THE FUGITIVE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This is a fast-paced chase and murder
mystery film based on a much more leisurely television
series. Ford is only okay, but Tommy Lee Jones is great as a
wise-cracking U.S. marshal chasing Ford. There is also one
sequence with very impressive special effects. Rating: +2
(-4 to +4).
In September 1967 Dr. Richard Kimble found his wife murdered my a one- armed man who escaped. Kimble was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to die. But as police Lt. Philip Gerard was taking him to prison, the train they were riding in derailed and Kimble was able to escape. For three years Kimble tracked the one-armed man and Gerard tracked Kimble. Or at least that was the premise of the television series THE FUGITIVE. that starred David Janssen and Barry Morse. THE FUGITIVE is also the name of a fast- paced new film very loosely based on the twenty-six-year-old television series. In fact, the film version owes as much or more to Alfred Hitchcock thrillers such as THE 39 STEPS, THE SABOTEUR, and NORTH BY NORTHWEST as it does to the old Quinn-Martin series. That series, itself intended as a variation on Victor Hugo's LES MISERABLES, had a leisurely pace which is just not the style of this tight and tense 127-minutes film. There is very little of the "nice guy mixing in people's lives" premise of the television series in the new film. The series was light on the murder aspect and the film has more motivation behind the murder than three years of the television show had.
At least superficially, the film has the same premise. Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Harrison Ford, apparently still a little befuddled from the brain injury in REGARDING HENRY) comes home from surgery late one night to find his wife dead and a one-armed man in his house. Nobody is particularly convinced by Kimble's story and he ends up headed for Death Row. On the way there is an attempted escape and a bus crash, and then a train comes along and slams into the bus. This spectacular chain of events leaves wide open an opportunity to escape as well as the mouths and eyes of the audience. Called in on the case is U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (substituting for police Lt. Philip Gerard, and played irascibly, irreverently by Tommy Lee Jones). And the chase has everything but the laid-back style of the television series. In the series Kimble would typically befriend someone and after he saves their marriage , they would help him escape. In the film Gerard is much closer on the trail and the escapes are much more physically challenging.
I think Harrison Ford is miscast in this and many of his films. He plays characters who are very sharp but he always appears on the bland edge of confusion. Admittedly, he has a right to be as dazed as he appears, after the events of the film, but at the same time he is supposedly making clever deductions. Tommy Lee Jones may be playing an honest cop--uh, sorry, U.S. marshal--but he steals the film right from under Ford. He really can play with the mind of the viewer by saying just the right unexpected comment at just the right moment. And nearly as sarcastic is Joe Pantoliano as Cosmo Renfro, assisting Gerard. Pantoliano is a character actor who manages to make small parts get noticed. Sela Ward plays Kimble's wife and appears to be the perfect reward for all the hard work of medical school.
THE FUGITIVE is a terrific thriller that may stretch the credulity of the audience at times, but leaves them well-entertained for better than two hours. I give it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
***HEAVY SPOILER*** ***HEAVY SPOILER*** ***HEAVY SPOILER***
Here we have yet another mystery in which the solution does not quite explain the mystery. Apparently the drug company is involved with the plot since they have lent security people to it. It makes no sense that they would do that without knowing the drug was faulty. But a drug company is not the same as General Motors. It is *very* dependent on a good name because the doctors who prescribe its products are a very cautious lot. So if you are a drug company, you might try to cover up the negligence of letting a faulty drug get on the market, but you would be really cautious about what has not yet been released. Any possibility of scandal is very, very strongly avoided. At least, that is my understanding. The story holds together neither if you assume the drug company knew nor if you assume it doesn't.
Mark R. Leeper
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