For an idea of how The Fugitive could have turned out, one should watch the movie, The Package. It has the same director (Andrew Davis) and a large number of the same actors that appeared in The Fugitive.
The Package is not a bad movie. The Fugitive, however, is one of the better movies ever made.
Based on a TV series from the 1960s, it is the story of how a Chicago doctor, Richard Kimball (Harrison Ford) is wrongly accused and convicted of murdering his wife. He manages to escape from custody, and tries to find the real murderer of his wife, a one-armed man. Throughout his efforts, Kimball is relentlessly pursued by U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). Jones won an academy award for his portrayal of this character.
While the makers of the movie had the basic idea for the story, Ford said that a lot of the script was improvised as they went along.
There is a scene toward the beginning of the movie where Dr. Kimball has gotten the drop on Deputy Gerard and is holding Gerard at gun point. In the original script, there was quite a bit of dialogue between the two men. Once they actually were shooting the scene, though, they gradually cut the dialogue down to Kimball yelling, "I didn't kill my wife!"
Gerard answers, "I don't care!"
In two sentences, this summed up the essence and the driving force of the tension in the movie.
The writing is concise, and almost every scene pushes the story forward and keeps the pace and suspense of the movie rolling. One really identifies with Kimball and all of the obstacles he has to overcome.
One also is fascinated by the (at times humorous) tenacity of Deputy Gerard and his unwillingness to let up one bit until he has his man, regardless of whether that man is guilty of the crime or not.
The film was released in 1993. The setting for most of the story is Chicago. The first part of the movie, however, was filmed in the mountains of North Carolina near my alma mater, Western Carolina University. The film department from the school helped out quite a bit with the movie, and one of my old professors, Al Wiggins, can be seen briefly in a role as a reporter.
In talking with Mr. Wiggins, who has acted in numerous films and TV shows, he originally had a speaking part. When asked by the film producers how much money he would like for this role, his response was "Talk to my agent."
He never heard back from them, and his lines were cut from the final version of the movie.
The filmmakers staged a massive train wreck in the town of Dillsboro, NC. At the time, it was one of the more elaborate stunts in film history. They had a real train collide at high speed with a bus and then de-rail.
When filming was done, they left some of the wreckage where it was.
I started school at Western in 1995, and one night I went with a group of college friends to check it out. As much as I remember the smashed up bus, I also remember a girl named Dorothy who went with us. She was cute and had just broken up with her boyfriend. She seemed sort of interested in me, but unfortunately, I really did not know how to handle that situation and she was soon gone.
The Fugitive was nominated for movie of the year. As I said, Tommy Lee Jones did a wonderful job as the unwaivering, dogged Deputy Gerard, and I believe this role opened many more doors for him even up to the present. His performance alone makes the movie worth watching.
The Fugitive is well directed, with solid dialogue and characters. It is a great drama/adventure story.
Nathan Marshburn
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