SMALL SCREEN ENDEAVOR

NIGHT CHASE (1970)
A Fugitive Can Never Stop Running

Cinema Center 100 Productions, a five-year-run theatrical film production company of the CBS Television Network, is responsible for this ninety-five-minute television “thriller-ette” based on a story by producer, Collier Young. It was directed by Jack Starrett with Mort Stevens taking the helm as music supervisor, who shows great restraint in using Laurence Rosenthal's score. It is a good eight minutes into the film before we hear any instruments, letting the sounds of everyday life at an airport terminal and the banter between two very different men draw us in. Some nice jazzy touches from time to time. I liked this film when I first viewed it, thanks almost entirely to Hoyt Bowers' casting the small screen wonder, David Janssen, opposite Yaphet Kotto. This is a character study of two men from diverse backgrounds thrown together by happenstance with one a dreaded backseat driver and the other becoming his underpaid psychologist.

It is not a difficult stretch to imagine this is a hypothetical sequel of the popular series, The Fugitive. Janssen remains on the run even though his knees cannot take any more pounding. He hires a cab, going against his usual wily evasive tactics. We find him looking down at the floor a lot with sporadic Kimball-like comments. He embarrassingly glances from side to side, still wary of the relentless pursuit of his capture. He changes his name, of course, and lets his sideburns grow to further bamboozle the police. He even boards a bus near the film’s end. Fred Johnson has been serving time in federal prison yet Janssen continues to run, but for a different reason. Lieutenant Gerard is not interested. He has had enough.

The film opens with a leg cam following Janssen to a hotel room, where he opens the door and fires twice. He has little doubt the man responsible for his second wife’s divorce papers was killed. So devastated by his impending divorce and assumed murder rap, he is convinced he has little reason to live. His small handgun, now two bullets shy of a full chamber, is still with him. He may have to use it on the police, or himself. 

The film remains intriguing well past the halfway point. The subsequent night drive encounters, Janssen’s amazing pool shooting skills, and Kotto’s attempted escapes are captivating. As an example, when Kotto writes a note of help to a service station attendant, the fugitive suspects as much and rips the paper from the clipboard before it leaves the taxi. Everything holds together until the San Diego Zoo segment drags on for fifteen minutes with repeated insertions of screaming monkeys or growling tigers. This, too, may remind one of The Fugitive's two-part finale in an abandoned amusement park. A few obvious stunt doubles earn their pay climbing walls and such. The passenger, for all his high salary smarts, is not nearly as grounded as the driver, who finally convinces his fare there is no prison term hanging over him and zero chance of ever seeing that one-armed man again.

Note: This premise is simple: a long, expensive taxi fare from Los Angeles to San Diego. Some might find the film boring, but it is a good effort, especially after rediscovering it long after you have forgotten about it. Kotto has first-hand experience of running and incarceration. He tries to persuade Janssen to stop running. A difficult sell to a guy who successfully ran for four years to keep out of death row. I can only imagine selling the script to the network chiefs about two men in a taxi on a one hundred twenty-plus-mile night drive with very little chasing. Still, not nearly the difficulty Roy Huggins had with selling his Fugitive concept.