BOBBYNEAR REVIEWS "GLASS TIGHTROPE"

Richard Kimble is slaving away as a lowly stock clerk/driver for
Denshaw's Department Store and working his way up from the bottom and
into some serious trouble at the very top of the corporate ladder.

While making a routine delivery for his boss, Martin Rowland, the
head of the store where Kimble is working, he walks in during a
confrontation between Rowland and his long time friend Howard Pascoe.
From what the viewer can discern, it seems that Rowland married into
the company after he was bought, paid for and delivered to Ginny
Rowland the founder's daughter and this has never sat well with
Pascoe who figured he was in line for the hand of the department
store heiress.

Richard receives some film equipment he was sent to pick up and can't
help but overhear the argument which continues to escalate.
Eventually it moves out into the parking lot and Kimble watches from
behind the delivery truck as Rowland, who has heard more than enough,
including the admission that Pascoe is having an affair with his
wife, delivers an impressive one punch knockout blow that sends
Pascoe reeling onto the ground. Rowland, thinking he has only put his
now ex-friend out for the moment, gets in his car and hightails it
out of there.

Kimble, who has a penchant for walking right into trouble when he
sees it, comes over and checks Pascoe for vital signs. Realizing that
he is grievously injured, he also drives off hurriedly to make a
phone call and summon help. While all of this is going on, a homeless
man named Arthur Tibbetts wanders by and figures this is the luckiest
day of his life, when he finds Pascoe, who has apparently already
expired from a head injury, dead on the ground. Tibbetts wastes no
time in relieving the victim of his wallet and watch and then running
off himself.

All of this happens in just a short time at the beginning of this
story, and the stage is set for Richard Kimble to see his own life
and unfortunate circumstances through another innocent man's
perspective. Once again, "fate moves its huge hand," and Richard
Kimble is on the outside looking in and only he can save a man from
being wrongfully convicted and sent "en route to the deathhouse."

Richard goes back to the daily grind at the store, figuring he's done
his usual good deed for this episode, but trouble is just beginning.
The story is all over the news that Rowland's best friend was
murdered and a vagrant has been arrested for the crime after being
found in the area with the victim's wallet and watch on him.

What follows is probably the best scene in this episode, as Kimble
walks slowly down the street, trademark cigarette in hand, and sees a
variety of newspaper headlines. For him, it's deja vu all over again,
as the words on paper seem to be about himself at another time and in
another place.

"Tibbetts denies murder... Got wrong man, Tibbetts says...," the
headlines scream, as the narrator reminds Richard, "They got the
wrong man. That hits close to home, remember? They wouldn't believe
you either. Tough, but it's no concern of yours. You have to stay
clear, stay out of it. You can't afford to take the chance. What is
he? A stranger, a vagrant, a nothing? Just a name, Arthur Tibbetts,
no fixed address. Ask yourself, is he worth the risk?"

Recently discussed on this board, this narration, which some people
find superfluous and annoying at times, is a perfect example of what
one of the series writers said was the chance to put thoughts in
Richard Kimble's mind and still telegraph them to the audience
without him saying a word. Very well done here, in my opinion, even
if we were all thinking the same thing anyway.

It's hardly surprising that Richard decides to jump feet first into
the fire and he heads into a phone booth to call Rowland and tell him
what he saw that evening and that they both know Tibbetts is innocent.

Back at the lavish penthouse suite of the Rowlands, we are introduced
to Martin's wife Ginny, the ultimate corporate wife from Hell, and
their obvious loveless marriage of money and convenience. Rowland
talks to Kimble on the phone while Ginny listens in another room and
quickly decides this is extortion and all about money, as Richard
tells him, "That old man they're going to charge with murder. You
know he didn't do it. I was hoping you might clear him." No chance,
as Rowland screams back, "Or what? Go ahead and say it, or what? Why
don't you come right out and say it, huh?" Kimble hangs up having
made his point.

After the call, Ginny confronts Martin and whispers sweet
conspiracies in his ear as she does everything but call Tibbetts a
worthless piece of slime compared to her husband, "...a man in your
social position, the head of a big department store." Telling her
husband to pay the caller whatever it takes and not to take the
rap, "...for a worthless old drunk no earthly good to anyone.." It's
clear that money talks and Tibbetts walks right onto death row.
Afterwards, Ginny puts store detective Angstrom on the trail to try
and find out who is blackmailing her husband and more importantly it
seems, threatening her social status.

At a pre-trial hearing, Tibbets stands up and proclaims his
innocence. "I didn't kill him. He was laying there..I just rolled
him..that's all. That's the truth. I swear it. You want the truth,
don't you? He was laying there...it looked so easy. Ah..what's the
use?"

Are you listening Richard Kimble? Sure you are...since Kimble is
taking a huge chance by sitting right in the back of the courtroom
directly in front of a police officer. Rowland is a row in front of
him and Ginny soon enters. David Janssen does a great job shooting
daggers at Rowland, waiting for him to stand up and take
responsibility. But Martin opts out instead and perjures himself on
the witness stand, telling the prosecutor, "Mr. Pascoe was standing
by his car when I drove out." So much for integrity.

Back home, Rowland receives a letter from Kimble and to the
disappointment of Ginny, it's not extortion but some advice... "I
insist you go to the authorities. You can only help yourself and an
innocent man too." What a great idea! If only Fred Johnson, the one-
armed man, whom Kimble has not even met yet at this point in the
series, had a mailing address, he could save himself for a change by
suggesting the same thing to him.

To Rowland's credit, he really does seem to be quite distressed over
deciding to lie and puts the blame directly where it belongs..on
Ginny, telling her, "You'd let a man die, a poor old devil like
that." All heart as usual, she counters with, "A criminal..a whiskey
sotted derelict with no place to go and nothing to hope for. I
couldn't care less." Showing some nerve for once in his life, Martin
raises his hand, threatening to slap her and says, "Don't you say
that! Don't you dare say that!"

Most of the next part of this episode deals with Angstrom's
investigation which eventually leads him to that infamous wanted
poster of Kimble and at the end all the characters are assembled
together for a final showdown.

In a confrontation between Kimble, Martin and Ginny, Richard tells
him the way it is as only he could know from personal experience, "I
didn't ask for money. I keep thinking that old man might die. And I
keep telling myself that he didn't do it. What do you tell yourself
Mr. Rowland?"

By this time, Matin Rowland has already decided to face the music and
admit the truth. A horrified Ginny is all but apoplectic as she
considers the effect on her beloved social standing. "You'll have to
tell it all. I'll be the filthy joke of the town. Everyone will be
laughing at me." Counters Rowland, "Oh that's more important than
Tibbetts and his life." Ginny comes back with, "You care more about
that man than me, after all I've done for you. I've given you
position, importance, respect...I've given you this office." And
while Martin reminds her that he did indeed work himself up from the
bargain basement, Richard makes good his escape, only to be
confronted by Angstrom as he walks off the elevator on the ground
floor.

Bringing Kimble back upstairs and producing the wanted poster changes
little. Ginny is now more convinced than ever that no convicted
murderer will stand in judgment of her husband. "That's who presumes
to sit in judgment of you," she tells Martin. "A murderer, tried and
convicted." Richard reminds her, "Tibbetts is going to be convicted.
Sometimes the law goes wrong. Judge, jury, evidence...sometimes it's
wrong." If only Gerard was in the room to hear this. But Rowland, it
seems, has already had a change of heart, asking Kimble, "You took a
chance like this for an old useless drunk? A man you don't even know?"

Martin walks over and picks up the phone, prepared to turn himself
in. Ginny is practically hysterical as she begs him not to..."Oh
no...you can't, you can't...I won't let you," still thinking more of
herself than anyone else, as Richard looks on with obvious contempt.
As Ginny tries to grab the phone out of his hand, Martin finally
reaches the end of his tether, follows through on his threat from the
previous act..and slaps her. Shocked and silenced, Ginny can only
watch in horror as Martin resolutely does the right thing and
continues his phone call.

There is still the problem of Angstrom, the store detective and
former cop, who knows Richard's true identity. Rowland tells him to
forget about Kimble and allow him to leave town. Richard leaves with
a simple, "Thanks" and the scene ends with Ginny collapsing on the
bed alone, her empire of greed, power and social climbing in ruins.

In the epilogue, we see Rowland standing before a judge, prepared to
face punishment for the accidental death of his friend. The narrator
tells us, "When Martin Rowland accepted imprisonment for his crime,
he set himself free from a prison of a guilty conscience and a woman
who had no conscience."

I say, amen to that..and if there is any real justice in the world,
she should have been forced to sell the company to pay legal fees...
ending up with Kimble's old job, working in the stockroom. We'll
never know..but we can hope that justice did prevail.

"Glass Tightrope" has never been one of my favorite episodes. Like
the other two Ida Lupino directed stories, "Fatso" and one still to
come, it is too static, there is too much dialogue and too many
scenes of people standing around in small rooms berating each other.
At times it looks more like a stage play than a TV episode.

However, that being said, upon viewing this story multiple times in
order to do an accurate review and summary, I came to realize some
things I had missed previously.

There is a certain amount of tension building here, as the life of
the vagrant Tibbetts hangs in the balance. In the 11 previous
episodes, Richard has helped many people ranging from an abused wife
to a troubled little girl to a boxer whose life was threatened by his
chosen profession. He does this because of his innate sense of right
and wrong.

But this episode gives him a chance to debate in his own mind whether
to actually save another man's life. Add to that the fact that a
homeless man like Tibbetts is, regrettably seen as having little
future left worth saving. Kimble could cut and run at any time as the
narrator reminds him. But the question of whether or not another
man's life is "worth it" or not has little bearing on Richard as he
heads into that phone booth.

One of the hallmarks of The Fugitive has always been this remarkable
story of one man so incredibly good and fair minded that he willingly
puts his life on the line to save others..sometimes people wrongly
accused of serious crimes.

This is really the first time in the series that he stands and fights
for justice when another person's very life is on the line. The very
same justice that was denied to him. It will not be the last.

This convinces the audience early on, that Richard Kimble is indeed a
unique character who literally values the lives of others above his
own. That is one of the things at the very heart of this series.

For that reason, and for the outstanding work of Leslie Nielsen in
this episode, as Martin Rowland, the successful, wealthy but bitter,
disillusioned and unhappy department store magnate, who ultimately
found just a little of Richard Kimble's character within himself...

My rating on a scale of 1 to 10

7 (Above Average)

Bobbynear
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KITTY REVIEWS "GLASS TIGHTROPE"

Hi Everybody,

I'm so glad we got to this episode because I really liked this one.
I've always enjoyed Leslie Nielson doing comedy and on the rare
occasions that I get to see him playing it straight I'm just amazed
at how good he is at it!

I know Bobbynear criticized this episode because he thought it played
out like watching a play on stage. That may be one of the reasons I
liked it so well. I really enjoyed the interchanges between Martin
and his wife.

When I first saw that wife I thought she'd be completely the opposite
of how she turned out to be. I thought she'd be the type to panic
but I kind of liked seeing her as the wife from Hell! It would
interesting to know why they got married and what exactly went
wrong. I personally thought Martin was more desirable than the other
guy!

On the narration, I didn't mind it that much, but it still seemed
repetitive because as I've stated before DJ was so good at dispaying
emotions with his body language, but I can't really complain because
it did fit the moment.

I loved the part too where RK was explaining that he didn't want
money, all he wanted was justice! It so perplexing to these amoral
people around him who'd obviously never heard of the concept and yet,
Martin believes RK when he said he didn't kill his wife. I found it
very poignant that a guilty guy would let him leave and still turn
himself in. I agree with Bobbynear that it was apparent that Martin
was feeling guilty.

Was he feeling guilty because another guy was taking the rap for it
or was he feeling guilty because he really felt bad about killing
his "friend?" Afterall, it was apparent that it was an accident. I
also found it profound that here it is the wife's lover gets killed
by her husband and she's barely batting an eyelash over it. Which
really showed just how amoral this woman was.

Overall, I'm giving this episode an 8 because I thought all of it
worked well. I found the characters engrossing. I thought the
turmoil of RK and Martin played very well and the irony of it all was
priceless. I only wish we could have seen what Martin got sentenced
to in the end.

I had a strong feeling that for the killing itself he probably could
have plead it down to Manslaughter 2 and not had a lot of jail time
because it was an accident. However, with him obstructing justice by
letting someone initially take the rap, I can't help but think he
would have been looking at some serious jail time for that. As for
the wife, just knowing that she could never show her face again at
the country club without people pointing and whispering about her was
plenty of justice for me. I didn't care if she lost the money or
not. In fact, the moral of the story could always, be that Money
does not buy you happiness!

Kitty
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KEN REVIEWS "GLASS TIGHTROPE"

Average episode with not much suspense. Leslie Nielsen was good with
his facial expressions. I liked the scene when he slapped Ginny. She
deserved it. She came across as soapy to me. The vagrant accused of
the crime should have had more lines. Sorry but I lost interest in
this story about half way through. Turned out to have a flat ending
with Kimble just walking away.

My rating scale - 3

Side note- Leslie Nielsen was good in the movie The Poseidon Adventure.

Ken