The Fugitive

Hmmm, let's see... we've got a movie about a Catholic priest trying to exercise his ministry in a Latin American country whose government has been taken over by an anticlerical revolutionary party,... he administers the sacraments to the devoutly believing people while trying to stay one step ahead of the law, which has hunted down every other priest in the country,... what do you this movie will be like?

In the hands of the crusty but sentimental John Ford, you might expect this movie to be some kind of hagiography, showing the priest as he performs his pastoral labors with fierce courage as well as with patient devotion, and anticipates his fate with Christian resignation. (This would be particularly apt if Pat O'Brien or Spencer Tracy played the priest.) You might also expect the people he serves will be portrayed as simple God-fearing people with stout hearts and no illusions about the true intentions of their political leaders. The government and its agents will be portrayed as cruel and cynical tyrants, ever ready to beat on the simple folk in the name of the greater good.

Fortunately, this is not the movie that Ford made. The actual movie is a good deal more complicated (and much, much better) than that. This is a balanced, intelligent account of a tragic situation born of centuries of misrule and oppression by tyrannical government working, sad to say, hand in glove with the Church that is supposed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Pedro Amendariz in particular gives a great performance as the revolutionary government official, who, whatever his opinions may be, passionately loves his country, and sincerely wants the best for his beleaguered people. Henry Fonda, as the priest, gives at one point a stunning assessment of his motives for what he does which turns any picture of a heroic shepherd on its ear.

This is one of John Ford's lesser known pictures - an unknown masterpiece.

I was attracted to this movie because of Henry Fonday, Dolores del Rio, and John Ford, all of whom I'm a fan. But this movie was just so WEIRD. From the start, I felt like I had joined the movie in the middle. The dramatic music along the walk and as he enters the church - it feels like a crucial point in a movie, but we don't even know what's going on yet. There are long periods with no dialogue, almost has the feel of a silent movie at times.

I found the whole movie depressing without any redeeming character development that would have made me sympathize with the characters. Why is Fonda, a white priest, even in this country in the first place? It's never explained. And he lets everyone take the fall for him. He's not likable or relatable in any way to me.

John Ford's adaptation of Graham Greene's "The Power And The Glory" captures perfectly the potential for the seven deadly sins in all of us. It is an incredibly and understatedly raw and emotional and downright earthy movie. The entire supporting cast is brilliant, and Fonda, of course, is excellent, if not precisely ideal. This is in all senses, a quintessential study in soul-searching.

Move over, Harrison Ford; your namesake John got here first. While comparisons with Andrew Davis' action-packed 1993 thriller are inevitable in discussing 'The Fugitive (1947),' the two films – aside from the similarity described in their shared title – are completely unrelated, and about as different as two films could possibly be. Unlike many of the Westerns that brought director John Ford his greatest fame, 'The Fugitive' is entirely unconcerned with any form of action or dialogue; Ford's film-making is so concentrated on establishing the correct emotional atmosphere for each scene that it occasionally strays into tedium. However, it was obviously a very personal project for the Ford – who once called it "perfect" – and it's difficult to criticise a film into which the director poured so much passion and resolve. The story was adapted from Graham Greene's 1940 novel, "The Power and the Glory" {a.k.a. "The Labyrinthine Ways"} and concerns the plight of a victimised Christian priest, in an unnamed Latin American country where religion has been outlawed.

Perhaps the film's greatest weakness, from my reasoning at least, is that it is so concerned with painting each character as an icon or ideal (few characters are afforded names, and are instead credited with indefinite articles; "a fugitive," "a lieutenant of police," "an Indian woman") that it's hard to sympathise with them. Fortunately, while consistently attempting to maintain each character as a "timeless" figure in the film's ageless story, Dudley Nichols's screenplay avoids the usual stereotypes to which most amateur filmmakers would inevitably resort. The Fugitive (Henry Fonda) is not a courageous, humble pillar of human decency, but a misguided clergy driven by an unconscious self-pride; his adversary, the Lieutenant of Police (Pedro Armendáriz), loves his country and its people deeply, but, guided by a fierce blind patriotism and an illogical hatred of religion, he is often misled towards acts of sheer barbarity. The Police Informer (J. Carrol Naish) is a Judas-like character, betraying The Fugitive to the authorities, and becoming inescapably repentant at the thought of his inhumanity.

Despite not being particularly religious myself, I was sufficiently moved by Christianity's noble plight for survival, though I wasn't overly fond of the film's ultimate assertion that the lieutenant's hatred of religion stems directly from his secretly believing in God but being unwilling to admit it. Nevertheless, if you're going to watch 'The Fugitive,' it will most certainly be for the photography, which is, captured by Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, indescribably breathtaking. The opening sequence, in which The Fugitive returns to his former church, the light streaking through the windows as though God himself is reaching into the forsaken depths of the building, is spellbinding in its beauty. While Armendáriz is charismatic, and even slightly sympathetic, in his role of the antagonist, Henry Fonda largely looks awkward in the lead role (though you could argue that this uneasiness is integral to his character), and most of the other players – perhaps due to a language barrier – are similarly stilted. A visual masterpiece this film may be, and certainly an overall interesting watch, but 'The Fugitive' remains inferior Ford.

Fugitive, The (1947)

*** (out of 4)

Henry Fonda plays a priest in Central America who finds himself on the run after the government bans all religion. Fonda manages to go from town to town with religious folks willing to protect him but soon he runs into a crooked police informer (J. Carrol Naish) who might be giving information to the Lieutenant (Pedro Armendariz) who will stop at nothing to clear the streets of the evil religious figures. This film was a notorious flop when it was released and I'm fairly positive it would flap in any year in any decade. That's not because it's a bad film because it isn't but the film is so depressing that you can't help but feel most people wouldn't want to sit through it. The film contains some absolutely breath-taking cinematography by Gabriel Figueroa, which ranks as some of the best I've seen from this era. If you think the noir genre was good at using shadows and darkness then you haven't seen anything yet. As I said, this movie is 100% depression and what really fits the mood is the cinematography because it paints the perfect atmosphere. There are countless memorable scenes including the final shot with a cross as well as an earlier one where Fonda is hiding in a church and many parents from the village come in to get their children baptized while they have the chance. Another major plus working for the film is Ford's direction, which is top-notch as usual. I'm really not sure why this film would appeal to him but it's always amazing to go through Ford's career and see how many times he would direct something outside his range and pull it off. Ford does a terrific job building up this sad atmosphere and I really enjoyed the fact that he didn't pull any punches by adding fake comedy or just trying to lighten up the mood. Then, of course, there's Fonda who once again delivers the goods. The way Fonda walks here makes it seem as if he's a feather blowing in the wind because he's obviously a weak man who is struggling with being hunted. I thought the actor did a tremendous job showing the frailty of the character and the inner struggles he's having with the religion. Naish made a career out of playing snakes and once again he delivers an excellent performance and I'm sure by the end you'll be wanting to kill this guy yourself. Dolores del Rio plays a disgraced woman who is befriended by the priest and is excellent as well. Leo Carrillo, Ward Bond and Robert Armstrong add nice support as well. It's Armendariz who steals the show however as the truly tortured soul who is fighting to keep the religion out of his streets but is doing so due to some secret issues. THE FUGITIVE has all the right elements but it's still lacking something. Perhaps the film is just too laid-back for its own good but it never really crosses the greatness mark.