Movies Like The Fugitive

Frequently asked about The Fugitive

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• Who actually killed Helen Kimble, and why?▾

  Helen Kimble was killed by a one-armed man named Frederic Sykes, who was hired by Dr. Charles Nichols, Richard Kimble's colleague and supposed friend. Nichols arranged the murder to prevent Helen from revealing that Kimble had discovered Nichols was falsifying clinical trial data for a liver drug called RDU-90, which would have exposed a massive pharmaceutical fraud worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

• Why does U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard never fully believe Kimble is guilty, and what changes his mind?▾

  Gerard initially treats the case as a straightforward fugitive pursuit and explicitly tells Kimble early on that he doesn't care whether he's innocent. However, as he follows Kimble's trail — watching him risk recapture to save a boy at the hospital and doggedly investigate the one-armed man — Gerard's observations lead him to dig into the pharmaceutical angle himself. By the film's climax Gerard has pieced together the conspiracy and arrives at the medical conference to arrest Nichols, not Kimble.

• How did Kimble survive the train-and-bus crash, and why did he go back to Chicago instead of fleeing the country?▾

  Kimble survived because he managed to pull himself free of his shackles and escape through the wreckage moments before the locomotive struck the derailed bus. Rather than flee, he returned to Chicago because he was determined to prove his innocence by finding the one-armed man and uncovering whoever hired him — a goal he could only accomplish at Cook County Memorial Hospital where his own research files and the fake clinical trial were based.

• What is the significance of the missing arm prosthesis clue that Kimble tracks down?▾

  While working in the hospital disguised as a janitor, Kimble reviews prosthetics records and narrows the suspect to men who received a specific type of vascular bypass surgery combined with a particular prosthetic arm — cross-referencing it with police and hospital employee databases. This leads him to Sykes, the actual triggerman, but more importantly the records also reveal Sykes's connection to Devlin MacGregor Pharmaceuticals, which links back to Nichols and the RDU-90 fraud that was the real motive behind Helen's murder.

• What happens at the end of the film when Kimble finally confronts Nichols?▾

  Kimble confronts Nichols at the Palomino Club during a medical association gala, where Nichols initially denies everything before trying to have Sykes kill Kimble again. A fight ensues that spills into a hotel laundry room and elevator shaft, ending with Kimble overpowering Nichols and leaving him for Gerard, who has caught up and now has enough evidence of the conspiracy to arrest Nichols instead. Gerard uncuffs a vindicated Kimble and they share a quiet, understated moment of mutual respect before Kimble is cleared.