The Shattered Silence

Kimble, still on the run, encounters a woman, (Antoinette Bower), who needs a handyman and instinctively knows (A) she likes and trusts him and (B) when she finds out who he is, she immediately knows he must be innocent. Kimble's greatest virtue is that his virtue shines through so powerfully that each week somebody who can help him "just knows he's innocent". It's a good quality to have.

Unfortunately, she has a boyfriend who is- you guessed it- a deputy sheriff. Kimble has to leave and winds up encountering Lawrence Naismith, in an over-the-top performance, playing a hermit with a couple of snarling dogs he uses to keep strangers away. But for some reason he decides to help Kimble who has once again been wounded, (by now he has more scars than Matt Dillon). They befriend each other, which means Kimble is subjected to Naismith's rants about the evils of civilization. As a fugitive facing execution for a murder he didn't commit, he might be inclined to agree. This is another possible chance for Kimble to find a new life, if a rather empty one. Kimble recognizes that the old man, for all of his contempt for civilization, is lonely and needs Kimble for companionship.

Any hope of staying with him ends when Naismith becomes deathly ill and Kimble has to return to civilization to get the medication that might save him. Eventually he connects the compassionate Bower to the situation and there is some hope for the old man- but Kimble is again off, searching for his own hope. But now he's finally going to find it.

Tonight's episode, directed by Brit Barry Morse, stars the lovely Brit Antoinette Bower and the rough-hewn Brit Lawrence Naismith. The dogs, I assume, are domestic(ated). The unique location for this story is among the scenic hills and mountains of tiny Piru, California, a rural town in remote eastern Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, and most of the action takes place outdoors, taking full advantage of the natural visuals.

If you recall a dramatic scene early in the classic Jack Nicholson/Faye Dunaway thriller "Chinatown", it's the Los Angeles Water and Power Commissioner, at a City Hall public forum, refusing to build a dam that might relieve the city's drought. He claims "I won't make the same mistake twice".

That first "mistake" was building, in real life, the doomed St. Francis Dam in Saugus, near where Magic Mountain now stands. When it collapsed in 1928 its massive wall of water roaring through canyons claimed hundreds of lives, including several in the narrow valleys of Piru.

Just one oddball observation in this episode: Between David Janssen in the pharmacy and the somewhat jealous sheriff's deputy visiting Bower, they went through some serious quantities of hair creme.

Kimble escapes a trap at a trainyard, then makes it to Pinedale, Washington, a small town, where he meets Andrea Cross (actress Antoinette Bower). She takes an instant liking to Kimble and brings him home with her so he can help her prepare for her ceramics exhibition. When he arrives he meets her friend Bob Howe (actor Paul Mantee), a deputy.

The next day Andrea hears of the escape of Kimble on the radio, and his description, and realizes that "Ben Lewis" is really Richard Kimble. She offers Kimble her car to make his escape, suggesting that he wreck it over a mountainside to throw off the police.

Kimble is shot by Howe, bails out of the vehicle, and flees into the mountains, where he comes across Mallory (actor Laurence Naismith), an older man who has fled society and has not seen another person for 14 years. Mallory patches up Kimble and tries to sell him on his philosophy and lifestyle, using his dogs to make sure Kimble sticks around, contrary to his supposed desire for isolation. A series of further complications follow.

The show begins with Kimble passing through a town. Andrea (Antoinette Bower) meets him in the general store and immediately offers him a job. But when it later becomes obvious Kimble is a wanted man, she helps him escape. And, strangely, he's found by a hermit! This hermit is starving for friendship and seems willing to force Kimble to stay. But when the man gets sick, Kimble seeks out Andrea again so that they can find help for the old guy.

"The Shattered Silence" is a very typical installment of "The Fugitive". And, after nearly four full seasons, this one is just about the prototypical episode. It has a woman who very, very quickly falls for him and KNOWS Richard Kimble is innocent. It has a deputy who just happens to be interested in this same lady! It also has a chance for the fugitive to disappear safely from the police...yet he selflessly stays behind to help someone in need. None of this is to say it's a bad episode...just a familiar one. And, considering it's the last regular episode (just before the two-part finale), it's about time to wrap up this excellent series.

As an American actor/ screenwriter I think this episode sums up the timeless, classic series, "The Fugitive". The scene where Lawrence Naismith deftly trys to convince David Janssen that humans can't see that eternity is passing them by, is one of the most riveting in television history. And when "Andrea", played by the lovely Antoinette Bower, says goodbye to Kimble, it's truly a heartbreaking moment. And not to be overlooked, is Paul Mantee's serious but playful performance as the jealous police officer, and David Janssen's intelligent, thoughtful Richard Kimble. Truly a classic TV series... Beau Dare