The Fugitive (1993)

***Top-of-the-line crime thriller with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones*** Released in 1993 and based on the TV show from 30 years earlier, “The Fugitive” stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent fugitive framed for murder. As he pursues the one-armed killer & those who pulled his strings, a determined U.S. Marshal (Tommy Lee Jones) hunts Kimble down from wilderness regions to the streets of Chicago. The first 40 minutes contain the most action, hooking the viewer with an exhilarating bus wreck/train wreck followed by a phenomenal dam sequence. The rest of the movie is an intelligent and suspenseful cat-and-mouse chase with Kimble zeroing-in on those who framed him and why. “The Fugitive” was a deserved box office hit, costing $40 million and raking in $369 million with $184 of that domestically. To realize just how well-done it is, check out the sequel, “U.S. Marshals” (1998), which features the same basic plot, but without most of the magic. The film runs 2 hours, 10 minutes and was shot in Illinois and North Carolina; the dam sequence, for instance, was filmed at Cheoah Dam, Tapoco, North Carolina. GRADE: A-