The Fugitive (TV Series) Death Is the Door Prize (1966) User Reviews

Plot summary

[ynot-16 · 9/10 · 2 December 2006]

Kimble follows a one armed man into a hi-fi electronics show before discovering he is the wrong man. Unfortunately, Kimble is falsely identified as a pickpocket, causing security guards and police look for him. Kimble returns the wallet to Marcia Stone, played by actress Lois Nettleton.

Security guard Pete Dawes, outstandingly played by actor Howard DaSilva, is searching for the pickpocket when he comes across teens doing a breakin. Dawes shoots one of the teens in self-defense, and Kimble is his only witness. Kimble is trapped on the grounds as Dawes desperately searches for the man who can clear him. Kimble faces danger from the police and even more danger when Dawes discovers who he is.

Richard Kimble...pickpocket

[jsinger-58969 · 8/10 · 7 February 2023]

I don't get the title to this one, as there is a death, but nothing resembling a door prize. Anyways, Dick is on a bus when he sees a guy with an empty sleeve, so he gets off the bus and goes into pursuit. He has to buy a ticket to get into an area called an international hi-fi show, a sort of business complex with bushes and trees, and apparently a hotel and swimming pool. Odd. He crashes into a woman and stops to help her up and pick up her stuff before chasing the empty sleeve man. He catches the guy but it's just some guy with his arm in a cast. He discovers he somehow has the woman's pocketbook and goes to return it to her. Problem is, someone saw him pick up the pocketbook and reported him to a security guard as a pickpocket. So now the guard starts chasing him and announcements are being made about a dangerous pickpocket on the grounds. You wound think he was an escaped murderer or something. Dick cuts his hand breaking into a storeroom and two teens are there looking like they're stealing stuff. Somehow, they got in without cutting their hands. The guard comes in and fatally shoots one of them when he thinks the kid is reaching for a gun. Kimble runs away in the confusion and returns the pocketbook to Lois Nettleton, who seems miscast as a working gal who can't find a fella. It seems like there would be a line outside her door. She takes one look at Dick and thinks she's finally found her fella. She hides him from the guard, who now knows Kimble is not Dickie the dip, but is a witness who saw the shooting and can clear him of a possible murder charge. On a hunch, he looks through some wanted posters and finds the doc. He eventually finds doc in the flesh, and says will turn him in if he doesn't testify on his behalf. So Dick reluctantly testifies to the cops on what he saw. The surviving teen involved in the incident finally comes clean, and the guard is cleared. Dick says goodbye to Lois, and while she continues to search for her fella, Dick continues to search for his.

9/20/66 "Death is the Door Prize"

[schappe1 · 8 January 2016]

I recall this episode as the first I saw when A&E started showing reruns of this series in the early 90's leading to my fascination with the show, (I couldn't wait to get home from work to see it.) Those reruns also led to the highly successful 1993 film. So it has a special status to me. I also think it's a good episode. Ed Peterson in his book on the series, says that this is a "badly paced episode that is excruciating to watch". I don't find it that way at all.

Kimble chases what appears to be a one-armed man into a large, gated area with a building that houses an electronics fair. He bumps into one of the clerks, Lois Nettleton, (she must have been familiar to Kimble as this is her third appearance on the show), and helps her get up, somehow coming away with her purse. He finds the man he was looking for just has his arm in a sling and tries to find Lois. By now he's been reported as a pick-pocket and a security guard, Howard DaSilva, is after him. All exits have been blocked. Kimble manages to return the purse but Da Silva is still after him. He hides in a store room where two teens are burglarizing the place. Da Silva finds them. One of the kids makes a motion DaSilva interprets as going for a gun and Da Silva shoots him. Kimble escapes but still can't leave the enclosure. The kid had no gun and DaSilva has to find Kimble so he can testify that the kid appeared to be going for a gun.

La La Land

[rgfjzcjc · 10/10 · 4 October 2021]

UCLA in the background well filming in LALA while living in LA watching this for the first time down the street filming in my Part of town so much history with me downtown La La LandSpecially when they're filming all over La La Land all other shows this shows great One thing I know about The show when I was watching the fugitive people over over the country we're hoping that it would come to their town amazing this show had a affect on people Great show the fugitive among others while I was down there for the whole entire season many shows hooray for Hollywood🎥🎬😎😱

Someone learns what it's like to be Richard Kimble....

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 8 May 2017]

Richard Kimble sees a one-armed man and jumps off the bus after him. After all, a one-armed man murdered his wife and finding the killer would lead to his exoneration. But on the way off the bus, he accidentally knocks a lady down (Lois Nettleton) and when he picks up his things, he accidentally picks up her pocket book. The guard on duty (Howard Da Silva) goes looking for Kimble because it's incorrectly assumed he meant to take the pocket book. But soon Kimble returns it. Is this the end of the guard's looking for him? No...because the guard soon shoots a suspect and Kimble sees it and could exonerate the guard...otherwise he might be up on murder or manslaughter charges.

The biggest problem with this episode was the lady played by Nettleton. Many women become infatuated with Kimble and help him but most of these get to know him first. This dippy lady knows almost nothing about him and then tries to hide him from the law...which really makes no sense. Otherwise, the plot involving the guard IS interesting and worth seeing.

Show me the exit door.

[kennyp-44177 · 6/10 · 19 October 2021]

Even a series of generally high quality often have episodes below par, this is one of them. Apart from the novel situation Howard da Silvas security guard puts himself in,there isn't much going on here. Da Silva is the best character here, and agree with other commentator that Lois Nettleton being love struck for Kimble for no good reason feels totally out of place.

Desperate woman

[Christopher370 · 5/10 · 28 March 2023]

I agree with other reviewers regarding the character played by Lois Nettleton. It's confusing and leaves you scratching your head because she comes off as overly needy and desperate for a man in her life and it appears that any man will do, yet she's far from a dog. In fact she's quite attractive but from the first moment she meets Kimble, she acts like a desperate love struck bubble headed school girl. Another reviewer aptly called her "dippy" which fits.

I believe the character should have been more on the homely side for the desperation aspect of the character to work. Possibly a mousy librarian type with Coke glasses would've been much more believable and interesting to see than the beautiful Nettleton acting as if she just can't land a man for herself.

When she parts with Kimble after he tells her "I'm not the man" (for you) she wonders out loud to him saying "He must be somewhere". It's just too hard to swallow that someone like this beautiful woman is having that big of a romantic dry spell lol. I guess maybe if she didn't act so desperate they'd come to her.

As for the main plot, it was middle of the road for me and I kept wondering to myself why a hotel in the middle of a city is built like a fortress with huge walls all around it. It was a hard to buy, but of course it was a plot device needed for the story to work. It just distracted me to no end. At one point I wondered why the 6ft tall Kimble didn't just climb over the darn wall and get the hell outta there.

I'm really enjoying seeing the show in color but hoping there are better episodes than this to follow. I give it a 5 so it's at least half good I guess.