...a fine action film, one of the best and most intelligent Hollywood has ever made.
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"The Fugitive" from 1993 is one of the best films Harrison Ford or Tommy Lee Jones ever made and one of the best action-thrillers of the past few decades. I admit I never cared much for the old David Janssen TV show on which it´s based. Once the premise was established of an innocent man on the run for murder, there wasn´t a lot left to do week after week except repeat small variations on the same theme.
But the movie is something else. Even when we know full well what is basically going to happen, we are never quite sure just how it is going to happen or when, thanks to a smart script by Jeb Stuart and David Twohy and to some imaginative direction by Andrew Davis. Its new, special-edition DVD presentation does justice to what is surely a modern classic.
The plot is straightforward and by now pretty well known. A Chicago surgeon, Dr. Richard Kimble, played by Ford, is framed and convicted for the murder of his wife. Through an inadvertent series of incidents on the way to prison, Kimble escapes. His job through the course of the film is to elude capture and prove his innocence. Of course, in order to prove his innocence, he has to find his wife´s real murderer, the infamous one-armed man or whomever else is behind the crime. What should he do first, where should he go, and whom should he trust? Doggedly pursuing him is Deputy U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard, played by Jones, who grudgingly gains respect for his quarry and gradually comes to sympathize with him.
The movie succeeds on a number of levels. First, it´s largely plausible and intelligent, something a lot of action dramas disregard in their attempt to shock or thrill an audience. Jumping from the top of a dam is a bit of a stretch, but mostly the movie stays in the believable range.
Second, the characters are three-dimensional, not the usual cardboard cutouts one finds in these sort of things. Ford and Jones make admirable adversaries, Ford a resourceful but vulnerable hero and Jones a tough and relentless cop ("I don´t bargain") with a touch of compassion he doesn´t want many people to see. Jones won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the part and went on to reprise the role in "U.S. Marshals."
Third, it´s outright suspenseful and exciting, thanks in part to its superb editing, and that´s what most people want in an action film. It´s hard to forget the spectacular train wreck (using a real train and bus, amazingly, no miniatures), the aforementioned dam and waterfall stunt, the St. Patrick´s Day parade, and similar tension-filled scenes.
Like Hitchcock´s "North By Northwest," which involved Cary Grant in a similar situation, "The Fugitive" pits a blameless, everyday man against the forces of both good and evil, obliging him to survive by his wits alone. It is a tribute to Ford, Jones, and the rest of the filmmakers that "The Fugitive" stands up so well to the best adventure movies in memory. In fact, it was recently voted the thirty-third best thriller of all time by the American Film Institute.
Oh, yes, and a good musical background track by James Newton Howard helps, too. It´s always there underlining the action, never calling attention to itself or annoying us with its bluster.
Video:
Any new special edition promises the possibility of its being remastered in even better picture and sound. Think of the Kubrick films, for instance. However, in this case it´s not to be. The transfer of the picture and sound appear to be the same in this edition as they were in Warners´ first DVD release. Nonetheless, that´s plenty good. The image remains sharp and well detailed, although the overall color is still not as vividly brilliant as I would have liked. The screen ratio as displayed on a standard home television is approximately 1.77:1, just short of its movie-house exhibition size of 1.85:1. Of course, the DVD picture is enhanced for widescreen TVs, if one has the capability to play it back that way. There are a few discernible instances of line fluttering, moiré effects, but they are in no way objectionable. Besides, in the heat of the story´s excitement I doubt anyone would notice them. Grain is a minor issue, but it too fades into the back of the mind once one gets caught up in the film´s action.
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