{"id":5718,"date":"2021-09-18T08:54:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-18T12:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5718"},"modified":"2023-03-26T20:17:35","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T00:17:35","slug":"tommy-lee-jones-doesnt-bargain-or-negotiate-in-the-fugitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/tommy-lee-jones-doesnt-bargain-or-negotiate-in-the-fugitive\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy Lee Jones doesn’t bargain or negotiate in The Fugitive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2b50<\/span>\u2b50<\/span>\u2b50<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span>\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span>\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span>\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span>\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\n\n\t\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/span>Rating: 3 out of 5.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n

Everyone remembers Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive<\/em> for Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones’ chemistry (despite rarely sharing the screen) and its iconic action pieces (especially the train and dam sequences). But all of this must hang upon a plot framework, and the lopsided movie’s momentum dissipates as it gets bogged down in the details. The first half is so singularly focused on thrills, that it fails to set up the unexciting pharmaceutical company corruption details introduced too late in the game. For a movie like this, the conspiracy should be as interesting as the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also hard to overlook the fact that the Marshal’s (Jones) most defining character trait, that the audience is clearly expected to admire, is that he proudly does not bargain or negotiate. Faced with a hostage situation involving a person of color, his solution is to summarily execute. I suppose this is to raise the stakes for the titular fugitive — you’ll be shot dead before you’re arrested — but even to early ’90s audiences, it’s impossible to imagine a U.S. Marshal treating an affluent white felon the same way as a poor black felon. Seems awkward now that this role earned Jones an Academy Award and a sequel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone remembers Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive for Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones’ chemistry (despite rarely sharing the screen) and its iconic action pieces (especially the train and dam sequences). But all of this must hang upon a plot framework, and the lopsided movie’s momentum dissipates as it gets bogged down in the details. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[1947,1948,1102,1221],"class_list":["post-5718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-1947","tag-andrew-davis","tag-harrison-ford","tag-tommy-lee-jones"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/fugitive.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1ue","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5769,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/william-friedkins-the-hunted\/","url_meta":{"origin":5718,"position":0},"title":"William Friedkin’s The Hunted is solid but unsatisfying","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"September 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"After watching too many sloppily-made thrillers filling up space on Netflix (including Mercury Rising, Double Jeopardy, and Along Came a Spider), it's a relief the my next choice, The Hunted, is so solidly made. You really can't expect anything less from William Friedkin. So why is it so unsatisfying? First,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones in The Hunted","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunted.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunted.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunted.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunted.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunted.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5772,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/double-jeopardy-is-one-rewrite-away-from-working\/","url_meta":{"origin":5718,"position":1},"title":"Double Jeopardy was one rewrite away from being a thrilling thriller","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Not to imply that screenwriting and revision are easy, but Bruce Beresford's Double Jeopardy is only one rewrite away from being a decent action thriller. The elevator pitch is obvious enough (The Fugitive... but with a lady!), but it truly does have a killer hook: jilted woman \u2013 framed for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd in Double Jeopardy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/double-jeopardy.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5683,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/brad-pitt-works-out-his-daddy-issues-in-space-in-ad-astra\/","url_meta":{"origin":5718,"position":2},"title":"Brad Pitt works out his daddy issues in space, in Ad Astra","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe this isn't fair, but I couldn't help but associate Ad Astra with Joker. If Joker is a shallow remix of Taxi Driver and King of Comedy, Ad Astra is a bland smoothie of Solaris and Apocalypse Now, with a cavalcade of stars you may remember from Space Cowboys and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Brad Pitt in Ad Astra","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ad-astra.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ad-astra.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ad-astra.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ad-astra.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ad-astra.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":306,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-three-burials-of-melquiades-estrada\/","url_meta":{"origin":5718,"position":3},"title":"Tommy Lee Jones’ almost unbearably gruesome The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada joins Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man as one of my few highly-rated westerns. Like Dead Man, its tone meanders from the darkly comic to the melodramatic, and is at times almost unwatchably gruesome. Which does nothing to explain why I liked it,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":755,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/in-the-valley-of-elah\/","url_meta":{"origin":5718,"position":4},"title":"David vs. Goliath in Paul Haggis’ In the Valley of Elah","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In the Valley of Elah is a dark story about the psychological damage of war, certainly not a recipe for an entertaining night at the movies. This blogger will cop to finding it difficult to work up the enthusiasm to sit down for a movie on such a troubling topic,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/in-the-valley-of-elah-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/in-the-valley-of-elah-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/in-the-valley-of-elah-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/in-the-valley-of-elah-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/in-the-valley-of-elah-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":873,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/indiana-jones-last-crusade\/","url_meta":{"origin":5718,"position":5},"title":"Indiana Jones returns to form in The Last Crusade","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In order to catch up on the overwhelming backlog of movies I intend to cover here on this blog, this blogger is going to keep it brief with a few disconnected thoughts: Re-watching the original trilogy as an adult is an interesting experience; even the first time around as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/indiana-jones-last-crusade-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/indiana-jones-last-crusade-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/indiana-jones-last-crusade-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/indiana-jones-last-crusade-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/indiana-jones-last-crusade-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8299,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5718\/revisions\/8299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}