The Fugitive
That Andrew Davis’s “The Fugitive” looks like a legitimate, deserving Best Picture nominee alongside “Schindler’s List” and “The Piano” is a tribute to what the director accomplished in adapting the classic TV series for the screen. Much like Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” a few years later, what Davis and co. did is get to the essence of the series while also building a narrative that holds up to the rigors of a cinematic experience. Casting Harrison Ford as the man wrongly accused was what assured its box-office success (along with giving Ford one of his very best roles); filling in the cast around him like it was a Robert Altman film, and Davis’s precise, detail-filled direction is what made it great.
Deputy Sam Gerard was an Oscar-winning role for Tommy Lee Jones from the moment you see him at the scene of the train crash. As soon as he takes over the investigation, you know that Richard Kimble (Ford) has someone on his heels that will not rest until he’s caught or killed. More importantly, he had a crew around him that could keep up with Gerard, and the way he bounces off of Cosmo (Joe Pantoliano), Newman (Tom Wood), Poole (L. Scott Caldwell), and Biggs (Daniel Roebuck) is a huge part of why “The Fugitive” is a classic piece of entertainment. It’s no wonder, when a sequel did happen, it was centered around Gerard and co. (1998’s “U.S. Marshals”), because what was left of Kimble’s story? Sometimes, though, supporting characters are just that, though, and work best as a part of the story, rather than the story itself. I wish Hollywood would learn that lesson more often.
The screenplay by Jeb Stuart and David Twohy is as efficient a Hollywood screenplay as you could ask for. From the outset, we’re getting information that not only orients us to the moment, but will also come into play later. We get a picture of what happened that night, the stress on Richard, and how the entire situation is stacked against him. Watching it again, I’m struck by how the police didn’t think to cross reference where Richard was vs. when the call to Sykes was made; then again, with the 9-1-1 call made by his dying wife Helen (Sela Ward), seemingly implicating him, why do any real detective work? (It’s funny that so many movies seem to portray the police in a negative light in terms of not doing their jobs properly, rather than just out and out corruption. This might be one of the best examples of this.) One of the most famous moments, where Gerard answers Kimble’s plea of innocence with, “I don’t care,” is not only a great character moment for Gerard, but also works because, the longer the chase goes, the more Gerard will be pulled and pushed into caring about Kimble’s innocence. Kimble is going to make him see the truth, whether he wants to or not.
Davis’s approach to this is from a narrative standpoint, rather than building the story around set pieces. Yes, those set pieces- whether it’s the spectacular opening bus/train crashes (done practically), the storm drain chase, the St. Patrick’s day chase, or the final showdowns at the hotel- we see a filmmaker interested in how these scenes help the story along, and define character. There’s a great misdirect as Richard is heading back to Chicago. We’ve seen him get picked up by a woman leaving work; in the next scene, we see Cosmo telling Sam someone spotted “him” being holed up with a woman who just picked him up. Naturally, we think it’s Richard, but it turns out it’s for one of the other prisoners Kimble escaped with. Similarly, there’s a raid on the house Richard is staying at in Chicago, but it turns out to be the owner, who rats him out. The levels of simple narrative tricks building this into a complex thriller are nothing short of incredible, especially the way Kimble’s colleague, Dr. Charles Nichols (Jeroen Krabbé), changes his tactics when dealing with Gerard the closer the truth comes to getting out. Just one more hint that maybe something isn’t right with him.
While I cannot say “The Fugitive” has ever been a favorite movie of mine, it’s definitely a favorite to revisit over the years. It’s such an easy watch to get sucked back into, and there’s so much that works about it. The camerawork by Michael Chapman isn’t showy, but it gives you a sense of what you’re intended to feel in each scene, and each moment. And James Newton Howard’s score is a powerhouse, with quick, simple themes and a lot of stings that just ratchet up the tension throughout. Everyone associated with “The Fugitive” works at peak levels, assuring that, from the first moments, we will care about who killed Richard Kimble’s wife, and how we get to that resolution.
