The Fugitive (1993)

Dr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of murdering his wife, must find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt lead by a seasoned US Marshall.

Director:

Andrew Davis

Writers:

Jeb Stuart (screenplay), David Twohy (screenplay)

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward

Won 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 37 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harrison Ford	...	Dr. Richard Kimble
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Samuel Gerard
Sela Ward	...	Helen Kimble
Julianne Moore	...	Dr. Anne Eastman
Joe Pantoliano	...	Cosmo Renfro
Andreas Katsulas	...	Sykes
Jeroen Krabbé	...	Dr. Charles Nichols (as Jeroen Krabbe)
Daniel Roebuck	...	Biggs
L. Scott Caldwell	...	Poole
Tom Wood	...	Newman
Ron Dean	...	Detective Kelly
Joseph F. Kosala	...	Detective Rosetti (as Joseph Kosala)
Miguel Nino	...	Chicago Cop #1
John Drummond	...	Newscaster
Tony Fosco	...	Chicago Cop #2

Storyline

A well respected Chicago surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble has found out that his wife, Helen, has been murdered ferociously in her own home. The police found Kimble and accused him of the murder. Then, Kimble (without Justifiable Reason) was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. However, on the way to prison, Kimble's transport crashed. Kimble escapes and is now on the run. Deputy Samuel Gerard from Chicago takes charge of the chase of Kimble. Meanwhile, Kimble takes up his own investigation to find who really killed his wife, and to lure Gerard and his team into it as well.

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Plot Keywords:

one armed man | on the run | u.s. marshal | surgeon | chicago illinois | 

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Taglines:

A murdered wife. A one-armed man. An obsessed detective. The chase begins.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for a murder and other action sequences in an adventure setting

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Polish Spanish

Release Date:

6 August 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

El fugitivo

Filming Locations:

11219 S St Lawrence Ave, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$44,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$23,758,855, 6 August 1993, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$183,875,760

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$368,875,760

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Kopelson Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A lot of the film's dialogue is improvised. Jeb Stuart was the final credited writer on the film and was on set during production making up new scenes as needed.

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Goofs

When Kimble is fleeing the U.S. Marshals in the jail, he is shot at (but not hit as he was shielded by bulletproof glass). Kimble did not pose an immediate threat to them at the time, which would normally make shooting at him illegal. However, law enforcement officers do have the authority to use deadly force on a fleeing suspect if they reasonably believe the suspect's escape would create a grave danger to the community. Considering that the Marshals, at the time, believed Kimble to have viciously murdered his wife, it would be reasonable for them to think he could do such a thing again should he escape them.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Detective Kelly: Come on Doc.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the lead actors' first names are shown in large letters, then flip over to separately show their last names. "Harrison" flips over to become "Ford", "Tommy Lee" flips over to becomes "Jones".

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Connections

Featured in Best of the Worst: Russian Terminator, Ninja Vengeance, and Never Too Young to Die (2013)

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Soundtracks

Tahiti Tahiti
(1978)
Written by Marc Chantereau, Pierre-Alain Dahan, and Slim Pezin
Performed by Voyage
Courtesy of Productions Sirocco

User Reviews

One of the Great Thrillers!

There is a kind of magic when a superb cast, a truly gifted director, and a literate script with equal parts 'over-the-top' action, riveting suspense, and rich characterization, come together. The end result attains a luster that only grows through the years, as new audiences, through DVD and VHS, experience the same excitement we felt, viewing it on a theater screen. 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). Seeing his wife brutally murdered devastated him (his scene in the police interrogation room, going to pieces, was largely improvised on the set, and displays some of his finest acting). His search for the killer was not the confident quest of an action hero, but based on uncertain, spur-of-the-moment decisions made by a desperate man, whose medical background was his only tool. Fear does not lend itself to flashy theatrics...

Jones, as Marshal Sam Gerard, on the other hand, was a seasoned veteran, the best at what he did, and pursuing a fugitive was 'old hat' for him. With a confidence bordering on arrogance, he ordered people about like chess pieces, multi-tasked without breaking a sweat, and still could charm with a wicked smile and sarcastic remark. 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!