El fugitivo

"The Fugitive" is one of those movies that you may already have seen a dozen of times, but which still seems to surprise every time that you watch it. I don't know what it actually is that makes this movie so good, but it sure works. It's probably the combination of a good script, good acting and the abundance of action that's always present, but never exaggerated.

The movie is about a doctor who's wife has been murdered by a one-armed man. He's innocent but is accused of the murder and convicted by court. He will get a lethal injection soon, but as he is transfered to another jail, the bus in which he is transported with some other inmates, crashes. He knows to escape and is determined to find his wife's murderer, but has to try to stay out of the hands of the police. The result is an interesting cat-and-mouse game between him and the police that never allows your attention to fade away.

The story is perhaps not exceptional, but thanks to the good directing and acting and the constant action and tension, this movie really delivers everything that you can expect from it. I give it an 8.5 - 9/10.

This a one of the best thriller/suspense/action films I have ever watched, and I've seen tons of them for almost 50 years. It "endures" because it is just as entertaining on the sixth viewing as it is on the first.

Of course it helped it was based on a TV show that people my age watched religiously every week, so the plot if familiar and many of us wanted to see how the movie would stack up to the TV program. Well, as good as the TV series was, this was far better. Two scenes alone: the train wreck and Harrison Ford taking a swan dive - were worth the price of the film. Great stuff.

The story has been discussed by many so let me just add how much I appreciate the sound in this movie. When this film first came out on VHS, I used the opening moments as a demo model for various surround systems. The DVD has enhanced that as well as the picture.

The film has just the right amount of action scenes, very interesting characters and a storyline complex enough to bring you back for multiple viewings to totally understand it. Ford, of course, is the star with Tommy Lee Jones a close second, but the more you watch this, the more you appreciate EVERYONE'S acting in this movie.

And, by the way, filmmakers take note: here''s another example how you can make an "edgy" modern-day crime film without a ton of unnecessary f-words.

Arnold and Sly are great action heroes. Their characters are always larger than life. Rambo and Rocky are household names and The Terminator and films like Commando are great partly because of Arnold's physical presence. But as good as they are, I don't think they can hold a candle to Harrison Ford. Sure he is in great shape, but have you ever seen an actor take average guys and make them so real that you want to know them? Take your pick, Han Solo, Indy and even his character in Six Days and Seven Nights was an adventurer. Add Richard Kimble to that list. As Kimble, Ford is perfect. He is the wronged man that has to avenge his wife's death and clear his name at the same time. He is so great in this film and I'm sure that's why so many people went to see this film at first. But I think what kept them coming back was Tommy Lee Jones. We'll get to him in a minute.

Andrew Davis proved here that he is one of the best action directors in the business today. Along with Under Siege, he showed us that he is an efficient artist that knows how to keep the action flowing. He never seems to let up with his relentless pursuit of the perfect scene. But since the film did so well and everyone pretty much knows what it is about, let's talk about the true strength of the film, and that would be Tommy Lee Jones.

" I don't bargain." " Well that's odd!"

His portrayal of Samuel Girard is an exercise in how to make the audience relate and understand a character. He starts off as a manic perfectionist. He is obsessed with capturing Kimble and that is all that matters. But as the film proceeds, you can sense his unease, his wonder and his ethos. You can tell by a simple expression that he is beginning to solve a crime and not just chase a criminal. And the turning point to me was his simple scene where he says " You know Devlin and McGregor made 4 and one half billion dollars last year? That company's a monster. " It is all in his face. He knows that Ford is innocent but he still has a job to do. It is Jones that makes this film so much fun. And I didn't think that there would be a more worthy recipient of best supporting actor in '93 than Kilmer in Tombstone, but Jones' work here was well deserving of his Oscar.

The Fugitive belongs on every top 100 list and if the AFI wasn't so enthralled with older movies, they would see that films like this are more worthy than some of the mediocrity that graces their findings. This is an incredible film.

This is a fine vehicle for Harrison Ford made even more agreeable by a clever, somewhat tongue in cheek performance by Tommy Lee Jones as a US Marshall out to have a good time getting the bad guy, even though the bad guy might not be so bad, and even though that's irrelevant, but hey, don't think so much and get me some coffee and a chocolate donut with those sprinkles on top, ya hear?

This is also a Hollywood producer's orgasmic dream with a chase scene beginning in the first reel and lasting throughout. It is based on the 60s TV show of the same name, but gets its premise from a true crime story, that of Ohioan Dr. Sam Shepherd who actually went to jail for murdering his wife in the 50s. He too claimed to have fought off the real killer, but the forensic evidence and his personality were against him. Here we have Harrison Ford as the good doctor, and it doesn't take a Hollywood genius to tell you that the most popular leading man of the late twentieth century ain't about to play the kind of guy who murders his loving wife.

Ford does a stand-up, competent job, saving lives and patting kids on the head as he plunges through sewers and off the top of a towering waterfall, steals an ambulance, survives a bullet wound and a bus wreck, etc. His fans will be pleased, but Tommy Lee Jones steals the show (and got a Best Supporting Oscar for his trouble) as a clever, wise-cracking good ole boy who has a lot of fun leading the posse. I wonder if he or director Andrew Davis invented the spin because without it, this wouldn't be half so good.

This is not to be confused with, nor is it a remake of The Fugitive from 1947 starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford, a cinematic gem of an entirely different sort.

See this for Tommy Lee Jones who has made a career out of turning oh-hum parts into something special.

This excellent film details the adventure of a man's search for his wife's killer and to clear himself of her murder. Harrison Ford is the hero and wanted man and on the run to escape capture by a determined U.S. Marshal in one thrilling scene after another. A spectacular train wreck with a bus of prison-bound felons gets the action underway at which point Tommy Lee Jones enters the picture and takes over the film by sheer force of personality and doesn't let go. Harrison, a resourceful type, stays just ahead of Jones in this taut cat-and-mouse thriller and adroitly leaves just enough clues for the police as he closes in on the killer. Ford and Jones are well matched here in one of the best urban crime mysteries ever filmed. Cast and Chicago locations add realism to a great story.