Becoming a better storyteller by studying 100 movies, 50 screenplays, and 25 books in 2020.

If I had to pick ten movies to take with me to a desert island (which of course would have electricity and all modern A/V comforts), this would be on the list.

• Release: 1993
• Director: Andrew Davis
• Starring: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Jeroen Krabbé. Bit part performances by Julianne Moore and Jane Lynch. Bet you forgot about them, huh? (I did.)
• Screenplay: Jeb Stuart (this guy, not this guy).
• Spoilers below? You betcha.

In an action thriller like this, the end is a foregone conclusion. The audience watches to see how the hero overcomes obstacle after obstacle. When constructing a story like this, typically you’d want the obstacles to get increasingly difficult to overcome. You could argue (my kids certainly did) that that model gets thrown in the garbage in this story, as it’s hard to think of a more difficult obstacle to overcome than surviving a jump off a dam. My kids actually laughed out loud during this scene because it was so preposterous.

What works?

What keeps this film from turning into one long, tedious chase? Where does the push and pull come from? I think the secret is that it’s actually two chase stories intertwined: the more intense one led by US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), as he pursues Richard Kimble for the suspected murder of Kimble’s wife, and the less intense one led by Kimble (Harrison Ford), as he pursues the unknown real killer.

Each hunt provides momentum and suspense, but because they operate at different levels of intensity, we paradoxically get a sense of relief during the Kimble-led chase. This creates a sense of dynamism that keeps the momentum going. But the story lines are simple, with one clear protagonist and one clear antagonist, and all the supporting characters serve that primary conflict. We stay gripped by the story, rather than overloaded and burned out by it like some films we’ve seen.

Speaking of supporting characters and subplots, screenwriter Jeb Stuart (that’s quite a name, sir) also structured the subplot that pits the CPD against the US Marshal Service like a chase. It’s lower-stakes than the Kimble-vs.-the-one-armed-man chase, but it ramps up at the end to accelerate the action towards the climax.

What doesn’t work?

Okay, the dam jump is a little over the top. I’m also no fan of the wig that Andreas Katsulas‘s character wears in Kimble’s apartment.

Becoming a better storyteller:

Writing lesson from The Fugitive

For my project on becoming a better storyteller, here’s what I’m taking away from studying The Fugitive: In a suspense or thriller story, structure the subplots to mirror the primary chase, but give them a different pacing to keep the story dynamic. And again, keep the conflict focused to one primary protagonist against one primary, highly cunning, and very dangerous antagonist.