The Fugitive (1963) s03e05 Episode Script

Conspiracy of Silence

You're going somewhere, mr.
Tate? No.
What is this? Well, you play it anyway you like, mister, But you wouldn't be packed and ready to run If you didn't know what this is.
Tell beck what happened, And that we've got his man in custody.
Come on.
Narrator: Starring david janssen as dr.
Richard kimble.
An innocent victim of blind justice, Falsely convicted for the murder of his wife, Reprieved by fate when a train wreck freed him En route to the death house, Freed him to hide in lonely desperation, To change his identity, To toil at many jobs, Freed him to search for a one-armed man He saw leave the scene of the crime, Freed him to run before the relentless pursuit Of the police lieutenant obsessed with his capture.
The guest stars in tonight's story, donald harron, Malachi throne.
Announcer: Need the golf bags too.
All set? Yeah.
High desert inn, 62 miles from the town of reeseberg, arizona, Is a vacation spot for the very rich.
Tycoons and statesmen come to spend long weekends here, Relaxing incommunicado.
For one man, depleted by the terrible pace Of running for his life, It is a vital oasis, A needed place to pause and recruit His energy and hope.
Good evening.
Christopher beck and david jones.
We have a reservation.
Yes, mr.
Beck.
Bungalow 216.
How's the weather for golf? Excellent for so early in the year.
What's the situation? Good.
The place is almost empty.
I've cut the staff to the bones.
He okay? I think so.
Fred tate.
I like him.
But don't worry.
We're checking everything.
His room will be searched before he goes off duty.
A thing like this, I wouldn't trust my brother.
just a moment, young man.
What happened to my highball? I distinctly remember leaving it there.
Right there.
Yes, sir, you left a glass on the case.
Ah-ha! Now, who else was in the room? I took it to the bar.
Oh, to the bar! Oh, I see.
Well, that's good thinking.
If you gentlemen will join me, we'll drink to that.
No, thanks, old-timer.
Excuse me.
Of course I'll excuse you.
Gentlemen excuse gentlemen, I'm sure.
Now, which way's the bar? It's right over there, sir.
Place seems almost deserted.
It's a little early in the season, But we get golfers on the weekends.
Eisenhower comes here, doesn't he? Well, I wouldn't know, but they say That george washington slept here.
I know, that's what they all say.
Breakfast is at 6:30, if you're going out for an early round.
I'll be glad to bring you something now, if you like.
Send in some coffee is all.
And we'll take a 6:30 wake-up call.
Okay? Thank you, sir.
We can tee off at half-past 7.
Whatever happened to the big time spenders? I'll tell you what I'm going to do.
I'll let you deliver the coffee.
Can I help you, sir? No, nobody to drink with so I'm putting myself to bed.
Goodnight.
Pickett, this is mr.
Jones.
He asked to sit in on this.
Everybody on time? What's this, the staff? Right.
We got rid of five and I put x's there By two that I'm still in doubt about.
Still in doubt? I didn't get word till this morning.
I couldn't work any faster.
We don't want to make local news here with a wholesale layoff.
Who're the ones in doubt? Which ones? UhBerger, the bartender.
Drinks on the sly.
He may be a talker.
Make sure.
And fred tate.
The fellow that brought you in here.
I thought price acted strained about him.
We'll search his room.
He works all night.
Room service, telephone calls, whatever.
They hired him for the stable but brought him inside.
Price is getting rid of guests And cancelling reservations.
Only two couples registered, both leaving tomorrow.
Yes, sir.
Your coffee, sir.
And, oh, here you go, sir.
You would've, uh, raised me to another bracket.
You know, avery, for a bellhop you make a darn good doctor.
I thought you were off duty.
Well, I am, but tate suggested that I serve the coffee.
I want you up at 6:30.
Before you turn in, can you sneak a look Through fred tate's room? I did, right after he went on duty.
I couldn't find a chance to talk to you about it.
You know, this is a little out of my line but, uh, It seems to me that he travels very light, And he uses this.
Hey, don't you ever sleep? I'll hit the sack around noon.
Beck? Telephone.
It's long distance.
You go on out.
I'll pick you up at the turn.
Yeah.
We're right on schedule.
Jones is on his way out now to get his end of it going.
What about berger and tate? Yeah? No kidding? You know what to do.
All right, Seems he's a real boozer.
Keep an eye on tate.
His references may be phonies.
Maybe we should ship him out too.
Just in case.
We will.
Before noon.
Meantime, if he's somebody special, I want him where I can see him.
High desert inn.
Good morning.
Oh, mr.
Kelley, this is homer price.
Oh, tate! Just a moment, mr.
Kelley.
Uh, tate, we're not going to need you any more this morning.
Uh, you can punch out now.
Yes, sir.
Uh, mr.
Kelley, I'm terribly sorry.
The inn is completely full until Friday.
I've made arrangements for you at the silver sun, however, And I'll have a suite for you here, Beginning Friday if it's convenient.
Hi.
Fred, Level with me.
Did you fink to price about me drinking on the job? Somebody finked.
Where are you going? He's sending me up to silver sun till Monday.
He says quit drinkin' or don't come back.
Somebody finked.
What are you doing up so early? Price.
He calls my room, wakes me up, Tells me to get movin'! New boys get all the breaks, huh? He just told me to take off.
I don't get it.
Something buggin' you, fred? A guy goes out to play golf, Instead he gets in a station wagon and drives away.
Price has been telling everyone the hotel is filled.
It's almost empty, And he sends our only bartender over to the silver sun.
Well, it ain't your hotel, and it sure ain't mine.
You know that gem collection is insured for a million dollars.
let 'em steal it.
They won't take it out of your salary.
Better get some sleep, fred.
All right, Most of you were here with me in 1962 When we conducted tests out on the federal range.
Tomorrow, Some gentlemen from washington are going to visit us.
General orman fredricks and some others you'll recognize.
It will appear that they are simply here to vacation For a couple of days.
Major beck will tell you why they're coming.
Well, they're coming to observe.
Now first, Security clearance on all of you Have been brought up to date.
The general doesn't like me to do that without telling you.
Second, we'll have a total of maybe 80 people here, Technicians, security guards and then the vip's.
You'll have to feed us, But most of the men will sleep in the field.
Third, We're going to test our defense against a powerful enemy weapon, Out on the range about two miles from here, And I should like to add that our neutralizer to this weapon Has been proved Under laboratory conditions, And we anticipate absolutely no danger to any personnel, Even those actually in the field of operations.
Mr.
Jones is here of the banhauer-hill chemical company, The developer of this neutralizing agent.
We'll do a dry-run this afternoon And go for broke tomorrow at 7, If the weather is right.
That's all.
Thank you.
You're going somewhere, mr.
Tate? No.
What is this? Well, you play it any way you like, mister, But you wouldn't be packed and ready to run If you didn't know what this is.
Tell major beck what happened And that we've got his man in custody.
Come on.
These sensing devices will be placed Around the perimeter of the target.
When the operator of one of these sensors reads choke-point, He will relay the information back to command post.
I will give the order to the section behind him To release the detergents.
No section is to fire except at my command.
Castle leader, This is castle four.
Come in please.
Over.
Now, if you'll move in closer, Frank will demonstrate a reading of the indicators.
Castle leader, go ahead.
Roger.
First, the d supply is here and coming out to you.
Over.
Thanks avery.
Now, what's second? Washington ran a check on those prints we sent out And it seems there isn't any fred tate.
But there is a non-com with the medics in korea named kimble, Richard, n.
M.
I.
Have him brought to the bungalow.
I'll be right in.
I'll go with you.
I can take care of this.
If the tests had been held at one of the proving grounds We wouldn't run into anything like this.
No, all we have to worry about are 10 or 15,000 soldiers And a couple more thousand g-2's and 3's.
Look, I promised my boss I'd look after things.
Anything that endangers the success of this operation- Might endanger your own success, right? You're out of line, beck.
The d supply's on its way out.
You'd better see to that.
I'll keep you informed.
Come on, fred, you're not that surprised.
They tell me you're in charge here.
Let's talk about you, tate.
It turns out your fingerprints belong to somebody else.
Somebody named kimble.
A former medic in korea.
How do you account for that? It accounts for itself if you have access to military records.
Oh, we have.
Why don't you tell me who you are? Why don't you tell us? Why the masquerade? Personal reason.
Your letter of recommendation here, phony.
I needed a job, that's all.
That's the only reason? Look, I'd like to know what authority you people have.
If I'm a prisoner here I'd like to know why.
All right, This entire lodge is temporarily under military jurisdiction And you are a prisoner.
chief- Will you wait outside, please? I expected to be present for anything like this.
This is my function.
Yours is out there.
Kimble, I've asked for an fbi report.
We should hear from them any minute.
Cia, g2, the whole bit.
Believe me, the less you tell, the worse it sounds.
Take him to the silver sun.
Price'll call for a room.
Lock yourself in with him till I hear from washington.
Uh, beck, I don't know what you're doing here.
What I'm doing here is my job and I like it, And I like the people I'm doing it for.
And you think I'll interfere with it? I think you're a spy, that's what I think.
I think you're a lousy spy! You're kidding.
Am I? You turn up here with a phony name, Phony references and a bottle of hair dye, And you're apprehended trying to beat it out of here.
What do you expect me to think? Get him out of here.
Beck, I'm sorry.
Forget it.
You'd better get back out to the test site.
Yeah, all right, but a couple of things first.
What about those fingerprints? Okay, get in, slide over.
Get out of there! Get out of there! Castle king, this is castle leader.
All sections, choke-point, choke-point! What is it? What is it? This is castle leader.
Choke-point, choke-point.
Target, are you reading me? Over.
Target, acknowledge! Target! Acknowledge! Over.
Major, it blew up! The target blew, the tanks blew up! They're wrong! They're wrong! Tell them they're wrong! Why aren't you out there? Section leaders, section leaders, Your d-cans are released.
Repeat, your d-cans are released.
Get out there! Get to those men! Yes, sir, it's blowing southeast, But not very hard yet.
Over.
Send your support unit to the downwind side, And watch for jones and avery, they're on their way out.
What happened? A truck and a tank of stuff blew up.
What's the danger? None here, but five of jones' technical crew were hurt, Two of them pretty badly.
Avery's bringing them in.
Major.
I blew it.
Fan out! Fan out! That way.
Sir, 17.
9, reports approaching choke-point.
Order them to fire detergents.
fire the detergents.
Unit three is clear from that location, Moving southeast.
There appears to be a pocket at 182.
30.
I have three units reporting rising readings there.
Wind velocity out here is still 13 miles per hour With gusts up to 18 miles.
Your gear's in there.
C minus 1.
181.
305: C minus 1.
C minus 3.
All right, get jones.
Never mind, I'll do it myself.
Castle king, this is castle leader, come in, please.
Over.
Castle king, this is castle leader, come in, please.
Over.
This is castle king.
Come in, major.
Over.
What's your situation, jones? The neutralizer works.
We can block their compound wherever we find it.
Over.
Then it's safe out there now? Not completely.
But it will be within 24 hours.
All right.
Some of the vip's are coming in here early.
They're flying in from washington tonight.
They'll be here at 8:00.
Will you be back in time? Over.
Jones, acknowledge this transmission.
Over.
I'm coming in now.
Okay, did you get what you wanted? What am I supposed to want? Was he exposed? I don't know.
The wind was blowing the other way.
What do you mean exposed? He doesn't know what! He sure knew where to look.
I wasn't- looking for anything.
Doc, take a look at him.
Take off his handcuffs.
Remove his coat.
Roll up your sleeve, please.
What is this? What are you afraid of? Sodium penathol? It's a decongestant.
Don't do us any favors.
Oh.
I'm sorry.
Nurse, you see that he washes down his face and his arms And any other part that's been exposed.
You better burn those clothes, just in case.
I have a hotel uniform in my room.
I can change into that.
We'll send for them.
C minus 1.
181.
305.
Better take care of him, he's the only doctor you've got.
181.
306: C minus 3.
181.
3051: C minus 2.
181.
3- Check that.
C minus 2.
181.
3- Who's coming in tonight? Not here.
182.
00- You shouldn't have left the field.
The problem out there is solved.
We've got a problem here.
Now, who's coming tonight? My general.
Your boss, banhauer.
Secretary pierce, I guess.
They must know something went wrong.
They think everything's right.
Could they know about kimble? Bah.
Who'd you tell? Nobody outside of my own office.
I asked for reports, that's all.
They why come in tonight? To reassure washington.
To prove that everything's going all right.
To show that my security is infallible.
Look, you leave kimble to me And think about what you're going to say.
What I'm going to say? Why weren't you out there When the tank blew up? You know perfectly well what I was doing.
You were in here bugged about my job.
Now listen, you little tin soldier- I'm not sore.
I'm telling you how it's going to look.
Kimble penetrated your security.
Now, you think how that's going to look.
I know.
Believe me, I know! Major, your office calling from washington.
Hello.
Okay, put him on.
Burt? It's beck.
You have? Good.
What is it? Yeah? He is? What's the charge? What? No, burt, just surprised.
Everything's fine here.
Look, just sit on this till I call you again.
Okay? Thanks.
Well, what is it? We can forget about kimble being a spy.
The fbi report? Yeah.
He's On the run Because he was convicted on a charge of murder.
He's a doctor.
Kimble, my office in washington Just gave me the fbi report on you.
And? It- clarifies your problem.
It doesn't change mine much.
All right.
I want you to know I'm going to try to escape.
But not right now.
I don't think your doctor avery is going to make it alone.
Go get his other clothes.
Why don't you tell me what this is all about? What do you think this is all about? I don't know.
Some kind of testing.
Maybe it's gas.
I don't know.
Now, you heard a lot and you've seen a lot more.
The only thing is, you've added it up wrong.
So wrong that you better hear how it really is from the top.
I'd rather you have the truth than be guessing so far off.
Major, I strongly recommend that- One of our so-called adversary nations Has developed this stuff, An air pollutant that wipes out animal life.
Just wipes it out without even bruising anything else.
Then they can flood the area with a neutralizer And when they're ready, simply walk in.
Mr.
Jones here was over there for his company, When he found out about it.
I think that's about enough, major.
Anyhow, he managed to get the pollutant formula back here With an assist from a couple of my colleagues, And for the past year or so Mr.
Jones' company, banhauer-hill chemical, Has been trying to develop a neutralizing agent for us.
That's what we're here for now.
You understand what I'm saying? I think so.
The point is that if the world finds out that we have it, Even have it, Before they declare themselves, then we become the monsters And they become the saviors.
Then the problem is what to do with me.
How to make sure I- don't open my mouth To the wrong people at the wrong time.
That about sums it up.
Well, maybe you're worrying for nothing.
If I have been exposed to this stuff, I May be as good as dead already.
That's possible.
You and those other men in there May have had no contact with the substance at all.
The explosion tends to carry it upwards at first, But it's possible.
Avery! Kimble's a doctor.
Put him to work.
A doctor? I want to talk to you outside a minute.
You shouldn't have told him so much.
Where else do you draw the line? Besides a wrong guess could be worse, And he has to know if he's going to help.
He's the only problem we've got left.
Don't you realize that? Our schedule was upset but the project succeeded.
Except for the fluke of kimble.
And that fluke can ruin both of us.
Look, I don't care about us.
Forget us.
We're talking about the welfare of a country.
Look, jones, I think you're talking About the president's chair at banhauer-hill, And right now you're afraid That kimble's going to pull it out from under you.
Let's talk about careers.
What about the career of a security officer Who lets a wanted murderer in On the biggest military secret in five years? So, what's your answer? What would you do out on the range If a missile went out of control? Come on, jones.
We don't have any moral right to make a decision like that.
Moral right? This isn't a question of moral righ- Look, there's every chance he might escape, isn't there? What's your point? He knows everything there is to know.
He could talk to anybody.
You can't even turn him over to the police without risking more Than you have any moral right to risk.
If he was exposed, he's walking evidence.
His symptoms will show up any time.
And suppose you do turn him over to the police, Then where does he go? To the executioner.
Beck! Beck! Avery! What's wrong? I- I got- Too much of the stuff- It's too much.
You tell kimble- Tell him- What do I do? Come on! What do I do? Nurse, We're putting dr.
Kimble in charge.
You better fill him in.
Doctor, if you'll come with me.
Not much more he can do.
After he's through with that, the nurses can handle it.
Yeah.
That's when he becomes expendable.
We've got a couple of hours until they get here.
You talk like it's judgment day or something.
For some of us it might turn out that way.
He can have another shot in a half an hour if he needs it.
Doctor.
How are you doing? Not bad.
You? Who knows? A full shot of the stuff and I'd be dead.
When it comes on late like this, who knows? We saved the animals in the lab.
The only difference is We're a little bigger than the animals.
You better watch out.
Respiration, pulse and temperature.
You're still in danger.
Yeah.
Come on, get some rest and food.
We'll call your room if anything's wrong.
All right.
Kimble.
I want you to know I appreciate what you've done.
Yeah.
I mean, you could have- You didn't have to help us in there.
You probably saved at least one life and- Forget it.
I'm sorry that you had to get yourself Mixed up in all of this.
Well, we're all in a spot.
I guess we are.
Kimble, this death sentence, Are you guilty? No.
You've made up your mind? It was made up from the beginning.
I'm going to hold him for general fredricks.
You were planning to escape.
What happened to the guard outside? He's unconscious.
I can get you past the others.
Why should you? Oh, look, kimble, as soon as general fredricks gets here, Beck's going to turn you over to the military police.
By tomorrow you'll be back on death row.
Do you want that? No, but why shouldn't you? I'm a risk, aren't I? Security is beck's department.
And he is very military.
Now that gives him a certain rigidity in his point of view.
But that's not the point.
I owe you something.
For what you did for my men.
Those were my employees, you know.
Come on! I couldn't tell you over the telephone, general, Without a scrambler on the line.
I don't think any harm has been done.
He hasn't spoken to anyone.
Murchison! Go ahead.
Join the search.
Make yourself an alibi.
My alibi's perfect.
You run! Shot in the back while trying to escape.
Guards! Down here! Hold it.
You're coming back.
I'm not going to die for a crime I didn't commit.
I'm sorry, I'm bringing you in.
I'm going to turn around and walk away.
If you want to shoot me, you shoot me in the back.
That's what you're going to have to do.
I had the man in custody.
I intended to wait until you arrived And then recommend turning him over to the police.
And instead, you let him go.
I acted on my judgment of the man.
I believe he'll never mention what he knows.
And I'm pretty sure if we had turned him over to the police, The whole thing would have had to come out.
I know I could never have brought him back here alive.
Your orders directed you to use any means To safeguard this demonstration.
Sir, would you have shot him? Major, The fact remains that you were the chief security officer On this project and there's been a slip-up.
I'm obliged to put this in your report.
Yes, sir.
Sir, shall I put in for a transfer? Why? Don't you like this work? Yes, sir, but if there's to be an inquiry, it might- Now, what exactly could a court of inquiry learn That I don't already know? If this is going any further, you'll hear from me.
Is that clear? Yes, sir.
What about jones? Mr.
Jones is already in custody.
Among other things there's the matter Of his assaulting one of your security guards.
Yes, sir.
All secrets are safe with this man, Because none is as deadly to him as his own.
His secret is That he is richard kimble.

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