♥♥♥
+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year
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| Harrison Ford is running next to a train in motion on this effective poster, which screams high-octane thrills, for Andrew Davis' The Fugitive |
Dr. Richard Kimble is wrongfully convicted the death penalty for the murder of his wife, - but then he escapes!
The Fugitive is written by Jeb Stuart (Lock Up (1989)) and David Twohy (Waterworld (1995)), based on the same-titled 1963-67 TV-series by Roy Huggins, and directed by Andrew Davis (Under Siege (1992)).
The film has an enviably simple narrative thrust to begin with, which I feel is later dissolved by the simplistic cat-and-mouse story that follows, which also gets thick several times; SPOILER as when Kimble's death row bus crashes onto train tracks and is immediately in collision with a train.
Jeroen Krabbé (Sahara Sandwich (1991)) is good as Kimble's deceitful doctor friend, SPOILER but why he and the one-armed man Sykes killed our hero's doctor never becomes clear to me. The smartly handled action pace and James Newton Howard's (Nightcrawler (2014)) great score does a good job of overshadowing the weak points in this massive hit.
Related posts:
Andrew Davis: Collateral Damage (2002) - Good anti-terrorist Arnold vehicle derailed due to 9/11
1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Cost: 44 mil. $
Box office: 368.8 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 8.38 times its cost)
[The Fugitive premiered 29 July (California) and runs 130 minutes. Shooting took place in North Carolina and in Chicago, Illinois from February - May 1993. The train crash used a real train in a single take and cost 1 mil. $. The film opened #1 to a 23.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it held the #1 spot in the subsequent 5 weeks, then spending another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#3), ending up grossing 183.8 mil. $ (49.8 % of the total gross) from a reported 44 mil. tickets sold domestically, where it was the 3rd highest-grossing film of the year. It was the first major US film to screen in China in decades, but regrettably its international gross numbers are not made public. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones (Cobb (1994))). It lost Best Cinematography (Michael Chapman (Gotham (1988, TV movie))) to Janusz Kaminski for Schinder's List, Sound Effects to Jurassic Park, Film Editing to Schindler's List, Score to John Williams also for Schindler's List, Picture to Schindler's List and Sound to Jurassic Park. It also won 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 1/4 BAFTA noms and other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches higher than this one. Davis returned with Steal Big Steal Little (1995). Ford returned with an uncredited cameo in Jimmy Hollywood (1994) and as a leading man in Clear and Present Danger (1994). Jones returned in the flop sequel U.S. Marshals (1998), which is actually a bit better than the original film.The film was remade in India as Nir Nayam (1995). Leslie Nielsen starred in the parody Wrongfully Accused (1998). The Fugitive is certified fresh at 96 % with a 7.94/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Fugitive?
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