Fear in a Desert City

I grew up watching The Fugitive, but did not see the first episode of this superb series until years later. It's incredibly suspenseful, right from the start...beginning with William Conrad's opening narration which dances perfectly with David Janssen's always subtle body language. The musical score augments the tension in every scene.

In this first episode, which is my personal favorite, Kimble is working as a bartender in a Tucson nightclub under the pseudonym, Jim Lincoln. Vera Miles, who portrays a depressed pianist there, becomes understandably attracted (as do most women in the series) to our shy though always supportive hero. The problem is that she's being stalked by her estranged, though possessive cowboy husband, performed perfectly by Brian Keith...who also owns half the state and apparently has significant influence with the local police.

Being a physician with keen clinical acumen, Kimble is quick to pick up on the husband's dangerous paranoia, but is confronted with an internal moral conflict to flee in the interest of self-preservation versus to stay out of Hippocratic devotion to the desensitized pianist and her son. This turns out to be a recurring theme throughout the series, and exemplifies just how much doctors were deified in those days. Ultimately, there is a climactic and unnerving confrontation between Kimble and the psycho husband. (Janssen actually broke a couple of ribs in this scene, which is a testimony to its realism.)

In the epilogue, Phillip Gerard, "the police lieutenant obsessed with his capture" (as he is described in the opening credits), interrogates Miles' character on the whereabouts of Kimble. Now convinced of his innocence regarding the murder of his wife, she provides no clues to the perennially frustrated Gerard.

At the end of Fear in a Desert City, the viewer is left with mixed feelings of relief and sympathy for the good doctor, as well as a compulsive desire to follow Dr. Richard Kimble's plight to its end...4 years and 120 episodes later.

As an initial episode, the Fugitive series couldn't have generated a better start. Of all the women Dr. Kimble came across over the course of his life on the run, the one most perfectly suited for him IMO was Monica Welles played superbly by actress Vera Miles.

As a finale, I would have loved to see Kimble go back to the very beginning of his journey and rediscover the love he found with Monica and her son. It would have been a fitting ending.

Watched 'Fear in a Desert City', (1963) an episode of The Fugitive today with David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, on the run, until he can prove his innocence. I recall avidly watching this series & being absolutely in awe, of the acting 'teeth' of Janssen~ Such a fine & respected actor. Poignant exchanges with Vera Miles when he spilled his guts as to his true identity & his soul goal until he could clear his name. The lonely stroll down an anonymous street in an inhospitable city, encountering a kitten, which he picks up & comforts echoed his own plight.... This series, produced in the 60's had everything, great actors, pithy story lines & William Conrad's resonant narration moving the narrative along. Pulsating instrumental music adding depth to the most suspenseful themes, as Kimble followed his quest....to remain anonymous until he hunted down his wife's killer....'Another journey, another place. Walk neither too fast nor too slow. Beware the eyes of strangers. Keep moving'....I absolutely revered him as an actor....

While one certainly doesn't have to see the pilot it would add to the impact of the first episode. The basics: Kimball's running from a death sentence by what, indeed, the show calls "fate's big hand" which has given Kimball his escape. The running has a means to its end which is beyond surviving the wrongful death sentence. Kimball is actively looking for the real murderer, the "one-armed man" which he sees as justice for his wife and, now, his own life.

QM Productions have high standards, often inserting top-shelf actors/actresses on their way up. Here it is Vera Miles and Brian Keith. The rest of the cast is also much better than average. Of course to get by Kimball needs to hide his real identity while taking on work. He has chosen the name of Jim Lincoln. Working at a local Tucson neighborhood watering hole as a bartender makes good sense in that he can be relatively anonymous while keeping his eyes and ears open hoping for the miracle of any information on the man with one arm. We are immediately aware of Kimball's character: intelligence, humbleness, and empathy is, perhaps, his achielles heel too in a world where those possessing the opposite traits rise up. Miles plays the role of a wickedly oppressed estranged wife from her wealthy and powerful husband played by Keith. Keith is a very visible stalker seeking out his wife with no regard to the estranged nature of their separation. He is going to have her and if any one comes between that he will do whatever it takes to make sure the person is eliminated. This is exactly the kind of volatile situation Kimball doesn't need as Lt. Gerrard's constant pressure is quite palpable. Even so, the good man who is Kimball inserts himself as Mile's protector and possible love interest all while Kimball knows the later can never be.

This is the winding road beginning for Richard Kimball. One that will repeat many more times in the coming 120 episodes. What keeps it vital is the human element Kimball seems so perfect crafting. He personifies the best of humanity along with his heavy burden of constant fear. Playing this out in what almost seems like a travelog of the very different and impressive locales in the American landscape, along with memorable co-stars and characters, is the final part of a masterpiece of TV drama. In my estimation the best, if not at least, one of the top two or three TV series of all time.

The Fugitive, Fear in a Desert City: the first episode in this unforgettable suspenseful four-year television series begins with Dr. Richard Kimble arriving by bus in Tucson, Arizona.

The opening scenes are filmed at and inside the old Greyhound Bus station, roughly a block south of the old downtown and the historic Congress Hotel. This was where John Dillinger stayed in January 1934 before he was nabbed by the coppers and brought back north to justice. The Tucson bus station has since been relocated, but the Congress Hotel still has rooms to rent.

"Fear in a Desert City" aired in 1963, two months before President Kennedy's murder in Dallas, roughly 950 miles east of Tucson by bus.