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miryum · 2 months ago

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"The Fugitive"

Summary: Detective!Jason Todd x detective!Reader based on Jake and Amy’s relationship

Series Warnings: Swearing, descriptions of violence (but nothing descriptive), guns and other police stuff

Chapter Warnings: someone held at knifepoint and Leonardo DiCaprio (sorry, I know he's a pedo)

Series Masterlist

Leonardo Dicaprio had his headphones on and he wore a large white sweatshirt, even against the Gotham heat. He was crossing the street as he took a bite of his burrito. A large armoured truck was driving on the street behind him, when suddenly, the truck veered off the road and up onto the sidewalk, slowly tipping over. Leonardo scoffed and looked down in his takeout bag. “What? Damn it, they forgot my pico de gallo.” An old Eastern European lady next to him shrieked and pointed at the truck. Nine men in orange jumpsuits jumped out of the truck, but Leonardo didn’t notice anything on account of his obnoxiously large headphones that were blasting music. The nine men scattered into the winds and Leonardo tsked.

Y/n strolled into the precinct, yawning and stretching. Jason was already at his desk and he looked up, his gaze not holding the same love and affection that it usually did. “Love the shirt, L/n,” Tim said sarcastically.

“Thanks, man,” Y/n said, sporting a raggedy old Hogwarts Alumni shirt. “Hufflepuffs are underrated and Slytherins are amazing,” she voiced halfheartedly. “However, Drake, this is not my shirt.” She slumped in her seat. “I slept at Jason’s and spilled ketchup over my shirt. So, unless I wanted to look like that murder victim from last week, it wasn’t gonna happen.”

“Why don’t you two move in together already?” Dick asked, munching on a doughnut. “I thought you were planning to, no?”

Jason cut in, running a hand down his face. “We are. We are. And I would love to, but we haven’t decided whose apartment to live in. I think Y/n should move in with me cause it’s bigger and has nicer amenities.”

“However,” Y/n interrupted. “My place is cheaper and closer to work.”

“How many times have I had to kill spiders and insects for you?” Jason asked Y/n bluntly.

Y/n scoffed and spluttered and eventually stuttered out, “well. How many times have you killed spiders at your place?”

“None,” Jason replied smoothly. “That’s my point.”

Captain Wayne interrupted the little spat by announcing, “alright, everyone. Listen up. We have a situation. Ten minutes ago, a prison van overturned on Nevins Street. It was carrying nine convicts who are now at large. It's our job to bring them in. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a manhunt.”

Y/n’s eyes widened and she gasped dramatically. “A manhunt!” She straightened her back and marched up and down the bullpen. “Okay, what I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse in the area!” Y/n cried out. “Your fugitive's name is Dr. Richard Kimble.”

“There must be some sort of error.” Wayne frowned and flipped through the file. “There are nine fugitives, and none of them are named Kimble.”

“I didn't kill my wife!” Y/n suddenly screamed out.

“What?” Jason reacted.

“You're supposed to go, ‘I don't care!’” Y/n mimicked, slapping Jason lightly on the arm.

“I don't care,” Jason repeated in a monotone voice.

“Let the manhunt begin,” Y/n grinned, raising a victorious fist.

Wayne rolled his eyes and led everyone into the briefing room. “Patrol officers have secured a ten-block perimeter,” he explained. “All civilians are being evacuated. Here's what the convicts were in for: arson, kidnapping, racketeering, assault and battery, forgery and counterfeiting, and triple homicide.” He clicked a button on the remote and pictures of nine men appeared on screen.

“Whoo!” Y/n raised her hand, looking for a high-five. Steph looked over at her best friend, aghast. “What?” Y/n shrugged. “I'm not excited about the murder. I'm excited about the chance to avenge them.”

“Cain, I want you here with me interviewing witnesses,” Wayne automatically ignored Y/n. “The rest of you will search the secured area in the following teams: Todd and Brown; L/n and Grayson. Get to work.”

“Okay. We'll start south of Nevins,” Jason instructed once the four detectives were all suited up. “You two start at Bond and we'll rendezvous in the middle, assuming, of course, Brown and I haven't already caught all the fugitives by the time you two show up.”

“Jason, there are nine hardened criminals running free in the streets,” Y/n said firmly, brows furrowed and arms crossed. “This is hardly the time for childish trash talk.” She paused and then added, “it's time for a bet.”

“What are you thinking?” Jason asked as if this was a normal thing in their relationship.

“Whoever catches the most fugitives gets to keep their apartment,” Y/n proposed, smirking.

Jason smirked back and held out his hand to shake. “Prepare to die, and by ‘die,’ I mean move in with me and marry me and have some beautiful children assuming that’s what you wish to do and either way I’m completely fine with your decision because I love you so much but I’m gonna win this bet.”

“Here we go,” Dick muttered, rolling his eyes as Y/n jumped into a police cruiser. He hopped in after her, barely having time to buckle his seatbelt before she floored the gas. Dick screamed out, “I get that the streets are empty, but slow down, man! I forgot my Dramamine.”

“Stakes are high, Sarge,” Y/n replied, screeching the wheel to the right. “Not only have I totally wanted to be able to go over the speed limit in a really cool car chase, but I also really wanna beat Jay.”

“Look, I am completely on board,” Dick said, clutching the grab handle and thinking that if his daughters ever turned out to be like Y/n, he would never take them to practise driving. “You need your own space. I had a little bar in my old apartment with all the best gin and vodka.” Dick smiled wistfully, thinking of his lovely hobby as a bartender. “But then I moved in with Kori. And then the kids came along.” His smile disappeared and he sucked in a breath through his teeth. “You wanna know where I have my bar now?

Dick shuffled around a closet and knocked over a shelf of expensive bottles. “My alcohol!” he screamed out.

“I am not gonna let you lose this bet,” Dick grumbled.

“Cool. So, basically just telling me not to get married and have kids…” Y/n side-eyed him awkwardly. “Anything from dispatch?” she asked after a moment.

Dick checked in and reported, “based on security footage, two fugitives ran North toward Shadowcrest. Looks like the arsonist and counterfeiter.”

“Fantastic,” Y/n grinned, the car revving underneath her.

Stepanie and Jason sat in a squad car, cruising down the streets as Steph reported, “Apparently, one of the fugitives is heading south on Lincoln Place. Also, why do we have a street named after Lincoln? He has a lot of stuff named after him. Why don’t we have a street named after Rutherford B. Hayes?!” She threw her hands up in the air while Jason wished he had more coffee. “He has a wicked name, helped civil service, and basically forged the nation back together after the Civil War! And, he has a super cool beard.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” Jason mumbled, white-knuckling the steering wheel. After a moment of silence, he awkwardly began, “so, I know you're Y/n’s best friend, and all…”

“Hell yeah I am,” Steph agreed, ripping into a protein bar. She was struggling with the wrapper.

“I know you really want her to win this bet,” Jason said, “but could you please–”

“Are you kidding?” The detective wrinkled her nose, cutting him off. “That's the last thing I want! Y/n/n moving in with you is my dream come true. Your apartment is only three blocks away from mine. She’ll be able to pop by any time.” She let out a loud gasp and Jason nearly swerved off the road. Thankfully, all the streets were empty. “Imagine it,” Steph painted a picture, “she’s been having a tough day. She’s fighting with Jason. You know how you bottle things up and act like a typical man. So, she just walks over to my place, brewskis in hand, and we just talk it out. Maybe watch some chick-flicks. Paint out toenails. Invite Cass over and clean our weapons. And by the time girl’s night has finished, you've come to your senses and apologised!”

She grinned at Jason who sighed, “maybe I don't want to win this bet.”

Wayne stood by Damian’s desk, briefing Cass. “We need to figure out whether this crash was an accident or part of a deliberate escape plan,” he said. “Damian, I need you manning the tip line.”

“No.”

“Okay. Cain, there are only two witnesses close enough to the crash to see something. One's on his way already.” Wayne flipped through some papers before presenting, “his name is Leonardo DiCaprio.”

Cass let out a small squeak of excitement, making Bruce raise a brow at the blatant show of emotion. “Leonardo DiCaprio?!” Cass clarified, “Leonardo DiCaprio the famous actor?”

Wayne shrugged and gestured to his notes. “I don't know his frivolous hobbies.”

“We're not getting anything out of him,” Cass declared, crossing her arms. “He doesn’t do many interviews. Admittedly, it could be because of his pedophilia, but you have to admit he tugged on everyone’s heartstrings with Titanic. Whatever the reason,” she explained, “you won’t be able to get anything out of him.”

“Well, it may be tough, and it may take a while, but I'm sure we'll get him to open up.”

“Sir,” Cass smirked, “with all respect, there are some vaults you just can't crack.”

A while later, the famed actor Leonardo DiCaprio sat in Wayne’s office and said bluntly, “I didn’t see anything. I was eating my quesadilla. It was a good one. Chicken, cheese, guac. But they forgot my pico de gallo. Have you ever wondered why they don't make quesadillas with sausage? Or, you could throw some tomato sauce in there and call it a pizza-dilla... What do you think?”

Cass stood there, a pained look on her face. “What is going on?” she grit out.

Leonardo DiCaprio kept talking. “Speaking of tomato sauce, a couple of nights ago, I spilled some on this really nice grey sweater I had while I was watching West Wing. You know, the show that Martin Sheen is in? I feel like no one talks about that show anymore! A total banger, you know. Honestly, with the way everything’s been going, I’d totally vote for President Bartlet right now. Or any of the other characters. Who’s your favourite character? Not a popular opinion, but I love Mrs. Landingham!”

Wayne held up a pleading hand, brows mashed together in pain. “Stop. Stop talking, Leonardo DiCaprio. Did you see anything after the van crashed?” Cass held her head in her hands, wanting to die.

“Nope. Like I told you, I was just eating my quesadilla. Have I talked to you guys about my pizza-dilla invention?”

“Yes, well,” Wayne cleared his throat and stepped towards the door. “I have other matters to attend to. So, Detective Cain, just take down everything Mr. DiCaprio has to say.”

“Captain…”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Y/n announced to the precinct, arms spread wide in victory and a victorious grin on her face. “Please welcome to the precinct… Escaped convict number one!” she sang out. After a small pause, she turned back to Dick who was struggling with the arsonist. “Dick! Where's the music? That was the cue.”

“I didn't have that ABBA song on my phone,” Dick said. “I wasn't gonna pay a dollar ninety-nine for it.”

“How the fuck do you not have every single ABBA song?”

“Nice work, man,” Cass gave Y/n a head nod of approval. “You can put your perp in holding with the other three convicts.”

“Wait. Other three?” Y/n asked.

“Todd and Brown brought them in,” Wayne entered the bullpen, a clipboard in hand.

Jason swung around in his chair, smirking gleefully. “That's right,” he praised himself. “It's three to one!” He held up a flyswatter that he had bought after using too many tissues and shoe soles to kill creepy crawlies at Y/n’s apartment. “Guess I won't be needing this anymore since you'll be moving in with me.”

“The sacred bug killer!” Y/n gasped. “The only thing you said doesn’t make them feel any pain so I don’t need to feel guilty about killing them!”

“Exactly,” Jason said as the other detectives shared a look of ‘how stupid are these two idiots and why do they love each other so much?’ Jason bent the flyswatter which should’ve, with the combined effort of poor manufacturing and Jason’s sheer strength, broken easily.

But it didn’t. Causing Y/n to shout out, “the bug killer lives and so do we! Albeit ironically! Woo!”

An old lady sat nervously at Cass’ desk as Wayne and the detective tried to cross the language barrier and communicate. “Excuse me, ma'am. I was wondering if you could answer some questions about the accident you witnessed this morning,” Wayne asked before the woman started speaking a rapid Slavic language.

Cass and Wayne exchanged a glance. “What’s she saying?” Wayne asked.

“The fuck should I know?”

Wayne shook his head with disapproval before sliding a map out of his jacket pocket. “All we have to do is figure out what language she's speaking so we can find a translator. Here, ma'am. Take a look at this map of the world.”

“You just keep one of those on you?” Cass raised her brows.

“Of course. In case I ever need to prove my point in an argument.” The captain turned back to the woman. “So, where are you from? Where did you grow up?” Wayne set the map down and began by cupping a hand up by his shoulder, his other hand making rhythmic pats midair. “Where were you born?” he enunciated.

After a moment of wondering what happened to her life, Cain asked, “what are you miming there, sir?”

“A parent burping a child,” Wayne said simply. “Something you have to do for months after an infant is born. See, you must do this after every feeding, your hand moving up and down the back. This clearly shows a babe, Cain. How clearer could I be?”

Jason and Steph barged into a small convenience store, guns drawn at a man in an orange jumpsuit. “GCPD! Get down!” Steph shouted out. “Freeze!”

The man instantly ran out the back door, knocking over a pile of toilet paper in the process. “This way,” Jason urged. “Come on.” The pair ran after the man only to find Dick cuffing the perp in the adjacent alleyway. “Oh, come on!” Jason grumped. “Where did you guys even come from?”

At that, a loud horn honed twice. The sound came from a large, obnoxious vehicle that had the GCPD logo plastered to the side of it. Y/n poked her head out of the driver’s window, grinning maniacally. “Your nightmares,” she said dramatically. The detective hopped out of the vehicle – which was bigger than a city bus. “Hey, Jay, allow me to introduce you to Big Bertha.” She patted the side of the bus. “Given the magnitude of the situation, we were given full access to any and all department resources.”

At that, Steph groaned, realising what her friend meant. “That's right, y'all!” Y/n crowed. “We went to Homeland Security!” Channelling Vanna White, Y/n showcased Big Bertha. “This beauty comes fully equipped with thermal imaging, a satellite link-up, and she plugs in to every surveillance camera in the city. She's also got a holding cell, which is big enough for three perps!”

Dick piped up, asking, “Y/n, counting this guy, how many perps have we caught and placed in the three-perp perp cell?”

“Well, Sarge, we've placed three perps in the three-perp perp cell,” Y/n replied.

“So, the three-perp perp cell's full?”

“Full of three perps is the three-perp perp cell!”

“Okay, stop saying ‘perps’ and ‘cell’ and ‘three!’” Jason demanded, whipping a hand through the air.

“You sound irritated,” Y/n pouted. “I wonder why. Would it be that, perchance, your darling girlfriend is now beating you by one?” She batted her eyes and gave Jason a coy smile as her and the sergeant climbed back into the bus and drove off.

Bruce Wayne, esteemed captain of the sixty-sixth precinct of Gotham City, was sitting in a chair opposite his Everest. Which was an old European woman. Wayne, Cass, and Tim sat in the break room, the latter with a glazed, coffee-induced look in his eyes. “What are you trying to tell us?” Bruce asked desperately, after the witness had repeated her phrase for the umpteenth time. The woman stood in front of a whiteboard. She drew a circle with numerous smaller circles in it. “Is this some kind of clue?” Wayne pleaded.

The woman repeated her Slavic phrase and Cass groaned. “Draw better!” she commanded. “We have no idea what this is.”

Tim stared at the whiteboard for a long time before mumbling out, “I think it's a cookie. Wait. No. It's a pizza.” He then gasped and slapped his hands to his cheeks with an epiphany. “It's a cookie pizza!”

He stood up, dusting his hands off. “Another case solved.” Marching out the break room, he commented, “really, capitan, I should be getting a raise for how good I am at this.”

“No. Detective,” Wayne stuttered. “We’re not–”

Cass shushed her superior. “Let him go,” she advised.

The old woman exclaimed something else in Slavic and waved the two officers out of the break room and through the bullpen.

“She's taking us somewhere,” Bruce exclaimed, hurriedly following his witness. “This is good. This is good. We're gonna crack this, Cain!”

The woman said something else in her native language, gesturing to Cass and Bruce. She then turned and entered the bathroom.

“Nope,” Cass pressed her lips together into a thin line. “She just needed to take a shit.”

Y/n sat in front of Big Bertha’s computer console. “Satellite images showed one of the two remaining convicts entering this building,” she told Dick who was standing behind her, eating a muffin. “If we catch him,” Y/n continued. “That's five. I win the bet. Jaybird moves in with me. I lord it over him forever. He's miserable. We live happily ever after!” she cheered. “It’s fool-proof!”

Dick shot her a confused look, but decided not to get involved in his detective’s love lives. “But that’s thirty floors of office space for the perp to be hiding,” Dick said.

Y/n typed some things onto the computer and said, “nuh-uh. We can use Big Bertha to tap into the security cameras.”

Soon later, Dick was in the building, gun drawn and bullet-proof vest strapped on. He moved throughout the rooms as Y/n concentrated on the computers inside Big Bertha. She manoeuvred a joystick that moved the security cameras around. Meanwhile, Dick entered a new room. Y/n spoke inside his earpiece, “Okay. This room is clear, but check that closet.” Dick stepped forward and Y/n chuckled. “This is like playing the coolest video game ever! My character is Richard Grayson.”

Dick interrupted her thoughts. “It’s locked,” he declared.

“Ooh, kick it down!” Y/n exclaimed. “Front kick! Front kick!” Dick sighed and did as she dictated. He signalled the all clear and moved onto the next room. Y/n paused and her brows furrowed as the cameras skipped a chunk of the building, leaving her in the blind. “Wait a minute, Sarge. I don't have eyes on that room.” After skipping through a couple more camera angles, her blood ran cold as she saw her sergeant being held by the criminal, a sharp razor to his throat.

“Shit,” she muttered. “Hold on, Grayson. I’m coming for you.”

“Drop the weapon,” Y/n commanded, gun drawn right at the perp’s heart. Unfortunately, the perp was using Dick as a human shield and Y/n struggled to get a clear shot.

“ You drop your weapon,” the criminal countered.

“Okay, hey, stay cool,” Y/n raised her hands. “We can work this out. I’m a trained hostage negotiator. I saved some hostages from my best-criminal-friend when he robbed a bank to save his daughter.”

“L/n!” Dick shouted out, struggling with the criminal to try and keep the blade away from his neck.

“Right. Sorry,” Y/n gritted out. “What do you want?” she asked the man.

“You let me walk out of this building and get into a car,” the perp began. “And if anyone tries to stop me…”

All of a sudden, Jason came out of nowhere and thwacked his baton at the criminal’s legs. The convict cried out, knees buckling and subsequently releasing Dick. Jason was quick to slap some handcuffs onto the man. “Got him,” Jason grunted. He flashed a grin towards his girlfriend and said cockily, “I think that makes it four to four.”

“No. No!” Y/n wagged a finger towards Jason. “You don't get credit for this guy! I was in the middle of negotiating, and he was about to give up... Tell him, guy,” she exclaimed.

The criminal shook his head. “No,” he shrugged. “I was probably gonna kill him, then let you kill me.”

Y/n’s expression dropped, lips parting with shock. “Holy fuck,” she muttered. “I should’ve been way more scared.”

Stephanie took the perp from Jason and began shoving him towards Big Bertha’s holding cell. Jason stepped towards Y/n, brushing a thumb over her cheek. He carefully lifted her chin up to meet his gaze. His eyes held an undeniable amount of love. “Well, there's just one convict left,” he murmured, leaning down to press a kiss against Y/n’s forehead.

With a much more calm and loving voice than the situation called for, Y/n replied softly, “may the best detective win.”

The old European woman finally exited the bathroom and when she saw Bruce and Cass still standing there, she huffed out a sigh. She gestured again for them to follow her, leading them out of the precinct doors. Stopping at a seemingly random place on the sidewalk, she pointed down and repeated her phrase.

The two officers looked down and realisation dawned on their faces. “The sewers,” Cass whispered out. “She saw a perp go into the sewers.”

“Her drawing,” Wayne connected the dots. “It wasn’t a cookie pizza. It was a manhole cover.”

They turned to each other and yelled out the woman’s catchphrase. The old woman slapped her hand on her forehead and said her words again, relief coming over her face.

Soon after, Bruce clicked on his walkie-talkie and called for, “L/n, Todd?”

“Yeah, we’re here,” Jason responded immediately.

“Us too, Captain,” Y/n agreed, not one to be forgotten or outdone.

“We have a lead,” Wayne announced. “One of our witnesses saw the last convict, Waylon Jones, the murderer, go down into a manhole and escape into the sewer near the crash site.”

“Copy that,” Jason said firmly. “We're on it.”

“Yeah, so are we,” Y/n added quickly. “We are also on it!” She turned the steering wheel of Big Bertha all the way to the right, but realised that the street was much too marrow. “Back it up a little bit,” she narrated as she threw the bus into reverse. A loud beeping filled Dick’s ears as Y/n was able to reverse the vehicle only a metre or two. “Forward,” Y/n muttered as she pushed Big Bertha forward again. “Back,” she reversed again. “Forward. Back. Forward. Back. Forward. Back. And we’re good to go!” she crowed, barrelling forward and knocking a city mailbox down in the process. “Oop. Almost clipped the mailbox. Heh. Close call.”

At that point, Dick wondered silently what he had done in a past life to deserve this.

In their respective teams, Dick, Y/n, Jason, and Steph all were in the Gotham sewers, each with their nose wrinkled up with disgust. “I can't believe Leonardo lived in this,” Y/n muttered to Dick. “I mean, Michelangelo I get. He's kinda a sloppy dude. But Leo is so fastidious.”

“Y/n, shut up,” Dick commanded.

“Sarge, we're in a sewer,” Y/n scoffed, smirking. “I'm gonna to talk about the Turtles.”

“No, Y/n,” Dick reiterated, “shut up. I hear something.”

The pair turned a corner and came face to face with Waylon Jones. “GCPD!” Y/n yelled out. “Freeze!”

Barely a second later, Jason and Steph came from the other tunnel and Jason shouted, “GCPD! Freeze!”

The lovers shot aghast looks at the other before turning back to Waylon Jones and rapidly reciting his Miranda Rights, “you have the right to remain silent! Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.” Y/n’s eyes flicked over to Jason. His jaw was tense and his muscles were taut as he held his gun. Even though his eyes were narrowed, Y/n knew of the window into his emotions that they were. The hands on his gun held her too, but with such care and softness. And his heart, that was surely beating quickly at the holdup of a convict, beat just for her. He had told her many times when they laid in bed together, his arm wrapped securely around her waist. Jason was a cuddly sleeper. It was one thing she loved about him. Another thing she loved was how his bed was pushed against a wall, furthest away from the door. And he had no intention of changing that. When she had complained once about having to crawl over him, he had shut her up with a swift kiss on the lips and the murmured confession that it was because he wanted to be able to protect her from anything that might barge through the door. The rest of her complaints were pushed aside that night when he showed her how much he loved her in his bed.

“You have the right to an attorney,” Jason continued. His gaze shot over to Y/n when he didn’t hear her honeyed voice along with his gruff one. “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you…” he trailed off. After a pause, he asked quietly, “why’d you stop?”

“I'm done,” she said simply. “You win.”

“W-what?” Jason stammered.

“I love you,” Y/n smiled up at him. “I wanna move into your apartment.”

“Really?” At Y/n’s confirming nod, Jason’s face broke into a grin. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her long and hard. “I love you too,” he muttered against her lips.

“Oh, my God, what a beautiful moment,” Steph beamed, interrupting the pair. “Too bad we’re in a sewer…”

Dick shoved Waylon Jones to the three-perp perp cell. “Alright, head to the back. You're going to jail.”

“Hey,” Jason came up and stood behind the driver’s seat where Y/n was guiding Big Bertha back to the precinct. “Why did you decide to let me win?” he asked softly.

“I don't know,” Y/n admitted. “When we were back there, racing through the Miranda Rights, I just looked over at you and thought, ‘you're awesome. And you're utterly fantastic at doing things.’”

“Are you sure about this?” Jason whispered. “I don’t want you to do this if you don’t want to. I want you to be happy.”

“Oh, yeah,” Y/n waved his concerns away. “Your apartment is better than mine in every way imaginable. You wanna know what my first thought was when we dropped into the sewer? ‘Smells like home.’”

“She's lying, Jason,” Dick called from the back. “Her first thought was about the Ninja Turtles.”

Jason scoffed and shot Dick an incredulous look. “Come on, Grayson. We were in a sewer. She's gonna think about the Turtles.”

“Yeah!” Y/n exclaimed, beaming at her boyfriend. “I'm gonna, Grayson!”

#title of your sex tape #jason todd x reader #jason todd #dc x reader #dcu #b99 #slow burn

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bitchesgetriches · 9 months ago

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We made the Burnout Workshop as affordable as possible. The obscene prices random influencers charge for AI-crafted horseshit is both professionally shocking and existentially terrifying to our frugal selves. Not in our workshop, friends. Like Gaston’s bare chest, every last inch of this is covered… with love. It represents hundreds of hours of our labor, including video editing from our amazing producer Ducky, who we take pride in paying a fair living wage for her efforts.

Big major super duper THANK YOU

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fortunaegloria · 2 years ago

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Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993) dir. Andrew Davis

#harrison ford #the fugitive #o fugitivo #movieedit #filmedit #mine #meus

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gtunesmiff · 2 months ago

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I love to teach structure, and Joe’s post on Wednesday brought up a tremendously important question. Someone in another writing forum wanted to know how you figure out where to end Act 2, and go into Act 3.

The question of where the act breaks go, and what they entail, may be the most crucial in all of dramatic structure, because if they are weak, the entire edifice of the story will be unsound. Knowing how to fix them will go a long way toward making your novel more readable.

Think of novel structure as a suspension bridge.

As is obvious from the picture above, the suspension bridge is held up primarily by the two supporting pylons, one near the beginning of the bridge and one near the end. Without these pylons in those exact spots, the bridge will not be stable.

Now looking at the picture you can see that it perfectly represents the 3 act structure. A solidly constructed novel will look just like a solidly constructed suspension bridge. If that first pylon is placed too far out from the beginning, the first “act” of the bridge will sag and sway. In a book or movie, it means the first act is starting to drag.

Similarly, if the second pylon is misplaced, you’ll end up either with anti-climax (the pylon too far away from the shore) or a feeling of deus ex machina (the pylon too close).

In my book, Plot & Structure, I refer to these pylons as “doorways of no return.” I wanted to convey the idea of being forced through doorways, and once that’s done, you can’t go back again. Life will never be the same for the Lead. If you don’t have that feeling in your story, the stakes aren’t high enough.

Now, the first doorway is an event that thrusts the Lead into the conflict of Act 2. It is not, and this is crucial, just a decision to go looking around in the “dark world” (to use mythic terms). That’s weak. That’s not being forced.

A good example of a first doorway is when Luke Skywalker’s aunt and uncle are murdered by the forces of the Empire in Star Wars. That compels Luke to leave his home planet and seek to become a Jedi, to fight the evil forces. If the murders didn’t happen, Luke would have stayed on his planet as a farmer. He had to be forced out.

In Gone With the Wind it’s the outbreak of the Civil War. Hard to miss that one. No one can go back again to the way things were. Scarlett O’Hara is going to be forced to deal with life in a way she never wanted or anticipated.

In The Wizard of Oz, it’s the twister (hint: if a movie changed from black and white to color, odds are you’ve passed through the first doorway of no return).

In The Fugitive, the first doorway is the train wreck that enables Richard Kimble to escape, a long sequence that ends at the 30 minute mark (perfect structure) and has U. S. Marshal Sam Gerard declaring, “Your fugitive’s name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him!”

The second doorway, the one that closes Act 2 and leads to Act 3, is a bit more malleable, but just as critical. It is a clue or discovery, or set-back or crisis, one which makes inevitable the final battle of Act 3. It is the doorway that makes an ending possible. Without this, the novel could go on forever (and some seem to for lack of this act break).

In The Fugitive, at the 90 minute mark (the right placement for a film of just over two hours), Kimble breaks into the one-armed man’s house and finds the key evidence linking him with the pharmaceutical company. This clue leads to the inevitable showdown with the “behind the scenes” villain.

In High Noon, the town marshal reaches the major crisis: he finally realizes no one in the town is going to help him fight the bad guys. That forces him into the final battle of Act 3, the showdown with the four killers.

By the way, this structure works for both “plot driven” and “character driven” stories. It’s just that the former is mainly about outside events, and the latter about the inner journey. But that’s beyond the scope of this post.

~ James Scott Bell || The Kill-Zone (blog) January 16, 2010

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kimberly40 · 1 year ago

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“The Fugitive”- Abandoned movie set in Sylva, North Carolina.

Lying abandoned in the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, fans of the 1993 film “The Fugitive” will recognize them as those used by Harrison Ford's character Dr. Richard Kimble when he escaped from a prison transport moments before it collided with the onrushing train.

The scene, which was filmed using a real train hitting a real bus, cost an eye-watering $1.5 million to shoot.

When filming was completed, The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad asked the film crew to leave the remnants behind for tourists and they have since become a popular tourist attraction.

The Great Smoky Mountains Railway is a great way to see a remote and beautiful corner of North Carolina. The journey includes two tunnels and 25 bridges, and The Fugitive Wreck. (Make sure you are booking the Tuckasegee River Excursion)

The Railroad offers a variety of scenic, round-trip excursions departing from Bryson City. Trips range from 3 ½ hours to a full day of fun and adventure.

#appalachian #appalachian mountains #north carolina #appalachian culture #western north carolina #appalachia #the south #nc mountains #movie set #abandoned #trains #harrison ford

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antonomasia09 · 8 months ago

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The name: Dr. Richard Kimble. The destination: Death Row State Prison. The irony: Richard Kimble is innocent. Proved guilty, what Richard Kimble could not prove was that, moments before discovering his murdered wife's body, he saw a one-armed man running from the vicinity of his home. Richard Kimble ponders his fate as he looks at the world for the last time, and sees only darkness. But in that darkness, fate moves its huge hand.

#the fugitive #the fugitive 1963 #richard kimble #philip gerard #david janssen #barry morse #mine

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scruffyplayssonic · 1 year ago

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Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 64-65: TwoMulti-part finale (part 2: Endgame parts 3 and 4)

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon!

…One year in and I’ve finally realised that re-stating the episode title when I’ve already used it in the blog post title really isn’t necessary. Well done, Matthew. 😛

If you haven’t checked out part 1 yet you may want to do so, as I talked about the first two chapters of Endgame there. All caught up? Cool, let’s move on to chapter 3 of Endgame in Sonic #49 then.

The issue opens right where #48 left off, with Sonic doing a Peter Pan right here off of this dam waterfall right here.

Rather than just going into the water like Dr. Richard Kimble did though, Sonic came up with a very… unique solution to his problem.

…okay. Sure. I guess that works? So Sonic ran to safety across a landing strip of... shoe grime... and safely faceplanted in the grass.

While that was going on, Robotnik was in full gloat mode with the Freedom Fighters as a captive audience. What evil deeds did he have planned? Well, he was sticking hard to the classic villain schtick of not killing all of them right now because he wanted them all to die when his ultimate weapon was ready. Oh, and the King was a fake.

Surprise! So where was the real king? Well, Snively had him. Why? What was he going to do with him? I ‘unno, Kenny P never bothered to tell us. But we did find out why Dr. Quack had been acting strangely - Snively had taken his family hostage and threatened to kill them if Quack didn’t cooperate.

He’s okay, the Combot was using his non-lethal bullets. 😛

Meanwhile Sonic had been making his way back to Knothole, but realised that even if he did get there in his exhausted state that he would likely just get arrested again. So he called a friend for help.

Well this is new. Dragons can sense the truth now? Okay, sure. Well that should have solved the problem, right? Dulcy could have just told Geoffrey what she knew, and Sonic would have been in the clear. Hook Sonic up to a dragon polygraph test if necessary.

Geoffrey: Did you hold a grudge against Princess Sally Acorn?

Sonic: No!

Dulcy: Bzzzzz!

Sonic: Alright, maybe I did. But I didn’t kill her!

Dulcy: Ding!

Fleming: Story checks out. Okay sir, you are free to go.

Sonic: Good, because I’ve got a hot date tonight.

Dulcy: Bzzzz!

Sonic: A date.

Dulcy: Bzzzz!

Sonic: Dinner with friend.

Dulcy: Bzzzz!

Sonic: Dinner alone.

Dulcy: Bzzzz!

Sonic: Watching TV alone.

Dulcy: Bzzzz!

Sonic: Alright! I’m going to stay at home and ogle the ladies in the Rouge’s Secret catalogue!

Dulcy: Bzzzz!

Sonic: … (sigh) Foofi’s catalogue.

Dulcy: Ding!

Sonic: Now would you unhook this thing already?! I don’t deserve this kind of shabby treatment!

Dulcy: Bzzzz!

If anyone outside of Aleah Baker and Puppy the N’Oni remember what a Foofi’s is, I will be very surprised. xD

But no, Sonic and Dulcy didn’t do that for some reason. Instead Sonic asked Dulcy to take him to the Floating Island. Even if Sonic didn't want to deal with Geoffrey, then why go there? Why not stick with his original plan to go back to Knothole? From a meta-angle I guess this made sense as Knothole was currently occupied by Robotnik’s forces, and hey, any excuse for Kenny P to bring Knuckles into the story, right? But Sonic didn’t know that Robotnik had taken over Knothole. Did Dulcy know? Possibly. It had happened at the same time as Sonic jumping off the waterfall, so would Dulcy have had time to find out about it before Sonic whistled her up? Actually now that I think about it, why hadn’t Dulcy been captured with the other Freedom Fighters?

…well instead of answering any of that, the story went back to Knothole. Here we finally found out Princess Sally’s real murderer was none other than Hershey, the nothingberg character who had been introduced as little more than a cameo in the same issue as Sally’s fatal fall. And if you don’t think that’s weird enough already, wait until you get a load of the explanation.

…wut.

Are you kidding me?!

Okay, I feel like I have to channel my inner CinemaSins here and go through everything wrong with this.

Oh come on, it was too good for me to NOT use.

First of all, Hershey is approximately the same height as Drago, who is a good head taller than Sonic. How was she supposed to convincingly fool anyone into believing she was Sonic? If you want to justify that by saying Antoine was the only one who properly saw her, and that was only through binoculars, then you still have to justify why Hershey was in Robotropolis that night anyway. Why was she there? Is she a commando? A spy? Does she have any kind of combat training? I’ll answer that for you now - no, she does not. While later issues would see Geoffrey recruit her to undergo training for his new secret service team, it was clear in that arc that she was a civilian who didn’t really seem to have any prior experience with that kind of thing. So how did Drago convince her that of all people, she had to be on top of that fortress in Robotropolis, wear a Sonic the Hedgehog costume, and send Snively to his death? On top of that, could he have talked her into murdering someone, even a high-ranking officer of the enemy army? None of the Freedom Fighters would have cut that rope, so what indication do we have that Hershey would have that kind of killer instinct?

…okay, fair point. That’s getting ahead of ourselves though. And okay fine, the lenses in the Sonic mask made her see everyone as Snively, sure. But then logically, if she’d been spying on Sonic and Sally, she should have seen two Snivelys grapple up to the top of Robotnik’s fortress, after which one Snively went into an air vent and the other Snively started climbing down the wall. Even if she hadn’t seen any of that, then shouldn’t Hershey have logically wondered what possible reason Snively would have to be climbing down the outer wall of his own master’s fortress? Did Drago tell Hershey that Snively was doing maintenance on the wall or something? They have robots for that! Even if Snively had been forced to go out there himself for some reason, he’d have never relied on something as flimsy and low-tech as a simple rope. He’d have a jetpack or a hover platform or something like that.

Even if you can find a bunch of excuses to justify why any of this made sense, the fact still remains that the writers introduced two brand new characters for this arc - Hershey and Drago - and didn’t really take the time to tell us anything about them, just to facilitate a plot twist where it looked like Sonic murdered Sally. You know who could have filled that role instead? Evil Sonic.

He’d impersonated Sonic and framed him for crimes before, so there’s no reason why Evil Sonic couldn’t have done it again. Instead of this elaborate thing with Drago and Hershey, Robotnik could have gone to Anti-Mobius and recruited Evil Sonic to cut Sally’s rope. Maybe even have him infiltrate Knothole when the real Sonic was out, to spy on the other Freedom Fighters and learn their plans. It would have been a lot easier and made a hell of a lot more sense than this nonsense. I mean really, what do we know about these two characters? We know Drago is a member of the Wolf Pack and that Lupe was suspicious of him because he had a habit of disappearing without checking in. But that’s about it - we don’t know jack about what drove him to work for Robotnik or anything like that. And we know even less about Hershey - just that she’s some person who lives in Knothole and is Drago’s girlfriend somehow, despite the fact that the Wolfpack doesn’t seem to have had much contact with the residents of Knothole prior to issue #46. This is a prime example of Ken Penders introducing completely unnecessary characters when there were others already established that would have worked just as well.

Anyway, let’s get back to the story otherwise I’ll be ranting about this all bloody night. Across the planet, Bunnie and Antoine had arrived at a prison camp in the Downunda crater and were locked up with two of the local freedom fighters introduced in Tails’ mini series, Walt Wallabee and Barby Koala. They clearly weren’t doing very well, as they had been roughed up quite a bit and reacted with complete terror when their jailer, Crocbot showed up to introduce himself to Bunnie and Antoine. Crocbot, you may remember, had been defeated in the Tails mini-series when he had been knocked into the crater in his nuclear tank, which had then exploded. But it turned out that Crocbot hadn’t been entirely destroyed by this and had eventually managed to build himself a new body. He’d also managed to salvage enough materials and robot soldiers from the destroyed supply blimp Robotnik had sent him to be able to amass a force large enough to ambush and capture the Downunda Freedom Fighters.

Wow. An exposition dump is one thing, but if it’s taking up entire panels then you’ve got a problem there.

Except for when it’s done for comedic purposes, of course.

This issue ended with Sonic and Dulcy arriving on the Floating Island and, as usual, being attacked by Knuckles without any warning. Never mind that the last time the Freedom Fighters were here they parted on good terms with him - if you come to his island unannounced, Knuckles is going to deck you no matter who you are.

Dulcy was knocked out and Sonic and Knuckles went at it, but were interrupted by an explosive arrow fired by Geoffrey St. John, parachuting in from above and demanding Knuckles let him take down Sonic himself.

I don’t really have a lot of nice things to say about this issue. I’m not a fan of Sam Maxwell’s art in ArchieSonic, and there’s a lot of holes in the plot. Let’s just move on to the final act, Sonic #50.

That is a really cool cover, I’ll give them that. And another cool thing about this issue is that it is a major collaborative effort between the entire ArchieSonic team - I think pretty much everyone who had written or done art for the series up to this point got to contribute to this issue.

The story opened with Robotnik exploring the depths of his memories while asleep. Many years ago, Julian Kintobor committed an (at the time) undefined crime against his people, and was hunted down by them. He managed to escape and was found by two young hedgehogs - Sonic’s dad and Uncle Chuck.

They took him to King Max, who named him warlord and asked him to lead their army into battle against the Overlanders in the Great War.

So this is interesting enough, but it kind of comes out of nowhere. What did Robotnik do to become wanted by his own people? And why was Mobotropolis at war with the Overlanders anyway? Why are Bean, Bark and Astal there? Why does Robotnik sleep in that weird stasis tube? Some of these things would be answered in later issues, but for now the story went back to Geoffrey once again trying to capture Sonic.

When Geoffrey told Knuckles that Sonic was wanted for Sally’s murder, Knuckles was absolutely enraged by this and tried to kill Sonic extra hard. Sonic was able to fight Geoffrey and Knuckles off for a little while but quickly got nabbed by an invisible Espio. Fortunately at that point Dulcy regained consciousness and was able to convince everyone that Sonic had been framed.

So now not only can dragons sense the truth, but they are also physically incapable of lying? And this is well known enough that even Knuckles, who lives alone on a giant rock in the sky, knows about this? Once again I have to ask - why didn't Sonic and Dulcy just confront Geoffrey with this in the previous issue and save everyone some time and drama? There was no need to go and involve the world's angriest introvert in any of this!

Dragons cannot tell lies and can sense the truth. Geeze. I kinda feel like the writers were pulling this stuff out of their butts at this point. It’d be like suddenly saying that echidnas are so big-brained that nature has to slap them in the face and put the whammy on them the instant they meet a compatible partner, otherwise they’d spend their entire lives science-ing rather than making babies. Good thing that never happened, right?

>.>

<.<

Anyway! Back in Knothole, Tails and Rotor managed to slip away unnoticed and tried to escape in their water vehicles, only to find that Drago was already waiting for them.

Well shoot, so much for that. But why were the citizens of Knothole being rounded up for roboticisation? In the previous issue Robotnik specifically said that he wanted to wait and wipe them all out with his secret weapon. Speaking of, back in Robotropolis, Robotnik was calling the prison camp in Downunda to get an update on the ore he needed for his Ultimate Annihilator. Crocobot was dealing with an uprising at the time but assured Robotnik that his ore was on its way. An uprising, you say? Sounds like the Downunda Freedom Fighters had been able to escape, but what about Antoine and Bunnie? We’ll get back to that.

Tails and Rotor were facing imminent roboticisation until Sonic, Geoffrey and Knuckles came soaring in from above to save the day. Working together they destroyed the Swatbots and freed the prisoners, and then Sonic announced his desire to take down Drago, who made a break for it.

…how did Sonic know that Drago was a traitor? Geoffrey couldn’t have told him, he didn’t know either. Did Sonic spot Drago working with the Swatbots from above as they were parachuting down? Did Tails or Rotor tell him off page while they were freeing prisoners? Buggered if I know. I guess it doesn’t matter that much though. Drago didn’t make it very far (further than you’d expect with Sonic the Hedgehog chasing him though) before he got beaned in the head by a rock thrown by Hershey and knocked unconscious.

…yeah, that fake Sonic plan is still ridiculous. But it was nice to see Drago get his comeuppance, and Hershey get to redeem herself and have the satisfaction of bashing his brains in.

Sonic decided he was going to storm Robotropolis alone, but Robotnik was unconcerned, confident that he was ready for him.

Heh okay, that was a pretty good line. xD

So it turned out that Sonic wasn’t the only Freedom Fighter in Robotropolis after all - Bunnie and Antoine had also arrived, hiding in the rafters and planning to sabotage Robotnik's plan. It seems weird to me that they were able to get back so quickly from the other side of the world - seriously, have you ever flown from Australia to North America? I have. A lot. It takes FOREVER. And then you have to allow for layovers and going through Customs and all that stuff and it’s really all such a hassle…

…where was I?

Oh right, the comic. In fairness, Robotnik was waiting for the ore to be delivered to him from Downunda before he could make his next move, so I guess you could justify this by saying the plot was waiting for Antoine and Bunnie to arrive. 😛

Sonic mostly made it past the outer defences but got… tangled in robot parts? I guess? I never really understood what happened there, and the director's cut doesn’t really make it much clearer either (but more on that later). Snively showed up in a jetpack (See? I told you he’d have a jetpack rather than climb down the side of the building with a rope!) to confront Sonic but was dispatched easily, after which Sonic literally ran into Bunnie and Antoine.

They explained their plan to sabotage the Ultimate Annihilator with a bomb they’d conveniently found, but Sonic still wanted to kick Robotnik's generously proportioned butt himself. Unfortunately Sonic wasn’t fast enough to stop Robotnik activating the Ultimate Annihilator, wiping Knothole off the face of the earth. Planet. Mobius. Whatever.

This was followed by several pages of absolutely amazing art of Sonic and Robotnik in their final duel by the legendary Patrick Spaziante.

But how was Robotnik fast enough to punch Sonic in the face, you ask? Well his explanation was that, “This relatively confined space prevents you from making optimum use of your speed.” A bit of an asspull if you ask me, but I’ll allow it because Spaziante’s art is just that good.

Sonic and Robotnik were so busy fighting that they barely even noticed the Ultimate Annihilator being destroyed, taking them with it. But Sonic got better. This is another thing that never really got explained, but chances are it was due to the protective aura he got after grabbing his billionth power ring in issue #35. It was a plot point that had come up several times, so perhaps the writers didn’t feel it needed to be explained again.

Sonic eventually woke up back in Knothole, stunned to find out that instead of being vaporised, the village had been warped into a pocket dimension that existed three hours in the future. …why three hours in the future? Isn’t “pocket dimension” enough by itself? How does that even work? So let’s say it’s 4 pm in Knothole, but as soon as you leave Knothole’s boundaries it’s suddenly 1 pm? Does the sun just shwoop back across the sky three hours when you leave Knothole? Is there any point to this at all? God, it’s almost as confusing as Australia’s policies on Daylight Savings time.

Dr. Quack then filled Sonic in on everything that had happened. One issue I talked about a long time ago was Sonic #43, where Sonic had gone inside King Acorn’s mind and visited his memories in an effort to try and wake him from his coma and stop the crystallisation process. Well it turned out that when that happened, Robotnik had noticed the signal from Dr. Quack’s dream watcher thingy and been able to trace it to finally find Knothole. Dr Quack’s family had been kidnapped and he’d been forced to do Robotnik’s bidding, which included working on his Ultimate Annihilator.

I have a few things to say about this wacky doomsday weapon, but I’ll save them for my next post. I agree with Sonic - what about Sally? Well it turned out that she actually survived her fall and Dr. Quack was able to fake her death. He’d placed her in a stasis tube that was disguised to look like a memorial, where she had been in a coma ever since.

Sonic revived her with true love’s kiss, and there was a fancy full page epilogue.

#50 was a big event issue, but despite featuring so many contributing artists and writers, victory for the Freedom Fighters, and the death of Dr. Robotnik, I don’t think it’s the strongest issue of the Endgame arc. I personally think that award goes to the first chapter, issue #46, but that’s just me. Don't get me wrong, seeing Sonic be vindicated and the big fight with Robotnik was cool and all, but Snively’s sabotage of the Ultimate Annihilator made Sonic’s role in this story largely redundant. Think about it - aside from liberating Knothole and waking up Sally, did Sonic actually accomplish anything in this issue? He didn’t save Knothole from being wiped out via space laser or actually defeat Robotnik himself - those were both done by Snively.

The end of issue #50 did introduce us to an interesting question though - what does a world without Robotnik look like for Sonic the Hedgehog? Over the next two years, Snively, Mammoth Mogul and the newly introduced Ixis Naugus (repurposed from SatAM) all attempted to fill in the role of primary villain. There was also a mysterious figure in the shadows who was slowly building up his resources and causing distractions until he was ready to make his move (spoiler alert - it was another Robotnik). Knuckles also got off the ground with his own ongoing monthly comic around this time, and that resulted in the introduction of his own rogues’ gallery. It was an interesting time despite there not being any Robotnik around, even having occasional crossover events that allowed more interactions between Sonic and Knuckles’ casts.

Normally I would end my review here, but the Endgame story doesn’t end with just issue #50. The following year after issue #50’s publication, a “director’s cut” edition of Sonic #50 was released in Sonic Super Special #6. I’ll be covering that one in my next post, so stay tuned!

#archiesonic syndicated

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ljones41 · 1 year ago

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"THE FUGITIVE" (1993) Review

During a period between the late 1980s and the 2000s, Hollywood released a good number of film adaptations of successful or not-so-successful television shows. This is ironic, considering the television industry tend to do the opposite. One of those film adaptations of TV shows happened to be the 1993 action thriller, "THE FUGITIVE".

Based on the ABC 1963-1967 television series that starred David Janssen, "THE FUGITIVE" told the story of prominent Chicago vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble, who is accused and convicted of murdering his wealthy wife. The movie began with Kimble arriving home from a fund-raising event and later, a surgery, to find his wife murdered. He then struggled with her killer, a one-arm man who yet to make his escape. Despite his efforts to inform the Chicago Police about the one-arm man, the latter charged Kimble with his wife's murder. Following his conviction and death sentence, Kimble found himself being transported to prison on a bus. A few of Kimble's fellow prisoners attempted an escape. In the pandemonium, two prisoners and the driver were killed; and the bus rolled down a ravine and into the path of an oncoming train. Kimble saved a guard, escaped the on-coming collision, and fled as the train derailed. Hours later, U.S. Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard and his colleagues arrived at the crash site and launched a massive manhunt that started in the Illinois countryside ended up back in Chicago. Upon his arrival in the city, Kimble started his own manhunt for his wife's one-arm killer.

I have never seen the 1963-1967 series that starred David Janssen. But I have heard and read so much about it over the years. I am aware of a few differences between the series and the movie. Whereas the latter began with Helen Kimble's death, the television series began with Kimble already on the run for six months. Sam Gerard was a U.S. Marshal in the film. Philip Gerard was a local police detective, obsessed with finding Kimble. Which made me wonder how he was able to track Kimble all over the country for four years without losing his job. The television series featured members of both Kimble and Gerard's families, whereas the movie only featured the pair's colleagues - past and present. And so on.

After years of watching movies, I came to the realization that I have never seen a perfect movie. "THE FUGITIVE" was certainly not one. As much as I like the Richard Kimble character, there were times when he came off as a little too ideal for my taste. He came dangerously close to being a Gary Stu - especially in those scenes featuring Gerard and his team's interrogations of Kimble's old medical colleagues. How can I put this? The Richard Kimble character struck me as so ideal that in the end, he did not really develop as a character. How could he? He seemed so perfect from beginning to the end. Unlike his television counterpart, the cinematic Kimble was also blessed with a happy marriage before her death. Kimble's counterpart was the U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard. Unlike Kimble, Gerard proved to be a more complex character who possessed a ruthless streak that bordered on brutality sometimes. Especially when it came to the welfare of the deputy marshals assigned to his team. He also possessed a sharp wit that blended with sarcasm. But like Kimble, Gerard also possessed an unrelenting steak that leads him to maintain focused on his goal. And like Kimble, Gerard never really developed as a character. Now many might find my last observation hard to swallow, considering that Gerard realized that Kimble was an innocent man. So what if Gerard had finally realized that Kimble was innocent? He was never the investigator for the Kimble case in the first place. Gerard's task was to simply hunt down Kimble, who was a fugitive of the law, and return him to jail. Which he did in the end. Only he learned that Kimble was an innocent man along the way. But this discovery did not change or develop his character. After all, it was up to the Chicago Police to realize Kimble was innocent. Yet, the two original police investigators had refused to acknowledge Kimble's innocence and their mistake right up to the bitter end.

Also, a part of me wondered whether Richard Kimble or his wife Helen had relatives in Chicago. My one last complaint about "THE FUGITIVE" centered around at least two action sequences. One involved the collision between the prison bus conveying Kimble and a freight train. I was amazed that so many of the occupants inside that bus managed to survive, especially Kimble who had lingered inside longer to care for a wounded prison guard. The other action sequence that left me scratching my head was Kimble's swan dive from a dam spillover. Perhaps it was plausible for him to survive such a dive. Unfortunately, I cannot see that happening . . . even to this day. I wish that screenwriters Jeb Stuart and David Twohy, along with Andrew Davies, had used another way for Kimble to evade Gerard. Something a bit more plausible.

For a movie based on an old television series from the 1960s, "THE FUGITIVE" proved to be first-rate. That is correct. I enjoyed this film very much. In fact, I more than enjoyed it. I thought Stuart, Twohy and Davies had created a very satisfying movie filled with top-notch action, a solid mystery involving the killer's identity, intelligence and deep emotion.

Although I believed the sequences featuring the prison bus/train collision and Kimble's leap from a dam spillover bordered on the implausibility, I certainly had no problems with the film's other action sequences. In fact, I especially enjoyed three in particular - the chase sequence through downtown Chicago on St. Patrick's Day, Kimble's encounter with the one-arm man aboard a Chicago El-train and especially the final sequence that featured both Kimble and Gerard's confrontation with the real culprit behind Helen Kimble's murder. Andrew Davis did a great job in directing these sequences, filling them with breathless tension.

The 1960s television series had mainly focused on Kimble evading the police and finding the one-arm man's whereabouts. I had no problems with this. Once the cinematic Kimble had made his way back to Chicago, he started off doing the same. But thanks to screenwriters Jeb Stuart and David Twohy, the film featured an additional twist that allowed the one-armed killer to be a part of a bigger conspiracy involving a pharmaceutical company and new drug called Provasic that Kimble had failed to approve, because it caused liver damage. During Kimble's search for the one-armed man and his investigation of the mystery behind his false conviction, I felt pleased that the movie also delved into his continuing grief over his wife's death via flashbacks. These brief moments reminded audiences that Kimble was more than an action man trying to prove his innocence. He was a man still grieving over the death of his wife. Another aspect of "THE FUGITIVE" was its portrayal of Tommy Lee Jones and his team of U.S. Marshals. Unlike the ABC series, which almost portrayed the Philip Gerard character as a modern version of Inspector Javert of "LES MISERABLES" in Les Misérables - relentless and obsessive in pursuit of his prey; U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard seemed to lack the obsession of his television and literary counterparts. Which I personally found refreshing. Well, Gerard is relentless in this film, but only in a cool and professional manner. And thanks to Stuart and Twohy's screenplay, along with Tommy Lee Jones' performance, Gerard conducted his assignment with a dry and sarcastic wit.

I might as well discuss the cast's performances. What can I say? There did not seemed to be a false step among any of them. The movie boasted some first-rate supporting performances from the likes of Ron Dean, Joseph Kosala, Nick Searcy, Eddie Bo Smith, Dick Cusack, David Darlow, Kirsten Nelson, Neil Flynn, Andy Romano and Richard Riehle. This movie marked the first time I saw Julianne Moore in any motion picture, and I thought she gave a sharp performance as a hospital physician nearly overwhelmed by a crisis. Both Jane Lynch and John M. Watson Sr. seemed equally sharp as two of Kimble's colleagues and closest friends. In her few scenes, Sela Ward radiated warmth and wit as Kimble's loving wife and murder victim, Helen Kimble. It seemed a pity that she was not featured in more scenes. Andreas Katsulas gave an intelligent, yet sinister performance as Fredrick Sykes aka the One-Arm Man and Helen Kimble's killer. Jeroen Krabbé portrayed another one of Kimble's friends and colleagues, Dr. Charles Nichols, who also believed in the former's innocence. Krabbé injected a "proud father" aura in his performance, as he needled the U.S. Marshals for their failure to capture Kimble and come to the realization of the latter's innocence. I found this aspect of Krabbé's performance very subtle and very entertaining. For me, one of the most entertaining aspects of "THE FUGITIVE" proved to be those who portrayed the deputy marshals who formed Gerard's team. I am referring to L. Scott Caldwell, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Wood, Johnny Lee Davenport and especially Joe Pantoliano. Not only did I enjoy the wit and humor that permeated their interactions with each other, but I also enjoyed their interactions with Tommy Lee Jones' Gerard. In fact, Jones and Pantoliano's scenes proved to be so funny that it seemed as if they had created some kind of comedy team.

I realized I had been a little critical of the Dr. Richard Kimble and U.S. Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard characters. And I stand by my criticism. But I cannot do the same about the two actors that portrayed them. I believe Harrison Ford gave one of his career best performances as the beleaguered surgeon who found himself convicted of murdering his wife. Ford did an excellent job of conveying not only Kimble's grief over his wife's death, but also his desperation to evade the police and U.S. marshals searching for him, and the character's intelligence, while he investigates the one-arm man and the latter's motive behind Helen's death. Sam Gerard seemed like a different kettle of fish in compared to Richard Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of the colorful lawman proved to be one of the film's highlights. Jones managed to infuse a great deal of energy into Gerard's determined search for Kimble, without transforming the character into a copycat of the Javert character from "Les Misérables". Jones' Gerard is a tough and no-nonsense man who would ruthlessly defend members of his team and his slightly extreme form of law enforcement. I am not surprised that Jones managed to snag both acting nominations and awards for his portrayal of Gerard. However, I am astounded that Ford was never nominated.

One can tell how good a movie after so many years had passed. Twenty-nine years have passed since the release of "THE FUGITIVE". It might have a few flaws, but I believe it still holds up after so long. I also believe the movie proved to be just as superb as the 1960s television series it was based on. One can thank Andrew Davis for his energetic and intelligent direction, Jeb Stuart and David Twohy's excellent screenplay; and the superb cast led by Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

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