The Fugitive
The Fugitive
PG-13 | 06 August 1993 (USA)
The Fugitive Trailers

Wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, Richard Kimble escapes from the law in an attempt to find the real killer and clear his name.

Reviews
Lawbolisted

Powerful

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Pacionsbo

Absolutely Fantastic

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Curapedi

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

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InformationRap

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

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Scott LeBrun

Roy Huggins' original 1960s TV series gets reinvented for the big screen, with engaging results. 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). On his way to prison, Kimble seizes a chance to escape, and takes it on the lam. Naturally, he's determined to solve the crime, but almost always manages to stay one step ahead of the equally determined Federal marshal (Tommy Lee Jones) on his trail.While the story is not a great one (and won't bear a lot of scrutiny), it's still a solidly entertaining one. Director Andrew Davis ("Code of Silence", "Under Siege") does a masterful job of directing this chase thriller, guiding us towards some pretty impressive set pieces, such as an amazing bus crash / train wreck, and a VERY long dive off of a dam. Davis and company hit the ground running, and even though their film runs two hours and 11 minutes, the pacing never drags. Every scene serves a purpose, and commands ones' attention. Great music by James Newton Howard and superb location shooting in Chicago are all part of the slick and stylish package.Of course, one of the most compelling facets to the film is the cat and mouse game between two very strong personalities, and both Ford and the Oscar winning Jones are extremely well cast. Not all of the supporting actors & actresses get a lot to do (Julianne Moore is only around for one section of the story), but the other roles are also nicely cast: Joe Pantoliano, Jeroen Krabbe (in a role originally intended for the late Richard Jordan), Daniel Roebuck, L. Scott Caldwell, Tom Wood, Ron Dean, real life Chicago cop Joe Kosala, etc. Jane Lynch can be seen in one of her earliest film roles."The Fugitive" holds up pretty well almost 25 years later. It's just good, straightforward entertainment all around.Eight out of 10.

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Leofwine_draca

The 1990s wasn't exactly a decade known for quality cinema. Particularly in the second half of the decade, Hollywood became obsessed with poor quality CGI and the like and the quality of movies in general plummeted. However, in terms of action movies and thrillers, there were still plenty of interesting titles being released, none more so than THE FUGITIVE. A remake of the cult 1960s TV series, this blockbuster hit pitted hunter Tommy Lee Jones against wronged man Harrison Ford in a refreshingly adult and old-fashioned story that could have been directed by Hitchcock back in the day.There's a lot to love about this one. Harrison Ford plays his usual resourceful hero, but he's more grounded and believable than most and as a whole the story is far more realistic than expected given the excesses of the decade. Jones is the scene-stealer here and deservedly won the Oscar for his wry, finely-judged performance that contains a lot of humour. The supporting cast is also of a high calibre. However, the real winner is director Andrew Davis, who brings back half the cast from UNDER SIEGE and crafts a film which is just as thrilling and edge-of-the-seat exciting. Despite a fairly lengthy running time, this journey is never slow, and it's only occasionally clichéd. It has a real drive to it, a sense of momentum that sees it through. A fine sequel, U.S. MARSHALS, followed.

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ElMaruecan82

"The Fugitive" is a first-rate action-packed thriller. Indeed, no matter how deep your involvement in story is, no matter how familiar you're with the original 60's TV series, or how much you appreciate the action genre, there is not a way not to enjoy it. 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. Marshall Deputy Gerard played by Tommy Lee Jones. Jones was the villain in "Under Siege" but this time, it's another form of antagonism he embodies, he is a roller-coaster of a man who won't tolerate any fugitive to slip through his net. It's not even personal, this is man who wants the job done and that's perhaps enough a reason to root for him while empathizing with Kimble. Why, that's a nice way to put it.It all leads to the most famous and parodied moment of the film : the early encounter between the two men at the edge of a storm drain over a huge dam, Kimble tells Gerard: "I didn't kill my wife" and Gerard's answer is "I don't care". Whatever Kimble did is irrelevant, that's what makes his situation tricky. He sees himself as an innocent man, people see him as a fugitive. He's got one enemy to find, but for the moment, he's like the public enemy number one. This moment seals the real confrontation between two men: one represents the Law and according to the Law, Kimble was convicted, and one cannot escape the Law. Kimble represents justice, justice for his wife, and for his own life's sake, he's the only reason one could escape from the law: self-defense. And only for that reason, would a man plunge into raging waters, it's not your usual nihilistic escape, it's a race around the clock between two men who know what they want.The point of this comparison is to highlight why these men happen to be 'enemies' on the surface but as Kimble finds the path of the one-armed man and Gerard follows his footsteps, there's something evolving in his attitude and the wisecracks displayed through the film vanish in favor of a growing respect toward his target and the realization that Law and Justice can make one; it's something in the same vein than "The Defiant Ones", with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis, movies that are entertaining but respecting viewer's intelligence and not succumbing to Manichaeism. And the power of Jones' Oscar-winning performance was to evolve to that point where we, viewers, wait for that moment where he starts to care, we never pinpoint it exactly but we can tell it from his acting, this is how great he is without forcing himself.Both Kimble and Jones are smart and competent and that's another force. In most movies, the hero easily outsmarts the villain but this time, like in a chess game, Gerard knows how to anticipate or follow the moves and the 'how he does it' is even more captivating, which creates countless situations similar to the dam one, where Kimble can slip from the Police's hands within a nick of time. No matter how often this happens, there is an attention for detail, for chronology, for simultaneity of events that leaves nothing for hazard, this is a meticulously edited movie that doesn't rely on luck. There's a moment where Kimble, passing as a janitor, prints a document of the people who repaired their prosthetic arms shortly after the murder, and to cover the buzzing sound of the printer, he pretends to be dusting the Venetian blinds. This detail reminded me of J.J. Gittes in "Chinatown" coughing loudly while he was ripping an important piece of evidence.The film works on many levels, it's a cat-and-mouse thriller served by a heart-pounding score from James Newton-Howard whose main movement works without even watching the film. The term is hackneyed but it's also character-study in the sense that you can tell how the perception toward a man changes while the chase moves forward, it's just as if Kimble needs time to get closer to his innocence as something suspected then perceived by his chasers. The film also affords the luxury of a higher scheme involving the wife's murder. And maybe there's something in the tradition of Hitchcock's movie with the eternal theme of the wrongfully accused man, who doesn't just escape for freedom but to prove his innocence, for justice. Kimble needs to find the one-armed man, maybe less to prove his innocence but to avenge his wife. Gerard being the law, will also realize that something must be done on that matter.I've often been critical about Jones' Oscar win for that role but maybe I'd reconsider my opinion. I like the duality he forms with Kimble, for one, it's personal, for the other, it's only his job. 1993 was a pretty good year for intelligent thrillers, with films like "The Fugitive" and "In the Line of Fire". This one was nominated for many Oscars, including Best Picture, it is not your usual action movie, and it finds a way to reinvent the archetypes and stay original within a rather conventional plot. This is not just a school case of from TV to movies adaptation, it's one terrific action movie, about men doing what they think they must do and doing it damn well, the film oozes quality in every inch of celluloid.

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TheBigSnack

The Fugitive provides the perfect combination of enticing 'behind the scenes' location shots and flawless character portrayals. The film establishes itself by maintaining a consistent level of high anxiety, turmoil and tension.The Fugitive is a highly acclaimed successful feature film starring Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimball, Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy US Marshall, and Jeroen Aart Krabbé as Dr. Charles Nichols.The story is of vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimball who attends a large fundraiser with his wife one evening. Driving home he accepts a hospital emergency call and he joins her at home after performing life saving surgery.As he relaxes he spirals towards a violent intruder encounter when he discovers his wife has been mortally bludgeoned and is dying in their upstairs bedroom.Dr. Kimball engages with the intruder in a deadly dream like sequence. The intruder quickly disappears and Dr. Kimball is taken away for police questioning.During the invasion Mrs. Kimball dialed out for emergency assistance when she was incapacitated but her call inadvertently inferred Richard assaulted her.Richard is presented at court for trial in the homicide of Mrs. Kimball. He is given the guilty verdict and sentenced to death.As Richard is nearing arrival at his place of execution inside of a convict transport an escape is launched. In the melee the bus driver is killed with a shotgun blast. The moving bus edges off a turnpike and rolls down an embankment landing squarely on rail tracks. Survivors inside flee the wreckage before an oncoming train engine. Richard delays to save a life by dragging a wounded guard out of the bus and jumps from the wreckage at the point of impact with the engine. The train slips the tracks in a massive derailment.Richard is surprised when a convict survivor contacts him and frees him from his shackles. He gets to a local hospital and accesses a treatment room and a private room, cleans up, dresses as a staff physician and eats fast next to a sedated hospital patient.He leaves the hospital as police arrive with wanted information. He meets an ambulance carrying the same wounded guard he threw out from the bus and advises of the injury. He hops into the ambulance and speeds away. Deputy US Marshals are in pursuit and trap him inside a highway tunnel. Richard is pursued inside a storm drain tunnel and is trapped on a outflow ledge onto a towering spillway dam. He leaps into the deep chasm in what is described as a Peter Pan. Dogs are called in to locate any trace of Richard.Richard gets to Chicago and begins investigating his wife's murder using a prosthetic limb/cosmetic hand clue referred to as 'the one-armed man' and makes contact with friend and associate Dr. Charles Nichols as a disguised fugitive from the law. He gains prosthetic patient details posing as a hospital janitor and locates the correct suspect in his home slaying case.Richard is found at hospital by police and makes a very difficult escape. He break and enters at the suspects residence and makes an out call to police from there. Police investigate this while netting Richard inside a subway train. But out comes the one armed man attempting to assassinate Richard who miraculously reverses the score.Richard has uncovered a plot between pharmaceutical giant Devlin McGregor, Dr. Charles Nichols and the one-armed man. Richard arrives at a sponsored event: the promotional address of Dr. Charles Nichols. He accuses Charles of secretly falsifying research in order to capture medical investor funds from the release of a new drug wrongfully proved 100% safe and effective with no side effects.Dr. Nichols is first seen at the initial fundraiser when he returned keys from a car loaned to him by Richard. These same keys were used in the home invasion later that night. Dr. Nichols is thrown from his address and meets Richard in a hotel antechamber where they engage in a violent dance of death that takes them into the inner recesses of the grand hotel followed by police. Charles echoes "You never give up, do you Richard?"Richard has gained in his quest and is able to outsmart Charles who closes the gap on Richard. Charles is clubbed and defeated before he guns down the Deputy US Marshall and Richard is able to grab badly needed credibility before the law.Resourceful, noteworthy and polished performances, including the tender-loving Dr. Charles Nichols. The Fugitive offers consistent dramatic shock value inside of 130 minutes.

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