The Fugitive

Plot synopsis:
Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) is a successful , University of Chicago-trained, Chicago based vascular surgeon who returns home from an operation after a party one evening to find his wife (Sela Ward) dying following a brutal attack and a mysterious one-armed man with a prosthetic arm escaping. Despite his attempts to save her and his testimony about the one-armed man, Kimble is convicted of first-degree murder, due to evidence such as a misunderstood 9-1-1 call, his fingerprints found "on the lamp, the gun, and the bullets," and no signs of forced entry by the one-armed man. Kimble is sentenced to life in prison.During the bus ride to the prison, one of the prisoners fakes a seizure and begins to foam at the mouth as if poisoned. A guard unlocks the cage separating him from the prisoner to assist him. The prisoner stabs him with a shank made from a concealed sharpened toothbrush, and chaos ensues. Another guard shoots the prisoner with a shotgun. A second prisoner tries to grab the gun from the guard, but in the struggle, the gun goes off and kills the driver. The bus crashes through a guardrail, rolls down a hill, and lands on a railroad track. The light from an approaching freight train appears, and Kimble manages to pull himself and one of the guards to safety just as the train rams into the bus at speed. The bus is dragged on the front of the first locomotive for several hundred feet, but upon crossing a trestle, the first locomotive's coupler breaks, and every car from the second engine on back derails. Kimble manages to outrun the derailing locomotive as it buries itself nose-first in the ditch.Kimble is freed from his chains by another survivor, Copeland, and both escape from the scene on foot.A car arrives at the crash site, containing Deputy United States Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), who leads a team of men from the US Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, including Marshals Cosmo Renfro (Joe Pantoliano), Bobby Biggs (Daniel Roebuck), Erin Poole (L. Scott Caldwell), and Noah Newman (Tom Wood). They observe the debris, and Gerard finds the local sheriff, Rollins, interviewing the old guard who survived the wreck with minor injuries. The guard, given the suddenness of the wreck, is under the impression that all of the prisoners were killed in the wreck, and takes credit for Kimble's actions (getting the other guard out of the bus). Gerard requests for Rollins to establish police checkpoints, which Rollins is skeptical of doing until Gerard requests to have jurisdiction passed over to him. Just then, Cosmo recovers a pair of unshackled leg irons, and a manhunt begins for Kimble.The next morning, as the Marshals watch the cleanup work, the younger guard (the one who was wounded in the revolt), after being trapped for more than twelve hours underneath debris from one of the locomotives, is extricated, alive.There are many close calls where Kimble almost gets captured, mostly brought on by Kimble's compassionate instincts as a doctor. The first instance is at a hospital after Kimble shaves off his beard, and changes into a doctor's uniform. He very easily avoids being detected by a state trooper at the hospital on the lookout for him. He also happens to be present when the ambulance containing the wounded guard arrives. He helps the paramedics unfold the wheels on the gurney. The guard recognizes Kimble, but Kimble quietly puts the guard's breathing mask down to keep him quiet, and gives the paramedics a detailed description of the guard's likely injuries, which astonishes the paramedics. As soon as they leave, Kimble steals their ambulance.Kimble is first discovered when he uses his lights and siren going through a grade crossing. He is pursued by the Illinois State Police on land and by Gerard in a helicopter running alongside the highway. Kimble is forced to a halt by a police road block in a tunnel near a dam. He exits the ambulance and is pursued by Gerard through the dam's drainage system. At one point, Kimble confronts Gerard and insists on his innocence. Gerard, whose mission is simply to capture Kimble and not to solve the crime, tells him "I don't care!" Kimble tries to continue running but Gerard eventually traps him near the end of a spillway. Kimble escapes by doing a Peter Pan (backflip) off the dam into the water below.The encounter with Gerard at the dam makes Kimble realize that the authorities will always accept his guilt as a matter of fact, and that the only way to ever recover his freedom is by finding the real killer. The fact that Kimble pointed a gun at Gerard during this encounter gives Gerard a strong motive to pursue his fugitive vigorously. Kimble makes his way through the woods, and eventually dyes his hair to conceal himself more easily on his way to a truck stop. As he walks down the road, a woman picks him up and offers him a ride. Kimble accepts.Later that night, Gerard's team has returned to Chicago, where they get word that Copeland, the other escapee from the train wreck, is hiding out at his girlfriend's house in the suburb of Whiting. The next morning, Gerard and his men converge on the house, all wearing disguises to avoid tipping off neighbors to their presence. Poole approaches disguised as a homeless woman, walking across the street with a shopping cart while trying to keep warm, Biggs and Henry are disguised as garbagemen picking up trash, Cosmo is disguised as a plumber, and Gerard and Newman are disguised as drunks. As they flank the house from all sides, the men quietly check their pistols. Gerard and Newman take point as they break down the front door, arousing the residents. As the deputies clear out each room in the house, Newman is suddenly grabbed by Copeland and taken hostage with his own weapon. Copeland threatens to kill him unless he is given a car. Gerard follows Copeland's voice, and as Copeland is making his demands, Gerard suddenly pops his head out through a doorway and shoots Copeland twice, killing him, and temporarily deafening Newman. Later, while Copeland's girlfriend is being arrested and the police mop up the mess inside, Newman asks Gerard why he didn't try to reason with Copeland. Gerard whispers to him, "I don't bargain."Kimble, meanwhile, makes it back to Chicago, where he stops at a payphone to call his lawyer. His lawyer advises him to turn himself in. Kimble lies about his location, telling his lawyer that he's in St. Louis. Kimble doesn't know, though, that the lawyer's phones have been wiretapped on Gerard's orders. When they play back the conversation, they can make out the sounds of an elevated train rumbling by overhead on Kimble's end. Further enhancement reveals bells from a drawbridge and a P.A. announcer on board an 'L' train saying, "Next Stop: Merchandise Mart," which tells Gerard that Kimble is back in Chicago, and made the call from a payphone at the end of the Wells Street drawbridge.Kimble returns to Chicago to search for the one-armed man who shot Helen, believing that the guy might still be in Chicago. Kimble also makes contact with many of his former medical friends and associates, virtually all of whom have never believed Kimble to be guilty and are more than willing to help him. He also meets his close friend Dr. Charles Nichols (Jeroen Krabbé), who gives Kimble money, becomes a contact for him, and offers to help in any way. Later, when confronted by Gerard, Dr. Nichols boldly tells him to give up because Kimble is too smart to ever be captured.Kimble rents a basement apartment and makes fake ID cards to pose as a janitor to get access to Cook County Hospital, where he searches the computers in the prosthetic limb area for patient information matching the description of the one-armed man.Unfortunately, one of the people in the apartment upstairs from Kimble is a drug dealer. He only finds out this when he is woken up one morning after having a nightmare about Helen's murder by the sound of the police arriving to arrest the drug dealer and his accomplice. The dealers try to flee out the back door, but the police manage to corner them and arrest them before they can escape.The drug dealer informs police that Kimble is living with them. While Gerard arrives at the apartment, Kimble is confronted at the hospital by a doctor (Julianne Moore) who had seen him change a recently admitted boy's medical orders so that he could have a life-saving heart operation, but Kimble manages to escape. Gerard, always in hot pursuit, arrives with the police and wonders why someone as smart as Kimble would risk capture by going to such a high-profile place as a hospital. At that moment, Gerard sees a one-armed man walk by and realizes what Kimble was probably up to.Going through the list of men with prosthetic limbs, Kimble discovers that one is in jail for armed robbery. He visits this man but sees that it is not his wife's murderer. Trying to understand Kimble's movements, Gerard also finds that same man on a list of one-armed men with criminal records. Gerard arrives shortly after Kimble, giving him a close call when they pass on the stairs, but he manages to escape into the Saint Patrick's Day parade, donning a hat to disguise himself.Kimble next checks on another name on the list: Frederick Sykes. When he is unable to reach Sykes by phone, Kimble breaks into Sykes' residence. In the apartment, Kimble finds a prosthetic arm similar to the one he remembered on the killer. He also finds some photos, one of which shows Sykes with another doctor who he met at the fundraiser, Dr. Alec Lentz, who was a key doctor behind the push for the drug Provasic. Then Kimble finds a timecard showing that Sykes works at a pharmaceutical company called Devlin-McGregor. He remembers that Devlin-McGregor sponsored the fundraiser he was attending on the night Helen was killed, which causes Kimble to realize that he was the intended target of the killer.Kimble then places a call to the Marshal's office, but leaves the phone off the hook after conversing with Gerard. Gerard and his men trace the call to Sykes' apartment, and conduct a search of the place. Eventually, Sykes returns home, and Gerard questions him. Gerard learns that Sykes is a security guard for Devlin-McGregor, handling security for their top executives. Sykes professes his innocence, stating that 15 others can vouch for his presence out of town, as he had told the police when they first questioned him about Helen's murder.Gerard, however, is skeptical of Sykes, and sets up surveillance outside his residence. Gerard also is aware of the photo that Kimble was looking at, due to fingerprinting of the apartment, and assigns Newman and Biggs to check out the identity of Lentz in the photo.After he leaves Syke's apartment, Kimble calls Nichols, claiming that he now knows who was behind his wife's murder. Kimble is sure that the murder was planned by Lentz as a way to keep him quiet: Kimble had been seeing an increase in the number of patients in the research program for Provasic, a new wonder drug, being admitted to him with damaged livers (including the patient Kimble had been called to operate on the night of the murder). Nichols explains to Kimble that this might not hold up, as Lentz is dead: he died in a car accident the previous year. Kimble is still wanting to double-check his findings, and asks Nichols to call a hospital associate of theirs to look over the samples.Shortly after this, Gerard and several of his men meet with Nichols, questioning him about Sykes and the photo. Nichols claims he doesn't recognize Sykes or one of the men in the picture that Gerard is keen to know about. Returning to their headquarters, Newman explains that in digging deeper, he found that on a blowup of the picture of Sykes and Lentz, Lentz is wearing a shirt that mentions 'Chicago Memorial Hospital,' and goes there to investigate.Newman and another marshal go to the hospital, also learning Dr. Lentz's identity. One person whom they are referred to is a man in the hospital named Bones Roosevelt (John M. Watson Sr). When they mention Dr. Kimble, Roosevelt grows uneasy, before finally admitting that he had seen Kimble previously, when Kimble came by to pick up some samples. Upon further investigation, they find out that Kimble had just been to see Bones about some tissue samples. Bonesalso answers some questions regarding Lentz. It actually turns out that Lentz was Dr. Nichol's boss! This revelation is relayed to Gerard, who wants to now bring Nichols in, on the basis that he lied regarding their investigation, and also intends to bring Sykes in as well.Meanwhile, Kimble has taken the tissue samples to former associate, Dr. Kathy Wahlund (Jane Lynch). Checking the samples, they see that they have been tampered with, and they all came from the same healthy liver. Kimble asserts his theory that it was Lentz, but Dr. Wahlund notes that half of the samples that he approved were done so on the day he died, thinking someone with access to Lentz may have been behind this. Kimble immediately suspects Dr. Nichols, and goes to confront him.Kimble takes an elevated train to a hotel where Nichols is giving a speech that night as keynote speaker at a medical conference. On the train, he encounters Sykes (who had been trailing him from the hospital, on Nichols' orders, and had escaped from the cops by calling the fire department and walking away in the chaos). Their confrontation is interrupted by an officer who pulls his gun on Kimble. Sykes shoots and kills the cop. Kimble uses the distraction, and manages to subdue Sykes, and handcuffs him to a pole on the train. Pulling the emergency brake as the train comes into the Clark/Lake station, Kimble breaks a window, and escapes from the train on foot. Several witnesses notice Kimble heading towards a hotel, and this is radioed to the CPD and to Gerard. Of concern to Gerard is that word of an 'officer down' has made Kimble a dangerous suspect in the eyes of the Chicago Police, who will most likely take him down as soon as they can.Kimble manages to get to the conference room in the hotel, where Nichols is giving a speech in regards to the pending approval of the Provasic drug. Nichols attempts to usher Kimble quietly into a small suite off to the side of the conference room, but Kimble vocally accuses Nichols regarding his motive: Dr. Nichols falsified his research, and most likely killed Lentz.Once in the suite, Nichols attacks Kimble, and the two scuffle in the room, before it eventually spills out onto the hotel's rooftop.Gerard arrives but is told to stay out of the situation by the CPD. Gerard storms past the CPD and his Marshals eventually find where Kimble went. Gerard makes his way to the rooftop. Gerard watches as Kimble and Nichols fight, before plummeting through a skylight, and fall atop an elevator that then descends.The chase eventually leads them to the hotel's laundry. Nichols recovers from the fall first, but Kimble is soon behind him. Gerard eventually makes it to the floor, yelling out to Kimble, claiming he knows of the Doctor's innocence, as well as what really happened: on the night of his wife's murder, Nichols had the keys to Kimble's house, which was how Sykes got in without forced entry. Nichols also telephoned Sykes from Kimble's car. Nichols manages to knock out Renfro and takes his gun, and is about to shoot Gerard when Kimble disarms him.In the aftermath, Sykes and Nichols are taken into custody, and Gerard escorts Kimble out of the hotel in handcuffs. In the back of their car, Gerard removes the handcuffs, and gives Kimball a small bag of ice for his bruised hands."I thought you didn't care," says Kimble."I don't," jokes Gerard.With that last exchange, the car pulls away, and the audience is confident that Kimble's name is now cleared.

Tags: mystery, murder, violence, flashback, action, suspenseful

Review:
Even though we have been seeing too many films based on television series come out lately, "The Fugitive" is certainly not one of those that we can add to that routine bushel.Ford is Dr. Richard Kimble, a vascular surgeon who is wrongfully accused for the brutal murder of his wife (Sela Ward), and therefore sentenced to be executed.
The result is an interesting cat-and-mouse game between him and the police that never allows your attention to fade away.The story is perhaps not exceptional, but thanks to the good directing and acting and the constant action and tension, this movie really delivers everything that you can expect from it.
In the last decade, only a handful of suspense films could be called 'great'...and on top of the list is THE FUGITIVE.Based on the popular David Janssen TV series, the film faithfully follows the same premise; a doctor is accused of his wife's death, but escapes before his execution, and tracks down the 'one-armed man' responsible for the murder, as a driven law officer attempts to recapture him.
Being a big-budget film, however, the scale of everything is expanded...Dr. Richard Kimble is now a brilliant vascular surgeon, at a major Chicago hospital; the handicapped killer is a dirty ex-cop working on orders from crooked board members of a billion-dollar pharmaceutical firm; and the lawman is no longer a solitary police lieutenant, but a deputy United States Marshal, and his team of agents!
While some fans of the original series complained that the 'intimacy' the series had was lost, director Andrew Davis only used the 'bigger' aspects as plot elements, placing the focus, wisely, on the dual stories of Kimble's search, and Gerard's pursuit.Despite the esteem the film has achieved over the years, Harrison Ford has gotten a bad rap for his very understated performance as Richard Kimble.
While Tommy Lee Jones certainly had a far flashier role (earning him an Oscar as 'Best Supporting Actor'), Ford's intent wasn't to play 'Indiana Jones', but a man whose whole life was dedicated to his career as a surgeon, and his wife (played, in flashbacks, by the lovely Sela Ward).
Of COURSE he wins the audience's heart!Featuring some of the most spectacular action scenes ever recorded on film (the train/bus wreck that frees Kimble, the dive off a dam into the churning maelstrom of the reservoir), as well as two slam-bang fistfights when Kimble finally gets 'justice', THE FUGITIVE still is remembered primarily for the suspenseful Jones/Ford 'cat-and-mouse' chase, cross-country, and the grudging respect that grows between them...which, ultimately, was what the TV series was best remembered for, as well.There is magic, here!.
Ford, of course, is the star with Tommy Lee Jones a close second, but the more you watch this, the more you appreciate EVERYONE'S acting in this movie.And, by the way, filmmakers take note: here''s another example how you can make an "edgy" modern-day crime film without a ton of unnecessary f-words..
And I didn't think that there would be a more worthy recipient of best supporting actor in '93 than Kilmer in Tombstone, but Jones' work here was well deserving of his Oscar.The Fugitive belongs on every top 100 list and if the AFI wasn't so enthralled with older movies, they would see that films like this are more worthy than some of the mediocrity that graces their findings.
A spectacular train wreck with a bus of prison-bound felons gets the action underway at which point Tommy Lee Jones enters the picture and takes over the film by sheer force of personality and doesn't let go.
The movie has a sticking nature to it, every detail in the actors face will prove that Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones deserve every praise they have received for their performance.Based on the 1960's Television series, this movie does not disappoint.
This is a fine vehicle for Harrison Ford made even more agreeable by a clever, somewhat tongue in cheek performance by Tommy Lee Jones as a US Marshall out to have a good time getting the bad guy, even though the bad guy might not be so bad, and even though that's irrelevant, but hey, don't think so much and get me some coffee and a chocolate donut with those sprinkles on top, ya hear?This is also a Hollywood producer's orgasmic dream with a chase scene beginning in the first reel and lasting throughout.
Here we have Harrison Ford as the good doctor, and it doesn't take a Hollywood genius to tell you that the most popular leading man of the late twentieth century ain't about to play the kind of guy who murders his loving wife.Ford does a stand-up, competent job, saving lives and patting kids on the head as he plunges through sewers and off the top of a towering waterfall, steals an ambulance, survives a bullet wound and a bus wreck, etc.
I wonder if he or director Andrew Davis invented the spin because without it, this wouldn't be half so good.This is not to be confused with, nor is it a remake of The Fugitive from 1947 starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford, a cinematic gem of an entirely different sort.See this for Tommy Lee Jones who has made a career out of turning oh-hum parts into something special..
While you're rooting for Ford all the way, as the doctor wrongly accused of the murder of his wife, you sometimes find yourself in the shoes of the crafty, quirky detective with a sense of humor (Tommy Lee Jones) who is relentless in his pursuit.
The premise is that an esteemed vascular surgeon, Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), is tried and convicted for the murder of his wife Helen (Sela Ward, in a pretty thankless role), despite his claims that he'd tussled with the REAL killer, a one-armed man (Andreas Katsulas).
Well, looking back on this movie it is pretty decent, but not one of the better ones I have seen (I have worked as an extra on a few movies and sadly, none of them were all that great).The plot was OK, but hate to say it the acting was a bit stilted and somewhat over the top.I do have to agree with the "tounge in cheek" comment on the performance by Tommy Lee Jones.
It was a landmark case, resulting in the creation of the "change of venue" motion.The film "The Fugitive" keeps the basics: Dr. Richard Kimble, en route to prison to await execution for the murder of his wife (Ward), escapes after a terrible accident.
"I don't care!" In "The Fugitive," when, after Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Harrison Ford) insists to the Federal Marshall (played by Tommy Lee Jones) chasing him -- over a levelled-at-him gun, no less -- that "I didn't kill my wife!" he gets a response along the lines of: "Good for you!
Sadly, that's not my job." The look on Harrison Ford's face is priceless -- this is what's been consuming his life, after all, and it's not the response he's expecting -- and the whole movie taking a double-antagonist, "chase him!" "now, run away!" position where you're rooting for both the two main characters -- they each have their reasons -- is very curious and a weird place to put the audience in.
Hot on his tail is staunch Marshall Sam Gerard, a man who always gets his man.Based on the long running and popular TV series of the same name, The Fugitive stands up as one of the best thrillers of the 90s, it's full of action and tight sequences that dovetail excellently with the who done it plot.
As Sam Gerard we have Tommy Lee Jones having the time of his life, gruff and ready for a rumble, and with a quip at every turn, Gerard is a man we know is not to be messed with, and Jones portrays him wonderfully as the obsessive pursuer he is.From that harsh opening, to a quite breath taking sequence with a train, the film cements itself as a bona fide top draw thriller, however, the second half of the picture, whilst still an intriguing mysterious chase movie, does veer down the formulaic road with it's conspiracy plot line, but it really is a minor complaint that doesn't send the film to averageville.
This is pre-dated by this big screen version of the television show of THE FUGITIVE which features Harrison Ford playing a character called Dr Richard Kimble being pursued by a cop called Gerard in a film that is nothing more than a cynical exercise in trying to cash in on a half remembered TV show from yesteryear .
Of course sharing the name of the TV series THE FUGITIVE and a character played by Harrison Ford in 1993 the audience know Kimble must be innocent but even so the evidence must have been rather damning .
Harrison Ford, at the peak of his box office star pull, also gives one of his all time career best performances as Dr. Richard Kimble, a man on the run.From start to finish, The Fugitive barely lets up.
Harrison Ford's performance as Richard Kimble paints a picture of Kimble as a smart and laid-back man,who is just trying to solve his wife's murder and bring the people responsible for it to justice.
All of these elements all work not only being blended together,but also for the scenes in this film that feature both Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones and the scenes with action (the action here is well-mixed in with the script;it is fitting and suitable,but does not push itself a mile to being an action film,on behalf of the way it is arranged in the script for "The Fugitive" and the performances in the scene with the action).It is also worth noting that even though you will only find Sela Ward through a small half of "The Fugitive",Ward's performance as Helen Kimble is one of the film's highlights.
It is my favorite all time classic action film from Harrison ford and Andrew Davis, that I love to death!
I also love Tommy Lee Jones' character Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard who later starts to believing that the man is innocent, but he has to do the job by bringing him back to hand of the law.
Tommy Lee Jones has played many interesting and complex characters, but when he is on the screen as Gerard, he commands the attention of not only his deputies, but the motion picture audience as well.Writers Jeb Stuart and David Twohy also prove it's possible to put entertaining and interesting dialog into a script along with action and suspense.
Despite the fact that it was nominated for Best Picture and Tommy Lee Jones' performance took supporting actor, The Fugitve is a middling time killer with a dull Harrison Ford, a mediocre script, and a predictable outcome.
So, while the TV show provided a promising template for a successful movie, it would nevertheless be a challenge to match the impact of the original.The story concerns Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), a doctor falsely accused of killing his wife.
Well, I just watched the remake of David Janssen's "The Fugitive," this one starring Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joe Pantoliano and I must say it's great.
After a traffic collision convicted murderer Dr Richard Kimble (Ford) tries to clear his name whist Samuel Gerard (Jones) attempts to track him down.This Andrew Davis picture brings together a slick plot flowing with action and intrigue and with Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford on perfect form this is the perfect remedy to an absent action injury.With James Bond being "reborn" these last few years and The Bourne trilogy racking up plaudits from everywhere it seems we have reinvented the term of thriller in a genre that is often scrutinized for its lack of realism in context.What makes the Fugitive tick?
Tense, thrilling and lifted further by Tommy Lee Jones in blistering form, this is one movie that has not lost its power over time.Based on the TV show of the same name, "The Fugitive" opens with the brutal murder of Helen Kimble (Sela Ward), the wife of brilliant Chicago surgeon Dr Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford).
Very rare that a movie based on a TV series would earn such praise.Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford)is a surgeon who after a party, finds his wife, Helen (Sela Ward) murdered and is attacked by a one armed burglar.
Based on the television series, Harrison Ford is Dr. Richard Kimble, a respected Chicago surgeon who is wrongfully accused of brutally murdering his wife (Sela Ward).
The killer in this case, a one-armed man, is the obsession of the good doctor as he dawns disguises and tries to stay one step ahead of dogged F.B.I. marshal Sam Gerard (Best Supporting Actor Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones) and his team of law enforcement officers.
The overall ending varies from that of the original series, but hey that's Hollywood.Great film for all Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee fans.If not for Schindlers List that year(Which was phenomenal and deserved the Oscar) The Fugitive may have been the winner..
It is not without slow moments and elements of the plot do tend to require you to suspend belief but this is made easier by the way it tends to grip and involve you.The cast are roundly good; Ford is sturdy and reliable as ever, doing both the "everyman" act and action man role as well as each other however he is simply put in the shade by Tommy Lee Jones who enjoys himself tremendously.
Innocence to be proven, this man pulls out all the stops to get to the bottom of his wife's murder, whilst being hunted by the F.B.I.A great film for both Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones..
All the events leading up to the great climax make for an amazing cat and mouse thriller.Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones are great in this movie.
Richard Kimble (Ford) is wrongly accused of his wife's murder and is being relentlessly pursued by the police (led by Tommy Lee Jones) who will do anything to capture Ford, but who is even more hell-bent on clearing his name and bringing the real murderer to justice.It is classic police's chase as Ford escapes from the bus on its way to prison, relying on his doctor's smarts to outwit the vigilance of a veteran detective, always staying one step ahead and at the same time, trying to get the police on his side and using what they know to assist him to investigate his wife's murder.
"The Fugitive" takes its name, although not so much of its content, from the 1963-67 TV series that starred David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, wrongly convicted of killing his wife, on the lam, and on the trail of a one-armed killer.That's all in the movie, too, with the exception that Harrison Ford now plays Kimble.
Just how much faster-paced is established in the opening credit sequence, which shows Kimble arrested, tried, convicted, and escaping a stranded prison bus just ahead of a speeding train in one of moviedom's all-time-best cliffhangers.Director Andrew Davis has had much success with two kinds of movies, those set in Chicago and those featuring Tommy Lee Jones.
There's action aplenty, astonishing escapes by the fugitive, played by Harrison Ford, near-misses by the pursuing US Marshall, played by Tommy Lee Jones, fantastic stunts on screen, and suspense that holds the viewer on the edge of his/her seat.
The stage curtains open ...This is one of my personal favorites - an all-time great film starring Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, a man falsely accused and convicted of killing his wife, and Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard, the Deputy U.S. Marshal hot on his trail.
We all know the basic plot: Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), a successful surgeon, is convicted of murdering his wife Helen (Sela Ward) and sentenced to death.
When his prison bus collides with a freight train, he sees an opportunity to learn the truth of his wife's death, find the 'one-armed man' who killed her, and clear his own name, and so goes on the run to do so, while being pursued by the wily U.S. Marshal Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones).Based on the TV series of the same name, 'The Fugitive' is probably the best film ever made out of a TV show.
In fact, this paragraph should be enough unless you're not convinced, then you can read what follows.Directed by Andrew Davis whose "Under Siege" met with surprising critical acclaim (one of the few Steven Seagal movies to achieve this stunt), the film stars Harrison Ford as the ill-fated Dr. Richard Kimble, trying to find out the mysterious one-armed man who killed his wife, while escaping from the Law, incarnated by his nemesis US.
this action/thriller/murder mystery is directed By Andrew Davis(Under Siege)it is intended to be a Harrison Ford vehicle,but the movie is really owned by Tommy Lee Jones.Jones plays a U.S. Marshall on the trial of a a high profile,respected doctor(Ford)who finds himself accused of the murder of his wife(Sela Ward).Jones brings some great intensity to role,yet at the same time he manages to be understated.not an easy task,but Jones is more than equal to the task.this movie is based The series of the same name from the 60's,but how accurate It is to its source material is anyones guess.obviously the film has been updated for contemporary audiences.the movie is quite exciting and fast paced,with some good suspenseful moments.there's also a few plot twists to keep you guessing.i rather enjoyed it.for me, "The Fugitive" is an 8/10.
Ford is Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent man accused of murdering his wife.
Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar as best supporting actor for this film but it is also among Harrison Ford's best performances.