The Fugitive (TV Series) Where the Action Is (1964) User Reviews

She's on the highway to oblivion....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 March 2017]

Chris (Joanna Frank) is a spoiled, out of control brat with some SERIOUS daddy issues. He daddy (Telly Savalas) is a rich guy who owns a resort/casino in Reno...and she runs roughshod over the place. She appears to be at least a problem drinker (probably an alcoholic) and given her behaviors, you can't help but think she has a death wish. Unfortunately, Richard Kimble (David Janssen) happens to be the object of much of Chris' attention...whether he wants it or not...and he doesn't. And the controlling, nasty dad is quick to believe the worst of Kimble...a man he knows as 'Jerry Shelton'.

A decent episode all in all...not among the most memorable but like so many shows in the series it's original and well worth your time. And, as always, one that shows that Kimble is a heck of a nice guy!

Plot summary

[ynot-16 · 8/10 · 26 October 2006]

Kimble is working as pool boy / lifeguard at a gambling resort owned by Dan Polichek (actor Telly Savalas), a rich and powerful figure. Polichek is ashamed of his spoiled, drunken, promiscuous daughter, whose mother is deceased. He genuinely loves her and wants the best for her, but they always fight.

Complications set in when she starts making moves on Kimble. This enrages Dad, who envisions higher things for her than a fling with the pool boy. As she continues to pursue Kimble, Polichek proves he is a man who can make things happen, a circumstance that works against Kimble.

Trapped in a desperate situation, Kimble is caught in the middle, and must somehow please both father and daughter in order to free himself.

The doc has to mend a broken family

[jsinger-58969 · 9/10 · 22 August 2022]

Kimble is working as a lifeguard at a club in the biggest little city in the world, Reno. The club is owned by Telly Savalas. The future Kojak has a wild, drunk, promiscuous daughter who hates Telly and wants nothing more than to tick him off. What better than to have a public affair with the lifeguard? This has worked in the past, but the doc is made of better stuff, and isn't having any of that. He even slaps her face when he has to fish her out of the pool. But the doe-eyed drunk persists, causing Dick much consternation. It seems she blames her dad for her mom's death, that her suicide was caused by his constant jealousy and badgering. Anyways, he gives Kimble a few bucks and tells him to leave town, but the daughter finds him before he can get on a plane and proposes marriage. She just has never seen anyone as virtuous, but in a manly way, as Kimble. Of course, Dick is not going to marry this lush, but he tries to let her down gently. Soon, they are both in front of Telly, with the police nearby. The doc uses his family counseling skills and Telly tells his daughter that her mother didn't want her, and that she ran off with a dealer at his club and took 30k. When the money ran out the boyfriend left and she killed herself. He never told his daughter the truth because he loved her and didn't want her to think bad of her mother. The two can now have a loving relationship and Kimble is given an escort out of town away from the authorities. Richard Kimble is free to remain......a fugitive.

Towering, Historical Stuff

[vpinon01 · 10/10 · 13 April 2008]

It is rare that we get the combination of high drama and suspense combined with heartfelt emotion. This episode, just released on DVD, gives us a good helping of each, combined with location filming in the Reno of 1963. To anyone who loves Reno history, as I do, this episode is like finding a buried time capsule. Remember, this is the Reno just before I-80, when highway 40 was carried on 2nd and 4th streets. The great writing, acting, and directing are all enhanced by the location filming.

We see Janssen standing on a downtown bridge over the Truckee River. If we zoom in, one can just make out the North-Alt. U.S. 395 sign, so this in all likelihood is Center St., which carried Alt 395. (Virgina Street was designated U.S. 395). There are several more shots of Reno.

Telly Savalas and Johanna Frank are the antagonists to Kimball, but each are suspicious and distrustful of the other, with Savalas the controlling and authoritative Casino Boss father, and Ms. Frank his promiscuous and spoiled daughter. Savalas, one of the truly great actors, is at the top of his game here. Ms. Frank also is fine and

very believable. Indeed, this high talent makes us feel that we are watching real people and not actors. Frank becomes involved with Kimball, but the larger story is a secret that Savalas harbors from the daughter. It is the root of their dysfunction, and it is a well-kept surprise. It is because of the actions of Kimball, that the truth comes out, and father and daughter find one another again.

It is in the epilogue that the screenwriter reinforces the role of fate in Life. The fate which has made Kimball a fugitive is masterfully compared to a fate which had played on Savalas's character. With the Reno airport as the backdrop, and United Airlines DC-6's in the foreground, the final poignant scene plays out. Savalas has enabled Kimball to take a flight to L.A. Father and Daughter are wistful at his departure, but even Salvalas seems to almost choke up. Frank turns to Savalas and says, "Daddy, he(Kimball) told me he knows all about running"--Savalas the controller in the beginning of the story is resigned to fate--"Well, sometimes the dice just turn up that way-too bad, waste of a good life"-but then Frank almost tries to console him with some hope, and possibly some intuition-"No not entirely, it is not entirely a waste of a good life." Savalas emotionally puts his arm around his daughter, as we switch to the DC-6 with Kimball on board, completing its take-off roll on Runway 34, becoming airborne, soaring, and the dramatic voice-over by Conrad. As the DC-6 gains altitude, we switch to the final shot of Kimball peering out the window looking generally west at the mountains and airport area south of Reno. A tremendous shot by the director, Kimball looking out the window back at the airport reminds us that he too has had some of his own emotions concerning Chris (Ms.Frank), and his time in Reno. Watching this was very intense and evocative. This episode is a masterpiece and a tribute to everyone involved in the production.

1/28/64 "Where the Action Is"

[schappe1 · 13 April 2015]

In 1969, a post-Fugitive David Janssen played the owner of a Las Vegas Hotel in a film called "Where It's At". In that he was dealing with a reluctant son he wants to inherit the family business. Five years before, as Richard Kimble, he encounters Telly Savalas, the owner of a Reno Hotel, trying to deal with his playgirl daughter in an episode entitled "Where the Action Is". Kimble is working as a lifeguard who at first has a run-in with the daughter, who then flirts with him just because Daddy doesn't like it. Kimble has to figure out the real problem between father and daughter to get out of it.

Kimble winds up boarding a plane to leave Reno, the only time in the series he uses that most confining means of conveyance.

Kimble helps another troubled young woman

[Christopher370 · 10/10 · 1 June 2023]

This is another memorable favorite of mine from season one. As he similarly did with Ruth Norton in "The Girl From Little Egypt", Kimble now helps another young woman, Chris Polichek, who has an estranged relationship with her father Dan who is the owner of a hotel/casino in Reno, Nevada.

To deal with her pain, Chris parties it up with her friends by the hotel pool and later on makes a play for Kimble one night by the pool. She apparently makes plays for all the hotel lifeguards since her father ran the previous one out of town after getting wind of it.

Kimble can see she's just a troubled young soul and rebuffs her advances, which upsets her....but we see a close up of her after she leaves him and it appears that she's not upset that he rejected her, but she's more upset with herself. This poor girl desperately needs help.

As the story unfolds, Kimble and the viewer begin to understand why she's the way she is and the scene where Kimble finds her at her mother's grave was very well done and poignant.

Joanna Frank was wonderful as the troubled Chris, and she kind of reminded me of Pamela Tiffin's Ruth character from "Little Egypt". The actresses look nothing alike of course, but I believe their characters shared similarities with each other and the friendship Kimble formed with both of these troubled young women was nice to watch.

I loved that they actually shot on location in Reno and this is just one of the reasons (out of many) that I love the first season so much. Not everything is done in L. A. locations or back lot studios as in later seasons, and it's a thrill to see early 1960's downtown locations in action, especially a place like Reno, Nevada.

I also loved Kimble's reply to Chris when she shows up at his motel room at night and asked "Aren't you going to let a lady in?" to which he replied "A lady wouldn't be standing out there." Oh what a different time it was when decorum was still in style and expected of the opposite sex.

At the end of "Little Egypt", Kimble asked Ruth to remember him and here in "Where the Action Is", Chris tells him that she'll think of him after he's gone. I like to think that both women smiled to themselves and remembered him years later when they learned he finally was able to stop running.

It's episodes like this where Kimble makes an emotional connection with the person he crosses paths with and changes their lives for the better that I love so much, and I feel are the most powerful of the series. Another reviewer here made mention of fate and I think it is something interesting to ponder.

Had Kimble never escaped the train wreck and continued on to the "death house", just think of all these people's lives that never would have been changed or been saved because of Kimble's interference in them. Ruth in "Little Egypt" even says he saved her life that night they met and had he never escaped the train she probably would have driven off a cliff like she said. Viewing it from that perspective, to me at least, makes this show all the more special.

And here, had Kimble never came to work at the Reno hotel, who knows where Chris would have ended up? The poor thing was already jumping up on bar tables attempting to strip off her clothes and scaring the professional stripper off the stage! So Kimble probably saved this woman's life as well.

The only thing that I can nit pick with this episode is Kimble flying to his next location. I don't know how lax things were with airline flying in the mid 20th century, but I would think it would be difficult for an interstate fugitive to hop on a plane so easily.

It was the only time we saw him flying so I can let it go, but it is strange to see him relaxing in his seat as the plane takes off and not sitting on a bus or freight train or walking down a lonely road at the end. Still, this is a 10 star episode for me and I feel one of the best of season one with excellent performances by all.