THE FUGITIVE
A film review by Jon A. Webb
Copyright 1993 Jon A. Webb
This is based on the TV series of the same name, with Harrison Ford playing the on-the-run doctor, and Tommy Lee Jones as his pursuer. Briefly, Ford's character is accused and convicted of the brutal murder of his wife, and escapes while on his way to Death Row to hunt down the one-armed man who he knows is the real criminal.
Academy Award nominations all around: for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor (there are no significant women's parts).
The first half of the movie is a thrilling chase, with great special effects that really put me on the edge of my seat (in particular, the train crash beats anything from the Indiana Jones series). But it is Ford's bewildered intensity and Tommy Lee Jones's no-nonsence confidence that make this a great film, coupled with the direction. I loved that moment when Jones catches up with Ford early on, and you know what Ford's going to do (at least if you've seen the preview), and he knows it too, and he can't quite believe he's going to do it but does it anyway. Or later, when Jones has Ford in his sights and you just know it's over, but it isn't and at first you (and Ford) can't believe it, and then it makes so much sense. This is truly great cinema, what American films are all about.
The movie drags towards the end, when a poorly-written script catches up with the director and forces him to spend time explaining why the one-armed man did what he did, and to show us two middle-aged men fighting. I mean, who cares? At that point, everything that matters has been resolved; it would have been better if there had been one more near encounter earlier on or something, if the movie had to last a certain length.
-- J
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