MovieChat Forums > The Fugitive (1963) Discussion > Something I always wondered

Something I always wondered

posted 13 years ago by Deluge69-663-991830
7 replies | jump to latest

I certainly agree that THE FUGITIVE was one of the best classic drama shows. Great writing, directing, acting, and so on.

The show also had a definite look, mood and atmosphere that fully drew me into its world. And it always left lasting impressions on me.

Didn't we all identify with Kimble in many allegorical ways? And didn't we also develope some distrust in our justice system?

Now, one thing always bugged me a bit. I know the producers went to great lengths and pains to make Kimble's plight as believable as possible.

But I always wondered what Kimble would have done if he did catch up with the one-armed man? Take him to the Police? That would also mean turning himself in.

How would he convince the authorities that Fred Johnson was the guilty one? All Johnson would have to do is deny it. How would Kimble prove he is the one? They didn't believe him the first time.

Thus, there would be too much 'reasonable doubt' in Johnson's case. And Gerard would testify that it was one of Kimble's "delusions." What tangible proof would Kimble have against Fred Johnson?

Consequently, Johnson would be set free, and Kimble would be sent to the Death House. And I doubt the train would derail this time around.

O.K. I'm far from being the 'legal expert', but, if this bugged me so much, it's obvious that all this must have crossed Kimble's mind on many occasions.

I still love the show. One of the few I actually watched religiously when it aired on the A&E channel years back, but I often wondered exactly what plan Kimble had if he ever did catch up with Johnson.

Did this ever occur to anyone?

[–] sabunassar 13 years ago

The question is definitely a dilemma, but Kimble did address it in one or possibly even 2 episodes. Others can probably give more details, but I do remember at least one episode where Kimble had captured the one armed man and his plan was to bring him in & call Gerard. In fact, I think he did just that, but Johnson got away of course.

I believe Kimble had a conversation with one of his femme fatales with her asking the same questions you are. Kimble really didn't have much of a choice. I think he actually trusted Gerard would investigate further once Johnson was in custody. Gerard supposedly tried very hard to look for OAM himself before the trial.

What was his choice after all, continue running for the rest of his life until that day his luck runs out?

[–] Deluge69-663-991830 13 years ago

That sounds about right.

Obviously, Kimble had no choice but to go on the hope, and even faith, that Gerard would fully investigate.

But, Gerard was one tough, by-the-book, cookie, who would still need tangible proof if he hoped to make a strong case against Johnson.

There was still that bad chance that there would still be 'reasonable doubt' in Johnson's case. And Kimble would be in custody. CURTAINS!

His wife was fatally struck by the lamp. Wouldn't Johnson's fingerprints be on it? I couldn't tell if he was wearing gloves in the flashback murder in the final episode. Did Gerard and the police initially do a fingerprint check when they arrested Kimble? That is their duty.

Of course, it's possible that Kimble picked up the lamp when he returned to find her dead, thus his incrimidating fingerprints would have been on it.

Throughout the series, there were moments when it seemed that Gerard wondered if Kimble was telling the truth. He even seemed to sympathize with Kimble's plight, but was still the 'man of duty' first.

True, Kimble did bring the OAM to the police in that episode, only to realize how corrupted they were, and, thus, couldn't really of cared less. They had their own agendas to keep under wraps.

Nevertheless, it still intrigues me. Undoubtably, one of the greatest shows television ever produced. They had all the right people involved.

In some ways, the show echoed the blacklisting of the Cold War McCarthy Era. Many felt a bit like "fugitives" or feared becoming one.

I believe one of the producers were blacklisted, and was later reinstated. Maybe he still had a few sharp axes to grind.

Wasn't the show something of an allegory of the dark side of Americana that Kimble traveled through in his existential angst?

[–] telegonus 12 years ago

I think there's an allegorical aspect to the show, Deluge, not sure about the blacklisting part.

One thing, though: The Fugitive premiered not too long before the JFK assassination, and while it was probably already on the way to becoming a hit, it maybe would have enjoyed only a brief novelty success had Kennedy lived.

America changed on November 22, 1963, and the increasing popularity of The Fugitive over the next few years was, I've always felt, somehow connected to that. I know this sounds far fetched but I grew up then, remember those years.

It's like we, the American people, had become a nation of Richard Kimbles after LBJ took office. If ever a TV show captured the zeitgeist of its period, it was The Fugitive, and not in the usual fashionable sense of later shows like Batman and Laugh-In. Those show rode the wave of the late 60s. The Fugitive cut much deeper into the core of what was going on beneath the surface of the country at that time. My two cents.

[–] Deluge69-663-991830 12 years ago

telegonus-

Your 'two cents' is worth much more.

After the Kennedy Assassination came 'Beatlemania' and the 'British Invasion' which then inspired the 'garage rock' music scene in the U.S.

During the 'Fugitive Years', we had an escalating 'music rebellion', as well as the birth of the Civil Rights and Womens' movements, and the anti-war and protests against, well, just about everything. Compare the beginning of the 60's (when THRILLER first premiered) to the end of the 60's (Did we get transported to another galaxy?)

Kimble was the wandering bohemion in search of the truth, leaving behind his 'normal' Middle American life. The people he often crossed paths with were mostly disillusioned and even deluded and sometimes corrupted in their desperate search for the elusive 'American Dream'. I saw it as the dark side of a very troubled and confused Americana, the flip side of Norman Rockwell.

And many women were drawn to him because he was in such a deep, troubled space that sex and relationships were often the furthest things in his mind. How terribly ironic.

[–] telegonus 12 years ago

Thanks, Deluge. Indeed, The Fugitive was the dark side of Norman Rockwell's America, and in this it rather resembled It's a Wonderful Life's nightmare sequence when George gets to see what Bedford Falls would look like without him. It's this tacky, throwaway, mean-spirited America that Kimble has to confront, more than fifteen years later, and without the postwar era of good feelings that existed (presumably) around the time Frank Capra made his film.

If It's a Wonderful Life says "all will be well if we persevere ,--everyone matters", in The Fugitive it's practically the opposite for Richard Kimble. It's like a Mr. Potter's America for him, and with no guardian angel like Clarence; more like a demon in pursuit: Lt. Girard. Kimble does persevere and it's still not a wonderful life. Nor can he, unlike George in the Capra film, look back to a life that was a success aside from his few good years as a physician. His marriage was on the rocks. He was just another Indiana doctor, maybe a better man than most, but it's not even remotely suggested that Kimble was, back in his earlier years any kind of community savior.

It's interesting to compare The Fugitive 60s (1963-67) to the Thriller 60s of 1960-62. The latter show was a retro (in more ways than not) as the later one was in the spirit of the times, yet Thriller's dark and gloomy aspects, especially in its contemporary episodes, whether horror or crime, suggests that all is not well or even good in America. There was a focus on violence, often gruesomeness, that does seem to anticipate the meltdown of American norms over the next several years, albeit often in a Gothic context. But then The Fugitive channeled a film noir sensibility more 40s than 60s even as it was up to date as to subject matter, just as Thriller seemed to draw its inspiration from the Universal horrors of an even earlier period.

[–] Clintessence 13 years ago

The reason the one-armed man kept on escaping, is that the handcuffs continued slipping off his missing arm.

[–] 12 years ago

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