We are continuing our reviews of big nineties thrillers with probably the biggest one of them all. The Fugitive is a unique thriller featuring an excellent cast, an absurd story full of twists and almost constant tension. It’s one of the most profitable movies of the nineties making almost $400 million on a $44 million budget. We have to remember that this was a different time when you had just a dozen huge movies each year. The story resonated strongly with almost everyone probably because of its old-school structure. Figures of authority using their special skills to get shit done.
The Fugitive is a movie about the hunter, the hunted, and most of all, the thrill of the chase. After his wife’s murder, Dr. Richard Kimble starts feeling like things are going the wrong way. So, he decides to flee and becomes a fugitive from the law. Hot on his trail is a tough US Marshall Samuel Gerard and his capable team. For the next two hours, we will be following this chase across the country but not just that. Kimble will also try to find out what really happened to his wife and prove his innocence. While he’s doing that, the threat of arrest is constantly hanging over his head.
The consequences of it are many. Not only an innocent man will end up in prison but also a guilty man will walk free and we’ll never find out his identity. Moreover, his motives will forever remain a mystery. As you can notice there’s a lot of stuff here but thanks to Andrew Davis’s competent direction, the movie never loses focus. After two highly successful Steven Seagal movies, Above the Law and Under Siege, he was the right choice for a “high-octane” thriller like this. His two next movies Chain Reaction and A Perfect Murder were just as good.
Before we go any further, I should tell you that The Fugitive is actually loosely based on real events. The case of osteopath Sam Sheppard was a big thing back in the fifties. Just ten years later, we got a television series of the same name about this case. A case that was still ongoing while the series was on TV! For more than two decades, one man was the biggest star in Hollywood. And that man is the lead actor in this movie, Harrison Ford. This is not the first time he plays a doctor in a lot of trouble. Frantic places us in picturesque Paris while Presumed Innocent focuses on his legal troubles.
Opposite of him, we have Tommy Lee Jones playing the role of the US Marshall a little bit too on the nose. He did the same thing with the terrorist Strannix in another Andrew Davis movie, Under Siege. The only small difference is he got an Academy Award for his performance in The Fugitive. You’ll have to wait a bit to see young Julianne Moore in one of her first big roles. Up until this point, everything is pointing to a serious high-stakes thriller and that was my thinking before playing this movie last night. I must’ve seen it earlier but I forgot almost everything about it.
So, when, during the interrogation, Dr Kimble said that his wife was killed by a one-armed assassin I could not contain my laughter. This was the first sign of things to come. Action scenes are entertainingly over-the-top while the bizarre twists just keep on coming. It’s interesting to note that the infamous train scene was cheaper to film using a real train than miniatures. So, everything you see is authentic. This is why most of the movie The Fugitive was parodied in the 1998 Leslie Nielsen vehicle Wrongfully Accused. Now that’s a movie I do remember and a movie I love watching.
After all of this craziness, the movie ends on a high note pointing the light at a subject we’re still struggling with. If we’re being honest, I think we’re not struggling, we’ve lost that particular battle. If you need further proof do check out this, spoiler alert, 2023 movie. Starring Chris Evans and Emily Blunt it proves that these types of evil schemes are still very much on. Finally, since this is a thirty-year-old movie, I have to tell you that the 4K remaster is available. I highly suggest you watch this version of the movie as it offers superior picture quality.
While The Fugitive might’ve been a bit too contrived and cheesy, its unofficial sequel most certainly wasn’t. US Marshalls again starring Tommy Lee Jones, this time joined by Wesley Snipes, is a much better movie than the original. It features more realistic but equally exciting and entertaining action scenes. It also maintains that sense of tension and suspense throughout its two-hour runtime.
Director: Andrew Davis
Writers: Jeb Stuart, David Twohy, Roy Huggins
Cast: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Julianne Moore, Joe Pantoliano, Jeroen Krabbé
Fun Facts: The aftermath of the train collision scene can still be found and visited in Dillsboro, North Carolina. Since the release of this hugely popular movie, it became a local attraction.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106977/
