Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Fugitive

The Fugitive
-The Fugitive is a 1993 American thriller film based on the 1960s era TV show of the same name
-The movie centers on Dr. Richard Kimble(Harrison Ford), who is wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife. Later, he escapes from police custody and begins his own investigation into her murder all the while being hotly pursued by a team of US Marshals, led by Deputy Sam Gerard(Tommy Lee Jones)





Did You Know?
-During the making of the movie, Harrison Ford damaged some ligaments. The limp he had was most seen when he was running. He refused surgery until the end of the movie
-Some of the newscasters interviewing Gerard are actual Chicago newscasters
-The picture of Richard Kimble on the composite from the medical school is actually his yearbook picture from Ripon College. He almost graduated in 1964
-The boy Kimble attends to at Cook County Hospital is played by Joel Robinson.







Plot
-Dr. Richard Kimble(Harrison Ford) is a respected cardiovascular surgeon in Chicago, Ill. He comes home one night to find his wife Helen(Sela Ward) fatally wounded by an armed intruder, a one armed man. He fights with the intruder, but the person escapes. All the evidence suggest that Kimble is the one who killed his wife. There is no evidence of a break in, his fingerprints are on the gun, he is the beneficiary of Helen's life insurance policy, and her 911 call is mistakenly taken for calling his name as her killer. He is now convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. On his way to prison to serve on death row, several prisoners escape. In the chaos, the prison bus crashes off the road and lands on a railroad track in the path of an oncoming train. He barely escapes the train and escapes into the night









-Soon, the US Marshals arrive to investigate. They are led by Deputy Sam Gerard(Tommy Lee Jones). They take the job of looking for the fugitives while the injured are taken to a hospital. Kimble sneaks into the same hospital to treat some wounds and change his look. While leaving, he is recognized by the injured guard, but gets away in an ambulance. Gerard and his team block a tunnel through a nearby dam to stop him, but he abandons the car and climbs into the drainage well. Kimble is confronted by Gerard above the spillway. With no choices, he jumps and swims downstream. The search parties give up, thinking he's dead. Gerard does not however, he knows Kimble is still alive, and his suspicions are proven correct when he gets a tapped phone call between Kimble and his lawyer.

-Kimble returns to Chicago to find the killer and receives some money from a friend, a fellow physician named Dr. Charles Nichols. He poses as a janitor, to enter the Cook County Hospital, to look at files in the prosthetic department to obtain a list of people who had a prosthetic arm repaired recently after his wife's murder. Gerard suddenly realizes that Kimble is looking for the one armed man and begins to predict his next move. While at the hospital, Kimble notices a boy who is being misdiagnosed by the jr. doctors and he sends him to the emergency surgery room, which saves his life. This arouses the suspicion of a doctor(Julianne Moore), who asks a woman at the front desk to call security. He escapes, though she later admits he saved the boy's life

-He goes to the Cook County Jail to meet a one armed man, but sees he is not the one. Gerard and his team go to the jail with the same idea and Gerard sees Kimble leaving. A chase begins, which involves Gerard firing several bullets at Kimble trapped in the building's bulletproof glass. He chases Kimble through the massive St. Patrick's Day parade where he barely escapes. Kimble then goes to the home of a former police officer named Frederick Sykes(Andreas Katsulas). Kimble confirms this man as the one who killed his wife. He also finds this man is a former officer of the Chicago Police Department, and is a security officer with a pharmaceutical company, Devin-McGregor, who is working on a new drug called Provasic. Kimble investigated the drug and discovered it caused liver damage, which would have prevented it's use by the FDA. He discovers that Nichols, who is leading the drug's creation, has arranged a cover up and ordered Sykes to kill Kimble, and his wife was just incidental. Gerard begins to suspect the same thing about this officer

-Kimble takes an L train to find Nichols, when Sykes attacks him and in the fight, a transit cop(Neil Flynn) that spots Kimble gets shot. He uses the emergency cord on the train to exit at the Clark and Lake station and goes through the State of Illinois Center. Later, Kimble interrupts Nichols' speech, accusing him of falsifying data. By now, the Chicago Police are convinced that Kimble murdered the cop on the transit train and they are told to shoot on sight. When Kimble, Nichols, and Gerard are all in the same room, the hotel's laundry room, Gerard tells Kimble that he knows of the set up,  to surrender himself so they can bring Nichols to justice. Nichols tries to shoot Gerard, but Kimble hits him from behind, saving Gerard's life. Nichols and Sykes are arrested on the charges of conspiracy to crime, murder and attempted murder. Kimble is also taken into custody, since he was still technically a fugitive.
Cast

ActorRole
Harrison FordDr. Richard Kimble
Tommy Lee JonesDeputy Marshal Samuel Gerard
Sela WardHelen Kimble
Julianne MooreDr. Anne Eastman
Joe PantolianoDeputy Marshal Cosmo Renfro
Andreas KatsulasFrederick Sykes
Jeroen KrabbéDr. Charles Nichols
Daniel RoebuckDeputy Marshal Robert Biggs
L. Scott CaldwellDeputy Marshal Erin Poole
Tom WoodDeputy Marshal Noah Newman
Ron DeanDetective Kelly
Joseph F. KosalaDetective Rosetti
Miguel NinoChicago Cop #1
John DrummondNewscaster
Tony FoscoChicago Cop #2
Joseph F. FisherOtto Sloan
James LiautaudPaul
David DarlowDr. Lentz
Jane LynchDr. Kathy Wahlund
Nick SearcySheriff Rawlins
Neil FlynnTransit Cop

1 comment:

  1. I love this movie!!!! :D One of my all timee favorites!!! It should have the Oscar for Best Picture that year!!! And thanks for your comment on my blog. I knew the Georgia Satellites were inspired by Chuck Berry because I read that on your post! :D

    -James

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