Thirty years ago, Harrison Ford starred as Dr. Richard Kimble in the action thriller The Fugitive, directed by action filmmaker Andrew Davis, who made the sensational Under Siege aka "Die Hard on a Battleship." The Fugitive also stars Tommy Lee Jones in his Oscar-winning role as U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard who has to track down Kimble. This film has become one of the quintessential chase pictures due to the physical old-school style action and well-choreographed car and train sequences.
Harrison Ford may be best known for his signature roles as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but he has also shined in action and/or dramatic roles that require him to be more serious, such as his Oscar-nominated performance in Witness with Top Gun actress Kelly McGillis and Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover. In The Fugitive, Ford's role as Dr. Kimble is restrained and focused as a man determined to prove his innocence and find justice for his murdered wife.
What Is The Fugitive About?
The Fugitive is based on the 1960s TV series of the same name about Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford), an intelligent vascular surgeon in Chicago who comes home after work to find his wife Helen brutally murdered by a one-armed man. Kimble fights with the killer, who escapes and leaves the doctor emotionally torn with his deceased wife. Kimble is convicted and sentenced to death for killing Helen due to the evidence against him, including fingerprints on the gun used as the murder weapon, a misinterpreted 911 call that sounds like Helen admitting that Richard is trying to kill her, Helen's large life insurance policy, and no forced entry into the house.
On his way to prison, Kimble survives a series of major bus-and-train crashes after another inmate attempts to escape and stabs one of the guards. Due to Kimble's escape, U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (Jones) and his team are brought in to find Kimble. However, while Gerard's top priority is to capture Kimble, he and his team also investigate Helen's murder in order to figure out where Kimble is going and his motives. Meanwhile, Kimble, despite losing his wife and his home, does everything he can to find Helen's killer and stay a step ahead of Gerard's crew and the police.
Richard Kimble Is A Memorable Character
While this role may seem like just another ordinary character, Ford's role as Richard Kimble is significant because it's a great and well-balanced performance of an everyman who is going through sad and traumatic circumstances due to losing his wife and his career. During the opening interrogation scene, Kimble cries and unleashes his emotions as he tells the Chicago police about the one-armed killer. However, Kimble is also a smart and resourceful doctor who has friends and colleagues he can contact for help without getting caught.
One of the film's best scenes is when Kimble sneaks into a hospital, patches himself to treat a gunshot wound, shaves his beard, changes his clothes, takes food from a sleeping patient, and casually talks and walks past a police officer looking for him. Davis' direction and the film editing make this sequence of events seem so seamless, along with the likability of Ford's Kimble and his ability to improvise in tense situations.
What makes Kimble even more appealing is the way he sneakily enters major public places (hospitals, offices, jails, etc.) without getting caught, reminiscent of Jason Bourne. He also manages to act like a spy by being inconspicuous (dyeing his hair and changing his wardrobe) in order to search for relevant information on his wife's case and cross off suspects. Even while Kimble may appear superhuman at times because of his fighting abilities and his physicality when being chased, he is still a doctor at heart and expresses his humanity by continuing to save lives even as a fugitive (such as saving a young boy's life and the injured guard who was transporting him to prison).
The Fugitive Influenced Several Modern Action Chase Pictures
The Fugitive has inspired several action pictures involving heroic protagonists wrongly accused of murder and/or having to run from the police and authoritative figures while going after the actual killer. These include features such as Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible movies, Matt Damon's Jason Bourne in his film series, a number of James Bond pictures, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Eraser and Collateral Damage (directed by Davis), the Ashley Judd films Twisted and Double Jeopardy (also with Tommy Lee Jones), and U.S. Marshals (a spin-off sequel to The Fugitive).
Along with the intense collisions involving Kimble and the other prisoners and guards, U.S. Marshal Gerard and his unit use cars and helicopters to chase down the doctor in an ambulance, and when it appears to be certain capture, Kimble makes a remarkable jump down a storm drain, a sequence that requires a high level of difficulty in stunt work and looks like the real thing.
While Ford's Kimble is the central protagonist, Gerard is also an intriguing character that easily could've been a thankless role, but Jones portrays the U.S. Marshal as an insightful cop, a caring leader, and a funny guy. Initially, Gerard appears to be just a regular cop seeking to arrest Kimble and go home, but when he's investigating Kimble and his wife's murder, his thoughts on the case change over time, realizing that nothing is what it seems, demonstrating the significance of good old-fashioned police work.
Jones' Gerard likely inspired other roles involving cops who are in conflict with the protagonist but become more understanding over time, such as Dwayne Johnson's Agent Luke Hobbs and Paul Walker's undercover cop Brian O'Connor each clashing with Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto in the Fast & Furious films, as well as Forest Whitaker's detective pursuing Liam Neeson's Bryan Mills in Taken 3. Ford and Jones efficiently complement each other's characters as two men driven to seek justice. The Fugitive is an old-fashioned action picture that isn't commonly made anymore, and Harrison Ford plays a memorable hero in Richard Kimble who is human and vulnerable, but also tough and intelligent.