The Fugitive (1993 film)

Independent Films, Film Profiles

The Fugitive is a 1993 American film based on the television series of the same name. The film was directed by Andrew Davis and stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, and Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy United States Marshal Samuel Gerard. Jones won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The supporting cast includes Andreas Katsulas as a one-armed man, Sela Ward as Kimble's wife, Jeroen Krabbé (who replaced Richard Jordan), a then unknown Julianne Moore, and Joe Pantoliano. The film was one of the few movies associated with a television series to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford), a successful vascular surgeon in Chicago, comes home one night to find his wife Helen fatally wounded by a man with a prosthetic arm, and though he attempts to subdue the killer, the man escapes. The lack of evidence of a break-in, fingerprints being found on the gun and the bullets, and Helen's misunderstood 911 call lead the Chicago police to charge Kimble with murder, and he is sentenced to death by lethal injection.On the way to death row via bus, the other prisoners attempt an escape, causing the bus to fall into the path of an oncoming train. Kimble barely escapes the bus' destruction and flees into the night. The United States Marshals arrive, led by Samuel Gerard (Jones), to locate and round up the escaped convicts while the injured are taken to a nearby hospital. Kimble sneaks into the hospital to replace his prison outfit, treats his wounds himself and escapes detection by an Illinois State Police trooper by posing as a doctor. While leaving the hospital, he is recognized by one of the injured guards, but quickly drives away in an ambulance. Gerard orders a blockade of a tunnel through a nearby dam to stop Kimble's escape, but Kimble abandons the vehicle and climbs into the sewer system in the dam though a storm drain. Kimble is eventually cornered by Gerard at the outlet of the dam spillway, but instead of being recaptured, Kimble dives over the edge, surviving the fall and swims away downstream, leaving no trail for the Marshals to follow.Kimble receives a small amount of money from his friend and associate, Dr. Charles Nichols (Krabbé), requesting he not contact the police. He fakes an ID card to get into Cook County Hospital prosthetic department, posing as a janitor, to obtain a list of people who had their prosthetic arm repaired shortly after his wife's murder. After obtaining the list, he cannot help but to correct a mistaken diagnosis of a young boy on his way to surgery, saving the boy's life. The boy's doctor (Moore), however was suspicious of a janitor looking at the boy's x-rays and upon discovering that the boy did not show up where she told the janitor to send him, as Kimble had changed the doctor's orders and sent him into emergency surgery, she confronts him about it and then calls security. The Marshals arrive to investigate, and Gerard determines that Kimble must have been searching for information on the murder to risk being seen in the hospital, and orders his men to perform a similar search.Kimble goes to the Cook County Jail to investigate a one-armed armed robber who was on the list but finds that person is not the murderer. Gerard and his team also head to the Cook County Jail thinking Kimble may try to confront the one-armed armed robber and Kimble and Gerard run across each other as Kimble is leaving the jail's visitor area. Gerard, realizing that it's Kimble, chases him into Chicago's St. Patrick's Day parade where Kimble barely escapes. At the home of the next person on his list, a former police officer named Frederick Sykes (Katsulas), Kimble finds pay stubs addressed to Sykes from Devlin MacGregor, a pharmaceutical company that was working on a new drug called Provasic. Kimble had investigated the drug previously and found that it caused liver damage, which would have prevented it from being approved by the FDA. Kimble also finds pictures of Sykes and doctors from Chicago Memorial Hospital (Kimble's hospital), as well as one of his prosthetic arms. Kimble suspects the connection between the drug and Helen's murder, with Nichols having hired Sykes as a hitman with easy access to Kimble's home. Kimble calls Gerard knowing Gerard would trace the call and leaves the line open when he leaves to ensure the trace completes. Since a known fugitive was in the home, Gerard doesn't need a search warrant to enter. Gerard suspects Sykes is dirty and has surveillance placed on him, aware that Kimble has lead them to a serious clue. Kimble obtains tissue samples from the Provasic drug study and convinces a former colleague to review the Provasic trial results and discovers that the results have been altered by Nichols to show no ill effects, and that Nichols is presenting the drug at a reception that evening on the eve of its approval.Kimble encounters Sykes on an L Train; Sykes attempts to shoot Kimble but when a transit officer tries to arrest Kimble, Sykes shoots him. Kimble is able to overpower Sykes and leaves him handcuffed in the train, fleeing to the hotel where the presentation is occurring. The Chicago Police pursue him with orders to shoot him on sight, believing Kimble to have killed the police officer on the train. At the reception, Kimble publicly accuses Nichols of falsifying the drug's side effects, and Nichols nervously leads Kimble out of the reception area into a side room where Nichols attacks Kimble, followed by Gerard who now is aware of the full truth. Nichols and Kimble's fight leads to the roof, down an elevator shaft to the laundry floor of the hotel. Gerard announces that he now knows Kimble is innocent and asks Kimble to come silently before the police kill him, but Nichols attempts to shoot Gerard. Kimble knocks Nichols unconscious, saving Gerard's life. As the police take away Sykes and Nichols, Gerard arrests Kimble until he can be acquitted, but unlocks his handcuffs as they are driven away.