ORIGINAL TV FORMULA For four top-rated seasons (1963-67), David Janssen and Barry Morse played a cat-and-mouse game as Dr. Richard Kimble, wrongly convicted of his wife's murder, and Lt. Philip Gerard, the man assigned with the task of tracking him down and sending him back to prison.

BIG-SCREEN MAKEOVER Take thrilling small-screen premise. Condense from four seasons to two hours. Add two well-regarded film stars — Harrison Ford (pictured) and Tommy Lee Jones. Direct tautly, and shoot.

HIGH POINT If you haven't seen the riveting scene where Ford makes some interesting choices high atop a roaring dam, well, we don't want to be the ones to ruin it for you.

LESSON LEARNED A familiar tale can still thrill audiences, as long as the script, direction, and performances are near flawless.

WHAT EW SAID ''The Fugitive is proof, if any were needed, that a thriller is more thrilling when we can actually believe our eyes.... The movie becomes an existential hide-and-seek contest, a paranoid comedy of missed connections.'' A-

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