My Life in Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: The Fugitive, 1993

For 1993, I have selected one of the truly greatest thrillers of all time. I feel like I say that a lot, but in this case it is definitely true. Rationally, a film based on an old TV show shouldn't be this good, but it is.

The Fugitive is the story of Richard Kimble, an escaped fugitive, jailed for the murder of his wife, which he didn't commit. It's equally the story of U.S. Marshal, Deputy Sam Gerard, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who won an Oscar for this performance and is also a fellow San Antonio Spurs fan. You may not feel like you needed to know that, but I dare you to find a Lakers fan who would have done a better job. The supporting cast is rounded out by Sela Ward, Samuel L. Jackson's wife, G'Kar from Babylon 5, Ralph Cifaretto and Sue Sylvester.


Anyway, this movie is all about the chase and I've always found the dynamic interesting because while Kimble is clever and heroic, Gerard definitely gets the best lines in the film. Even though he's chasing our hero, he's not a baddie, he's just a man with a job to do. The difference between a man on a mission and a man with a job to do is at the crux of the argument of the film, as exemplified in this scene following a great chase sequence through a dam.


The film also makes excellent use of the city of Chicago. You really feel like Kimble's lost in it and it adds a lot of atmosphere to what otherwise might take place in any city. The chase in the subway, the cop atmosphere, the scene in the prison. Note the excellent St. Patrick's Day parade sequence, a last minute addition to the shoot.


It's about as perfect a film as you can get, all about the cat and mouse game being played by Kimble and Gerard. They're opposing forces headed towards each other and you just wonder how it's all going to turn out. It is one perfect chase after another and what's great is you don't feel like it's just another chase sequence and there's a story, not just running. Great action and great characters and a great story. And again, Sam Gerard has the best lines ever. Basically, everything he says during the course of the film.

I know I picked The Fugitive, but I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't show you Charlton Heston in Wayne's World 2.


Comments on The Fugitive, your favorite Sam Gerard lines? Well, that would be what the comments section is for.

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes:1992 Got Complicated: Patriot Games & Wayne's World

So, there has been a delay for which I apologize. You see, the year 1992 happened and it has been the most difficult year thus far. This year contains four personal favorites: Patriot Games, Wayne's World, The Last of the Mohicans and The Bodyguard, which I am a little ashamed to admit to. Okay, so that one was out. Then I pared away The Last of the Mohicans. Then I was still left with Patriot Games and Wayne's World.


So, Patriot Games is once again the story of Jack Ryan, this time played by Harrison Ford. He's on vacation in London when he thwarts an assassination attempt on the life of a member of the royal family led by Sean Bean and Polly Walker, more commonly known as Atia of the Julii from Rome. Other people miss Rome, right? It's not just me? Anyway, Harrison kills Sean's brother in the process and Sean decides to take revenge following him back to America.

Here is in my mind one of the greatest scenes in Patriot Games as Jack Ryan watches the operation he instigated carried out via satellite. Sorry about the quality.


I mean, this is the movie where I learned not to trust Sean Bean and so far that's paid off. In GoldenEye, in Lord of the Rings, I hear on Game of Thrones he may not be evil, but he's dead or something? I don't have HBO right now. It also features the stellar supporting cast with James Earl Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Anne Archer and Richard Harris. Also, the final sequence is just great and tense and everything. It is everything an action film and a thriller should be.

Wayne's World is of course, the film based on the long running SNL sketch with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, where they play Wayne and Garth and pursue their dream of getting to host their cable access show for money. It of course features the iconic scene featuring Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody:


I mean, how can you not be happy after that? I love everything about this movie, the way Wayne and Garth talk to the camera, Tia Carrere's cover of Ballroom Blitz, Ed O'Neill's crazy doughnut store manager, the way Wayne and Garth react when they meet Alice Cooper, Alice Cooper lecturing on the history of Milwaukee...


The three endings. The way the guy in the guitar shop tells Wayne "No Stairway." Robe Lowe's entire part. It's a film that doesn't fire for any particular reason, but manages to fire on all cylinders, it doesn't really have a dull part in it.

So, here we are, 1992 and I can't pick a film. So, Patriot Games or Wayne's World? Your opinions, please.

Again, am I the only one who misses Rome and especially Atia?

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: Working Girl, 1988

You know, some of these years are much harder to do than others. Apparently in 1988, there was Big, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Coming to America and the film that I've selected. It was difficult. Anyway, this movie stars Melanie Griffith and may surprise you in that it doesn't suck. I think the problem is that Melanie Griffith has been trying to play this same role every other time in her career and it doesn't work. Case in point: Shining Through. Take her character in this movie add Nazis and you've got Shining Through. Speaking of which, why is Liam Neeson a Nazi in that movie? I know that Schindler's List was after that, so they couldn't have seen it coming but it's still disturbing. I just don't want to see Liam Neeson as a Nazi, I watched that whole movie bothered that I still liked him.

Okay, on to the task at hand. Working Girl, directed by Mike Nichols, is the story of Tess McGill, a working class girl from Long Island with aspirations in finance. She finds these ambitions to be stifled by the lack of an Ivy League/blue blood pedigree. She feels like her life is turning around when she becomes the secretary to Katherine Parker. I love this part of the film because it plays on knowing someone who you hate/want to be. Tess brings her an idea for a deal and Katherine promises to use it to help her. Then Katherine gets in a ski accident and things change. Tess finds out Katherine intended to steal her idea, so Tess decides to take matters into her own hands and sets up a meeting with Jack Traynor played by Harrison Ford. Before that, she has an unfortunate incident with prescription meds and Tequila, which makes the business part of this awkward. So, Tess starts moving in business circles and pursuing a relationship with Jack, because you know, he's Harrison Ford before he started dating Calista Flockhart. Oh, also, Katherine thinks she's pretty much engaged to Jack. There are issues, which all come together nicely upon Katherine's return where Tess is able to show her for the fraud she is. The important part is really the ride along the way as Tess struggles with her identity: that of a secretary or a serious business lady. That theme is summed up in this one clip from Tess' best friend.

Okay, the best parts of this movie: the stellar cast, containing basically everyone. You've got Joan Cusack as Tess' best friend, Alec Baldwin as her boyfriend, an Irish guy from Long Island (Hey, wait a minute...), Olympia Dukakis, Oliver Platt and even Kevin Spacey in a memorable appearance. I love the way it captures the divide between blue and white collar, evidenced through the fantastic cityscape of Manhattan in the film, giving you the full gusto of New York in the 1980s. You know, at least h Also, there's a Carly Simon song in this film, evoked throughout the score. Another win. Carly Simon should write more songs in movies that we can sing driving to work.

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: Witness, 1985

Let's think back to a time (1985) and a place (America, I guess) where there was no fourth Indiana Jones movie and the legacy of Harrison Ford's career wasn't dragged down by crap like Random Hearts and whatever one he made with Anne Heche while she was still with Ellen. This is a time when Harrison Ford is successful from films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (my favorite ever, but it came out the year before I was born, what are you gonna do?) and Star Wars, once again, before crap sequels/prequels were made. He's just starting to delve into deeper work and that work is Witness. By the way, this is already the second Harrison Ford movie on this list and I think it could be as high as five.



This is the film where Kelly McGillis plays an Amish woman. This was before she taught at Top Gun, so I guess that makes sense. Anyway, she's the mother of a young boy and they're on their way to visit relatives when her son witnesses a murder. Harrison Ford plays John Book, the cop who's investigating that murder. There's immediate tension between the Amish and non-Amish characters in the film. Book asks Samuel to identify the killer by looking at a bunch of pictures, but then the killer is in a newspaper at the police station because he's a cop (Oh, yeah, it's Danny Glover. That's not really a spoiler, it happens in like the first fifteen minutes anyway. Also, I don't really care if you think it's a spoiler.) So, next Book discovers that his police captain is in on it and takes Kelly McGillis and the kid back to Amish country, after an attempt on his life. There, he recovers and stays in hiding as an Amish guy, making this even more fraught with tension between the Amish and the English, which is apparently what the Amish call the non-Amish.

And here's one of my favorite scenes, though it is so atypical of the film. Cute, but not too cute, and I always watch wondering when the other shoe is going to drop.



So, overall summation, this is such an incredible movie because it is so sparing and so subtle. Director Peter Weir doesn't waste a moment but doesn't overdo anything, either. The love story between Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis, albeit inevitable, is told in a very mature way, not sensational and the film doesn't resort to any cheap tricks. The thriller part of this movie is in there, but what's most important are the characters.

So, opinions on Witness or my spoiler policies? Let loose in the comments section.

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: Blade Runner, 1982

So, at the beginning of May Fandango Groovers Movie Blog issued a challenge. Pick your favorite movie for every year since the year you were born. Fandango Groovers A Life In Movies

Sounded like fun, but I didn't quite have time to do it and I had to of course, compile a list. So, here's what I'm going to do. I turn 29 (don't remind me) on September 1. So, throughout the course of this summer, I am going to go through my favorite movies from 1982 to 2011 and give you my impressions of them. Now, this is favorite not the best, which will become very apparent at some points. Sometimes I will pick something that was clearly not the best film of that year, but happens to be my favorite and you will just have to deal with that.

Starting here. 1982. The Falklands War, EPCOT opens, I am born and several weeks later my parents take me to see Pink Floyd: The Wall. If only that explained everything. Some other decent movies also came out this year: E.T., Gandhi and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which almost made this post, but in the end I decided on this one. But that film is still completely awesome.


Blade Runner is the story of Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, who is a sort of bounty hunter for Replicants, sort of doing a whole film noir thing in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. Usually, I'm terrified of post-apocalyptic scenarios but this one is okay because there still appears to be Coca Cola available. Anyway, Harrison is out hunting a group of Replicants that have bizarrely come to Earth because Replicants are illegal on Earth and he has to kill them, but it's not supposed to matter because they're not people. Or are they?

So, he goes to the Tyrell Corporation where he meets Rachel, a Replicant who doesn't know she's a Replicant because they've given her the memory implants of the CEO's niece. So, it's like the Ganger episode of Doctor Who with the Library episode of Doctor Who with maybe a little bit of The Island in there. This starts Harrison questioning everything, whether or not they're people and that's the central question of this film: what makes a human being? This question becomes more profound as we follow the other Replicants on Earth, two of whom are played by Rutger Hauer and Daryl Hannah with alternate terror and heartbreak. It's brilliant. Also, can I just mention, if science fiction has taught us anything it's that building/cloning/lobotomizing people/things and making them your slaves is BAD. Hear me, future generations? BAD!

Now, I just rewatched the theatrical cut which is controversial because it has this annoying voiceover that it doesn't really need. Unless you're an idiot. I don't know, maybe you are, but you'd be unlikely to know you were an idiot... There are at least two other cuts I can think of and you can buy a big DVD box set with all of them, including I don't know how many Ridley Scott director's cuts. This makes you wonder what the hell it all means. Last year at the Austin Film Festival, one of the honorees was one of this film's writers, David Peoples was there and at the awardee panel, another honoree, Robert Rodriguez saved me the embarassment of asking about that when he asked, "Yeah, which version is right? Was he really a Replicant?" To which David Peoples said that this film still isn't finished. Which I kind of like, but I can see how that might be frustrating.

Also, you can actually buy the umbrellas from this movie at Think Geek! I am considering it if it ever rains in Texas again.

Blade Runner Style LED Umbrella