring to is titled "Approach with Care".
But back to this episode.... How far Kimble went for Jamie was really admirable considering his own circumstances. So far as to boldly confront state police as Jamie's protector when he was wrongly accused of a crime just like he was. And to see Kimble fearlessly go up against the two cops to protect him, and even prove he was innocent took a hell of a lot of guts, and I believe this is why the character resonated with audiences so much. Kimble always stood up and did what was right at almost any cost to himself.
The only gripe I had with the episode is minor. There was one scene where Ruth strides over to the construction site to see her husband wearing skin tight shorts that are cut way too high. I'm no prude, but even in 2023---60 years from when this was filmed, I gasped and said to myself "Why on earth is she wearing shorts like that?!" And it's also a little surprising to see such an outfit being worn at that time, because I always thought such provocative dressing didn't become more a thing until the mid to late 60's.
I didn't like the implication it was making either....which was that she brought the later assault upon herself by the provocative and titillating outfit she wore---and while it WAS a highly inappropriate and poor choice of outfit for a construction site where she knew very well what kind of ingrates worked there, the assault scene could have been just as effective and believable had she worn a regular dress or jeans on the site. Needlessly putting the character into such a provocative outfit beforehand just gives the not so subtle implication that she invited the assault upon herself. Bad.
But it's a minor gripe and doesn't detract from this great episode which season 1 is so full of.
Also, I think this is the only episode where Kimble continues to work at the place he is at rather than move on by episode's end, because he's shown in the final scene still at work and driving the little jeep, so he probably stayed on that job for a little while more before moving on.
I like to think he stuck around to help Jamie find another job before leaving because that's just the kind of stand up guy Kimble is. This is an excellent episode as so many are in this wonderful first season.
- Christopher370
- May 25, 2023
Details
- Runtime51 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1