Goofs for
The Fugitive (1993) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: There are no train tracks visible when the prison bus first comes to rest after leaving the road. Furthermore, it is resting parallel to the road, where no train could possibly broadside it.
  
  
• Factual errors: Illinois State Police troopers wear six-pointed star badges, not seven-pointed stars as shown.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Camera truck visible at the bottom of the screen as Kimble enters the tunnel.
  
  

• Continuity: When Kimble calls Walter from the pay phone, the bell on the bridge gives its last ring just after his first line, "Walter, this is Richard." When Gerard plays back the tape of the call, the bell rings 4 or 5 more times after that.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Kimble is making the call, the PA announcement for an El train is overheard. While PA announcements are now made only inside the train, at the time, they were clearly audible in the station (maybe more so than in the train), and even in the nearby streets.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Visible in reflection on subway windows.
  
  
• Continuity: The clock on the building during the parade scene.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: During the scene on the train, when Kimble kicks Sykes backwards, you can clearly see Sykes stretching his right hand. This hand is shown to be prosthetic and the hand immobile.
  
  
• Errors in geography: During the scene in Whiting, there is an Illinois State Trooper in front of the house. Whiting is in Indiana, out of the jurisdiction of the Illinois Troopers.
  
  
• Continuity: During the bus wreck scene, when the bus is driving down the road and crashing, there is a double yellow line and a guard rail. A few minutes later, the same road is line with police cars and fire trucks with no line or rail.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: As the train wreckage comes to rest Kimble is hiding under a small trestle bridge. A shot up at the wreckage shows a crew member's face above the trestle. This error was corrected for the most recent DVD release of the film, after the director noticed it. The crew member reappears on the Blu-Ray disc version of the film.
  
  
• Continuity: Kimble's tone of voice when he calls his lawyer doesn't match the phone-tap recording that is played back later.
  
  
• Errors in geography: During the ambulance chase, two police cars turn by a sign pointing to Murphy which is in North Carolina.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kimble enters the elevator in the hotel on the way up to see Charles, he pushes the top middle button, but the top right button lights up instead.
  
  
• Continuity: Kimble's black plastic bag when he rents the apartment from the Polish woman.
  
  
• Continuity: Spot of blood on the sheets of the boy whose life Kimble saves in the hospital.
  
  
• Factual errors: Kimble and Nichols leave the Grand Ballroom at the Hilton Towers and go next door to the presidential suite. The ballroom is on the second floor of the Hilton, while the presidential suite is on the top floor. Next door to the Grand Ballroom is the International Ballroom.
  
  
• Factual errors: In surgery, Kimble holds his needle driver incorrectly.
  
  
• Continuity: The dead inmate's legs in the bus wreck change from being sideways and dirty to straight ahead and clean.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the laundry room at Hilton Towers, a cart is clearly marked "Palmer House", a different Chicago hotel. However, since they are both Hiltons and near each other, it's not unlikely they would share some back-room equipment.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Though the movie is set somewhere in Chicago's Near North side, we see Kimble walking by the University of Chicago's science library (the John Crerar Library), which is located on the South Side.
  
  
• Continuity: Repeated footage: When Richard Kimble is running from the train wreck in the woods, before he reaches the hospital.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kimble is having the passport photos taken, he is wearing the green shirt which he doesn't buy until later.
  
  
• Continuity: Altitude of the police chopper when Gerard says "We've got him now" while landing outside of the tunnel.
  
  
• Continuity: When the chopper lands outside the tunnel, two state police cars pull up behind it. As Gerard, Renfro and Poole run into the tunnel, the cars pull up again.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Renfro says, "Chicago PD will eat him alive," his head turns several times, but his lips don't move.
  
  
• Continuity: When Gerard interviews Nichols in his office, he says that Nichols and Kimble graduated from medical school together, "class of 1973". However, the picture he is looking at on the wall reads "University of Chicago Interns '72-73", which means that Nichols and Kimble would have graduated medical school in 1972.
  
  
• Continuity: At the end of the movie, when Richard is being taken out of the Hilton towers, the trees across the street from the hotel are in full bloom. However, here are no green leaves on the trees in mid-March in Chicago.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): It is mentioned that several other cities have an "El" (Elevated) train system. Milwaukee is named but has no such system.
  
  
• Continuity: When the prison transport crashes, and falls down the hill, Kimble can be seen without handcuffs, but after the bus stops, he asks the guard to uncuff him.
  
  
• Continuity: When Kimble and Gerard are running through the tunnels, just before Kimble jumps out of the tunnel into the dam, Kimble jumps down into a undisturbed pool of water. Seconds later, when Gerard jumps into the same pool of water, it is still undisturbed, although Kimble just jumped and ran through it.
  
  
• Continuity: Richard's clothes remain dry after he has jumped into the dam.
  
  
• Continuity: Richard Kimble has a stand-off at the end of the tunnel with U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard. He then jumps from the tunnel on the dam's face into the water below. In the exterior shots of the dam afterwards, it is clear that there are no tunnels coming through the face of the dam (the water flows over the top.)
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Obvious dummies in the bus when it flips over.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Studio lights visible as the train approaches the bus.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Kimble is escaping in the ambulance, the camera pans to the right where we see the dam, but the water coming out of it isn't moving.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The Marshals tracked Dr. Kimble from the phone call at the one armed man's house and said that his address was 10256 S. Saint Lawrence. The Marshals went in and come out of 11217 S. Saint Lawrence. Also, the house that the one armed man went into was on the other side of the street.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: During the chase in the dam tunnel the dolly track is visible in the water.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Dr Charles Nichols is hit from behind by Kimble in the laundry at the end of the movie, the gun in Nichols' hand is resting on his other hand, and he is obviously unconscious. However, when Sam Gerard goes to disarm him, the gun is lying flat on the ground.
  
  
• Continuity: When Richard prints his list of one-armed suspects, he crumples the paper before putting it in his pocket. In subsequent scenes, the paper is folded but uncrumpled.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Kimble is confronting Nichols in the Hilton ballroom, the rear shot shows Kimble extends his arm to the right motioning to Nichols to leave the room to the right. When the shot then goes to the front, his arm is still at his side.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: After the train wreck, when Dr. Kimble is in that small wooden shed and looks up to see part of the train on top of it, you can just see an anonymous man in the top right-hand corner of the screen (not on the DVD edition).
  
  
• Continuity: In the opening scenes where the police are photographing Helen's body she appears to be lying on her back. The next few scenes show her being photographed lying on her side next to the phone.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Moving shadows, possible that of a crew members hand, can be seen on the elevator interior wall behind Dr. Kimble as he exits the elevator on the 5th floor laundry room (after the fall from the skylight).
  
  
• Continuity: Walking down hospital hallway Gerard asks "Where you at Desmondo?" His red scarf is clearly under his top coat. Seconds later while speaking with Renfro his red scarf is now over his top coat.
  
  
• Factual errors: While headed on the train with the one armed man, "his stop" and a variety of lines include a destination as the El's Balbo Stop. Though Balbo is an avenue which travels in and around the famous Grant Park, it is not a stop nor has ever been one on the train system.(In fact, most of it would have been initially underwater)
  
  
• Continuity: When Kimble boards the "Kimball" Brown Line train, he ends up headed south out of the loop on a Green Line train (the Aerial shot shows the south Loop exit S-Curve). The Brown Line only heads north out of the Loop.
  
  
• Continuity: After Gerard shoots Copeland twice and kills him, the slide on Gerard's Glock is completely pulled back (as if he's emptied his magazine.) In the next scene, the slide is in the regular position.
  
  
• Continuity: Kimble hides from the hospital orderly behind the door leading to the bathroom. Kimble's hand is still visible in the mirror as the orderly walks in and out. Kimble's hands change position without him actually moving them, due to a slight cut, once the orderly leaves.
  
  
• Continuity: (Possibly only in pan and scan version) When Gerard is looking over the crime scene photos of Kimble's house taped to his window, you can see Kimble's fake hospital ID tacked on the wall, despite the ID hadn't even been made yet.
  
  
• Factual errors: One time when Kimble is fleeing the U.S. Marshalls, he is shot at (but not hit as the glass is bulletproof). U.S. Marshalls would not have the authority to shoot a man who did not pose a capitol threat to them.
  
  
• Factual errors: A television news montage is seen in an electronics store containing video of Kimble from earlier in the film and includes a scene from Kimble's sentencing hearing. Since cameras are not permitted in Illinois courtrooms, the only "image" from any of the court proceedings available to the media would have been those created by courtroom sketch artists.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: (Probably seen only in the wide-screen version) Right after Dr. Nichols drives away from his tennis club, the very next shot is an over-the-shoulder shot as he is driving towards a traffic light when a hobo appears and washes his windshield; if you look very closely at the right corner of the frame, you'll see fingers briefly waving directions to the hobo.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Although the movie is set in Chicago, many of the scenes show large hills and mountains. Illinois is flat through most of the state, but in the begining scenes in Southern Illinois, the area is rugged and hilly. (The scenes were filmed in North Carolina).
  
  
• Plot holes: In a newspaper article regarding the St. Patrick's Day parade, a sub-headline says "Fugitive Escapes Downtown Pursuit" but the text of the article says "Kimble was apprehended after an extensive chase by Police and several bystanders." The movie shows Kimble escaping in the crowd.
  
  
• Plot holes: Kimble is accused of being a "cop-killer" despite the fact that there were at least two other passengers on board the El who could have proved otherwise. Then later, Newman reports that "a guy with two guns" was spotted running down the platform of the El, although Kimble had hidden both guns in his jacket prior to leaving the train and had carefully disposed of both in the mailbox without being seen.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene on the laundry room floor when Kimble sticks his arm through the closing elevator door to open it up again so he can get out, if you look at the door, you'll see blood smears, possibly from other takes of the same scene since Kimble has blood on that hand.
  
  
• Factual errors: There is in fact no Balboa "L" stop, though the Chicago Hilton is at Balboa. However, the police are seen entering a building at 203 N Lasalle, which is at LaSalle and Lake, far from the Hilton.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the elevator with Kimble and Nichols reaches the laundry room, the hole in the roof shows the elevator cables. The image is decidedly grainy. It’s obviously a pre-recorded image, and was then composited onto the scene at a later date.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: A moment before Kimball confronts Dr. Nichols in the hotel, Nichols is introduced for his speech as "Dr. Charles Lentz".
  
  
• Continuity: When Kimble is initially questioned by CPD detectives after the murder of his wife, he challenges them by saying, "You find this man." Later in the movie, flashbacks incorrectly quote him as saying, "You find that man."
  
  
• Factual errors: In a closeup of a Chicago Sun-Times paper dated THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1993 the main article highlights "Kimble in Chicago: Fugitive Escapes Downtown Pursuit". To the left of the article is a blurb titled "Fan Hits $1 Million Bull's-Eye" about the Bulls fan Don Calhoun that hit a half court shot for $1 Million. The photo and date indicate this happened on March 17, 1993 when in fact Don hit the shot on April 14th, 1993.
  
  
• Errors in geography: When they are doing the bust in Whiting, you can hear the whistle of a CTA El train in the background. There are no El lines in Whiting.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Cosmo Renfro (Joe Pantoliano) is being taken out of the hotel on a stretcher, you can hear his voice saying "Tell Sam Gerard I'm going home now. I'm taking my vacation." However, it's very easy to see that he is not talking.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: At the end of the movie, when Gerard brings Kimble out of the hotel, there is a large crowd of reporters asking questions. They follow them right to the car and when Kimble gets in the car, it's clear that the window is open, however, when Gerard and Kimble are in the car, you can no longer hear the sound of the crowd just outside of it.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Kimble surrenders at the end of the movie, he is turned away from the camera. When he turns to follow Gerard, a hearing aid is visible in Ford's right ear.
  
  
• Continuity: Just after Kimble fights with Sykes on the EL train, he takes both Sykes' and the transit cops guns. Sykes' gun gets placed into his right pocket, and the transit cops into his left. However when Kimble dumps the guns into the mailbox, Sykes' is in his left and the cops is in the right.
  
  
• Factual errors: During Dr. Nichols speech, he mentions that his drug (the one that Kimble discovered as causing liver damage) is on the cusp of FDA approval. This would be very unlikely as there are many safeguards in place during clinical trials to prevent bias and data tampering. When Kimble visited the pathologist she mentioned that over half the pathology reports were signed on the same day. This very likely would have been off of the clinical protocol which would have triggered a review by the hospital's institutional review board. Since the laboratory Principal Investigator died (Lentz) "last summer" the new doctor on the protocol probably would have noticed the tissue discrepancies and alerted the IRB as required. Additionally, pathologists have quality control screenings which are reviewed by other pathologists or cytologists. In all likelihood however, the drug company would have noticed the liver damage during their Phase 2 studies and would have either gone "back to formula" or would have pulled the plug on the drug as continued development would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars and would have been rejected by the FDA anyway.
  
  
• Continuity: The old guard from the police bus takes credit for saving his partner when he didn't see Kimball throw him from the bus, nor had he been found yet. If he saw Kimball throw him from the bus, he also would not have originally thought Kimball was dead because he also would have seen Kimball jump from the bus.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scenes shortly after Kimble dyes his hair brown, his hair is noticeably greyer. He must have bought the cheap stuff for it to fade in 1-2 days.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Gerard and Cosmo are riding in the car, and eventually wind up at the Hilton, the car's rear view mirror has been removed from the windshield.
  
  
• Continuity: When being transported in the prison bus Kimble is fully cuffed at the waist, but when the bus is rolling down the embankment his right arm is free and over his head. When he says "unlock me" and the guard throws him the keys, he is still fully chained at the waist.
  
  
• Continuity: When the prisoners are being transported in the bus the guard says well be there in 40 minutes, but when the prisoner starts foaming at the mouth the guard implied they are almost at the prison.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Kimble dyes his hair black in one scene and then in another scene his hair is the same old color from the beginning of the movie. However, it's entirely possible (even likely) that Richard purchased the kind of temporary dye that washes out within a few weeks. Since the scenes take place over the course of several months, it's not at all unlikely that the scene in which Richard's hair is again its natural color occurs a few weeks after the last scene in which he has black hair.
  
  
• Continuity: While Kimble is holding a gun on Gerard in the tunnel, the position of Gerard's hair matted against his forehead changes.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Gerard removes Kimble's cuffs, the sound is distinctly that of handcuffs being closed.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Both in the dam tunnel and in the laundry, Gerard fails to collect the pistols from the ground.
  
  

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