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The Fugitive

year 1993decade 90sdirector Andrew Davisgenre Thrillergenre Mystery

130 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Harrison Ford Dr. Richard Kimble
Tommy Lee Jones Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard
Sela Ward Helen Kimble
Joe Pantoliano Deputy U.S. Marshal Cosmo Renfro
Andreas Katsulas Fredrick Sykes
Jeroen Krabbé Dr. Charles Nichols
Daniel Roebuck Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Biggs
Tom Wood Deputy U.S. Marshal Noah Newman
L. Scott Caldwell Deputy U.S. Marshal Erin Poole
Johnny Lee Davenport Deputy U.S. Marshal Henry
Julianne Moore Dr. Anne Eastman
Ron Dean Detective Kelly
Joseph Kosala Detective Rosetti
Jane Lynch Dr. Kathy Wahlund
Dick Cusack Attorney Walter Gutherie
Andy Romano Judge Bennett
Nick Searcy Sheriff Rawlins
Eddie Bo Smith Copeland
Neil Flynn Transit Cop
Richard Riehle Old Guard
Kirsten Nelson Hospital Secretary
David Darlow Dr. Alec Lentz
Frank Ray Perilli Corrections Officer
Lester Holt Newscaster
David U. Hodges Marshal David
John M. Watson Sr. Bones Roosevelt
Roland Burris Smiling Man in Parade

The Fugitive | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Mallory Rubinproducer Craig Horlbeck format Liveevent Cold Weather Tourlocation Chicago
Explore episodeClose episode

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:25Read transcript
  • The hosts report Ebert awarded four stars
  • They discuss his praise of the film as accomplished entertainment

Most Rewatchable Scene

Dam chase versus the opening 24 minutes

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:50Read transcript
  • Opening interrogation
  • Bus fight and bus/train crash
  • Marshals taking over the investigation
  • Dam pursuit and jump
  • Copeland’s capture
  • St. Patrick’s Day chase
  • Kimble calling Gerard from Sykes’s apartment
  • Subway fight
  • Cardiology-conference confrontation
  • Final Kimble/Gerard exchange
  • Mallory favors the dam chase
  • Chris favors the opening 24 minutes and 20 seconds
  • Bill favors the opening crash material; the definition of a single scene is debated

What’s Aged the Best?

Chicago, Ford, Jones and the ensemble

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:08Read transcript

What’s Aged the Worst?

Defense failures, disguise logic and sequels

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:33Read transcript
  • Kimble’s legal defense
  • Forensic/DNA handling is criticized as dated
  • Failure to show Kimble testifying
  • Slow parallel prosthetics investigations
  • Oversized opening credits
  • Joe Pantoliano’s wig
  • Pre-CGI concealment of the actor’s arm
  • U.S. Marshals and later adaptations
  • Removal of Julianne Moore’s romantic subplot is debated and defended
  • People failing to recognize Ford’s distinctive face
  • The final Nichols/Kimble fight

Half-Assed Internet Research

Ford’s injury, the real train crash and Chicago filming

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:34Read transcript
  • Ford’s injured knee and incorporated limp
  • Six screenwriters and 25 drafts reported
  • A real train crash with a single practical attempt
  • North Carolina railroad location
  • Chicago locations and the actual 1993 parade
  • Cold conditions during parade filming

Apex Mountain

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:31Read transcript
  • Harrison Ford: no
  • Ford playing Desmondo: yes as a joke
  • Ford’s doctor roles compared with Frantic
  • Tommy Lee Jones: yes
  • Joe Pantoliano: disagreement; The Sopranos favored instead
  • Pantoliano’s bad wigs: no
  • One-armed killers: yes
  • Andrew Davis: yes
  • Dutch men named Chuck: raised without a clear verdict
  • Chicago movies: disputed, with Ferris Bueller, Blues Brothers, Thief and The Dark Knight mentioned
  • Fugitives: O.J. Simpson offered instead
  • Characters named Cosmo: a strong year

Picking Nits

Disguise, defense attorney and conspiracy logic

In the discussion (18)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:40Read transcript
  • Craig questions Sykes’s security role and corporate fishing trips
  • Chris questions Kimble’s minimal disguise
  • Stolen clothes fitting Kimble is debated
  • Mallory questions the fundraiser’s swimsuit show
  • Kimble fails to request counsel promptly
  • Craig questions water falling on the gun
  • Nichols’s conference patter is missing
  • Mallory challenges the defense’s handling of Helen’s call and circumstantial evidence
  • Shaving a large beard with a disposable razor
  • Craig questions Kimble’s janitor performance
  • Gerard’s shooting choices in the courthouse
  • Nichols’s incriminating photos
  • A rollerblading nurse
  • Instant train-audio identification
  • Mallory corrects the earlier podcast’s too-handsome Jon Hamm objection
  • Craig asks why Kimble does not take the evidence straight to Gerard
  • Kimble helping patients is defended
  • Cosmo’s implausibly minor head wound

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Kill Sykes; rethink the one-arm story; defend the marriage

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:22Read transcript
  • The category is initially almost skipped but is then completed
  • Mallory argues Nichols should have Sykes killed
  • Chris argues Kimble’s one-armed-man account sounds incriminating
  • Craig has no prepared take
  • Bill proposes an attraction-based defense argument

Is This Movie Better With…?

Byron Mayo, Wayne Jenkins and Harling Mays

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:06Read transcript
  • Byron Mayo inserted into the hospital encounter
  • Wayne Jenkins as a marshal
  • Harling Mays treating Kimble after the dam

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Escape plan, Kimble’s fame, the cat and alternate futures

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:51Read transcript
  • Effectiveness of the fake seizure escape
  • Craig asks how famous Kimble would become
  • How much cash Nichols gives Kimble
  • Mallory asks what happened to the Kimble family cat
  • Gerard as an NFL coach
  • Craig asks why the river cannot be dyed blue
  • A shared Chicago movie universe
  • Whether faster emergency dispatch could have saved Helen
  • The logic of the incriminating call
  • Kimble and the woman who offers him a ride
  • A twist making Kimble guilty after all
  • How quickly Sykes would be caught through social media

The Andy and Red – Zihuatanejo Award for What Happens the Next Day?

Celebrity, medicine or private investigation

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:43:22Read transcript
  • Kimble becomes a celebrity bachelor
  • Kimble reconnects with Dr. Eastman
  • Loss of faith leads Kimble to private investigation
  • Courtside recognition
  • A new home with the surviving cat
  • Devlin McGregor’s liability and the drug’s future are debated

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Jacket, tissue slide, cash, prosthetic arm and clothing

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:45:20Read transcript
  • Green jacket
  • Liver tissue sample / pathology slide
  • Nichols’s cash
  • Prosthetic arm
  • Cook County ID
  • Nichols’s tennis pullover and Fila tracksuit
  • Newman’s ponytail is jokingly declined

More from the conversation

Live in Chicago, part of the Cold Weather Tour, revisiting an earlier Fugitive episode.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:29Read transcript
The redirect-twist discussion recalls the earlier episode; it is retained as a discussion topic rather than invented as a new named category.
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:19Read transcript
Craig is introduced on stage explicitly as the producer before contributing to Picking Nits.
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:20Read transcript

The Fugitive | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Andy Greenwald
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Casting What-Ifs

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:35Read transcript
  • Alec Baldwin was the first choice to play Richard Kimble; he had also been first offered Ford's Patriot Games role, which suggests Baldwin had more juice than Ford in 1992-93.
  • Baldwin reportedly wanted control of his career and too much money and did not want to be a franchise pawn; Patriot Games is contrasted with Hunt for Red October.
  • A correction: this was not the end of Ford's heyday because Air Force One was still ahead; Six Days, Seven Nights, overshadowed by a controversy around its co-star, is called the real end.
  • Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia were also considered for Kimble; only Costner is found believable because Kimble needs something wholesome, while Douglas and Baldwin seem like they might have done it.
  • Jon Voight and Gene Hackman were both offered Sam Gerard, prompting a riff that Voight gets attached to many projects; Varsity Blues is teased for Zach Mack.
  • Walter Hill wanted to direct with Nick Nolte, who thought he was too old; one participant would have loved a Walter Hill version but thinks it worked out.
  • Ford is better the less he says; his doctor-talk scene with Julianne Moore almost pulls you out of the movie.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Development history; Ford ligament injury; Dillsboro wreck site; crash and dam costs; unscripted parade chase; Richard Jordan replaced; improvised donut line; Pantoliano and Ward lobbying; love-interest rewrites

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:27Read transcript
  • The script took five years, with nine screenwriters and more than 25 drafts, and Tommy Lee Jones ad-libbed his lines anyway.
  • Ford damaged leg ligaments filming the woods scenes and delayed surgery so his character would limp, prompting a riff that Ford is unbreakable.
  • The wrecked train and bus remain a tourist attraction in Dillsboro, North Carolina, leading to jokes that it is the home of Tate Frasier (as transcribed).
  • The crash cost $1 million to film and the dam scene cost twice as much, $2 million.
  • The St. Patrick's Day parade chase was not scripted; Andrew Davis, a Chicago director, followed Ford and Jones with a Steadicam without permits, and parade-goers were genuinely reacting to Ford.
  • Richard Jordan, originally cast as Dr. Nichols, fell ill with a brain tumor and died three weeks after release; Ford refilmed his first scene with the replacement, whose beard looked slightly different.
  • Tommy Lee Jones improvised 'think me up a cup of coffee and a chocolate donut with some of those little sprinkles on top.'
  • Joey Pants lobbied for Cosmo Renfro to survive in case of a sequel, and was in the sequel; Sela Ward reportedly lobbied for her character to be in a coma instead of dying.
  • Sela Ward is thought to have deserved a bigger career.
  • Julianne Moore's part was reportedly meant to be a love interest, and Jane Lynch's researcher possibly too; deleted scenes may exist on a later release.
  • Two Cosmos in 1993: Cosmo Renfro and Cosmo Kramer.

Picking Nits

No lawyer; rushed trial; youngest cop says 'book him'; painless beard shave; Nichols's names and help; unclear motive to kill Kimble's wife; Provasic focus; one-armed hitman; Sela Ward's rose petals

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:25Read transcript
  • Kimble, a smart doctor and the clear sole suspect, never gets a lawyer, and the 18-27 month trial is yada-yada'd into a first-degree murder conviction on a phone call and an insurance motive.
  • Gerard is the first to suggest a rich doctor may not need the insurance money.
  • In the rapid-fire interrogation, the youngest-looking cop is the one who gets to say 'book him.'
  • Shaving off a grown beard always hurts, yet Kimble shaves with an old guy's razor and scissors and looks great; the counter is that he stitched himself up without flinching.
  • Would anyone really call Dr. Nichols Chuck or Charlie; why would Nichols help Kimble with money at all.
  • Why they had to kill Kimble and his wife doesn't make sense, compared with The Firm; the last third spends too much time on Provasic, though a counterpoint says it foretold the pharma industry.
  • Context questions: the Silence of the Lambs-style misdirect is used about five times, and a modern version would add a twist; the helicopter search and isolated L train audio felt cutting edge then.
  • Why the friend didn't turn him in right away, and the long Devlin MacGregor fishing-trip exposition.
  • The one-armed hitman is too risky and should have afforded a nicer apartment; the counter is that he must be twice as good at security with half the arms.
  • Sela Ward's rose-petal homecoming gilds the lily; one participant says it should have been in most dated.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

DNA evidence; surviving the dam jump; Charlie's money; how Kimble lived on the run; Gerard's search strategy; missing character witnesses

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:48Read transcript
  • The movie was pre-OJ; DNA evidence would clear Kimble within about a week, though the scratch is raised as a complication.
  • Would anyone survive the dam waterfall jump? No, and he comes out better, as if finishing a triathlon.
  • How much money did Charlie give him, given that he immediately rents a home, buys clothes and eats fresh fruit.
  • The weeks of Kimble surviving on the run are yada-yada'd: how did he eat and where did he sleep.
  • Why couldn't master marshal Gerard catch a man limping in a straight line along a river for three days.
  • A late question: Kimble is a saintly man who never kills anyone, so where were the character witnesses at his trial.

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