The Fugitive
Andrew Davis’s 1993 thriller is most definitely a Harrison Ford vehicle. In this movies adaptation of the TV series, Ford plays Dr Richard Kimble, a doctor wrongly accused of murdering his own wife. Determined to clear his name, Kimble goes on the run, trying to collate enough evidence to capture the real killer, the mysterious one-armed man. US Deputy Marshall Samuel Gerard, played by Jones, is the man tasked to chase down Kimble and bring him to justice. What Jones ends up doing, though, is steal the show.
In Gerard, Jones has crafted one of cinema’s great characters, often imitated and eminently quotable. Jones’ on-screen presence is at its strongest. Though he is, for the purposes of the story being told, an obstacle for the film’s hero, he manages to attain the audiences favour and respect, whilst still very effectively playing the tough, hard-nosed, unrelenting cop.
It’s a difficult part to sympathetically play. As the audience, we want to hate Gerard. He is, unjustly, trying to put Kimble back in prison. Jones, though, manages to portray Gerard’s integrity, his ethical and moral centre, and his ability to read Kimble’s character whilst still trying wholeheartedly to do his job. The part rightly brought Tommy Lee Jones his only Academy Award to date, for Best Supporting Actor. In a career spanning five decades, Samuel Gerard will undoubtedly go down as Tommy Lee Jones most revered performance.
