Suspense Film Unit: ENG 3CI
Film #2: The Fugitive
Answer the questions below while we watch The Fugitive. There is some information
below dealing with character/ actor names and a collection of quotations from the film that may
help you with your answers.
1. Consider the first 15 minutes (or so) of the film. How does the director
communicate that The Fugitive is a suspense film? Be thorough in your
answer; don’t just point out one or two obvious elements, but think about
how multiple elements work together.
2. What is the plot twist in the first part of the film? What does this change in
direction mean for Dr. Richard Kimble?
3. Explain how the plot of The Fugitive revolves around what might be called
“double chase and double detective work.”
4. As the story develops, what is unusual about how Marshal Samuel Gerard
feels about Dr. Richard Kimble?
5. What events happen in the climax and in the conclusion?
(questions continued on back page.)
Cast of The Fugitive
Harrison Ford ....
Tommy Lee Jones .
Sela Ward ....
Julianne Moore ....
Joe Pantoliano ....
Andreas Katsulas ..
Jeroen Krabbé ....
Daniel Roebuck ....
Dr. Richard Kimble
Marshal Samuel Gerard
Helen Kimble
Dr. Anne Eastman
Deputy Marshal Cosmo Renfro
Frederick Sykes
Dr. Charles Nichols
Deputy Marshal Robert Biggs
Quotations from The Fugitive
Detective Kelly: So, financially, you're not going to be hurting after this, are you? I mean, she
was worth quite a bit of money.
Dr. Richard Kimble: Are you suggesting that I killed my wife? Are you saying that I crushed her
skull and that I shot her? How dare you. When I came home, there was a man in my house. I
fought with this man. He had a mechanical arm. You find this man. You find this man
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for
ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour.
That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target
search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse
in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive's name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go
get him.
Dr. Richard Kimble: I didn't kill my wife.
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: I don't care.
Dr. Richard Kimble: They killed my wife.
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: I know it Richard. But it's over.
[pauses and sighs] You know I'm glad. I need the rest.
The Fugitive
DVD REVIEW
By John J. Puccio
FIRST PUBLISHED Jun 25, 2001: DVDTOWN.com
"The Fugitive" from 1993 is one of the best films
Harrison Ford or Tommy Lee Jones ever made and one
of the best action-thrillers of the past few decades. I
admit I never cared much for the old David Janssen TV
show on which it’s based. Once the premise was
--OVER--
established of an innocent man on the run for murder, there wasn’t a lot left to do
week after week except repeat small variations on the same theme.
But the movie is something else. Even when we know full well what is basically
going to happen, we are never quite sure just how it is going to happen or when,
thanks to a smart script by Jeb Stuart and David Twohy and to some imaginative
direction by Andrew Davis. Its new, special-edition DVD presentation does justice
to what is surely a modern classic.
The plot is straightforward and by now pretty well known. A Chicago surgeon, Dr.
Richard Kimble, played by Ford, is framed and convicted for the murder of his
wife. Through an inadvertent series of incidents on the way to prison, Kimble
escapes. His job through the course of the film is to elude capture and prove his
innocence. Of course, in order to prove his innocence, he has to find his wife’s real
murderer, the infamous one-armed man or whoever else is behind the crime. What
should he do first, where should he go, and whom should he trust? Doggedly
pursuing him is Deputy U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard, played by Jones, who
grudgingly gains respect for his quarry and gradually comes to sympathize with
him.
The movie succeeds on a number of levels. First, it’s largely plausible and
intelligent, something a lot of action dramas disregard in their attempt to shock or
thrill an audience. Jumping from the top of a dam is a bit of a stretch, but mostly
the movie stays in the believable range.
Second, the characters are three-dimensional, not the usual cardboard cutouts one
finds in these sorts of things. Ford and Jones make admirable adversaries, Ford a
resourceful but vulnerable hero and Jones a tough and relentless cop ("I don’t
bargain") with a touch of compassion he doesn’t want many people to see. Jones
won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the part and went on to reprise the role
in "U.S. Marshals."
Third, it’s outright suspenseful and exciting, thanks in part to its superb editing,
and that’s what most people want in an action film. It’s hard to forget the
spectacular train wreck (using a real train and bus, amazingly, no miniatures), the
aforementioned dam and waterfall stunt, the St. Patrick’s Day parade, and similar
tension-filled scenes.
Like Hitchcock’s "North By Northwest," which involved Cary Grant in a similar
situation, "The Fugitive" pits a blameless, everyday man against the forces of both
good and evil, obliging him to survive by his wits alone. It is a tribute to Ford,
Jones, and the rest of the filmmakers that "The Fugitive" stands up so well to the
best adventure movies in memory. In fact, it was recently voted the thirty-third best
thriller of all time by the American Film Institute.
Oh, yes, and a good musical background track by James Newton Howard helps,
too. It’s always there underlining the action, never calling attention to itself or
annoying us with its bluster.
Questions: (Answer after we have watched the movie.)
6. Read the review above. What are the three ways this movie succeeds,
according to this reviewer?
7. Write your own 250-word review of the movie The Fugitive. Be
specific about what you like or dislike and why.
--OVER--