The Fugitive (Exclusive Series) (HBO Max)

Initial release date: August 6, 1993

Studios: Warner Bros/ Kopelson Entertainment

Tagline: A murdered wife. A one-armed man. An obsessed detective. The chase begins.

Plot: Wrongly accused of murdering his wife, Richard Kimble escapes from the law in an attempt to find her killer and clear his name. Pursuing him is a team of US marshals led by Deputy Samuel Gerard, a determined detective who will not rest until Richard is captured. As Richard leads the team through a series of intricate chases, he discovers the secrets behind his wife’s death and struggles to expose the killer before it’s too late.

Cast

Harrison Ford - Dr. Richard Kimble

Tommy Lee Jones - Samuel Gerard

Sela Ward - Helen Kimble

Julianne Moore - Dr. Anne Eastman

Joe Pantoliano - Cosmos Renfro

Andreas Katsulas - Sykes

Jerben Krabbe - Dr. Charles Nichols

Daniel Roebuck - Biggs

L. Scott Caldwell - Poole

Tom Wood - Newman

Ron Dean - Detective Kelly

Writer(s): Jeb Stuart (Just Cause; Die Hard)

David Twohy (Riddick; A Perfect Getaway; Pitch Black)

Director: Andrew Davis (The Guardian; Holes; Collateral Damage)

Rated PG-13 for a murder and other action sequences in an adventure setting (130 min)

In 1993, Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones teamed up with ‘Under Siege’ director Andrew Davis on this exciting thriller, ‘The Fugitive.’ Quick side note: if you haven’t seen ‘Under Siege,’ check it out!!!

Anyway, ‘The Fugitive’ delivers lots of exciting moments and very dramatic thrills. The excitement kicks in once Richard Kimble (Ford) makes his incredible escape and starts his journey to prove he didn’t kill his wife. The escape sequence is really incredible and extremely tense!

‘The Fugitive’ does an outstanding job keeping you interested and the 1993 film is very fast-paced. The few scenes that Ford and Jones actually share together are both heart-pounding and incredibly well-acted.

If you’re looking for an action-packed thriller to stream at night, check out ‘The Fugitive’ on HBO Max. There is also a spin-off on HBO Mac called ‘US Marshals,’ which focuses on the

Samuel Gerard character and the other marshals. It’s okay, but not nearly as good as ‘Fugitive.’

FYI — Just saw this … last day to stream ‘The Fugitive on HBO Max is Jan. 31. But you can easily find it at numerous apps online.

Here are quite a few interesting tidbits for ‘The Fugitive’:

• Ford damaged some ligaments in his leg during filming of the scenes in the woods. He refused to take surgery until the end of filming so that his character would keep the limp. The limp can be seen in any subsequent scene where Kimble is running.

• The scene where Kimble is running through the St. Patrick’s Day parade wasn’t scripted. This was a later addition by director Andrew Davis. Davis, a native of the city of Chicago, really wanted to capture the parade and was granted permission from the mayor’s office to film the day of the parade. The entire sequence was shot with a hand-held steady cam. Without rehearsal, Ford and Jones just went out into the crowd and did their thing, with camera operators running around trying to keep up. Ford observed that since his character was keeping a low profile, it meant he himself didn’t stand out much and lasted several minutes in the crowd before being recognized.

• The wrecked train and bus remain a tourist attraction in Dillsboro, NC where the sequence was filmed.

• Both Ford and Jones improvised many of their scenes.

• The film was shot in 73 days and had one of the fastest turnaround post-production schedules, as the film was pushed up to a release date in August 1993.

• A train was actually crashed for the movie. Ford stood on a platform in front of a blue-screen and jumped off onto a cushion.

• The screenplay spent five years in development hell, going through nine writers and twenty-five drafts.

• Some of the newscasters interviewing Gerard (Jones) were actual newscasters in Chicago at the time.

• The third highest-grossing film of 1993.

• The film opened strongly at the US box office, grossing $23.7 million in its first weekend from 2,340 theaters, a record August opening at the time. It eventually went on to gross an estimated $183.9 million domestically, and $185 million in foreign revenue, for a worldwide total of $386 million.

https://youtu.be/ETPVU0acnrE