The Fugitive (1993, dir. Andrew Davis)

Some movies we wish would never end, that we could continue to inhabit the lives of their characters indefinitely.  Andrew Davis' "The Fugitive" was that kind of film for me.  Probably the most taut, finely-crafted film I saw in the 90's and one of my favourite movies of all time, "The Fugitive" grabs you at the beginning and continues to hold your riveted attention for its entire length.

Based on a television series of the same name, the film opens with its main character, Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) being questioned by authorities for the apparent murder of his wife Helen (Sela Ward).  All signs point to Richard's guilt and we very quickly see the interrogation, trial and imprisonment of Kimble in a series of montages that suggest the dizzying, hasty nature of his trajectory.

Kimble, always maintaining his innocence and that the murder of his wife was conducted by a mysterious "one-armed man", goes to prison and, on a prisoner transfer bus-ride finds the means by which he will become the fugitive of the title.  The bus crash/train wreck sequence is one of the many beautiful, breathtaking and painstakingly-choreographed scenes in the film.  Richard escapes and we are consequently introduced to the bloodhound on Kimble's trail, the incomparable, driven and intense U.S. Marshall Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones).

The performances are so great in this film that they thrust it from a good film into the realm of masterpiece.  Jones won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture.  It takes place in Chicago and the city itself is another character in the film:  you get a real sense of the soul of the city as the cat and mouse game evolves on its streets over the course of the film.

I will always remember "The Fugitive" as a formative film in my film-watching history, the film that started me on the road to becoming a cinephile and lover of the shear possibility of cinema.  It is films like this that have the ability to take you to another emotional, intellectual and spiritual place.