Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Fred MacMurray is Jim Larsen, an outlaw being taken to prison by train when he breaks free. Only at the same moment, his brother Danny shows up, determined to assist in his get-away.

Danny shoots and kills a deputy; he suffers a mortal wound in the process.

Now, for the first time, Larsen is on the run for murder. He slips into the suit his brother brought him as a change of clothes and heads for the town of Tangle Blue, pretending to be an inspector for the Enterprize Mining Co.

He’s pretty clever in getting himself known as Ray Kincaid. He even asks the local sheriff, Mark Riley (Lin McCarthy) for a deputy’s job and befriends his pretty widowed sister Ellen (Dorothy Green).

But time is running out, because wanted posters of two men who killed a deputy on a train are on their way, and Larsen figures his face will be on those posters.

Riley, however, has a more pressing problem. A rancher named Reed Williams is throwing his weight around and trying to fence off land that isn’t legally his.

Riley has cut those fences once. Williams figures to have his men put them back up, and promises to kill Riley if he cuts them again.

Turns out Riley might need a deputy who’s good with a gun after all.

Fred MacMurray as Jim Larsen, a man on the run and contemplating a name change in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Dorothy Green as Ellen Bailey, sister of a sheriff who’s gotten in over his head in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Review:

A unique plot helps this film where almost everyone involved spent more time acting for the small screen than the big screen. It marked one of the last in a string of 10 Westerns MacMurray made in the 1950s. He would soon land the role of Steven Douglas on “My Three Sons.”

Here, he plays a man who needs to get out of Tangle Blue as soon as possible, before everyone learns his true identity. But he finds himself sympathizing with a sheriff who’s in over his head and will probably wind up dead if MacMurray’s character doesn’t help out.

Dorothy Green, the woman he falls for, would later appear on a pair of episodes of “My Three Sons,” with those roles coming a decade apart.

Lin McCarthy as Sheriff Mark Riley, a young lawman endangering his life by tangling with cattle king Reed Williams in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Gina Gillespie as Alice Bailey, meeting Jim Larsen on the train ride to her home in Tangled Blue in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Directed by:
Paul Wendkos

Cast:
Fred MacMurray … Jim Larsen (aka Ray Kincaid)
Lin McCarthy … Sheriff Mark Riley
Dorothy Green … Ellen Bailey
Alan Baxter … Reed Williams
Myrna Fahey … Janet Hawthorne
James Coburn … Purdy
Francis De Sales … Deputy George Allison
Gina Gillespie … Alice Bailey
Ron Hayes … Danny Larsen
Paul E. Burns … Jake the Barber

Runtime: 81 min.

Alan Baxter as Reed Williams, the cattle king furious with Sheriff Mark Riley for cutting his fences in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

James Coburn as Purdy, Reed Williams’ fast gun, trying to track down Jim Larsen during a gunfight in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Memorable lines:

Deputy, taking Jim Larsen to prison: “Want some advice? You got five to ten years. Use that time to smarten up.”
Jim Larsen: “Yeah. Maybe I can smarten up enough to find a way to break out.”

Jim Larsen to younger brother Danny: “Don’t feel sorry, kid. Don’t ever feel sorry. It’s like poison to a man.”

Sheriff Mark Riley: “Did he give you any trouble out at the pass?”
Deputy Allison: “Nah. Said he finally got up the gumption to leave Enterprize and he wanted to ride out before he lost his nerve. I felt kinda sorry for him.”
Riley: “He don’t look much like a man you have to feel sorry for.”

Sheriff Mark Riley to cattle king Reed Williams: “No man is important enough to walk wherever he wants. He’s bound to run into something that’ll stop him.”

Myrna Fahey as Janet Hawthorne, Lin McCarthy as Mark Riley and Dorothy Green as Ellen Bailey, worried about the potential for gunplay in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Ron Hayes as Danny Larsen, the younger brother seriously wounded helping Jim Larsen escape authorities in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Dorothy Green as Ellen Bailey, a widow getting to know Ray Kincaid (Fred MacMurray) better, but not knowing his secret in Face of a Fugitive (1959)

Fred MacMurray as Jim Larsen, aka Ray Kincaid, intervening on behalf of Sheriff Mark Riley (Lin McCarthy) in Face of a Fugitive (1959)