History YMMV / TheFugitive

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Was the Chicago Police Department [[PoliceAreUseless so stuck in the dark about who murdered Kimble's wife]], or did they frame Kimble [[spoiler:to protect the One-Armed Man, who was a former CPD cop]]?

* TheWoobie: Kimble, of course. It's an essential part of his PlotArmor. Everybody Kimble meets will either 1)instantly believe he's innocent, 2) will realize he's innocent by the end of the episode, or 3) be a guilty criminal. [[MyFreindsAndZoidberg And Gerard.]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Was the Chicago Police Department so stuck in the dark about who murdered Kimble's wife, or did they frame Kimble [[spoiler:to protect the One-Armed Man, who was a former CPD cop]]?

** Neil Flynn as the cop on the subway.

* CompleteMonster: The one armed man, arguably. Not only does he murder a woman, he lets an innocent man be accused of it for four years. His monstrosity is on full display in the finale, when he [[spoiler: murders the bail bondsman who posts his bail]], and then [[spoiler:he decides to try to kill Kimble and telling him, "Yeah I killed your wife and now I'm going to kill you.]]

* CompleteMonster: The one armed man. The opening scenes of the movie featuring the flashbacks to Helen Kimble's murder [[spoiler: and how brutal it was makes one shiver]]
** [[spoiler: Dr. Nichols might be even worse. As despicable as the one-armed man was, he was merely hired muscle. Nichols? Arranged the murder of Kimble and his wife, did absolutely nothing while Kimble was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, then acted as though he were aiding Kimble in his efforts to prove his innocence, while in reality he was again planning to have Kimble killed. He did all this while pretending to be Kimble's friend and all for the money he was going to make off of a pharmaceutical deal]]
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble. Not just in looks, but in personality--Ford himself mentioned in an interview that women were drawn to the film because they were so moved by Kimble's grief for the wife he dearly loved.
* TheLostLenore: His wife's murder sets the events of the film in motion, and Kimble is clearly haunted by it right until the very end.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: During the final minutes of the film, after Kimble has discovered [[spoiler: Dr. Nichols' duplicity]] and sets out to find him, so angry that he doesn't give a second thought to the fact that he's out in public where someone could easily recognize him. Unlike most examples of this trope, his rage is limited to one (or rather, two, counting the one-armed man) person.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Kimble's leap from the dam. Director Andrew Davis described this as "his baptism. That's the moment he becomes "The Fugitive"".

* AwardSnub: Tommy Lee Jones was amazing as Gerard, but he got his Oscar at the expense of Ralph Fiennes' turn as [[CompleteMonster Amon Goeth]] in ''[=~Schindler's List~=]''.

** [[spoiler: Dr. Nichols might be even worse. As despicable as the one-armed was, he was merely hired muscle. Nichols? Arranged the murder of Kimble and his wife, did absolutely nothing while Kimble was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, then acted as though he were aiding Kimble in his efforts to prove his innocence, while in reality he was again planning to have Kimble killed. He did all this while pretending to be Kimble's friend and all for the money he was going to make off of a pharmaceutical deal]]

* LawfulNeutral: Gerard

** [[spoiler: Kimble's so-called friend Dr. Nichols might be even worse. As despicable as the one-armed was, he was merely hired muscle. Nichols? Planned the murder of his friend and his wife, did absolutely nothing while an innocent man was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, then again tried to have his friend killed. He did all this while pretending to be Kimble's friend and all for the money he was going to make off of a pharmaceutical deal]]

* CompleteMonster: The one armed man and [[spoiler: Dr. Nichols who hired the one armed man]]. The opening scenes of the movie featuring the flashbacks to Helen Kimble's murder [[spoiler: and how brutal it was makes one shiver]]

* DealWithTheDevil: In the finale, the bail bondsman who [[spoiler:posts the one armed man's bail]]. The bondsman attempts to cut a deal with [[spoiler:the one armed man]]. It [[UnderStatement ends very badly for him]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The finale has several of them.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: several during the series, but best in the final episode [[spoiler:when the Narrator says "Tuesday, August 29, 1967. The day the running... ''stopped''."]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: for the filmmakers, the entire train wreck sequence. People went to the movie just to see that one stunt.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Kimble risking his freedom to tend to an injured boy, saving his life.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Kimble flashing back to his desperate, futile attempts to revive his gravely injured wife, then holding her in his arms as she died.

* FridgeLogic: [[spoiler: Nichols tried to have Kimble killed because he knew Provasic caused liver damage. But when the drug hit the market people would find that out anyway. Granted, Nichols got on the Board of Directors of the drug company and there would be shitloads of profit until the jig was up.]]
** [[spoiler: Not quite. The drug tested out as dangerous only for a small percentage of subjects, and perfectly efficient for the rest.]]
*** Also, [[spoiler: if memory serves, part of the plan was to pin the coverup on Kimble and then murder him so that he couldn't spill the beans. If the plan was uncovered later, Devlin-MacGregor could plausibly claim that Kimble had falsified the relevant data before his untimely death, undoubtedly amid much "regret" over such a tragedy. Of course, his escape wasn't part of the plan, but that's what you get for hiring a killer with only one functional arm; had Kimble not been able to fight off Sykes, the plan would have gone off without a hitch.]]

* TheLostLenore: Aside from the fact that his wife's murder sets the events of the film in motion, it is obvious that Kimble is haunted by her death throughout the entire film.

* TheLostLenore

*** Also, [[spoiler: if memory serves, part of the plan was to pin the coverup on Kimble and then murder him so that he couldn't spill the beans. If the plan was uncovered later, Devlin-MacGregor could plausibly claim that Kimball had falsified the relevant data before his untimely death, undoubtedly amid much "regret" over such a tragedy. Of course, his escape wasn't part of the plan, but that's what you get for hiring a killer with only one functional arm; had Kimball not been able to fight off Sykes, the plan would have gone off without a hitch.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: ''Lots'' of familiar character actors, and future stars, appeared on this show.

* HeyItsThatGuy: The One-Armed Man was played by the late Andreas Katsulas, who was known in sci-fi circles as [[StarTrekTNG Commander Tomalak]] and [[BabylonFive Ambassador G'Kar]]. [[TheMatrix Cypher]] is one of the Marshals, [[{{Glee}} Sue Sylvester]] is Dr. Wahland, and [[TheLivingDaylights General Koskov]] is Dr. Charles Nichols. [[{{Scrubs}} The Janitor]] appears as a Chicago Transit cop.
** Neil Flynn's appearance even became a subplot in an episode of the show, in which [[spoiler:it's implied that either the Janitor was in ''The Fugitive'' or that the Janitor is, in fact, Neil Flynn]].