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Run For Your Life
Starring Ben Gazzara
Episode:
The Face of the Antagonist
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To contact us, click Homepage link above
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Synopsis: When Vince Murdoch (Aldo Ray) rescues Paul from an assault by teenagers, the discredited policeman must then rely on him as his witness on a murder charge, and then the teenagers too. With Henry Beckman as Hank Kellogg, Richard Anderson as Captain Swain, Ron Russell as Buzzie Gillman, Paul Newlan as Frederick Brewer, Alan Baxter as Tom Mills, Douglas Dick as Emmett Grove, Arch Whiting as Gregg Durkin, Dan Frazer as Mr. Gillman, Rhoda Williams as Mrs. Gillman, Larry Gelman as the Deputy, Howard Hoffman as the Judge
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Episode 49
Season 2 - #19
First broadcast on
January 30, 1967
Written by Howard Browne
Directed by Nicholas Colasanto
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SEE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS OF ENTIRE CAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
Creative Team
Producer
Jo Swerling Jr
Associate Producer
Paul Freeman
Music
Pete Rugolo
Director of Photography
John L. Russell A.S.C.
Art Director
Howard E. Johnson
Film Editor
David Eric Rawlins
Unit Manager
Hilton A. Green
Assistant Director
Frank Losee
Set Decorators
John McCartey &
James M. Walters
Sound
Earl Crain Sr.
Color Coordinator
Robert Brower
Color by Technicolor
Editorial Dept. Head
Richard Belding
Musical Supervisor
Stanley Wilson
Costumes Supervisor
Vincent Dee
Makeup
Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist
Larry Germain
Assistant to Executive Producer
Robert Foster
Links to Other Episodes
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Murdoch says lawyers and police are natural enemies
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The Plot:
Driving to New York, Paul stops in the town of Medbury. Coming out of a movie house around 1 am, he finds his tire slashed, and is then attacked by the group of youths who did the deed. But within a moment, a man drives up and scatters the young men, and helps Paul to a nearby bar, and phones an all-night garage to change the tire. The man introduces the bartender as Hank Kellogg and himself as Vince Murdoch, a former policeman.
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Murdoch is arrested for his wife's murder
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Paul says that he has left his profession too, but when Murdoch learns that Paul was a lawyer, he starts up a heated argument about how attorneys get clearly guilty individuals off, ending up hitting Paul. When Murdoch gets home he finds his wife bludgeoned to death with a candlestick, and is shocked when a former colleague tells him that he is the chief suspect, not just because of circumstances, but because he is known for his violent temper, having been dismissed from the force over brutal treatment of a boy he caught in the middle of committing a robbery.
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Paul tells Captain Swain about the night before
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Knowing that he has an alibi for the time of the killing, Murdoch is confident that he'll be released quickly. Paul appears at the police station, and states that he and the bartender were with Murdoch at the time of the crime, and he also tells the Captain about the mugging incident.
Captain Swain seems to dismiss Paul as a witness, and adds that Kellogg, being such a close friend of the suspect, might not be reliable either. But when they go to ask Kellogg, he says that Paul wasn't in the bar at all, and he hadn't seen him for a couple days.
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Paul advises Murdoch that someone is trying to frame him
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Paul goes to see Murdoch in jail, and tells him that someone is trying to frame him for his wife's murder. Murdoch is able to give Paul the name of one of the young thugs, but wonders why Paul is helping him after he hit him the previous night. Paul is saying it's to show that all lawyers aren't bad when the only one he trusts comes in.
The following day Paul tells Captain Swain that he visited the home of one of the boys who attacked him, and his father reported that his son received a mysterious phone call from a stranger and went out immediately, not returning.
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Paul tells Captain Swain he wants to file assault charges
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Paul says that he wants to file charges against his attackers, and asks the Captain to round up all the town's juvenile delinquents of the appropriate age for a line up.
However, the missing boys don't turn up.
Then Paul gets an idea, and obtains $5000 of Murdoch's money in cash, going back to the home of Buzzie Gillman, and giving him $500, saying that there's $4500 more for his son, and he should contact Paul about getting it.
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Paul makes an obvious departure from the hotel
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When Paul walks into his room, he is knocked down, tied up and blindfolded, his assailant telling him in a muffled voice to leave town as soon as he's gotten himself free. As soon as the man is gone, the phone rings, and it is Buzzie calling about the proferred money, and telling Paul to go to a service station to wait for a phone call.
Paul tells Buzzie that he'll have to do something for the money, and share it with his friends, then arranges a meeting with the boys. After returning to his hotel, Paul makes it obvious that he's checked out before driving away, but followed by a black car.
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The judge agrees to hear Buzzie's testimony
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Paul appears to have left the town, to the satisfaction of the driver - Captain Swain - but he has actually gone to meet the three juveniles who assaulted him.
The following Monday, a preliminary hearing of Murdoch's case takes place in the local court. Kellogg testifies that only Paul was in his bar the night of the murder.
Murdoch's lawyer then requests that a defence witness be heard to contradict Kellogg's testimony. The judge approves, and Buzzie and his two friends walk into the courtroom
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Buzzie testifies about Murdoch's whereabouts at 1 am
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Buzzie testifies that he and his friends were hassling Paul when Murdoch approached and assaulted them.
After they ran off, they saw the pair go into the Palace Bar, and waited for Murdoch to come out to get back at him, but after a quarter hour, they went away, thus contradicting Kellogg's testimony.
Kellogg is then recalled to the stand, and reminded about the penalties of perjury, but given a chance to recant his testimony without charge.
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Kellogg testifies that Swain threatened him to lie
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He states that Murdoch was indeed in his bar at 1 am with Paul. He continues that, after he closed up, he received a phone call telling him to say that Murdoch was not there, and keep saying that, even in court.
Otherwise, it would become known that he'd served a prison sentence in another state years ago, meaning the loss of his bar license. When asked by the judge, Kellogg identifies the caller as being Captain Swain, and says that the Captain had told him many times about an affair that he was having with Murdoch's wife.
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Murdoch stares at Swain, then shoots him
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The judge then dismisses charges against Murdoch.
He is released from custody, and given back his personal effects.
Just as he is about to leave, Captain Swain is being escorted in by two policemen.
The two men stare at one another for a moment, and then, at close range,
Murdoch suddenly empties his revolver into Swain's body.
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 Notes & Comments: What starts out as an extremely distasteful episode, courtesy of the violent teenagers and Paul's rough rescuer, turns into a surprising thriller.
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Aldo Ray
as Vince Murdoch
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Henry Beckman
as Hank Kellogg
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Richard Anderson
as Captain Swain
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Ron Russell as
Buzzie Gillmanr
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Paul Newlan as
Frederick Brewer
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Alan Baxter
as Tom Mills
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Douglas Dick
as Emmett Grove
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Arch Whiting
as Gregg Durkin
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Dan Frazer
as Mr. Gillman
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Rhoda Williams
as Mrs. Gillman
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Larry Gelman as
the Deputy
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Howard Hoffman
as the Judge
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