The Fugitive (1993), directed by Andrew Davis

 

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune - "The Fugitive" by Merle Haggard

       The 1990’s were really the last gasp of 1960’s nostalgia, before all of pop culture was subsumed by the 80’s retrovirus. We saw it in fashion, we saw it in music with the rise of jam bands and the return of Woodstock, and it happened in the world of cinema with a legion of 60’s shows being adapted for the big screen. Mission Impossible, The Addams Family, The Brady Bunch, Josie & the Pussycats, The Flintstones, The Wild Wild West, Doctor Who, even Batman took an ill-fated turn towards his Adam West past. While it is the tendency of modern audiences to denounce reboots or revivals of anything, and some of these remakes ended up falling flat on their giant robotic spider faces, several more were great success and were seamlessly absorbed into the pop cultural consciousness, either proving that good stories stand the test of time or justifying major studios pushing out remakes in the first place. Take your pick.

       Of these revival shows, the one that looms the largest is The Fugitive. Ever since I was a kid I have constantly seen this film referenced by other films and TV shows, to the point where (much like Star Wars) I feel like I have a working knowledge of the film through cultural osmosis. Still the desire to see where all the references originated from has lingered in the back of my mind, even if it’s never been in the running for a Marathon entry, and before I get back into the Marathon grind I figured this was a good time to cross it off the queue.

       Released in 1993, The Fugitive was directed by Andrew Davis, written by Jeb Stuart and David Twohy (who you might know from the Riddick films) and produced by Arnold Kopelson through Kopelson Entertainment, based on the TV series by Roy Huggins which ran from 1963-67. Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Kimble, a Chicago surgeon who arrives home one night to find his wife Helen dead, murdered by a one armed man. The cops, helpful as ever, decide to arrest him instead, and thanks to an unfortunately vague 911 call from Helen before her death, Kimble is convicted of her murder and sentenced to death. On the bus ride to the big house however, a series of events leads to the bus crashing, and Kimble getting free. Now he’s a fugitive, moving from place to place, sneaking around back alleys and night-fueled streets as he tries to track down the mysterious one armed man. One step behind him is U.S. Marshall Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), the man who will not rest until Kimble is in chains and behind bars, no matter what. The chase is on, and Kimble better run.

       The Fugitive then is a binary story -- One half the murder mystery plot and the other Gerard’s hunt for Kimble. The former could possibly work on its own, but combining Kimble’s hunt with Gerard’s hunt gives the film an enormous boost of energy. By the first 30 minutes we have some of the most out and out action in the film, including the scene at the dam which has been referenced ad nauseum, and every scene after that is suffused with a frantic energy. Any moment a cop could round the corner or a passerby could recognize Kimble’s face, and because we are beside him we share in that tension as it crests and recedes, driven forward by James Newton Howard’s score like a runaway train. Only increasing as Gerard’s net tightens, and the two plots converge more and more towards the explosive climax. Rather than saying that they don’t make films like this anymore, because of course they still make thrillers, but The Fugitive was definitely one of those films from the 80s and 90s that seemed to capture a ‘classic Hollywood’ feeling with a then modern coat of paint. The kind of movie that Hitchcock would have made, although he’d have probably tried to squeeze in a beautiful female love interest in there somewhere.

       The Fugitive is also built around two performances, that of Harrison Ford as Richard Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard. Harrison Ford...is Harrison Ford. The man had spent the last decade playing Hollywood’s most lovable rogues and badasses, so it’s an interesting change of pace to see him behind the 8-ball here, more haggard and weather-beaten than ever before, even if it’s not earth-shattering. For Tommy Lee Jones, this is a career-defining performance. Samuel Gerard is the complete opposite of Richard Kimble: where Kimble is quiet and reserved, Gerard is boisterous and condescending. Where Kimble is alone, Gerard is surrounded by people, or more accurately subordinates. And where Kimble is ultimately a good person, going out of his way to help people even when it puts him in danger, Gerard ultimately isn’t -- driven to capture Kimble not out of any sense of justice but because the law demands it, and everything else a distant second. All of which he conveys with an ease that feels utterly believable. Jones, more so than Ford, is what makes The Fugitive the film that it is, and it’s no wonder he was later picked up for the MIB films. The dude is concentrated lawman in a can.

       My biggest issue with the film actually comes from the film’s most famous scene, the showdown at the dam. Kimble appears to be caught; Behind him Gerard waits, gun drawn, and in front of him a raging waterfall and a  several story drop in the river below. Throwing caution to the wind, Kimble decides to jump into the waterfall...only it’s not Harrison Ford leaping over the edge obviously, but a dummy. It’s so obviously a dummy that it actually took me out of the movie for a moment or two. Considering that earlier in the film we had an action set piece involving a runaway train that looked very well done, it only makes it stand out even more. Unfortunately I don’t think there was a way to make it look good in 1993, they could have used a bluescreen but you’d probably still be able to tell. Plus a bluescreen would have denied the filmmakers the pleasure of chucking a dummy off of a waterfall, and who am I to deny their fun?

       The Fugitive gets an easy recommendation. It takes the core of the original series and boils it down to its essence, managing to update it for moviegoers at the time without losing sight of why the story was successful in the first place. It’s also just a good thriller film on a base level, which doesn’t require any knowledge of the TV show to succeed. So if you like good thriller films, then you should give The Fugitive a try, and if you’re a one armed man, you better watch your ass buddy. We’ve got out eyes on you.