Product Description

Dr. Richard Kimble is accused to be the murder of his wife. The night before his execution, he escapes. The only chance to prove his innocence is to find the man who killed hi wife. Kimble, persecuted by the Lt. Gerard, risks his life several times when he shows his identity to help other people out of trouble.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10701 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Subtitled, Color, Dolby, Full Screen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 771 minutes

Amazon.com
"Nervous?" a police officer reassures the uncomfortable-looking citizen brought in for questioning as witness to an attempted liquor store heist. "That happens to everyone who comes into a police station." This man, though, has good reason to be uneasy. He's Richard Kimble (David Janssen), who escaped en route to Death Row after being falsely convicted of killing his wife. The 15 compelling episodes that conclude the essential season 1 heighten his desperation and paranoia, as the rootless Kimble travels across the country, accepting odd jobs while searching for the One-Armed Man he saw leaving the scene of the crime. Fate, intones narrator William Conrad at one point, is not finished with Kimble. In the episode "Rat in a Corner," a woman who works in the post office recognizes him from his Wanted poster. In "Storm Center," an embezzler's girlfriend turns out to be the woman to whom Kimble refused an abortion five years earlier. In "End Game," one of the season's best episodes, a street photographer inadvertently snaps his picture, and the discarded photograph revealing his location inexorably makes it way to Kimble's nemesis, Lt. Gerard (the late, great, Barry Morse). Janssen is riveting as the tortured Kimble for whom a forced smile to appear normal seems excruciating. Each episode brings a new location and another human-interest story, as Kimble finds himself embroiled in sinister plots (the attempted murder of an heiress in "The Garden House," a stepmother's scheme to drive her stepdaughter insane in "The Homecoming"), family dramas ("Where the Action Is," in which a "rude, drunken brat" is at odds with her hotel owner father), and personal crises (the two-part "Angels Travel on Lonely Roads," in which Kimble escorts a nun en route to renounce her vows).

More of Kimble's backstory is revealed. In the powerful "Taps for a Dead War," we learn that he served in Korea, where his life was saved by a now-embittered vet whose face was horribly scarred in the process. The Fugitive gets some extra mileage out of a stellar roster of guest stars, including Warren Oates as the hapless stick-up man in "Rat in a Corner," Carroll O'Connor as a bullying sheriff in "Flight from the Final Demon," Telly Savalas as the hotel owner in "Where the Action Is," Pat Hingle as a sympathetic columnist in "Search in a Windy City," and most memorable, John McGiver and John "Tigger" Fiedler in "The End Game" as bickering, bantering housemates on opposite sides of the Kimble guilty-or-innocent question. The Fugitive's noir sensibility evokes dread and menace even in the most bucolic of settings. And everywhere he goes, Kimble wins hearts and minds against the police sworn to bring him in. As a surfer tells Gerard in "The End Game," "You know, after meeting you, I hope he makes it." --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Finally, Dr. Kimble Runs Toward Our DVD Player
At long last, the groundbreaking television series, "The Fugitive" comes to DVD. This show, which lasted from 1963-1967, was suspenseful, moving, engaging, and original. This was the first successful television show that took the dramatic formula of putting the hero with new characters and in new situations every week to another level. In previous shows such as Cheyenne, Maverick, and many others, the hero was a wanderer going from town to town to earn a living. In this show, the hero had no choice. He had to run to stay out of jail.

Charged with murdering his wife, a crime he did not commit, Dr. Richard Kimble, played by David Janssen, escapes from the law when the train taking him to his execution wrecks. Tracked doggedly by police inspector Gerard, Kimble wanders across the country running from the law while trying to track down the one-armed man he saw leaving his house the night his wife was murdered. As he wanders the country, he helps many people with their problems, all the while trying to find the one armed man and trying to avoid Gerard.

This classic show had all the goods - great acting by Janssen, Morse, and the many guest stars, fantastic narration by William Conrad, clever, well-written scripts, and taut direction. This show had it all, and made Dr. Richard Kimble one of the most famous and sympathetic characters television history. We can be glad that it has finally made it to DVD.

THE FUGITIVE KEEPS RUNNING!!
The review by Desilu Trek "Live Long & Prosper" is right on! TV viewers today simply do not realize the dramatic depth of this classic TV show! I cannot recommend it highly enough to TV fans who love great drama! David Janssen was simply perfect for the role of Richard Kimble, and the hang-dog looks of humiliation that he can display as an M.D. on the run from blind "justice" - while constantly searching for clues to the whereabouts of the "one-armed man" whom he saw running from the scene of his wife's murder - are truly fabulous! Moreover, the guest stars on this TV show read like a "Who's Who" of 1950s-1970s television and movies - some of my favorite guest stars on The Fugitive include Leslie Neilsen, Diana Hyland (=doll), Warren Oates, Carroll O'Connor, Vera Miles (=babe), Brian Keith, Suzanne Pleshette (=doll), Pat Crowley (=babe), Sandy Dennis, Ed Nelson, Susan Oliver (=doll), Robert Duvall, Angie Dickinson (=babe), Beverly Garland, Alejandro Rey, Brenda Vaccaro (=doll), Murray Matheson, Telly Savalas, Jack Weston, Ed Binns, Diana Van der Vlis (=babe), Brenda Scott (=doll), Jack Klugman, James Best, Buck Taylor, Diane Brewster (=babe), Pamela Tiffin (=doll), Andrew Prine, Jacqueline Scott (=doll), Robert Keith (Brian's father), Robert Webber, Pippa Scott (=babe), John Anderson, Joanna Frank (=doll), Pat Hingle, Nancy Malone (=babe), Eileen Heckart, Albert Salmi, Lee Grant, Gilbert Roland, Madlyn Rhue, Claude Akins, Joanna Moore (=babe), Shirley Knight (=babe), Richard Carlson, Gloria Graham, Bethel Leslie (=babe), John Fiedler, John McGiver, Joseph Campanella - the list goes on & on - and every guest star listed above except Suzanne P. and Brenda Scott appear in the FIRST SEASON ALONE!

SERIOUSLY, FOLKS, GET THIS TV SERIES!!

Glad Dr. Kimble's run is continuing
Thank you to CBS Video for believing in "The Fugitive" enough to continue issuing the series. While I dislike having to buy split-season sets, I'm glad they're still coming. If it means having to buy eight volumes to get all four seasons, it's what I'll do to get my second-favorite series of all time.