The Fugitive (TV Series) The Cage (1964) User Reviews

Very strange, unusual behavior by Dr. Kimble

[ColonelPuntridge · 7/10 · 5 October 2020]

WARNING: BIG SPOILER AHEAD!!!

If you like 19th-Century Italian opera, (Verdi, Puccini) you'll like this episode. It has everything that makes opera what it is: a love-triangle, a possessive, domineering father, a mysterious stranger (Dr. Kimble), a dark, mysterious, but predictable plot, many emotional confrontations.

WARNING: SPOILER IMMEDIATELY AHEAD! Dr. Kimble does something I've never seen him do before: he distracts a law-enforcement officer by asking him to assist in administering medical care, then subtly moves to a position behind the officer, and hits him very hard in the back of the head, knocking him out. The officer is not in any way a bad character, only a cop trying to do his job holding Kimble prisoner but also helping Kimble save a life. Sure, Kimble needs to escape, but he doesn't usually escape by means of a sneaky, violent surprise-attack against a non-villain. And this particular attack, a knock-out blow to the back of the head, could potentially have killed the cop! (That's why a punch to the back of the opponent's head is considered a serious foul in boxing, for which referees deduct point and disqualify repeat-offenders: it's too dangerous; it can snap the base of the victim's skull away from the top of the victim's spine, causing instant death.) I'm not sure what the writer was thinking. Kimble also steals the officer's gun. Very strange, very unusual behavior for Dr. K.

Plot summary

[ynot-16 · 8/10 · 28 October 2006]

Kimble is in a small fishing village dominated by one man, the captain of a fishing ship. At a party with folk traditions, the captain's beautiful 15 year old daughter Carla (played by 21 year old actress Debra Scott) spurns her boyfriend and picks Kimble for the traditional kiss. Her father warns Kimble away, and breaks up the party by announcing the tuna are now running, and they are shipping out in the morning. However, she keeps chasing after Kimble.

Kimble plans to leave but, unfortunately, diagnoses a case of bubonic plague. Disregarding his own need to escape, and the need for the broke townspeople to go fishing for tuna, he informs public health officials, resulting in a quarantine.

Kimble, under police guard and with all the town angry at him, must turn their attitudes, straighten out the girl, defeat the plague, and escape before the quarantine is lifted.

Doc needs to stay away from 15 year old girls

[jsinger-58969 · 7/10 · 6 February 2023]

Doc is toiling at one of his favorite jobs, working in a coastal fishing village. The underage girl is the daughter of the head fisherman, an immigrant with a non specific accent and an attitude. Carla is played by Brenda Scott, really of quite legal age and incidentally, she would be married three different times to Dick's brother Ray in real life. She loves those Kimble boys. Carla is head over heels for Dick, much to the dismay of daddy. Dick is about to hit the road when he finds the body of a dead fisherman and instantly diagnoses bubonic plague. The old man of the sea wants Dick to keep his trap shut, but Dick is a responsible doctor, so he calls the public health people. The town is quarantined and the tuna get a reprieve from the fishermen, much to the anguish of the fishermen. Carla gets sick and Dick knocks out a cop while caring for her. He takes her with him for some reason and daddy finds them and thinks about killing Kimble, but then decides to give the two of them his blessing and tells them to run away together and make babies. It's tempting, but Dick says he has to go it alone and allows her to plant a goodbye kiss smack on his mouth, a risky choice given that for all they know, she has the plague. But, happily she doesn't, and Dick escapes through the surf to remain.....a fugitive.

1/24/64: "The Cage"

[schappe1 · 8 May 2015]

The writers put Kimble in another fascinating situation. He's working in a small California fishing village and has made friends there but feels it's time to move on. But then he discovers a dying resident has the bubonic plague. The fishermen don't' want to report it because they'll be quarantined at a time when the tuna are running. Kimble risks discovery if he calls in the authorities. But if he runs he could be a carrier- and what if the fishermen catch the tuna and sell it?

But the premise gets kind of under-used and displaced by a plot involving a 15 year old girl, (Brenda Scott, who falls for Kimble to the consternation of her father and boyfriend. Tim O'Connor, of last season's "Taps for a Dead War" returns, this time without the grotesque make-up, as a public health doctor. You wonder why Gerard doesn't show up in this one- doesn't anybody tell him anything?

One of the lowest

[hmoika · 4/10 · 29 February 2020]

I love this series so very much. This episode, though, was the most lame and uninteresting of the whole bunch.

I'm watching this episode as I write this review. Someone please rescue me from this limp script and all of the actors who specialize in over-acting.

Even excellent shows sometimes have lousy episodes...

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 14 April 2017]

"The Cage" is a sub-par episode as the story really is poorly written and the characters one-dimensional. If you've never seen the show before, please try another episode first!

Whenh the show begins, Jeff Parker (Dr. Richard Kimble in his newest fake identity) is working among a group of Portuguese-American fishermen. Carla is only 15 but lusts for Jeff...and is more than willing to make his life tough there in the fishing village. Jeff would leave...but plague breaks out and the place is quarantined--so he's stuck with this love-struck girl and her very volatile (and poorly written) father.

So why did I particularly hate this one? Well, the creepy older man and 15 year-old angle certainly didn't help. But what also was a problem was that the girl and her father were mostly one-dimensional caricatures of immigrants...not believable, real people. Painful to watch at times....this score of 4 might actually be a bit generous.