Sanderson - The Fugitive

            In the Fugitive, Richard Kimble (Ford) is a good man that is put in a bad situation. Throughout the film he is put in situations where he could easily think of himself and not help others but he still tries to do the right thing. Kimble has been falsely accused of killing his wife and his humanity still never waivers.

            In the scene when the train crashes Kimble is shown trying to help an injured cop instead of running. In this situation almost any prisoner would turn their back on the injured officer and run for their freedom. Even the other officer left his partner behind and got out of the crashed bus. Of the four people in the bus the only person that thought to care about the injured officer was Kimble.

            Kimble’s impulse to help the injured officer is a sign of an innocent man. He doesn’t have the ingrained sense to just run when the opportunity comes up. Kimble shows that he still has the attitude of an innocent man and helping another person in need. The other prisoner doesn’t even consider helping Kimble with the officer. Kimble doesn’t have the normal attitude of a prisoner. His doctor instincts kick in and he ends up saving the officers life. This is an example of him still having the mindset of a freeman; his main motive is not to escape at that very moment.

            The crash scene isn’t the only example where Kimble shows that he isn’t selfish. When Kimble is working in the hospital as a janitor he helps a little boy who has been misdiagnosed. It isn’t in his best interest what so ever but he does it anyway. Most people in his situation would do whatever they had to do to stay unnoticed but Kimble helps this little boy and ends up saving his life. Kimble best personal interest would have been to do as little as possible for the little boy and keep a low profile but instead he gets noticed by another doctor and ends up being found at the hospital because of helping the boy.

            Kimble’s actions of helping people in need show that he is still acting as an innocent man would. It’s almost easy to tell that he is a doctor because his first instinct is to always help someone who is in need. A normal fugitive would not have any interest in helping others; all of their decisions would be based on surviving and not being found. Kimble is the perfect example of an innocent man that is stuck in a guilty man’s situation. Kimble never sways from his instincts to be a good man and he still ends up a free man at the end.