Movie Smarts

The Fugitive Quiz: Follow the Clues

A few easy wins, a few head-scratchers, and an explanation after every answer.

Published 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-10-24 15 questions

The Fugitive: He Would Like to Speak to a Different Detective

A respected doctor loses his wife and then finds himself blamed for her death. An unexpected chance to escape gives him a shot at finding the real killer, but a determined lawman is close behind. Every clue means another risk, and every stop could be his last. It is a murder mystery at a sprint, with almost no time to catch a bus quietly.

The chase can wait a minute. Let's see what you noticed.

1. Who plays Dr. Richard Kimble?
- Tom Hanks
- Harrison Ford
- Kevin Costner
- Dennis Quaid
Kimble is a Chicago vascular surgeon sentenced to death for his wife's murder, largely on the strength of her garbled 911 call. Ford was coming off Patriot Games; the role had belonged to David Janssen in the 1960s television series the film is drawn from.
2. Who plays Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard?
- Ed Harris
- Gene Hackman
- Robert Duvall
- Tommy Lee Jones
Jones had worked with Davis the year before on Under Siege, and his Gerard proved popular enough to carry a sequel of his own, U.S. Marshals, without Kimble. In the television series Gerard was a police lieutenant, played by Barry Morse.
3. Who directed the film?
- Andrew Davis
- Tony Scott
- Richard Donner
- Peter Weir
Davis grew up in Chicago and had already set Code of Silence and Above the Law there, which is why the city is used so well. Peter Weir, among the distractors, had directed Ford in Witness and The Mosquito Coast.
4. What kind of doctor is Kimble?
- A dentist
- A psychiatrist
- A pediatrician
- A surgeon
A vascular surgeon at Chicago Memorial, which matters twice. He can treat the wounded bus guard, and he cannot stop himself rewriting a boy's orders in a hospital corridor and sending him to surgery, which gets him noticed by a doctor played by Julianne Moore.
5. What happens to the prison transport carrying Kimble?
- It crashes into the path of a train
- It catches fire in a tunnel
- It falls into a river
- It loses a wheel on a bridge
The crash was staged for real, with a locomotive hitting the bus in Dillsboro, North Carolina, and the wreckage was left beside the tracks, where it still sits. Kimble hauls the wounded guard out of the bus before the train arrives.
6. Which city is the main setting?
- Philadelphia
- Chicago
- Boston
- Detroit
Davis shot on location, with the finale in the Hilton Chicago, and has Gerard place Kimble in the city from the sound of an elevated train behind a phone call. The television series had Kimble drift to a different town every week.
7. What distinctive feature does Kimble remember about the attacker?
- He walks with a crutch
- He has a facial tattoo
- He wears an eye patch
- He has a prosthetic arm
Kimble fought the man in his home and felt the arm, which is why he later poses as a janitor at Cook County Hospital to pull the prosthetics records of men fitted with that kind of limb. The list is short enough to check one by one.
8. What does Gerard say when Kimble insists he is innocent?
- I believe you
- Tell it to the judge
- I don't care
- Prove it to me
Shouted in a drainage tunnel under the dam, with Kimble holding Gerard's own gun on him; Gerard's job is the warrant, not the case. In the last scene Kimble reminds him of the line, and Gerard answers that he still doesn't, and asks him not to tell anyone.
9. Where does Kimble make his famous leap to escape Gerard?
- From a dam spillway
- From a moving train
- From a hospital roof
- From a suspension bridge
Cheoah Dam in North Carolina, standing in for somewhere in southern Illinois, and the figure that goes over is a dummy; the real fall would have been fatal. Gerard's response is to order a search of every henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in the area.
10. Who plays Kimble's wife, Helen?
- Rene Russo
- Julianne Moore
- Sela Ward
- Annette Bening
Ward appears mostly in flashback, at the fundraiser and during the attack, with Helen's garbled 911 call doing the rest of the prosecution's work. Julianne Moore, among the distractors, is in the film too, as the doctor who catches Kimble out in the hospital.
11. What public celebration helps Kimble blend into a crowd?
- A New Year's parade
- A victory parade
- A Thanksgiving parade
- A St. Patrick's Day parade
Davis filmed in the real Chicago parade, with Ford and Jones working their way through actual crowds rather than extras. Kimble falls in with the marchers until the marshals lose him in the green.
12. Who is Kimble's doctor friend and colleague?
- Martin Harris
- Alec Trevelyan
- Charles Nichols
- Richard Roper
Nichols, played by Jeroen Krabbé, gives Kimble money and a sympathetic hearing when he turns up, the one friend still taking his calls. Alec Trevelyan is the villain of GoldenEye, Richard Roper of The Night Manager and Martin Harris of Unknown.
13. What experimental drug is central to the conspiracy?
- Neuroxin
- Cardiol
- Provasic
- Virolex
A Devlin MacGregor drug Kimble had found was damaging patients' livers, so the tissue samples were switched, and Lentz, the pathologist involved, died in a car accident before Kimble could ask him. The intruder had come for Kimble that night, not Helen.
14. What is the one-armed man's name?
- Cosmo Renfro
- Frederick Sykes
- Robert Biggs
- Noah Newman
A former Chicago cop working security for Devlin MacGregor, the company behind the drug, which Kimble learns by breaking into his apartment and finding the photographs. Cosmo Renfro, among the distractors, is Gerard's deputy, played by Joe Pantoliano.
15. Which actor won an Oscar for this film?
- Tommy Lee Jones
- Harrison Ford
- Joe Pantoliano
- Jeroen Krabbé
Jones took Best Supporting Actor over Ralph Fiennes and Leonardo DiCaprio, and the film was up for Best Picture in the year Schindler's List swept. Ford, among the distractors, has been nominated only once, for Witness.

All the answers

1. Who plays Dr. Richard Kimble?

Harrison Ford

Kimble is a Chicago vascular surgeon sentenced to death for his wife's murder, largely on the strength of her garbled 911 call. Ford was coming off Patriot Games; the role had belonged to David Janssen in the 1960s television series the film is drawn from.
2. Who plays Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard?

Tommy Lee Jones

Jones had worked with Davis the year before on Under Siege, and his Gerard proved popular enough to carry a sequel of his own, U.S. Marshals, without Kimble. In the television series Gerard was a police lieutenant, played by Barry Morse.
3. Who directed the film?

Andrew Davis

Davis grew up in Chicago and had already set Code of Silence and Above the Law there, which is why the city is used so well. Peter Weir, among the distractors, had directed Ford in Witness and The Mosquito Coast.
4. What kind of doctor is Kimble?

A surgeon

A vascular surgeon at Chicago Memorial, which matters twice. He can treat the wounded bus guard, and he cannot stop himself rewriting a boy's orders in a hospital corridor and sending him to surgery, which gets him noticed by a doctor played by Julianne Moore.
5. What happens to the prison transport carrying Kimble?

It crashes into the path of a train

The crash was staged for real, with a locomotive hitting the bus in Dillsboro, North Carolina, and the wreckage was left beside the tracks, where it still sits. Kimble hauls the wounded guard out of the bus before the train arrives.
6. Which city is the main setting?

Chicago

Davis shot on location, with the finale in the Hilton Chicago, and has Gerard place Kimble in the city from the sound of an elevated train behind a phone call. The television series had Kimble drift to a different town every week.
7. What distinctive feature does Kimble remember about the attacker?

He has a prosthetic arm

Kimble fought the man in his home and felt the arm, which is why he later poses as a janitor at Cook County Hospital to pull the prosthetics records of men fitted with that kind of limb. The list is short enough to check one by one.
8. What does Gerard say when Kimble insists he is innocent?

I don't care

Shouted in a drainage tunnel under the dam, with Kimble holding Gerard's own gun on him; Gerard's job is the warrant, not the case. In the last scene Kimble reminds him of the line, and Gerard answers that he still doesn't, and asks him not to tell anyone.
9. Where does Kimble make his famous leap to escape Gerard?

From a dam spillway

Cheoah Dam in North Carolina, standing in for somewhere in southern Illinois, and the figure that goes over is a dummy; the real fall would have been fatal. Gerard's response is to order a search of every henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in the area.
10. Who plays Kimble's wife, Helen?

Sela Ward

Ward appears mostly in flashback, at the fundraiser and during the attack, with Helen's garbled 911 call doing the rest of the prosecution's work. Julianne Moore, among the distractors, is in the film too, as the doctor who catches Kimble out in the hospital.
11. What public celebration helps Kimble blend into a crowd?

A St. Patrick's Day parade

Davis filmed in the real Chicago parade, with Ford and Jones working their way through actual crowds rather than extras. Kimble falls in with the marchers until the marshals lose him in the green.
12. Who is Kimble's doctor friend and colleague?

Charles Nichols

Nichols, played by Jeroen Krabbé, gives Kimble money and a sympathetic hearing when he turns up, the one friend still taking his calls. Alec Trevelyan is the villain of GoldenEye, Richard Roper of The Night Manager and Martin Harris of Unknown.
13. What experimental drug is central to the conspiracy?

Provasic

A Devlin MacGregor drug Kimble had found was damaging patients' livers, so the tissue samples were switched, and Lentz, the pathologist involved, died in a car accident before Kimble could ask him. The intruder had come for Kimble that night, not Helen.
14. What is the one-armed man's name?

Frederick Sykes

A former Chicago cop working security for Devlin MacGregor, the company behind the drug, which Kimble learns by breaking into his apartment and finding the photographs. Cosmo Renfro, among the distractors, is Gerard's deputy, played by Joe Pantoliano.
15. Which actor won an Oscar for this film?

Tommy Lee Jones

Jones took Best Supporting Actor over Ralph Fiennes and Leonardo DiCaprio, and the film was up for Best Picture in the year Schindler's List swept. Ford, among the distractors, has been nominated only once, for Witness.