Harrison Ford's Richard Kimble character is supposed to be a doctor. However, on at least a couple of occasions early in this film, he displays ignorance about things that every good doctor should know.

When the interrogating detective is asking him to describe the one-armed man, Kimble seems at a loss to describe the man's artificial limb and finally says that he had "a cosmetic hand." A few moments later, Kimble is trying to describe the arm again, and seems to be lost for the right word to say, and finally says it was a "mechanical arm." Surely a vascular surgeon would know that the proper term is "prosthetic" and would be able to give a better description of the type of arm the man had.

Later, after he escapes from the train wreck and is hiding out in the hospital, Kimble has to give himself an injection (either a painkiller or an antibiotic). He grabs a syringe on the table next to him and immediately injects himself with it. Wouldn't a doctor know to pump the syringe first, to reduce the chance of injecting themselves with an air bubble?

I found a few nits in this enjoyable flick.

Do any rooms in a hospital really have the word "treatment" plaqued onto the door?

NANJO- I was disappointed that the transit cop wasn't wearing a bullet proof vest.

Also, I'm not too sure why Kimble ditched the guns after the El fight. He could have

(A) put Sykes gun back in the unconcious Sykes hand, which would have made it easy for the police to learn that the bullet that killed the cop came from Sykes gun. or
(B) kept one of the guns for himself. After all, he's going after Dr. Nicholes. It might come in handy, y'know.

On Dr. Kimble's medical knowledge: You really don't have to worry about injecting yourself with tiny bubbles of air. It takes significantly more than what might be in the tip of a needle to cause problems (and it has to make it to your heart without being reabsorbed to actually do anything).

Dampbell isn't match of a defendet. Couldn't he have hired a private detective or twenty to find out what he had to find out on the run?

It is funny to note the small differences between the 1960s TV series and the movie. For example, the TV show featured Lt. Philip Gerard which the movie changed to U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard. In the TV show, the One-Armed Man was named Fred Johnson which the movie changed to Fred Sykes. Finally, the TV series had Kimble being from Stafford, IN which the movie changed to Chicago. Since I was born in IN, I liked the Indiana connection. The TV show did once mention that Kimble had interned in Chicago. If you liked the movie, check out the TV show. Even though I was born in the 60s (and thus missed it), I caught it when A&E reran it. The show still holds up.

The reason Indiana was chosen for Kimble's home state in the original series is because it was one of the states at that time that still had a death penalty. However (nit upcoming), early in the show's run, Indiana nixed the death penalty!

Here's another nit which has to do with the TV series. Namely, how did Helen Kimble in the show die? Was she beaten to death or strangled? In the pilot episode Kimble definitely states "I found my wife beaten to death" and in the final episode in the flashback sequence we see the one armed-man beating her to death with a lamp sure enough. So this would seem to settle the issue.
However, in between these two shows in the second and third season there are a number of confusing references to Helen Kimble being strangled to death. Perhaps the most damning evidence comes from the episode "May God Have Mercy." In this show Telly Savalas plays a former friend of Kimble's who learns he is dying of an incurable disease. In order to clear Kimble's name he decides to offer up a phony confession to clear the doctor, since he's going to die anyway. Gerard is naturally suspicious, and exhaustively grills Savalas' character on the circumstances of the murder. During this interrogation, Gerard seeks to trip up Savalas at every turn. Yet, when Telly states that he strangled Helen Kimble with his scarf, Gerard doesn't say anything about this obvious contradiction!

Chicago geography nit: Kimble supposedly is spotted at the "Balbo Street" El stop. There is no such stop (The El veers off before getting to Balbo) and the scene was shot at the Clark/Lake stop; the sign is clearly visible in the long shot of the El platform.

I just saw "U.S. Marshals" this weekend on HBO. While I will admit that it was not as good as "The Fugitive", I don't think it deserved all the bad reviews it got. I thought it was an okay movie.

When I watched "The Fugitive" TV series on A&E, I always thought that a movie version should star Robert DeNiro as Kimble and Gene Hackman as Gerard. Now, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Harrison Ford or Tommy Lee Jones. I guess I was just picturing actors that resembled the TV ones.

Check this out:
New 'Fugitive' TV Series
The CBS TV network has ordered up a new TV pilot based on the classic '60s TV series, and subsequent hit movie, The Fugitive. According to Variety, the pilot and potential series will be produced through Warner Bros. TV by Arnold and Anne Kopelson. Arnold Kopelson produced the 1993 feature film that starred Harrison Ford. Plans are for the new series to follow the established scenario of the two previous versions with Dr. Richard Kimble falsely convicted of the murder of his wife. Kimble escapes to seek out the killer, a man with one arm. In addition, and as before, Lt. Philip Gerard will doggedly hunt Kimble.

The series itself is likely to have more location shooting with the trade suggesting shoots throughout the country. While the potential regular program will return to the character driven stories of Kimble, there will be the new angle of contemporary technology and media that makes Kimble's fugitive status very difficult to sustain.

http://www.cinescape.com/indexnew.html

Here is an interesting item:

L.A. Author Has The Fugitive's Number
Thursday, November 4, 1999

Artist Mark Bennett made a splash in 1996 with his book TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints Classic TV Homes (TV Books). Now, the draftsman of homes that never were has taken on his biggest challenge yet: the "home" of Dr. Richard Kimble, TV's most famous man on the lam.

"Now you're probably going, 'There was no house on The Fugitive,'" Bennett tells TV Guide Online. "It's a map of the United States with every place he went, 101 episodes! It has his name and what he did - he was usually a porter or a pool cleaner."

The map was a labor of love for Bennett. "It took two years of research and about two months to draw it. But I'm so excited - the Museum of Modern Art asked to see it." The piece is currently on view at the Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica, CA, and it may appear at other venues around the country next year. Bennett included even the most seemingly minor detail. "[Kimble] always stayed at this flop house called the Edmonds Hotel. There must have been a whole string of them around the country," he muses.

The author/artist is currently promoting his second book, How to Live a Sitcom Life: A Guide to TV Etiquette (TV Books). When what elements of TV living beat the mundane world of reality, Bennett says, "Having someone you went to high school with 10 or 20 years ago ring your doorbell and not call before - just ring your doorbell - and you open the door while arranging flowers on a dining room table rather than eating chili from a can in your underwear. That would be one of the niceties."

Bennett says the book was a form of therapy. "I was trying to be Rob Petrie, but that just wasn't the truth for me," he says of his attempts to live up to the perfect worlds he loved. "I never watched anything, I studied it to build a personality. I didn't go to the prom, but I watched Wally Cleaver go to the prom. It was kind of like I lived their lives instead of mine can tell you every name, every hometown - I mean, June Cleaver is from East St. Louis and Ward is from Shaker Heights, OH. And doesn't help on a job interview, I'm telling you."

John Aboud

http://www.tvguide.com/newsgossip/dish/991104b.asp

>Now you're probably going "There was no house on the Fugitive"

The interior and exterior of the home of Richard Kimble was shown in flashback sequences both in the first-season episode "The Girl From Little Egypt" and the final two-part episode "The Judgement"

I have not seen this movie, but last Friday I watched the new TV version of The Fugitive with Tim Daly. I liked it quite a bit. Is the movie as good as the show?

Jtodhunter, the movie is better. The first episode of the new Fugitive TV show wasn't bad. I will continue to watch it. The original 1960s show is a TV classic. The movie with Harrison Ford is probably one of the best action movies of all time.

Does it bother anyone else that CBS is plugging "The Fugitive" as a "new" series?

Trivia note on the new "Fugitive" series - Tim Daly, who plays the new Fugitive. His father, the late James Daly, played the prosecuting disctict attorney on the original series.

The new "Fugitive" is OK. I thought Mykelti (formerly Mykel T.) Williamson was underused. The bounty hunter (Rex Linn) was off the wall-he always seemed one step ahead of Gerard. (Of course, Gerard was being thwarted by his bosses-if you watch the show, you know why.) Now that Gerard has shown some backbone, we will see more of Williamson on the chase. The series has given Gerard a troubled past; that helps to explain his obsession with capturing Kimble.

When Kimble jumps off the dam, he does a head first dive. The next time we see him, the Harrison Ford mannequin is no longer in diving position.

The Movie Mistakes site has the nit that a US Marshal chasing Dr. Kimble is wrong becuase he's only commited offences is 1 state. Is this a correct point, or all convicted fugatives classed as being fedral offenders?

Richard Davies: The Movie Mistakes site has the nit that a US Marshal chasing Dr. Kimble is wrong becuase he's only commited offences is 1 state. Is this a correct point, or all convicted fugatives classed as being fedral offenders?

Neither viewpoints are correct. Train wrecks fall under federal jurisdiction and would be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). So it's likely that U.S. Marshals would be called in to supplement the NTSB investigators. However, in this case there is the issue of the fact that the local sheriff's department is not up to the task of tracking escaped fugitives. Note the following dialog:

Rollins: "What for? The prisoners are all dead. All checkpoints are gonna do is get a lot of good people worried and flood my office with calls."

Gerard: "Well, s***, Sheriff, I'd hate to do that, so I'll just be taking over your investigation."

Rollins: "On what authority?"

Gerard: "On the authority of the Governor of the State of Illinois and the United States Marshals Office, 5th District, Illinois."

Whether or not the US has jurisdiction over the fugitive hunt or not, the Governor of Illinois has handed the investigation over to the US Marshals Service b/c they are more experienced than the local sheriff.

So it's likely that U.S. Marshals would be called in to supplement the NTSB investigators. - Jesse
The US Marshal Service would not work an NTSB accident unless there were criminal elements that fall within their jurisdiction. For the purposes of this movie, the NTSB was investigating the train derailment and had no involvement in the issue of the escaped prisoners.

Kimball was arested by the Chicago PD, tried and convicted by the State of Illinois, and in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections at the time of his escape. This is a state matter. The proper move would have been to turn his escape over to the Illinois State Police until it had been confirmed that Kimball had crossed a state line (and out of the IL State Police's jurisdiction), and then involved the FBI and the US Marshal Service.

But, as Jesse pointed out, if the Governor of Illinois chose to turn the case over to the US Marshal Service at that time, they become the lead agency in the investigation.

Can anyone answer me this? Was Sykes there to kill Kimble or to kill Helen? Kimble says to Charles that it was a mistake and that Helen had kind of gotten in the way. However, this was before he realised Charles' part in the whole thing, and perhaps he had not put everything together. There are too many plot holes for Sykes to have simply been there to kill Kimble and made a mistake (I can expound if necessary).

I think he was there to kill Richard and she just happened to be home and heard a noise right? He couldn't exactly just tell her he was there to kill her husband so he killed her.

Do you know, I’ve watched the film again and found an answer to virtually all my questions? I’ve seen this film about 30 times, and it never made sense before, but I think it does now.

To sum up :-

1. Charles calls Sykes from Richard’s car to say that Richard is at the function, so it’s safe to go into the house.
2. Richard and Helen are on their way back, but Richard gets the call, and Helen returns home
3. Sykes is hiding in the house. He hears Helen come home, can’t discern that there is only one person, or indeed decides to kill Helen as she’s back, comes out of hiding and creeps along the corridor holding his gun
4. Helen hears something, meets Sykes at the door and manages to knock the gun from his hand. She goes for the family gun and it goes off in the struggle.
5. Helen lies on the floor, he hits her, and she then makes her call. Hearing Richard in the house, she says either “IS he trying to kill me?” or “He’s trying to kill me” – she gasps at the beginning of the sentence so it’s hard to hear, I’m just curious about whether she ever considered that the man was hired by Richard.
6. Sykes hangs up the phone and then withdraws to a relatively concealed hiding place
7. Richard comes in and tries to revive Helen
8. Sykes attacks, they struggle, Sykes gets away, and Richard finds Helen dead.

Ah! And that explains the phone call! I couldn’t understand why Sykes let her make the call, since he couldn’t know that she would convict Richard in it. But of course he was planning to kill Richard..oh wait, we still have the problem of how? For some reason, although Sykes retrieves his gun (because the police never found it), he doesn’t shoot Richard. And I take it he did have a gun, since although it appears to be only Richard’s flash back that shows us this, I would think it highly probable that an experienced hit man would have some kind of weapon. Strangulation was maybe a weapon of choice, but he must have an inkling that Helen would be home with Richard.
I see his plan as being this : He waits at home until they Kimbles are asleep. He creeps in, shoots Richard (maybe with a silencer) and then runs out. End of story.

My concerns were :

1. Why did Sykes emerge from his hiding place to start with, when he must have been aware that there was only one person in the house?
2. Why did he not shoot Helen immediately upon her seeing him, or hold her hostage?
3. Why let her call the police when he must have been hovering over her, listening to Richard climb the stairs?
4. Where was his gun? I’m still puzzled as to where that went.

However, I think most of them have been answered now!

From a while ago: I believe Hackman was considered (or asked) for the role of Gerard. Jones plays it superbly with his own interpretation, but I think Hackman could have added a more ominous, threatening element to the character if needed. Regarding De Niro, with all due respect to the man, I think he would have been wrong for the role. Ford was always terrific at bringing the beleaguered everyman kind of things to the proceedings--if they wanted to go a bit more ambivalent route (such as wondering if Kimble was a murderer and what he was up to), I can see someone like De Niro.

At his prime, I wouldn't have minded seeing Robert Duvall as Gerard either.

I didn't even realize until the end that Julianne Moore is the doctor at the hospital (the one that takes away Kimble's ID). I instantly realized, though, that Jane Lynch (from the Christopher Guest series) was Kimble's doctor friend.

Although you are correct Obi-Wan in that the search should've been initially picked up by IL state police, but tracking down fugitives is one of the US Marshal's jobs, and many other things in the DOC. I'm not positive if they have to be asked by a state/local department, or sanctioned by the governor, but in this movie they were probably there because at least one of the convicts was a federal case. What were the crimes of that black guy?

Both lead actresses from Once and Again have played wives of Harrison Ford - Sela Ward in this flick, and Susanna Thompson in Random Hearts.
Small nitpick - The "cold breath" coming out of the characters' mouths when Gerard first arrives on the scene looked like the animation it probably is. And, it didn't come out of everyone's mouth when they spoke, like it should have.

Someone on staff at the "Starz/Encore" channels must love this movie, as it's scheduled so much. Here it is.
Would the U.S. Marshals, or any police department, commit so much manpower and resources to capturing one fugitive?

If he were a terrorist or mass-murderer, maybe. Quite possibly. But just to capture Richard Kimble? Not likely.