The Fugitive (TV Series) Conspiracy of Silence (1965) User Reviews

Not one of the better ones.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 April 2017]

When this show begins, Richard Kimble is working at an exclusive resort in the desert. It's off season and there aren't that many guests. However, there should be more and Kimble realizes something is afoot when he overhears the reservation desk telling people on the phone that they cannot take any reservations because they are full! That and the weird behavior of the few guests who are there mean SOMETHING odd if about to happen. What Kimble never could have anticipated is a top secret military operation going on nearby. All he knows is something is about to happen and he tries to sneak away from the place...only to be caught. Eventually they learn who he is and he is held prisoner until the operation is complete. In a way, it's a good thing he is there as the only doctor they have is overcome by some toxic cloud they are working on...and Kimble is able to lend a hand.

The biggest problem with this one is that the episode ends with so many questions unanswered AND Kimble doing something uncharacteristic. A man is shot, there is no other doctor, and yet Kimble runs away...something that is very inconsistent with who he is based on previous episodes. Not a terrible episode...just not a very good one.

By the way, at one point in the show you see a filthy Kimble after he escaped, rolling about in the dirt and dust. Yet, in the very next scene his clothes are completely clean!

Why didn't they just let Kimble go at the start?

[kennyp-44177 · 7/10 · 28 February 2022]

This runaround, cloak and dagger type episode doesn't make a lot of sense. Early in the story when Dr Kimble's discovers his hotel rooms been searched he packs his bag and makes a run for it. At this point he hasn't really seen anything to do with the secret tests, so why point a gun at him and keep him hanging around? Anyways, Kimble was lucky in one way that it was the military holding the tests, and they' re honourable men, if it were some shady government types he would have been driven to the desert and shot in the head.

Interesting episode

[Christopher370 · 8/10 · 5 August 2023]

Another reviewer here questions why they didn't let Kimble go early on, but they suspected that he was a spy so they had no idea what kind of information he may have learned at that point and they couldn't take the chance of letting a potential spy go so it made sense to me why they detained him.

And another reviewer wondered why Kimble didn't stay to provide medical aid to the Major Christopher who was shot in the fourth act. I gather that the military doctor and the others weren't very far away since David called out for them within earshot when he had his gun on Kimble.

So Kimble knew that aid for him would get there quickly and his own life depended on his getting the hell out of there, so he had to split fast, and I believe that he made the correct decision. I don't think Kimble would ever leave a man to die.

It was an interesting episode, but in a good way. It's funny because the first time I watched this 6 months ago I rated it a low 5 stars, but upon this second viewing, (i'm rewatching the whole series over), I enjoyed it a lot more but I can't pinpoint exactly why.

I think the first time around I expected too much from the series, but this second viewing is allowing me to appreciate the stories a lot more (if that makes any sense) and I think that this was a very good story.

I love the location shots and it looked like they filmed this at a real desert resort which gives the whole episode a reality feel. I just wondered in the end how Kimble got those handcuffs off his left wrist.

It appeared that they were still dangling from his hand when he was hitching towards his next destination and he appeared to be trying to cover them while he was hitching for the ride.

At least they didn't use that tacked on stock ending where he's hitching a ride in his suit and kind of smirks when the car passes him by. Anyway, I really enjoyed this one and bumped my original rating from a 5 to an 8 on second viewing.

10/12/65 "Conspiracy of Silence"

[schappe1 · 15 July 2015]

One of the stranger entries in this series, this one is an obvious attempt to take advantage of the "Spy Craze" that was by now dominating movies and television. Like a lot of those shows, this one doesn't make very much sense.

Kimble has gotten a job at a ritzy retreat known as the "High Desert Inn", which is "62 miles from the town of Reeseburg, Arizona". There is a High Desert Inn in Arizona but no "Reeseburg". This was actually filmed at the now defunct Hesperia Inn in Hesperia, California. A helpful poster named "hoosierkimbles" on a Yahoo group offers this: "How do you tell the California desert from the Arizona one? Vegetation. Arizona has saguaro cactus and California has Joshua trees, those stunted bushes that dot the landscape in "Conspiracy of Silence."

Anyway, something strange is going on there. The desk clerk tells people who call for reservations that they are full up, even though the place is virtually empty. It turns out everybody there but Kimble and the bartender seem to be part of some kind of conspiracy, setting up some unknown event to take place there. Some big-wigs from Washington are supposed to be on their way. The bartender is fired, supposedly for sampling too much of his product and Kimble decides he wants no part of whatever is going to happen there and decides to leave, too. But the conspirators apprehend him and want him to stay because his ID and references have proved to be fake. They accuse him of being a spy.

No, it's not an assassination. The conspirators are going to test a defense system they've come up with for a new weapon our enemies have devised that will "wipe out all animal life" within a certain radius. They wanted a remote location to test it- so they are using the golf course at this isolated resort to test it, (heck, it's a desert, anyway). They could have done it on their normal proving grounds back east but there were "too many soldiers within range of it." The brass is coming in to see if the test worked. There's an Army Colonel in charge, along with an executive for a defense contractor who came up with the solution to the threat and they are at odds from the beginning, the executive seemingly only concerned about his career. The test goes awry when the tank containing the malevolent agent blows up, injuring and contaminating several workers. The antidote works, preventing the spread of the disaster, (it consists of a few smoke bombs shot into the air). Kimble is pressed into service treating the wounded and ill workers, even though he knows nothing about the biological agent . Somehow he manages to get everybody fixed up.

Now the Colonel has to figure out what to do with him. If he's here when the big wigs come, they'll know his security efforts were compromised. If Kimble gets turned over to the police, he might reveal what went on there. He decides that if he just lets Kimble go, he'll keep their secret because he must keep his own. That's not enough for the executive, who doesn't want anything to ruin his career. He wants Kimble dead.

Through it all, the reason why the tank blew up is never explained. I'd assumed that someone was trying to sabotage the project but assumptions were useless in trying to figure this one out.

Plot summary

[ynot-16 · 9/10 · 26 October 2006]

Kimble is working as a bellboy at a hotel in the desert, when peculiar things start to happen. He hears the manager tell people on the phone that the hotel is full, but it is nearly empty. Some of the employees are also sent away.

Kimble decides to flee, but military officers disguised as hotel patrons arrest him. They believe him to be a spy, intent on gathering and passing on information about the military activities. Not surprisingly, Kimble's medical skills become needed.

Kimble has to satisfy the military, evade an enemy intent on his destruction, and somehow manage to escape before the big brass show up.

Great atmosphere (no pun intended)

[ColonelPuntridge · 7/10 · 29 March 2021]

* WARNING! Here be SPOILERS!!!!! *

The story leaves some questions unanswered. Like, for instance, the reason why Major Beck (Donald Herron) decides to tell Dr. Kimble all about the (SPOILER) poison gas, and for his (Beck's) whole attitude about his mission. On the other hand, that is likely how a real-life encounter with something like this, a classified scientific project involving secret military intelligence, would feel to you, if you were in Kimble's position, an outsider who blunders into it. So in a way, the non-closure makes the whole installment more believable. And the like-James-Bond-but-serious story feels very satisfying at the end.

One funny moment: when (SPOILER!!) Jones (Malachi Throne) attacks Major Beck from behind, he jumps onto his (Beck's) back, in a "piggy back" position, and wraps his arms round Beck's upper body and his legs around Beck's waist. No serious fighting man would attack that way. It's not even an effective way to tackle someone to the ground! A trained agent like Jones, attacking from behind, with his target unaware of his presence, would know better ways to neutralize him. A hook-punch to the side of the head or the side of the neck, would be much more effective. Or a forward punch or kick to the back the head. There's really no excuse for Jones' sophomoric, goofy attempt.