U.S. Marshals (1998)

Director:

Stuart Baird

Writers (WGA):

Roy Huggins (characters)
John Pogue (written by)

Release Date:

6 March 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

The cop who won't stop is back. But this time he's chasing down a lot more than a fugitive.

Plot:

US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Jones) and his team of Marshals are assigned to track down Sheridan (Snipes), a murderer and robber.

Plot Keywords:

Tense | Search | Accident | Prison Escape | Prison

Awards:

1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Wed. July 23	11:00 PM	AMC
Thur. July 24	5:00 PM	AMC

Cast

Tommy Lee Jones	...	Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard
Wesley Snipes	...	Mark J. Sheridan / Warren / Roberts
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Special Agent John Royce
Joe Pantoliano	...	Deputy Marshal Cosmo Renfro
Daniel Roebuck	...	Deputy Marshal Bobby Biggs
Tom Wood	...	Deputy Marshal Noah Newman
LaTanya Richardson	...	Deputy Marshal Savannah Cooper
Irène Jacob	...	Marie Bineaux, Mark's Girlfriend
Kate Nelligan	...	United States Marshal Catherine Walsh
Patrick Malahide	...	Bertram Lamb, Security Service Director
Rick Snyder	...	Special Agent Frank Barrows
Michael Paul Chan	...	Xian Chen, U.N. Cultural Attache of China
Johnny Lee Davenport	...	Deputy Marshal Henry
Donald Li	...	Detective Kim
Marc Vann	...	Deputy Jackson

Also Known As:

The Fugitive Part II (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some scenes of violence and brief language.

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 (video rating) | Philippines:PG-13 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #35906) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

444 N. Michigan Avenue, Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Kopelson Entertainment

Trivia:

Dick Beebe wrote an uncredited draft of the script.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Modern airline windows are made of Lexan and do not shatter when struck by objects. They are also smaller than the ones depicted in this film. Additionally, a bullet will pierce Lexan but will not take the wall with it.

Quotes:

[while pulling a concealed gun from his suit]
John Royce: I guess you'll just have to slap the cuffs on me, and take me in...

Movie Connections:

Features "WCW Monday Nitro" (1995)

Soundtrack:

BROTHER

Once More with Feeling!

I avoided this for years because it looked like a useless remake. However, I had forgotten that I thought The Fugitive was a useless remake of the TV series until I was dragged to it and found…a fine, suspenseful feature filled with a plethora of colorful characters. So, I should have been tuned in more to my own personal history, but so it goes….I now have watched U.S. Marshalls a number of times, and I have to say the two companion films match each other in quality.

The pacing is fast without being frenetic. The use of repetition, i.e., recurring motifs such as Kimball diving off a dam to safety & Sheridan swinging down to hop a commuter train, work well – though they could have been disastrous. The large cast is compelling down to the smallest roles (similar to The Fugitive in that regard). Jones, Snipes, and Downey all show range in their parts…Downey, as always, illustrates why he is one of the best of his generation. And some of the secondary roles shine, in particular Tom Wood as Deputy Marshall Noah Newman. He receives more screen time than in the predecessor; and he makes use of it well. He has one of "those acting moments" in a confrontation with Downey's character: his intense expression of simultaneous fear & anger is a plum bit of acting chops. Like other IMDb readers, I wonder what has happened with this good actor. No screen credits since 2000. Stage work? Left the biz? If the former, and he's in NYC, then we'll probably see him on a Law & Order episode one of these days!

I recently found a DVD with tons of extras on it – but I have not as yet delved into them. I look forward to doing that, as I do another viewing of the film.