See Hollywood and Die

Dr. Kimble is now working at a gas station in New Mexico. It gets robbed by a pair of crooks, (Lou Antonio and Chris Robinson), with big ideas of using the money to get to Hollywood where they'll become famous and live in a mansion with a swimming pool. Obviously, they aren't too bright- or stable. They take Kimble and a woman, (Brenda Vaccaro), hostage as they escape. Kimble thinks quickly and pretends to be a crook who was planning to rob the station himself and get to LA, where he knows people and has a big job planned. He lords it over the hoodlums, saying if they play their cards right, they could be part of his plan.

This is the first of a series of episodes where the writers put Kimble in ironic situations- here he's pretending to be a crook when he's an innocent fugitive and he's having to deal with real crooks who are on the lam. He has to figure out how to save his hostage and deliver his new partners to justice without revealing himself to the law. Those dilemmas make this one of the better episodes. I also like the fact that David Janssen gets to come out of his self- imposed shell and play the role of a tough, confident professional criminal. He's not looking at the ground all the time in this one.

After a bad experience on the crops, Doctor Kimble moves to small quiet Town working in a Gas station hoping has some peace time, when suddenly appears two young guys making an armed robbery, unfortunately the Town's Sheriff and a client arrives in that moment, the assault is halted, the shooting starts leaving the Gas station owner death, they running away taken two hostage, Dr. kimble and the young girl Joanne Spencer (Vaccaro), Kimble realizing that the two boys are dangerous and bad, recently released from a reformatory, the he settles a smart plain to misleading them, he presents himself as a professional thief and has a big job to do at Los Angeles, fine episode where the evil and malicious youngest guy Miles on a great acting (Chris Robinson) seemingly disconnected of the reality, strongly enhanced to violence as mere pleasure, Vinnie (Lou Antonio) the older is the chief is steadfast , Joanne is a girl running from her wedding day, she'll of utmost concernent on the plot, soon the police discover the real identify of Dr. Kimble as woman's killer, no Gerard this time!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

Phew! What a ride! Yet another cracking episode. This time trading on the fifties theme of psychotic teen punks taking hostages. In the quiet little New Mexico backwater of Sierra Point, Kimble has a job as a grease monkey at a garage. Things seem so settled that he can even calmly exchange a greeting with the sheriff. But, as ever you know something is going to go wrong, and it does, in the shape of juvenile delinquents Myles and Vinnie whose attempted holdup at the garage goes disastrously awry. Kimble is taken hostage along with a young woman, Joanne, who is running away from her wedding. Sensing major differences in the criminals' personalities, Kimble plays divide and rule. He praises the slightly more stable Vinnie whilst criticising unpredictable Myles who waves his gun about, continually mouthing "Pow! Pow!". Kimble's ace is to pretend that he is a professional criminal who had been setting up the garage owner and he is annoyed that the two kids have queered his pitch. However, all is apparently not lost. Learning that the crims are heading for Los Angeles he tells them that was his next stop for a big payroll heist. Naturally the punks are hooked and want in. Having swapped cars, Kimble's fingerprints are the only ones identified and his conviction as a wife killer is reported on radio and in the newspapers. This news alarms and confuses Joanne since Kimble had previously assured her he was on her side, and she has serious doubts when he repeats his promise of help. The thugs become impatient with the extended cruising around L.A. and demand he sets up the heist. What Kimble does is engineer a masterpiece of cunning and ingenuity which results in splitting up the pair and inevitably leading to their downfall. This episode would have made a good movie. The two miscreants played by Lou Antonio and Chris Robinson are genuinely scary. Particularly Robinson's character Myles who is just itching to kill someone and who has unpleasant intentions towards Joanne (Brenda Vaccaro). Killing her being just one of them. Emotionally, Kimble is torn between saving Joanne or himself. Since this is still Series 1, we know how things will turn out. But it's a breathless ride before we get there!

This is a good one! Chris Robinson is a menacing young psychopathic punk. You'll recognize him as the bombardier in 12 O'clock High. After killing the gas station owner, he and his dirtbag partner in crime take Kimble and a young woman hostage. Kimble pretends to be a rough character himself to stall for time for he and the woman hostage to escape. However he learns the cops are dusting her car for fingerprints. Always bad news when you're Richard Kimble. Kimble uses his wits to manipulate the punks and string them along. Suspense and tension throughout this one! I think these earlier black and white episodes were the best ones. Very good acting.

This episode I can watch repeatedly without tiring of it. Mainly because of the excellent performances of the main characters, but most of all Chris Robinson as the homicidal dunderhead Miles. Love the scene where he get's jealous of Kimble pretending to seduce the female hostage, and then pantomimes shooting a poor little kid. This after he kisses the windshield twice. This episode also showed that Kimble didn't have to always play the persecuted righteous loner. Another difference in this episode is at the beginning where we see the fugitive not immediately freaking out when he see's policemen, and actually smiles and waves at two who are approaching in a squad car.