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Run For Your Life
Starring Ben Gazzara
Episode:
The Time of the Sharks
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To contact us, click Homepage link above
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Synopsis: Paul's shark fishing expedition with Hardie Rankin (Howard Keel) and his wife Elizabeth (Dolores Dorn-Helt) is suddenly turned into a test of courage when they meet a party of young people diving for treasure in the South Pacific. With Melodie Johnson as Carol, Tony Bill as Charlie Carson, Steve Carlson as Doc, Bernie Hamilton as J.C., Deon Douglas as Mike, Ralph P. Hanalei as the Servant
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Episode 12
First broadcast on
Cecember 6, 1965
Teleplay by Frank Fenton
Story by John Thomas James
(Roy Huggins)
Directed by Leslie H. Martinson
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SEE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS OF ENTIRE CAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
and watch a video clip from the episode on the same page!
Creative Team
Producer
Jo Swerling Jr.
Associate Producer
Paul Freeman
Music
Pete Rugolo
Director of Photography
William Margulies A.S.C.
Art Director
Howard E. Johnson
Film Editor
Douglas Stewart
Unit Manager
Willard Sheldon
Assistant Director
Lou Watt
Set Decorators
John McCartey &
Perry Murdoch
Sound
William Russell
Color Coordinator
Robert Brower
Color by Pathe
Editorial Dept. Head
David J. O'Connell
Musical Supervisor
Stanley Wilson
Costumes by Burton Miller
Makeup
Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist
Larry Germain
Links to Other Episodes
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Paul, Elizabeth and Hardie look forward to shark fishing
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The Plot:
Big game hunter and sportsman Hardie Rankin has come on his boat with wife Elizabeth to fish for Mako sharks at a Tahitian island where the small hotel is the only one in 800 miles of Pacific.
Paul has also joined his old friends for a couple days fishing.
But the first snag in their plans occurs even before they've occupied their rooms when four young people waltz into the bar to disturb the idyllic peace.
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Charlie suggest Hardie fishes for shark somewhere else
Charlie says they're filming a wreck CJ mentions
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Paul goes over to meet the other guests, and when they find out that his party will be hunting for Mako, they immediately object, and say the baiting of the waters will draw the sharks where they are diving.
They suggest Hardie go somewhere else, adding that there are enough sharks elsewhere, and even the natives won't dive where they go.
When Paul inquires why they need to dive in such dangerous waters, they claim to be oceanographers on a grant. He's clearly sceptical about this, but says he'll talk to his friends.
Charlie Carson later alters his story somewhat, and says that he and his friends are doing underwater filming, and hope to sell their movies.
Speculating about what the young people are really doing, hotel owner CJ says there's a World War II wreck that sank in the immediate area, but that a company has already salvaged.
Paul continues to wonder how going to the ship would be worth diving in shark-infested waters.
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Hardie tells Paul he couldn't live without Elizabeth
The boys do their best to put the older folk on
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Hardie is unimpressed about the idea of coming 6000 miles and then giving up his shark hunt over “a bunch of beatniks.”
His wife suggests just postponing the fishing a few days, and when she leaves the room, he wonders how Paul can always be alone, saying that he himself would crawl into a hole and die without Elizabeth.
Both groups get together, and Hardie questions why the young people want him to leave, but they say they only want him to refrain from baiting the waters where they're diving.
The conversation grows edgy as the young men try and bait the older people with remarks, feeling very smug. Hardie asks them what they're really looking for out in the ocean, and with a derisory comment about their manners, says he'll leave the hunting for a day.
Later, Paul and the owner are playing pool when a shout is heard, and the divers come back with one of their group on a stretcher. Mike has been killed by a shark. The natives drum incessantly after the tragedy.
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Carol says she's the cause of Mike's death
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Paul has shown an interest in Carol since he first saw her, and in her misery over Mike, he goes over to offer sympathy.
She tells him that she feels responsible for Mike's death, because he had only joined the group to be with her, not out of any interest in the diving.
Hardie asks Charlie if it's all right with he and his friends if the older peoplle go hunting sharks now, since he assumes they will surely be leaving after the death of their friend, but Charlie says they'll continue.
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Hardie suggests the divers will give up now
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Paul proposes that means they're not diving to make films, then asks if he can go down with them. He adds that, after what happened to Mike, he has to have a look.
In a superior tone Charlie goes on about the equipment and abilities required, but Paul points out that he has the skills and Hardie the equipment, but when Paul shows that he's serious, Doc and Charlie become reluctant.
Elizabeth suggests they're searching for buried treasure, and their quick reaction shows she's right.
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Elizabeth is entranced with the idea of a gold cup
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Owner CJ says that he suspected something the second time they went down, and Doc relents, indicating that they could use Paul for a partner, that he has what they need, meaning knowledge and courage. “Then you have two partners,” Elizabeth volunteers, adding her husband in. Doc and Charlie go on to describe the 18th century gold pieces they've brought up, and Elizabeth is entranced, saying she'd give up all the mounted animal trophies her husband has attained for one gold cup from the sea. Paul, seeing what is developing, says that he will get her one.
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Hardie balks at the implication that he is scared
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Hardie immediately declares that he's going to hunt shark.
He stresses that is why he came to the Tahitian islands, and that he'll be moving on to do so as soon as Paul has done his dive.
Charlie and Doc describe their procedures, and tell Hardie that sometimes they never see a shark, the implication building that he won't go down because of the threat.
Hardie denies this immediately, and says he wants only to pursue the art of fishing.
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Carol and Paul discuss the others
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Elizabeth is clearly disappointed, and orders a drink. Carol goes out and talks the situation over with Paul who says if he didn't dive, it would only make Hardie's reluctance to do so stand out more.
She comments that Paul is self-contained, the way the others would like to be. When she says that he's an autonomous individual, Paul responds that could be lonely.
He goes ahead and makes his dive amid sharks, and finds a gold coin which he gives to Carol. As he takes off his diving gear,
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Doc sings a song
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Paul listens with amusement as Doc brings out his ever-present guitar and sings a song about someone who thought life was over for people over 30, but continues that the man who said that was now 30 himself.
Back at the hotel Carol polishes the coin, and they all admire it, especially Elizabeth. Charlie says that he'll bring her something tomorrow, but she says that she already has everything. Obviously having drunk too much, she goes on with a litany of the animal trophies Hardie has brought home.
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Charlie and Doc comment on Elizabeth's dispplay
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She then goes on to detail how he shot a tiger at close range, making a point of how he was up in a tree with many support personnel to protect him.
Everyone assembled listens uncomfortably. Hardie gets up and leaves.
When Doc comments that Elizabeth is in shock, having lost her hero, and begins to make up a song about the moment, Paul silences him, and Charlie adds, “she just nailed him to her trophy wall.”
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Paul says Hardie was the only one with no reason to dive
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Paul goes to see Hardie who is drowning himself in drink over the mortification. “It almost makes me feel like a man again,” he says, referring to his show of fear.
Paul points out that Doc and Charlie are terrified, just completely driven to get more gold.
Hardie iprotests that Paul went down because he had what Hardie always knew he didn't, but Paul says he had an even better reason than the kids, and Hardie was the only one who had no reason to act in a foolhardy way.
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Hardie says he's been a coward all his life
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Hardie is curious to know, but Paul will not tell him about the terminal illness. Then Hardie announces that he'll dive tomorrow - not for Elizabeth, but for himself - because he's known since he was young, that in his heart, he was a coward.
He says he's lived with the fact long enough, and now he has a chance to change it all, and banish 40 years of bad dreams.
Paul keeps on discouraging him, but in the end, must (off screan) reveal his death sentence to deter Hardie
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Paul tells Elizabeth that Hardie was fulfilling her wishes
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Nevertheless, he does make the dive among the sharks, and even comes up with a gold piece. That evening Paul talks with Elizabeth about her decision to leave Hardie. She says that she has no choice after humiliating him. Elizabeth claims that she loved her husband, and accepted that he needed to live the daring life he did, but Paul counters that it was she who made Hardie live that way. Then he gives her the gold coin that Hardie brought from the shark-filled waters. Paul says that he and the treasure hunters all had reasons for risking their lives, when Hardie didn't.
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Carol has overheard Paul's secret
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She counters that the only reason Paul had was his courage, and he immediately lashes out, “you don't know what you're talking about!” He says that Hardie knew Paul's reason, and could have told Elizabeth, but instead, chose to dive without her knowledge. Paul adds that he himself just has to live this way, to risk everything in the doing, to charge every minute, and live time, not kill it. But Elizabeth refuses to accept what Paul says, and taunts him into revealing his secret. Elizabeth is sympathetic, but Paul says that the important thing is that Hardie knew his secret, and didn't use that knowledge.
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Hardie and Elizabeth are reunited
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Elizabeth, who goes straight to Hardie to beg his forgiveness. The couple's bond survives the bit of insanity, and Hardie welcomes her back.
All the while Paul and Elizabeth were speaking, Carol was listening in the shadows, and she confronts him about his future. At first, Paul glosses over his revelation, implying it might have just been a ploy he used to convince Elizabeth to return to her husband. Carol is dubious, butasks Paul if she can go to Papeete with him, and he says she can come with him to Kyoto too, if she likes.
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 Review: A mood piece built around the single theme of the whys of daring and what is real courage, the episode is fairly gentle, and holds together easily, thanks to the ensemble acting which takes the characters a shade from being cardboard cut outs.
and watch a video clip from the episode on the same page!
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Howard Keel as
Hardie Rankin
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Melodie Johnson
as Carol
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Dolores Dorn-Heft
as Elizabeth Rankin
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Tony Bill as
Charlie Carson
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Steve Carlson
as Doc
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Bernie Hamilton
as J.C.
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Deon Douglas
as Mike
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