Kimble rarely does anything stupid in his travels but he does here, seemingly just to create the situation he'll have to find a way to get out of. He's in a small town in Montana, looking for transportation to Helena, when a police car pulls up and tells him to wait. They only want to question him about a stolen truck. But he runs from them and then slugs a policeman in an attempt to get him away. That gets him a bunk in jail for resisting arrest, next to a captured, racist killer played by James Farentino. A black deputy, played by Percy Rodriguez, is assigned to transport the two of them to Helena- Farentino to be executed and Kimble to be identified as the thief who stole the truck, (which he isn't). To get there they have to go through the "hill country", which is full of Farentino's friends and relatives, who disable the vehicle Rodirguez is using and wound him in the progress. He preservers, dealing with Farentino's taints and Kimble's silence. They wind up in a farm house where a lonely woman seems fascinated with Farentino, who falsely pleads his innocence and suggests that if she helps him, they could go off together.
That scene seems rushed and doesn't ring true, as most of the scenes in this one don't. Farentino seems much more the city boy than the country boy. But the powerful Rodriguez makes this watchable with his performance as a highly principled man in a world that so often disappoints him.
That scene seems rushed and doesn't ring true, as most of the scenes in this one don't. Farentino seems much more the city boy than the country boy. But the powerful Rodriguez makes this watchable with his performance as a highly principled man in a world that so often disappoints him.