Ralph Gordon Stuart: Espionage—Murder.
Original air date: 3 November 1968
Rerun 27 April 1969
The FBI follows a trail of blood in the hunt for a deadly Communist spy who’s out to steel a top-secret rocket fuel.
No interesting cars but some great chase sequences. The good inspector and Colby chase a motorcycle thru Los Angeles. Amazing that the inspector knows all the streets and the short cuts through any city that he travels in. Colby has a big fight scene with the bad guy and wins after Colby takes a few tough blows. Another well-done episode!
Al Freeman Jr. plays Stuart’s Vietnam war buddy, a self-employed TV repairman. Mr. Freeman’s role is interesting, in that we really see—for perhaps the first time in the series—an African-American shown in a nonstereotypical role. He and his wife (Cicely Tyson) are in the process of adopting a son, and he drives a humble—but NEW—Ford wagon (natch!). This episode aired the same season as Julia, the Diahann Carroll sitcom. This alone made “The Enemies” a notable episode: Despite the arch-conservative guidelines of the show, we do see some liberal touches at work here.
- Note the mod-looking (by 1968 standards) eyeglasses that Richard Anderson wears!
- This episode was one of the very last appearances of Jeffrey Hunter. Mr. Hunter appeared in the first FBI episode, “The Monster,” back on 19 September 1965. He died exactly one month after the episode’s repeat, on 27 May 1969.
- Al Freeman Jr. played Elijah Muhammed in the 1992 movie Malcolm X . The son of stage actor Al Freeman, Mr. Freeman (1931-2012) was an accomplished performer in his own right.
- The same is also true, of course, for Cicely Tyson, making a welcome appearance on the series!
Credits:
Directed by: Don Medford
Written by: Peter Allan Fields
Performer | Role
- Jeffrey Hunter | Ralph Gordon Stuart
- Cicely Tyson | Judy Harmon
- Al Freeman Jr. | Allen Harmon
- Richard Anderson | Dr. Earl Latimer
- Richard O’Brien | Jim O’Brien
- Dean Harens | SAC Bryan Durant
- Curt Lowens | Col. Fisher
- Allen Emerson | Hill
- Jonathan Hawke | Businessman