The Fugitive (TV Series) The Blessings of Liberty (1966) User Reviews

Intricate plot with three fugitives

[CCsito · 8/10 · 18 August 2013]

*SPOILER ALERT*

This episode of the Fugitive has Richard Kimble going to an upholstery shop for work. The shop is operated by an European immigrant family headed by a father and his three children. There is also one hired assistant. The police come into the shop looking for a murder suspect. Besides Kimble, the father of the immigrant family is also concerned about the police. The police look for the hired assistant who gets away and hides while the police stake a lookout around the shop leaving Kimble and the father concerned. Kimble later learns that the father was charged with the death of a woman seeking an abortion, but was wrongly framed by the woman before she died. The police also try to get information about the other workers in the shop and are able to identify Richard Kimble as well. The hired assistant returns back to the shop and takes one of the father's daughter as a hostage. One of the detectives is then shot by the hired assistant and Kimble and the shop owner (who is also a surgeon) try to save him after a vital blood vessel is torn by the bullet. After they finish the operation, Kimble makes his getaway as the ambulance personnel arrives. The shop owner then reveals to the police that he is actually a surgeon and has a matter that needs to be cleared up. The father has been moving his family around the US for fear of being detected, but now decides to finally clear up his past so that his children can become naturalized citizens after residing in one location for at least several years. The episode closes with the father going to the court to resolve his past problem, his children being naturalized, and Kimble walking past the courthouse.

A runaway doc meets another runaway doc.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 19 May 2017]

When this episode begins, Richard Kimble gets a job as an assistant in an upholsterer's shop. Soon, the police show up...looking for a murderer...but it's NOT Kimble they're looking for but a guy named Billy Karnes (Tony Musante). After Billy makes his escape, Kimble goes how with the boss, Mr. Karac...but Kimble notices that the upholsterer is hiding something...he's a doctor. Why would a doctor be working on furniture? Well, it turns out he as well as Kimble are both doctors hiding out from the law. And, by the time the show ends, one of the two doctors will be called on for some emergency surgery.

This was a decent enough episode but the casting was really bad. The Karacs are supposed to be a Hungarian family...so why cast red- haired and very American-talking Julie Sommars...especially when the rest DO sport accents?! It seemed weird and took me out of the otherwise decent but unremarkable episode.

Can't swing a dead cat without hitting a fugitive

[Guad42 · 6/10 · 20 December 2021]

There are three fugitives in this outing. I think that is a record for this series. The plot has been well covered by earlier reviewers so some stray comments.

Have you noticed how often Kimble is caught up in police business that has nothing to do with him, but leads to him being eventually unmasked?

Wrong place, wrong time is a bad habit for any fugitive.

As pointed out, Julie Sommars, as Carla Karac, is as down home as ever with her American accent and it doesn't sell the idea that she is one of the daughters. Any second you expect her to recommend Ben Matlock to her father as a lawyer. They should have put in a throwaway line that she came to America years before to prepare for everyone else to come over, but the others couldn't get out until recently due to the 1956 revolution or something like that. The rest of the family is well done by the actors.

Considering how Billy Karnes (Tony Musante pre-Toma) acts in this episode, Carla not only has no accent but no instincts about men.

The father (Ludwig Donath) is overly cranky and it is hard to be on his side. He has a nice talk with Kimble at the halfway point of the episode and that helps win us over.

The cops watching the shop from across the street sit in the open window while doing it. Not too discreet.

I love that when the cop shoots Billy and moves to check him out, two people in the background stop to look but a third guy just ambles through the camera shot as if there is nothing unusual going on.

Kimble is outside the courthouse while the kids are being sworn in as citizens. Quick work by the immigrant board. Why is Kimble hanging around town and how does he know the kids are getting their citizenships at that time? It does make for a nice closing shot.

Again, Kimble gets away with just the clothes on his back. This is a decent episode that is worth the hour.

12/20/66 "The Blessings of Liberty"

[schappe1 · 15 February 2016]

Kimble gets work in an upholstery shop run by a family of Hungarian immigrants. The father is a refugee not only from politics but also from the law: he was blamed for an illegal abortion that went wrong that he didn't actually perform. He doesn't want to be extradited back to Hungary. Meanwhile his daughter has fallen in love with another man the police want for murder, (a very young Tony Musante). They search the factory. Kimble thinks they might be after him but when this other man bolts and they go after him, Kimble is safe- for now.

The rest of the episode is Kimble trying to get the doctor to come out of hiding and resume his practice while the police surveil the house and factory, assuming the killer will return. They eventually figure out who Kimble is and have two peas in a pod. Meanwhile the killer does return and takes the family hostage. But he's bleeding from a wound and needs an operation.

One glaring note: Julie Sommars plays the daughter and while the rest of the family speak in thick accents, she sounds as American as apple pie. One more thought: Did we have an extradition treaty with Hungary after the failed revolution? If not, what is the father worried about?

Julie

[Bill_S_DE_NJ · 4/10 · 21 December 2021]

I forgive Julie for not having a Hungarian accent.. she's one groovy looking chick! As for the episode quality not very good.. too many studio locations.....