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The Fugitive was released on August 6, 1993 (Wanna feel old? At 25, almost as much time has passed since the movie's release as the 26 years between then and the end of the TV show it was based on). It was universally acclaimed, a major hit, one of the career highpoints for Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, racked up 7 Oscar noms, and with the passage of time you can pretty much call the thing a classic. We had a discussion a while back on here that movies made for adults often don't get the nostalgia treatment decades on, so I was pleasantly surprised at all the recent pieces that have gone up marking the anniverary (like: Hollywood Doesn't Make Movies LIke The Fugitive Anymore). So here's a thread to appreciate Richard Kimble's desperate evasion of authorities and his search for the one-armed man.
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Aug 10, 2018 00:55
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 04:56 |
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Fart City posted:I have a weird issue of having like, face blindness for the third act of The Fugitive. I can remember a lot of it - the discovery of the wife's murder, the escape, the manhunt, Kimble using disguises - but I remember almost nothing about how the movie actually ends. Now that you mention it, I have a hard time recalling many details from the ending myself, and I've seen the movie multiple times (granted, each viewing was years apart and the last one was itself years ago). In fact the last time I watched it I specifically remember feeling motivated to because I couldn't recall the ending clearly. It's likely true that the ending is the weakest part of the movie for it to be so unmemorable, but it's also probably mostly due to the fact that for a movie where 90% of the time it's Harrison Ford Vs Tommy Lee Jones it doesn't climax with a face-to-face showdown between them. Also I think the audience thinks of the movie's central mystery not as "who killed his wife" but rather "is it the one-armed man" and so (I guess I'll spoiler tag this just in case anyone youngsters out there haven't seen it) the only seemingly important revelation is that he isn't. And then it gets even more muddled because there's the assassin as well as the guy who hired him so there isn't just one villain to focus on. But yeah, the real meat of the movie is the game of wits between Kimble and Gerard, the whole mystery over who is the real culprit is really secondary, so it makes some sense that the ending doesn stick in our heads.
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Aug 10, 2018 10:36
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Wheat Loaf posted:I'd been aware of this for years before I watched it because it's one of my dad's (a huge Harrison Ford fan) favourite movies. I only saw it for the first time myself last year and really enjoyed it. There was a craze in the 90s for movie reboots of television series from the 60s and I think this is one of the best (along with Addams Family Values and Mission: Impossible). It's amusing looking back how much cinephiles bitched about TV-to-movie adaptations at the time and how they were the ultimate sign of Hollywood's creative bankruptcy - they were definitely the "reboots" of the 90s. Thing is, all the examples that come to mind all range from good to straight up loving great. Hell, even The Flintstones was pretty decent for what it was. I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of truly bad ones but I think that just goes to show how harmless the trend actually was even at its worst.
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Aug 11, 2018 03:34
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Jesus, just going by that trailer alone US Marshals was an even bigger shameless retread than I remember. The spoof Wrongfully Accused was referenced upthread, and I always thought it weird how late to the party it was. It just occured to me that its producers might have felt that US Marshals, released earlier that year, would have kept The Fugitive fresh on the public's mind. If that was the case it didn't work on 20-years-ago me, though, cause I was still like "a Fugitive parody now, huh?"
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Aug 11, 2018 04:14
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Mode 7 posted:The true measure of the Fugitive's success Heh, this reminds me that in addition to the ending, the other fuzzy-memory-related reason for my last re-watch of The Fugitive was because I was trying to recall how that signature moment actually went down: I had the impression that, like that Simpsons clip, Jones has Ford cornered at gunpoint at the opening to a dam, Ford pleads, "I didn't kill my wife!", Jones tells him, "I don't care!", and then Ford takes the desperate plunge into the water. Except I knew that couldn't be right, because I could have sworn during the "I don't care" exchange it was Ford who had Jones at gunpoint (and I could recall a very distinct don't-shoot-me facial expression on Jones and his hands in the air when he gives his line), but then again why in the world would Ford jump off a dam if he was the one holding a gun? Of course watching it again cleared up that that these are actually two different scenes that my mind had fused together (they happen very close in proximity during the same set piece, if it helps) and it seems I'm not the only one whose memory performed that mental shortcut. Edit: Wouldn't you know it, just after googling The Fugitive after posting this and the first link I click on starts out with: quote:Don't you hate it when you tell a U.S. Marshal that you didn't kill your wife and all he says is, "I don't care"? It's enough to make you want to jump off a dam. Has some nice trivia, too http://mentalfloss.com/article/87339/13-running-facts-about-fugitive lizardman fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Aug 12, 2018 |
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Aug 12, 2018 03:55
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I finally got around to my intended anniversary-related rewatch and:lizardman posted:"is it the one-armed man" and so (I guess I'll spoiler tag this just in case anyone youngsters out there haven't seen it) the only seemingly important revelation is that he isn't. I can't believe nobody corrected me on this! I swear I'd seen this movie at least twice when I wrote that post and apparently I still couldn't accurately recall certain plot developments correctly! It's also pretty odd because in the movie it's never really in question that, at the very least, the assailant Ford encounters in flashback is indeed a man with a prosthetic arm, so I'm not entirely sure what accounts for my confusion. On the bright side not being sure of the details of the last act of the movie helped keep it fresh while viewing. Welp, here's to another 25 years of forgetting the ending to The Fugitive!
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Aug 21, 2018 17:14
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We're at the point we can probably rename the thread "We all misremember The Fugitive ITT"
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Aug 23, 2018 00:44
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I never stopped to consider just how typecast Tommy Lee Jones got after The Fugitive. Just off the top of my head, there's No Country For Old Men (law enforcement official tracking down a criminal at large), Double Jeopardy (law enforcement official tracking down a criminal at large), The Hunted (law enforcement official tracking down a criminal at large), Jason Bourne (law enforcement official tracking down a criminal at large), Men in Black (law enforcement official tracking down a criminal at large), *Batman Forever (law enforcement official tracking down a criminal at large) --this one especially!. Definitely helps that he covers a variety of genres, and he seems to manage to bring a slightly different flavor to each role regardless.
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Aug 23, 2018 16:02
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LloydDobler posted:You're thinking of his "I. Don't. Bargain." mumbled to the pony tail dude after he ruined his hearing in his other ear. Ooh, good catch. LloydDobler posted:When this movie came out I saw it in the theater, and the opening train crash scene hooked me so hard, I immediately dragged half my friends to see it. I described it as "the opening scene of this movie kicked my rear end!" I oversold it a bit but it's still great. Just to temper your expectations a bit, on my rewatch I felt the train crash was probably the sequence most hurt by the passage of time, unfortunately: it's just a little too easy to tell Harrison Ford has been added into the shot(s) in post and it saps a lot of the suspense. It's still a well-staged set piece and fine overall, just don't expect to have your mind blown.
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Sep 11, 2018 17:54
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 04:56 |
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Taintrunner posted:I watched this movie on a whim for the first time in decades last night, it's uh, really loving good. Compared to movies now it's really refreshing to see characters that don't act like idiots for the sake of a plot, a good guy who goes out of his way to be a good guy even if it's risking everything, and some genuine tension. I also don't remember seeing any CGI! Really well done classic I feel like a lot of directors could learn from. Now I can't get enough of Tommy Lee Jones movies. I was legit amazed in the scene where Gerard and Kimbel happen to quickly pass by each other on adjacent staircases, Gerard (Jones) actually stops, checks and manages to get Kimbel to unwittingly reveal himself by calling out "Richard!" and seeing his reaction. Like, 99 out of 100 movies would have just let them pass each other by, and even the more clever ones might've had the pursuer stop for a moment, consider, and then shake his head and continue moving. Having a character actually follow through on that is just not something that happens in movies, but it did in this one. LesterGroans posted:"Y'all excited for Episode 1?" Did you hear about those college kids who disappeared filming a documentary about some haunted woods? They found the footage they left behind, it'll make you poo poo your pants!
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Sep 11, 2018 22:13
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