The Fugitive (1993)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Andrew Davis

Writers (WGA):

Jeb Stuart (screenplay) and
David Twohy (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 August 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Dr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of killing his wife, must find the real one-armed killer while avoiding Marshal Sam Gerard.

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Surgeon | Murder | Chase | One Armed Man

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 10 wins & 19 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11	8:00 PM	AETV
Sun. July 12	12:00 AM	AETV

Cast

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

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Polish | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2001) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Netherlands:12 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Brazil:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | UK:12 (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) (1994) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Ireland:12 | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG-13 (Certificate #32575) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

203 N. LaSalle Street Building, Downtown, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Kimble's apartment is modeled after an actual doctor that Harrison Ford and the director met in a Chicago bar shortly before filming. Ford felt that the doctor, somewhat eccentric and reclusive, was exactly how he wanted to portray Kimble and sent the art department to see his apartment. The doctor was also treated to a drink by Ford.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During Dr. Nichols speech, he mentions that his drug (the one that Kimble discovered as causing liver damage) is on the cusp of FDA approval. This would be very unlikely as there are many safeguards in place during clinical trials to prevent bias and data tampering. When Kimble visited the pathologist she mentioned that over half the pathology reports were signed on the same day. This very likely would have been off of the clinical protocol which would have triggered a review by the hospital's institutional review board. Since the laboratory Principal Investigator died (Lentz) "last summer" the new doctor on the protocol probably would have noticed the tissue discrepancies and alerted the IRB as required. Additionally, pathologists have quality control screenings which are reviewed by other pathologists or cytologists. In all likelihood however, the drug company would have noticed the liver damage during their Phase 2 studies and would have either gone "back to formula" or would have pulled the plug on the drug as continued development would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars and would have been rejected by the FDA anyway.

Quotes:

Gerard's secretary: Sam, there's a guy on the phone claiming to be Richard Kimble.
[cast cackling in background that "another" Kimble is on the phone]
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: This is Gerard.
Dr. Richard Kimble: Do you remember what I told you in the tunnel?
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: [gesturing to his men to start tracing the call] Um yeah... It was noisy... I think you said something like you didn't kill your wife.
Dr. Richard Kimble: Remember what you told me?
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: I remember you pointing my gun at me.
[Gerard's team gestures him not to antagonize Kimble and make the conversation stretch]
Dr. Richard Kimble: You said, "I don't care."
Tracing Technician: [whispering] He's on the south side.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Sopranos: The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti (#1.8)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Tahiti Tahiti

The most intense picture of the decade

The Fugitive is the biggest heart-pounding thriller I have seen in a while (and the best one this decade). The story revolves around Dr. Richard Kimble, played by Harrison Ford to pythagorean procision. Kimble is accused of killing his wife and is chased all over Chicago by Marshalls while looking for his wife's one armed killer. One of these Marshalls is Samuel Gerarg (Tommy Lee Jones terrific and Oscar nod performance) who after a while believes he is innocent.

Spectacularly done in the tradition of crime/drama thrillers with Ford and Jones working better together than ever before. I found this film to be the best film experience of the early 90's, and hopefully you will too. A++