Le Fugitif

The Fugitive is a complex thriller with every detail playing a significant role in the outcome of the movie. It's the story of a conspiracy surrounding Dr. Richard Kimble, a surgeon who is on the run while U.S Marshal Samuel Gerard tries to find an explanation of why Kimble was framed for the murder of his wife. The movie has a sticking nature to it, every detail in the actors face will prove that Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones deserve every praise they have received for their performance.

Based on the 1960's Television series, this movie does not disappoint. It makes the watcher want to go back and view the original series to see how it compares.

Back in the 60s I tuned into ABC TV on Tuesday night to see how David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble would once again escape the clutches of the law. Kimble was a convicted murderer who escaped execution in a train wreck. Once out Kimble searches for a one armed man he saw leaving his home where his dead wife was who can clear him. Searching for single wing and avoiding the cops was what was behind every episode for four years.

That's still in the film, but it's a more complex motive behind the killing and it involves Kimble's colleagues in the medical field. Harrison Ford who is now Richard Kimble is as resourceful as Janssen was on television. What is a change is instead of the very dour Barry Morse as Lt.Gerard the pursuer and a lone hand pursuer we have good old boy Tommy Lee Jones who is in command of a unit of Fugitive chasers. The voluble and quotable Jones earned himself a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for what he did here.

The tension is good and crackling throughout and both Ford and Jones have their moments. Ford and Jones are evenly matched as adversaries. As the pursuer Jones could easily have been made to look like Wile E. Coyote as Morse was sometimes over the run of the TV series.

Also Joe Pantoliano has some good moments as Jones's 2nd in command. He has some droll lines.

This is one case where a movie adaption of a classic television series did not make you wax nostalgic for the series.

For a good "chase" film, you can't beat 'The Fugitive'. Not all films taken from TV series manage to make it to the big screen with a style of their own and a story worth telling. Exceptionally fine performances by Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones are the icing on the cake. The picture scores on all levels: photography, music, editing, script and performances. The bus/train crash at the start is a spectacular piece of filmmaking that gets the story off to a good start with powerful urgency. While you're rooting for Ford all the way, as the doctor wrongly accused of the murder of his wife, you sometimes find yourself in the shoes of the crafty, quirky detective with a sense of humor (Tommy Lee Jones) who is relentless in his pursuit. The battle between the pursued and the pursuer is the dominant theme and it is carried off with great wit and style.

As absorbing as any action drama of the '90s. I would have been happy if Harrison Ford, as well as Jones, earned an Oscar for his earnest and highly physical performance. Highly recommended.

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.

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!