Starring: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Julianne Moore, Joe Pantoliano Directed By: Andrew Davis Average Rating: Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: VHS Tape Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Release Date: March 09, 1994 Running Time: 131 minutes Theatrical Release Date: August 06, 1993
Amazon.com essential video: This highly entertaining update of the 1960s television series stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, a man wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, and Tommy Lee Jones as the federal marshal who pursues him after Kimble escapes during a train wreck. Director Andrew Davis (Under Siege) oversees some dazzling stunts and effects: the train accident alone makes the film worth seeing. But the real draw is the film's complement of strong personalities in Ford and Jones, each playing intrepid characters out to get their man. This is one of those rare films where everything completely clicks. The DVD release includes optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, cast bios, Dolby sound, optional French soundtrack, and optional French, Spanish, or English subtitles. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com: Do you know anyone who hasn't seen this movie? A box-office smash when released in 1993, this spectacular update of the popular 1960s TV series stars Harrison Ford as a surgeon wrongly accused of the murder of his wife. He escapes from a prison transport bus (in one of the most spectacular stunt-action sequences ever filmed) and embarks on a frantic quest for the true killer's identity, while a tenacious U.S. marshal (Tommy Lee Jones, in an Oscar-winning role) remains hot on his trail. Director Andrew Davis hit the big time with this expert display of polished style and escalating suspense, but it's the antagonistic chemistry between Jones and Ford that keeps this thriller cooking to the very end. In roles that seem custom-fit to their screen personas, the two stars maintain a sharply human focus to the grand-scale manhunt, and the intelligent screenplay never resorts to convenient escapes or narrative shortcuts. Equally effective as a thriller and a character study, this is a Hollywood blockbuster that truly deserves its ongoing popularity. --Jeff Shannon
Silence on the lam So, Harrison Ford dyes his hair a darker shade of brown, and this is his disguise? The Fugitive is overrated, but it's still a great movie with great moments: like, any time Tommy Lee Jones is on screen. Ford and Jones are both super, and luckily the film concentrates on their relationship. But the plot? Hm, a one-armed man did it, and there's one one-armed man in the film. Huh. Pity the one-armed man isn't the greatest actor out there, either, but at least they don't give him too many lines. Jeroen Crabbe doesn't add anything interesting to his thinly written role. On the plus side, Joe Pantoliano is great, I love the train wreck, the narrow escape from the downtown detention center and the ensuing coverage of the St. Patrick's day parade. The extras are fun to watch and interesting. But the movie missed it's chance for a couple of great lines: "Richard Kimble, what's he look like?" "He looks like Harrison Ford." "No he doesn't, Cosmo..."
I'd give it a much higher rating, but this one's on the Blu... warner continues to issue all of their products with the Nasty, NASTY VC-1 codec because it was easy for them to do it both in Blu-ray and hd-dud. And I can see the differences in their releases and other companies who use the FAR more superior AVC. They even stick only to the antiqued douby-digital! Never have I seen a release with a DTS track in any of warners stuff, and it rubs me raw because I usual see the DTS mark at the end of the credits in most of the movies!!!
perfect balance I watched this for the umpteenth time while exercising. Let me tell you, it was effective. Between taking my mind off what I was doing, and raising my adrenaline levels, it made for some intense workouts.
It was based on the TV series, which I never saw, so I don't have a basis for comparison.
The plot is fairly simple. Vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimball (Harrison Ford) returns home and finds his wife murdered. He's arrested, tried, and convicted of the crime, but ends up escaping when a prison transport bus crashes. U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) is in charge of the task force hunting for him. Dr. Kimball realizes that the only way to help himself is to discover who really killed his wife--the one-armed man--and who's behind it.
There's a perfect balance here between chase scenes, suspense, and unraveling clues. The chase scenes and the more static suspense scenes didn't drag on until (as happens far too frequently) I got fatigued, and the detective work by both sides wasn't a series of boring sitting-and-thinking scenes, either.
Aside: note to filmmakers: regardless of the type of scene, if it goes on too long, it gets boring (yes, including sex scenes--I've watched enough boring porn movies to know).
It doesn't hurt that the movie stars Tommy Lee Jones, either. Or that he fit the role perfectly. As did Harrison Ford. Though Dr. Kimball was a less exciting character, it made sense that he'd behave the way Ford portrayed him--bewildered, angry, completely out of his depth, but smart and determined. So much so that for a space of time I could believe it wasn't a movie at all.
It's one of my favorites, and one I don't mind re-watching over and over again.
One of the most suspenseful movies ever The performances were brilliant, the pacing and direction were phenomenal. I think this was the best film of its kind in the 90's. I am amazed Andy Davis isn't one of the most in-demand directors in the industry frankly.
Average video quality for Blu-ray format I've noticed various reviews here have stated that the video quality was impressive. Personally I was quite disapointed.
This was the first Blu-ray I purchased and frankly I was disappointed with the video quality. I realize the film is never going to look as sparkling and clean as more recent films, but the image quality seemed lacking.
It has a soft, washed out 'milky' look and the detail is off and on. Sometimes the close-ups on faces are impressive, but then it will cut to a city shot at night and I really noticed the lack of definition.
Of course much of this flatness comes from the fact that the photography was fairly dull in the first place (the whole film has a 'grey' look), but I still expected something more impressive on the Blu-ray format.
Also the sound is not HD or PCM. It comes with the same audio as the previous DVD.
So my advice, if you only want to collect Blu-rays with superb video & audio quality, this is NOT one of them. But, if you are simply a fan of the film and want the best quality version available, then this is still your best bet.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
