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Run For Your Life
Starring Ben Gazzara
Episode:
Tell It to the Dead
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To contact us, click Homepage link above
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Synopsis: When rebels in a breakaway Himalayan state hold Paul and two American women as espionage suspects, he finds himself the object of one's special plan for his immortality. With Linden Chiles as Jay Saunders, Karen Black as Jennifer Palmer, Michele Carey as Margo, David Mauro as the Sikh Lieutenant, Than Wyenn as the Chief of Staff, Peter Bourne as the Swedish Captain, Aly Wassil as the Jamalese Sergeant, Don Rizzan as the 1st Male Nurse
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Episode 58
Season 2 - #28
First broadcast on
April 10, 1967
Teleplay by Luther Davis
Story by Philip De Guere, Jr. & Betty Andrews
Directed by Leo Penn
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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
Robert MacKichan
Film Editor
Nick Archer
Unit Manager
Hilton A. Green
Assistant Director
George Bisk
Set Decorators
John McCartey &
Robert C. Bradfield
Sound
Ed Sommers
Color Coordinator
Robert Brower
Color by Technicolor
Editorial Dept. Head
Richard Belding
Musical Supervisor
Stanley Wilson
Costumes by Grady Hunt
Makeup
Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist
Larry Germain
Assistant to Executive Producer
Robert Foster
Links to Other Episodes
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Their guards help fight off the attack
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The Plot:
Paul is driving to the Jamal airport in the Himilaya when a militia takes him prisoner as well as confiscating his vehicle and documents. He is held on the road with two recently captured American women in a large military vehicle, guarded by three men. The three captives have moved only a short distance when the convoy is attacked from the air, and troops shoot at the plane, but many are killed, and with their guards gone, the three Americans manage to escape the vehicle and take cover on the ground before it is blown up.
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The three arrive at the temple
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When the worst of the bombing ceases the three Americans make their way overland to the local temple where the headquarters of the breakaway movement are located. They are immediately locked up on arrival, and shortly afterwards the temple is severely bombed, killing more of the freedom fighters.
Resident with the leaders - and in their uniform - is the American journalist Jay Saunders, reporting on the birth of the new nation. The Chief of Staff asks him to talk to the new arrivals, to determine if they might be spies of the nation's Muslim enemies.
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Margo goes through the documents for her own
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Saunders puts the confiscated documents on a table, and tells one of the Americans, psychologist Jennifer Palmer, to take her own. He then questions her about Paul, but she has little information. However, she has picked up something vital about him while talking to Saunders, as amongst the documents on the table is a letter about Paul's illness that he had been carrying when captured.
While trying to ingratiate himself with Jennifer, Saunders also considers her a spy, and she is eager to get out of his presence.
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Jennifer and Paul get acquainted
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In a nearby room Paul is telling the other American woman, Margo, that he was on his way to Calcutta, and his next stop will be Rome. That appeals to her, and in anticipation, she kisses him then. Jennifer sees them embrace when she opens the door briefly, but steps outside again in disappointment over this development..
She returns a few minutes later to tell Paul that the Colonel wants to see him. Margo says that he spoke to her too, as did Saunders, and though she got her documents back, they both seemed very suspicious of her.
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Margo borrows Jennifer's lipstick
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When Paul goes, Jennifer asks to borrow Margo's lipstick, and asks if she likes Paul. Margo says that she doesn't know yet, only having kissed him once. Jennifer then asks Margo to let her have Paul. Margo is taken aback, but Jennifer tells her there are a million men for Margo, and goes on to muse that the whole war seems to have taken place to bring him to her, the one man just right for her. Jennifer says that Margo , who admits liking Paul's company, is frivolous, whereas she herself is interested in deeper things, adding that she could give Paul a baby. After asking Margo once more to leave Paul to her, Jennifer departs .
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Margo goes to Paul who has seen the execution
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In the evening, as the three are assembled around a pool table, they hear shots. Saunders jauntily comes in and reports that it's a firing squad executing a man and woman whose papers didn't check out.
As Saunders begins playing pool and whistling merrily, Paul at the window is deeply affected as the couple are carried away. Margo goes over to him and asks if the execution was done decently. Rather perplexed by her question, he replies, “to the extent an indecent act can be done decently.”
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Margo asks Paul if he is afraid of death
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“To a good Hindu, death is a release of the soul,” she says quietly, but with authority, adding softly, that it is a great ritual.
“They say that all souls are part of the ultimate soul,” Paul replies thoughtfully, and Margo says that with that belief, one wouldn't be so afraid of death.
Paul turns away, then asks if Margo is afraid of death, and she answers that up until today, it was something very impersonal, but now, what she fears is extinction. “The ego wants to live on,” she says, then adds faintly, “mine does.”
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Margo suggests children would give Paul immortality
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After a pause, she asks Paul, “doesn't yours?”
“Naturally,” he replies, and the tone lightens when Margo suggests building oneself a great memorial like the one they're in, and Paul declaring today's building costs too high to create one for him.
But Margo has reached the aim of her talk with Paul, and points out that in western civilization, even the poorest of the poor have an opportunity for biological immortality. She then asks Paul if he'd ever thought of living on by having children.
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Paul's reaction to Margo's question is negative silence
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Paul only looks back at her crossly until Saunders calls him over to the pool table, saying that the new government has been the victim of much sabotage, subversion and espionage. He declares that their Muslim enemies have bombed numerous strategic installations, seeming to have great knowledge of troop disposition and movements.
Saunders' tone clearly implies that Paul or one of the others may be the source of this information about military operations, and his oily manner irritates more than frightens them, though a danger seems present.
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Saunders says he's suspicious of them all
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Margo asks Saunders what he told the Colonel about them. Blithely he replies, “I told the Colonel that I didn't know anything about you.”
Then he adds a little more urgently that a lot of people are being killed because confidential information is reaching the enemy - and none of the three Americans has any visible means of support, and thus might be the kind of individuals who could deliver a package or make a phone call for some handy money. Margo cozies up to Saunders then, and they leave the room together.
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Margo tells Paul that she isn't so cool as he thinks
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When they've gone, Jennifer says that Margo is very intelligent, whereas she herself, an intellectual, is not as bright. She shudders at the sound of a nearby explosion, and Paul comments that she is afraid - in an intellectual sort of way, though coolly detached.
Getting a little closer to Paul, Jennifer says simperingly, “I'm not so cool, am I? Maybe a little awkward.” Then she kisses him, and in the same moment, bombs start falling. Paul and Jennifer flee under the pool table, and he tries his best to protect her as fire bombs fall constantly from the air.
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 Paul rescues Jennifer
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The attack is huge and seemingly endless, and in the morning, it is clear that many have been killed.
The temple headquarters has been badly damaged, and is now deserted, but the only injury suffered by the four Americans is Saunders' broken arm. Paul tells him that the leaders have set up a new headquarters down the road.
Paul then goes to find Margo who has barricaded herself in Saunders' room. He brings her out, and find Saunders' arm being dealt with by a medic.
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Paul leaves the women to decide which will go with him
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A Swedish UN Captain is on the scene, and appears to have everything under control. Asking if Paul can drive a jeep, he announces that one will be available in the morning, and Paul can drive one of the women to the airfield with an armed guard. The other lady will be able to leave by truck later in the day.
Saunders declares himself wounded, and says he has stories to file. The Captain salutes him and leaves. Paul goes out as well, letting the ladies decide between themselves which one will depart with him in the jeep.
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Jennifer attempts to kiss Paul
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That night Jennifer comes into the room where Paul is sleeping. She lights a cigarette for him, then kisses him, but after a moment he draws back, and says that he had taken her for the shy type.
Jennifer says that she usually is, and Paul replies that she should go back to that, adding that aggressiveness is not a girl's best friend.
She starts to say, that of all the men she's ever met, and he breaks in and finishes her sentence, "that he's the one who was there when she was being shot at."
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Paul tells Jennifer she doesn't know what she is saying
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But Jennifer says it's more a matter of her having to face total and permanent annihilation for the first time, and she could die like so many have around them in the last hours. This has made her do a lot of thinking in a short time, and she says that she wants to share everything she has with Paul.
He tells her that the phoney war has put a lot of things out of perspective, and many things that they were feeling were phoney too. But Jennifer protests that she loves Paul and has something valuable to offer him. He says that she doesn't know what she is saying.
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Jennifer offers Paul continuation
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But Jennifer jumps up, and eagerly tells him that her thesis is on the compulsion of every human being for a sense of continuity after death. Bewildered, Paul says that he doesn't understand, and wants to know what her thesis has to do with what they were talking about.
Jennifer says that it's not just a thesis, but a truth, and applies to Paul as much as anyone else. “Don't you see, Paul,” she says, “I can help you achieve that sense of continuation,” and to Paul's further confusion, she tells him that she would be a wonderful healthy mother for his child.
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Paul asks if she just wants him for a footnote in her thesis
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Paul is at a loss, and says that she has a weird sense of humor, adding that the words are clear, but the meaning keeps slipping away. Jennifer says that she is offering Paul something priceless - immortality.
“Why me?” he asks. “Give me one rational, logical reason.” Jennifer replies that she saw a letter to him from The Garms Clinic.
He gets up. “So you want to have a baby without a man to interfere with the way you bring it up? Is that it?” he asks challengingly, adding, “or do you just think I'd make an interesting note in that thesis of yours?”
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Jennifer insists she has something of value to offer
Paul says that he's already rejected her idea
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But Jennifer repeats that she has something valuable to offer him, insisting, “no one can face death or even life without some sense of immortality”
“I can,” he interrupts intensely.
Jennifer nevertheless persists, asking “can you think of a better mother than a trained psychologist?”
He rejects her again, and she declares, “think what it can mean to you!”
“I have thought of it, and I think parents owe something to children - like two parents. I thought of it, and I discarded the idea as incredibly selfish. Impossibly selfish! And if I were to do something like that, I wouldn't do it with a cold-hearted, clinical …..”
She interrupts, protesting that she isn't cold, but he says that she'd bring up a child like some specimen on a lab slide.
She starts to run off, and Paul says, “Jennifer, the world is not a clinic. Stop looking at everything through a microscope.”
Then, more gently, he tells her that if she did, she might find it pleasant.
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The UN Captain has arranged Jennifer's transport
They hear news of the ceasefire
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The next day, the UN Captain tells Jennifer that he's arranged transport to the airport for her, and she goes over to Paul's jeep to say goodbye to him and to Margo.
She thanks him for being there for her when the bombs were falling, and tells Margo that she'll love Rome.
Just before they leave, Saunders tunes in the radio, from which they hear an announcement that a ceasefire has been agreed, all fighting to stop at 8 am.
Under the terms of the UN-brokered agreement, a committee will be formed under the supervision of the Secretary General to draft a treaty which will result in a permanent settlement to the dispute.
In the meantime, both sides have agreed to stabilize the situation as it was before the first shots were fired 24 hours earlier.
Margo shouts out to the hundreds of dead bodies which have been lined up along the road, “hey there, did you hear that?”
Then Paul drives away.
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 Notes & Comments: Episodes which could - with a few name changes - be slotted into many other legal, spy, detective or thriller series are all too common in Run For Your Life, so one which specifically relates to Paul's predicament is always welcome.
With a moral referred to in the title, and an offbeat location, it rates taking notice of.
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Linden Chiles as
Jay Saunders
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Michele Carey
as Margo
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Karen Black as
Jennifer Palmer
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David Mauro as
the Sikh Lieutenant
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Than Wyenn as
the Chief of Staff
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Peter Bourne as
the Swedish Captain
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Aly Wassil as the Jamalese Sergeant
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