The original television series featured Richard Kimble,
always on the run, evading his pursuers by the skin of his teeth, caught up in
a quest for the one-armed man that he claimed killed his wife. The movie takes that premise and runs with
it, and ramps up the tension in the process.
The movie begins with the brutal murder of Kimble’s wife
(Sela Ward). The police don’t buy
Kimble’s story of a one-armed man. In a
short amount of screen time, Kimble is convicted of murder and sent to prison. The next time we see him, he is being
transported by bus with other prisoners.
Kimble’s escape from the prison bus, and the ensuing train
wreck, is one of the most memorable sequences in cinema. It’s frightening, looks real, and is extremely effective. For the last twenty
years movie train wrecks have been compared to this one, which was executed
with a real life-size train. In terms of
scale, it’s probably the largest and most complex sequence in the movie. It also takes place very early in the story,
starting off the chase with a bang. For
the rest of the movie, Kimble never has a chance to relax.
Enter Tommy Lee Jones.
The U.S. Marshal’s office takes over the investigation and begins the
search for Richard Kimble. Gerard’s team
has a lot of fun dialogue, and sound like people who have worked together for a
while. They also sound authentic to Chicago , where most of
the movie takes place. Jones’s authority
is effortless and believable. As they
investigate the case, he knows when to play nice and when to push. He follows his instincts, but uses his
brain. He has much more dialogue in the
movie than Harrison Ford does, yet much of the time he doesn’t reveal what he’s
thinking. It’s a deceptively simple
performance that earned him an Academy Award.
What else can be said about Harrison Ford? He is an ideal Everyman, the character we
root for and empathize with. Although The Fugitive is a thriller, it’s not
filled with as much action as the Indiana Jones films. As a result, Ford’s performance is a master
class in acting through body language and facial expression. The key, though, is that he doesn’t oversell
it; he never goes over the top. His
restraint gives the story a more realistic dimension.
Time after time we think Gerard and his team have finally
caught up to Kimble, but he’s always just ahead of them, and not by much. The marshals can’t believe he would be foolish enough to return to Chicago ,
which is exactly what he does, driven to find the elusive one-armed man. As he follows in Kimble’s footsteps, Gerard
begins to see what he’s doing, and ends up conducting a very similar search
that eventually leads them to a one-armed man (Andreas Katsulas).
We in the audience, I think, always believe Richard Kimble
is innocent. That’s why Harrison Ford
was cast in the role. He is able to
gain our sympathy from the very beginning.
We also like Sam Gerard, who is only doing his job. His opinion of the case can be summed up by
this classic exchange:
KIMBLE: I didn’t kill my wife!
GERARD: I don’t care.
(According to the behind-the-scenes material, Gerard’s line
was originally, “That’s not my problem.”
Jones changed the line on set.)
One of the pleasures of this movie is watching these two
actors at work. They are well matched in
their intelligence and determination.
Movies of this style are sometimes used as an excuse for overacting, but
Ford and Jones are masters of their craft, and lend their scenes the right
amount of realism to draw the audience in.
