Sam Gerard Always gets his (Innocent) Man

If there is one thing we have learned from watching the 1993 blockbuster movie "The Fugitive" and to a lesser extent, its lamer 1998 followup, "U.S. Marshals", its that Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) always gets his man. Gerard has the reputation for finding every last fugitive he is chasing in "The Fugitive". The same reputation is carried into the sequel, along with variations of the line "always gets his man".

Both movies follow a similar formula. An honest, good looking man is framed for a crime that he did not commit. In "The Fugitive", Dr. Richard Kimball (Harrison Ford) is framed for killing his wife by his best friend Dr. Charles Nichols (Played by the very talented Jeroen Krabbé). In "U.S. Marshals", the Wesley Snipes character is framed for killing his partner by Robert Downey Jr. Both men are convicted of murder, and somehow escape captivity. Sam Gerard and his team of U.S. Marshals are called onto the scene and tasked with finding the escaped convicts. Gerard and his team, which includes the actor that plays Jay Leno in the HBO movie "The Late Shift", a middle-aged black woman, and Joey Pantoliano, begin investigating both crimes and find out that both men are innocent. They eventually capture both convicts, save them from certain death and ride off into the sunset as heros.

So if there is ever another entry into the Sam Gerard saga, we know going into the film that our favorite U.S. Marshal will always catch the "bad" guy, and that the bad guy is actually innocent. Hopefully, there won't ever be another Sam Gerard movie.

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