So, time for one last post of the month before December (if I can fit it in!) and this one will be on yet ANOTHER film from 1993 (as Cliffhanger was from 1993 also which I previously reviewed). And this one will be on a film I could have sworn I reviewed before but apparently haven't and that film is the movie version of the 1960's TV show, The Fugitive, which stars Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.
So, let's take a look at this film, which also is 30 years old now and see how it fairs...
And the usual waring is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
STORY
So, the film begins with vascular surgeon, Dr Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) being questioned over the murder of his wife, Helen (Sela Ward) by Chigaco police and Kimble claims that his wife was killed by a one-armed man. The police however decide to pin the murder on Kimble as they question him and find his wife was worth a lot of money and he has scratch marks on him (from moving Helen) and there was no forced entry into the house. Kimble is soon put on trial where misinterpeted 911 call appears to indicate that Helen told the operator that Kimble was trying to kill her. Kimble is subsequently then convicted for the crime and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
On the prison bus enroute to death row, some of the passengers attempt an escape, causing the bus to crash down a ravine into the path of an oncoming train. Before the train hits however, Kimble manages to escape as does one of the other prisoners, Copeland (Eddie Bo Smith) but Kimble also manages to rescue one of the injured prison guards before the train destroys the bus. Kimble then afterward has his cuffs removed by Copeland, who tells him not to follow him, Kimble then flees for his life.
Not long after, Deputy US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) arrives at the scene of the derailment along with his team of Marshals and they launch a manhunt for Kimble. Kimble himself manages to sneak into a hospital where he treats his wounds, shaves off his beard and changes clothes before stealing an ambulance. Gerard and his team pursue Kimble as he soon abandons the ambulance in a tunnel and sneaks into a strom drain and the tunnels below that lead out to a dam. Gerard goes into the tunnels after Kimble and after falling into water, Kimble grabs Gerard's gun and tells him "I didn't kill my wife!" to which Gerard replies "I don't care!" and Kimble takes off. However, Gerard soon catches up to him (with a second gun) tells Kimble to get on his knees but Kimble escapes by jumping off the dam below. Gerard's marshals are convinced Kimble is dead but Gerard remains undeterred and determined to find Kimble, dead or alive.
And from here, Kimble and Gerard's game of cat and mouse really begins to heat up as Kimble tries to find out who was behind his wife's murder and evade the clutches of Gerard...
THOUGHTS
After 30 years, The Fugitive still remains an excellent thriller and a fine adaption of the TV series (well as far as TV show adaptations go I guess!). The film also makes great uses of its locations in Chicago and also has several impressive action setpieces with the bus crash and train derailment being done for real with no CGI and according to the film's director, Andrew Davis, was done in one take. The dynamic between Ford and Jones also works pretty well, with Ford playing the more serious Kimble, fleeing for his life against Jones's more humourful and tenacious Deputy Marshal Gerard, so it makes a good contrast in personalities.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this may contain spoilers but I will try and keep this section from being too long!)
As for the performances, the cast are all on excellent form here.
Starting with Harrison Ford, who is excellent in his role as Dr Richard Kimble, a vascular surgeon, who's wife is murdered and he is falsely accused of the crime to be sentenced to death, but manages to escape his fate and goes on the run from the authorities. And Harrison does play the part quite straight and serious for the most part but he does allow for the odd bit of humour here and there at times.
And I will mention a few of Harrison's scenes starting with the one where the police question Kimble and as the questions continue, the police become more convinced that Kimble killed his wife. And in the scene as Kimble realises this, he expresses his anger and disgust. And he says to the officers "Are you suggesting I killed my wife? Are you saying that I crushed her skull and shot her??! How dare you!". And as the officers are about to question him again, Kimble shouts "When I came home there was a man in my house! He had a mechanical arm! You find this man! You find this man!" and he becomes tearful and says "He took everything from me!!".
Then there is the scene where Kimble arrives at a hospital where he sneaks in and treats his wounds from the bus crash and shaves his beard and steals some doctor's clothes and proceeds to walk down the hall only to be stopped by a state trooper. So, the trooper says to Kimble "Hey, Doc. We are looking for a prisoner from that bus-train wreck a couple of hours ago, might be hurt" and Kimble asks "What did he look like?" and the trooper says "6'1, 180, brown eyes, brown hair. See anyone like that?" and Kimble smiles and points at himself and says "Every time I look in the mirror, pal, except for the beard of course!". However as Kimble makes to leave, the trooper says "Doc?" and Kimble nervously says "Yeah?" and the trooper indicates that Kimble's fly is unzipped and Kimble says "Thanks" and zips it up.
WARNING: PLOT SPOILER AHEAD!!
And lastly there is the scene where Kimble breaks into Frederick Sykes apartment (the one-armed man) and looks around for clues and then he calls Gerard, so they can trace Sykes location. So, Kimble says to Gerard on the phone "Do you remember what I told you in the tunnel?" and Gerard in his office, quietly and frantiaclly tells his team to trace the call "Yeah, I think it was noisy and I think you said that you didn't kill your wife". Kimble then says "Do you remember what told me?" and Gerard says "I remember you pointing your gun at me" and Kimble says "You said "I don't care"" and Gerard says "Yes, that's right, Richard. I don't care. I'm not trying to solve a puzzle here". However Kimble then says "Well, I am trying to solve a puzzle and I just found a big piece!" and he puts the phone down on the desk he sat at without hanging up.
Tommy Lee Jones next up is great in his role as Deputy Marshal, Samuel Gerard, who hunts Kimble endlessly in an effor to bring him back to justice but things take a series of unusual twists and turns as they go on. And Jones himself received an Academy Award for best supporting actor in this role and he has plenty of great dialogue and amusing lines to deliver here, most of which were suprisingly ad-libbed.
Jones has plenty of highlights of course and I will mention a few of his scenes, starting with his first one where he takes over the investigation to hunt Kimble. And in the scene the local sherriff, Sheriff Raawlins gives up on pursuing Kimble, believing him to have not survived the bus crash, so Gerard says to him "Well shit, Sherriff, I'd hate to see your office flooded with calls, so I guess I'll just have take over your investigation". So, after he gives his jurisdictional rights to do so, the sheriff sarcastically says "Right! Gather around everyone, we're shutting it down and Wyatt Earp is taking over!" and Gerard says "Very funny! Wyatt Earp!". But then they find Kimble's leg chains and the prison guard says of Kimble looking at his picture "He might have got out". So, Gerard gives his orders to his team and the police officers and says "You're fugitive's nane is Dr Richard Kimble. Got get him!".
Then there is the scene where Gerard chases Kimble through the tunnels of the dam and he falls down a slipway and drops his gun in the water and Kimble picks up it and aims it at Gerard, who puts his hands up. Kimble then says to Gerard "I didn't kill my wife!" and Gerard says "I don't care!" and Kimble backs away and runs off through the tunnel but Gerard reveals he has a second gun and soon catches up with Kimble at the end of the slipway overlooking the drop below. So, Gerard pointing his gun at Kimble shouts "Put that gun down! Put that gun down! Richard, do you wanna get shot?!" and Kimble drops the gun and Gerard shouts at him "Right! Down on your knees RIGHT NOW!!". Kimble get's down and looks over the edge at big drop below and he decides to jump off much to Gerard's disbelief. And one of Gerard's men, Cosmo (Joe Pantoliano) joins him and Gerard tells him "Guy did a Peter Pan right off this dam, right here!" and Cosmo says "Holy shit! Now can we go home?" and Gerard shakes his head and says "No! No, no!" and walks off.
Then in the next scene as Gerard directs the search party to check the river for signs of Kimble, one of his marshals says to him "Sam, are you out of your mind? He's dead!" and Gerard says "That will make him easier to catch!". And one of the chief state troopers says to Gerard "Only one man in a million can survive that fall! The guy is fish food!" and Gerard says "OK, get a cane pole, catch the fish that ate him!".
And then there is the scene where Gerard and his team track down the other prison bus survivor, Copeland, who grabs one of Gerard's men, Newman and holds him at gun point and shouts out his demands but Gerard sneaks up from a side door and shoots Copeland dead. And afterward, Gerard goes out to check if Newman is OK, who holds his right ear, which is ringing from the gun shots. So, Newman tells Gerard "My ear is terrible. I can't hear anything. Can't believe you did that?" and Gerard says "You think I should have bargained with that guy" and Newman says "Yeah, I do. You could have missed". Gerard changes the subject and asks Newman "How bad is that ear?" and Newman says "Its terrible. I'm gonna have permanent hearing damage" and Gerard leans in near his bad ear and says "Can you hear me now?" and Newman says "Yeah" and Gerard whispers "I don't bargain. Can you hear that?" and Newman says "Yeah" and Gerard wraps a coat around him and walks off.
WARNING: PLOT SPOILER AHEAD!!!
And last of all is the scene where Gerard pursues Kimble through the convention center building where Nicholls was giving his speech, but is revealed to be the bad guy and the sneak around an empty laundry room. So, Kimble shouts out "Dr Richard Kimble! There is no way out of here! The whole building locked down!". However, Gerard then goes on to plead with Kimble and let's him know the truth of his wife's murder "Richard, I know you're innocent! I know about Frederick Sykes! I know about Dr Charles Nichols! Richard, he borrowed your car the night of the murder, he had your keys! No forced entry, Richard. He telephoned Sykes from your car, Richard! Richard, give it up! Its time to stop running!". And at this moment, Nichols grabs Cosmo's gun (after Nichols knocked him out with a beam) and appears behind Geard to shoot him and Kimble suddenly appears behind Nichols and knocks him unconsious with a lead pipe. Gerard aims his gun at Kimble and Kimble drops the pipe and says "They killed my wife" and Geard says "I know, Richard. I know it! But its over now" and he sighs "You know, I'm glad. I need the rest!".
Jerone Krabbe next is excellent also in his role as Dr Charles Nichols, Kimble's good friend and work colleage, who isn't entirely what he seems to be as the film progresses.
And Krabbe has a couple of good scenes I will mention starting with the one where Gerard first questions Nichols at his office. So, in the scene Gerard asks when he last saw Kimble and Nichols admits the truth "Alright, I last saw him this morning" and Gerard laughs "Where was this?" and Nichols says "Outside my tennis club". Gerard then asks "What did you help him?" and Nichols says "I volunteered but he wouldn't accept, I give him some money" and one of the marshals asks "How much?" and Nichols says "Just a couple of bucks, what I had on me". Gerard then says to Nichols "Doctor Nichols, if you really want to help him? Be his friend? Help us bring him in, unharmed". Nichols then asks "So, he can go back to prison?" and he tisks and tells Gerard "If you want help, gentlemen, then you've come to the wrong man. Richard is innocent, he's too smart, you'll never find him". Gerard and the other marshals all smiles a bit bemused "We're all smart. I mean smart can he be? Is he smart as you?" and Nichols takes a moment and says "Smarter!".
And last of all is the scene where Nichols gives his speech at the convention center but is then interrupted by Kimble and Nichols smiles nervously at him and says "Richard, I am in the middle of this speech!". Kimble bitterly says to him "You almost got away with it, didn't you? I know all about it, I can prove it". Nichols tells the audience "Ladies and gentlemen, my friend Richard Kimble doesn't feel well. So, if you go on with your dessert and coffee, then I'll be right back. Richard, would you mind to step aside and we can just talk". However Kimble confronts Nichols infront of the crowd and tells them truth as Nichols walks off "He falsified his research. So, that RD-U90 could be approved and Devlin McGregor could give you Provasic!". And as Kimble follows Nichols into a room outside, Nichols smashes a chair over Kimble and shouts at him "You never give up, do you Richard?! You never give up!!".
Andreas Kutsulas is also very good in his role as Frederick Sykes, who is a suspect in the murder of Kimble's wife and is a one armed man with a cosmetic arm.
And I will mention one of his scenes, which is the one where he arrives at his apartment to find Gerard and his marshals waiting for him, who traced Kimble here after he called Gerard from Sykes's place.
And in the scene, Sykes walks into his apartment, irritated by all the cops and marshals around him and he asks "What the hell is going on here?!" and Gerard says "You've had a break in, Mr Sykes. A fugitive, Richard Kimble broke in here and called us from your apartment, now why would he do that?" and Sykes says "I don't know any Kimble". Gerard's team have him show Sykes Kimble's picture and he realises "Right, Kimble? The guy who murdered his wife and kept blaming it on a one armed man with a prosthetic arm?" and Gerard asks "Did you?" and Sykes jokes "Well, yes I must have killed her, I have a prosthetic arm!" and Gerard laughs. Sykes then says "Give me a break. I went through all this last year, the police questioned me about. I wasn't even in Chicago that night, 15 people verified it! I was on a business trip". Gerard then asks "What is your line of work?" and Sykes says "Security. I work for a pharmacutical company" and Gerard asks "Which one?" and Sykes says "Devlin MacGregor. I handle security for all their top executives". Sykes then asks "You don't mind if I check and see nothing is missing?" and Gerard says "Go ahead" and then he asks "How did you lose that arm?" and Sykes glibly says "In the line of duty".
Joe Pantoliano is also very good in his role as Cosmo Renfro, one of the US Marshals, who often wisecracks throughout the film.
And I will mention two of his scenes starting with the one where Cosmo at Cook county hospital where Kimble was sighted by a doctor (played by Julianne Moore) and he questions why Kimble was there. So, in the scene Cosmo says to Gerard "Right, here's what I don't get, Sam. Everybody is looking for Kimble right?" and Gerard says "Yeah" and Cosmo asks "Then why would he hang around a hospital, acting like he is Mother Teresa?" and at that moment, a man with a prosthetic arm walks past them, which catches their attention.
And then there is the scene where Gerard and Cosmo appear at the convention center and question Nichols once again and show him a photo of Sykes and another doctor, Lentz. So, in the scene Gerard asks Nichols if he knows both men in the picture and Nichols says no. So, Cosmo says to Nichols "OK, Doctor and enjoy the rest of the convention" and Cosmo looks at the leaflet about Nichols speech and says "Advances in tissue and pathology research by Dr Charles Nichols". I bet they'd line up to hear this one!".
Julianne Moore is also pretty good (and pretty!) in her role as the doctor, Anne, who works at Cook county hospital and later recognises Kimble, who pretends to be a janitor while acccessing info about prosthetic limb patients to track down the one-armed killer.
So, I will mention two scenes with the first being the one where Anne confronts Kimble about the young boy he sends up for emergency surgery. So, Anne says to Kimble, who is trying to leave "Hey, do you have a particular interest in our patients X-rays?" and Kimble awkwardly asks "What do you mean?" and Anne says "I saw you look at that boy's chest X-Ray" and Kimble says "Its a hobby of mine". Anne however angrily says "Bullshit! What are your other hobbies? Brain surgery?!". Anne then firmly asks Kimble "I wanna know how that boy ended up in surgery? Who changed those orders?" and Kimble nervously says "I don't know what you mean" and Anne then realises who Kimble is and says to him "You stay right there!" and she takes his false ID card off him and calls for security and Kimble takes off.
And in her last scene, Anne speaks to Gerard who says to her "So, you find out he's Richard Kimble and all you do is take his ID card off him?" and Anne says "Look, I called for security and he took off down the hall. What else was I supposed to do?". Anne then says "Look, I've just finished a long shift, I'm really tired, can I go home?" and Gerard says yes and asks "How is the boy doing?" and Anne says "He saved his life" and she walks off, leaving Gerard a bit puzzled.
And last of all is Sela Ward, who is good in her role as Helen Kimble, Richard's wife, who is murdered by the one-armed man and Kimble is mistakenly convicted of the crime. I won't really mention any of Sela's dialogue however as she doesn't have too many lines that stand out that much other than in the scene Helen has been fatally shot and dials 911 just before she dies and says to the operator weakily "He's in the house...trying to kill me" and the operator "Did I hear you right? Someone is in your house?" and Helen gasps her last breaths and says "Richard....he's trying to kill me" and we see the killer's hand turn off the phone.
DIRECTOR
As for the director, Andrew Davis does an excellent job here with the film and his pacing of the film rarely ever lags and the action setpieces of the film are also very impressively staged and Davis had already previously directed Under Seige starring Steven Segal in 1992. Davis also makes good use of the locations in Chicago and even has one sequence where Kimble is chased into a busy crowd on St Patrick's day, which was actually shot on St Patrick's day itself in 1993. Davis on the DVD commentary also confirmed that alot of the dialogue was improvised by the actors, so its good that he gave them alot of freedom here. So, overall this is a very solid effort from Davis.
MUSIC
Moving onto the music score, the score was composed by James Newton Howard and its a very good one and features some memorable themes, particularly the end theme aswell as some of the dramatic tracks where Kimble is being chased relentlessly by Gerard. Howard himself said he found it very difficult to score the film and was very surprised when it was nominated for an Academy Award at the 1994 oscars.
FLAWS
As for flaws....yes the Fugitive isn't quite perfect and has a few.
For starters, I felt that the way the police investigation was handled of Kimble's wife's murder was pretty half-assed to say the least as the officers basically just went with the idea of Kimble being greedy and wanting his wife's money. They also thought that he had scratch marks and her skin under his fingernails (again when he tried to move her) was also sufficient enough to suggest he physically attacked her but clearly they seemed to have no interest in following up Kimble's claims of the one-armed killer. Although Sykes later on states that police approach him but at the same time, Kimble didn't even know who he was, so how did the police know to approach him in the first place??
Another issue is of course to do with the idea of Kimble being able to survive his jump off the dam, which he almost certainly would not have survived in reality and he most likely would have cracked his head open on the way down or died on impact of the water, or died some other way. Although the marshals do believe that Kimble is dead except Gerard, who stubbornly refuses to do so and somehow knows he's alive (that is some intuition he has there!).
You also have to wonder how Kimble could afford to keep getting new clothes as you see him change outfit quite a few times in the film. So, where does he get these clothes? Did he steal them or did he get money somewhere? Also,where would he have picked up money, other than the few bucks Nichols gives him earlier in the film. You could maybe argue that he somehow got paid for working as a janitor at the hospital but even that is a stretch, I mean how could he provide any details for payment, as he wouldn't have a clue of the real janitor's details and presumably his own cards would all be cancelled due to his conviction. So, yeah this all doesn't make much sense.
Another scene that bugged me in the film was where Gerard shoots Copeland dead where Copeland holds one of Gerard's men, Newman, at gunpoint and Gerard sneaks up from a side door to shoot Copeland in the side of the head. However, when you look at the scene, Copeland and Newman are too near each other for Gerard to not shoot Newman as well and they are both so tight against the wall also you think there wouldn't be enough room for Gerad to get a clean shot at Copeland in the first place.
And last of all is the scene where Kimble barely escapes Gerard at the jailhouse as Gerard shoots at Kimble as he passes through the security doors and the doors are bullet proof and do not pass through. However in the scene, Kimble's foot is still trapped in the door and Gerard shoots a couple of bullets just to the right of his foot but why didn't Gerard simply shoot Kimble in his exposed foot and that way they could have captured him there and then! But no, Gerard decides to let Kimble flee but he had an open shot there to slow Kimble down and didn't take it.
So, that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, The Fugitive remains an excellent action thriller, which features a fine cast and two fine performances from its leads with contrasting styles from Ford and Jones with the latter winning the Academy Award for best supporting actor that year at the Oscars. The direction of the film is also solid and Andrew Davis paces the film perfectly with hardly any lag in pacing and the action scenes are very impressive and suspenseful. The film's music score is also very good by James Newton Howard and features a memorable theme at the end credits as well as some other really good music tracks.
So, after 30 years, I would definitely say The Fugitive still remains a fine thriller and well worth a look.
And with that, I shall rate The Fugitive:
9 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post in December at some point.
Until then, its bye for now!
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