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91. The Runaways

John Graham Evans: Parole Violator - Murder.

Original air date: 13 October 1968
Rerun 6 April 1969

A killer picks for his robbery victims, a happy family of four living on a farm.

This episode plays almost exactly like the 1967 movie In Cold Blood. But there are differences. J.D. Cannon plays the Richard Hickock role, a man who kills another ex-con. That ex-con has told him about a family of four who has a great deal of money in their house.He then encounters runaway Jess Orkin (14-year-old Ron Howard), the Perry Smith character. Only difference is, Orkin thinks he might have killed someone, but isn’t sure.

Evans manipulates the boy, who then breaks into a farmhouse and steals food and medical supplies while Evans tries to recover from a gunshot wound. Erskine and Colby are on the trail of the runaways. They hope to get to Jess before Evans commits his next crime -- which almost certainly will result in fatalities if he succeeds.

SPOILER: The Feds DO succeed in averting catastrophe. However, neither Inspector Erskine nor Mr. Colby are actually present when Evans is captured.

• This is the famous Ron Howard of The Andy Griffith Show and director of such movies as Apollo 13. Mr. Howard stars in one of his first post-“Opie” roles in this episode. His brother Clint was starring on Gentle Ben on CBS at this time. Clint starred in episodes in 1965 and in 1970. This role was a FAR cry from Opie!
• The 1963 Ford Ambulance (blue with white top) is shown in the prologue. The Pennsylvania family also has a very sexy Ford Thunderbird!