The Fugitive/Fear in a Desert City

Fear in a Desert City
Season 1, Episode 1
Airdate	September 17, 1963
Written by	Stanford Whitmore
Directed by	Walter Grauman
Produced by	Alan Armer
— N/A	1x02 → The Witch
The Fugitive — Season One

This article about an episode needs to be expanded with more information. Please help out by editing it.

Fear in a Desert City is the first episode of the first season of The Fugitive.

Starring: David Janssen (The Fugitive)

Special Guest Stars: Vera Miles (Monica Welles), Brian Keith (Edward Welles), Harry Townes (Sgt. Burden)

Also Starring: Barry Morse (Lt. Gerard)

Uncredited: William Conrad (Narrator), Paul Birch (Captain Carpenter), Lynn Borden (Bus Passenger), George Bruggeman (Bar Patron), Dabbs Greer (Sgt. Fairfield), Donald Losby (Mark Welles), Rod McGaughy (Bar Patron), Bryan O'Byrne (Ticket Agent), Barney Phillips (Cleve Brown), Abigail Shelton (Evelyn), Carl Sklover (Bar Patron), Hank Wise (Bar Patron)

Plot Overview

Six months after his escape from the train wreck; Richard Kimble arrives in Tucson, Arizona. Using the name James Lincoln, he takes a job tending bar at a local saloon. One of the customers present on his first evening of work is an obnoxious, richly dressed man whose presence visibly upsets the lounge’s piano player, Monica Welles. Later, after work, Kimble comes across the man striking Monica in the parking lot. Kimble comes to the woman’s defense, and the man angrily drives off.

After Kimble takes Monica back home to her apartment, she tells him her story. The man who attacked her is her husband Edward, whom she lived with in Phoenix. Although her marriage was once a happy one, Welles’ experiences in the Korean War changed his personality, making him paranoid and violent, and with the unfounded obsession that she is unfaithful to him. Unable to bear living with him anymore, Monica fled to Tucson with her young son Mark. But now Welles has found her again after a month’s peace. Monica cannot go to the police because Welles is an important and influential man in Phoenix and maintains an impeccable public image. Kimble realizes that there is nothing much he can do for her in his position, but he decides to accompany her and Mark to a local amusement park the next day to help offer her comfort.

Unfortunately, Welles has trailed Kimble to Monica’s home and then follows him to his hotel. Flaunting a gun, he warns Kimble to stay out of his family affairs and to leave town. Nonetheless, Kimble keeps his meeting with Monica the next day. At the amusement park, Kimble begins to make inroads of friendship with young Mark, who has heretofore been mistrustful of men because of his father. But Welles has followed them once again to the park where he spies on them.

Yet that night at the bar, Welles is in good humor and is even cordial to Kimble. The reason soon becomes clear enough. When Kimble and Monica leave the bar, Kimble is picked up by two local police detectives, Burden and Fairfield. Welles, playing the role of the cuckolded husband, has asked the two to pressure Kimble into leaving town. The policemen play a cat-and-mouse interrogation game with the fugitive, and conduct a surreptitious search of his hotel room (turning up the black dye Kimble uses to disguise his hair). Kimble knows that it is only a matter of time before the two discover his true identity, and that he must leave town. But before he goes, he must visit Monica and explain why he cannot help her. He confides his identity to her and the story of his past life, arrest, escape and flight. Monica believes in his innocence and insists on her and Mark accompanying him in his exodus from Tucson. They quickly head for the bus station.

But Welles is on their trail again, and after finding Monica not at home, he surmises their destination. Now in a state of near-frenzied enragement, he comes upon the trio just as they are boarding a bus out of town. After a struggle with Kimble, Welles aims his gun at the fugitive. But the commotion has attracted a nearby pair of Air Force officers, who draw their own guns. When Welles attempts to fire at them they shoot him dead. Knowing that he cannot stick around, and that now Monica is free from her nightmare, the Fugitive takes the opportunity to slip away in the confusion after a brief goodbye.

Soon after Kimble’s getaway, Burden and Fairfield finally realize his true identity. At Welles’ funeral Monica is paid a visit by Phillip Gerard, looking for information on where the fugitive may have traveled to from Tucson. Monica professes her belief in the fugitive’s innocence to the Lieutenant.

Trivia

Memorable Moments

You have to wonder how effective the two Phoenix detectives are...in the final scene, after Kimble has already beaten a very hasty retreat, they're talking about the situation in the squad room. Burden is talking, and right directly behind him on a bulletin board is a wanted poster with Kimble's picture on it!