Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive (1993)
Vitals
Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard, intrepid Deputy U.S. Marshal
Chicago, Spring 1993
Film: The Fugitive
Release Date: August 6, 1993
Director: Andrew Davis
Costume Designer: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today is the 30th anniversary since the release of The Fugitive, Andrew Davis’ 1993 update of the 1960s TV series that followed a doctor wrongly accused of his wife’s murder as he travels the country in the hopes of clearing his name by finding the one-armed man he believes to be guilty.
Pursuing the innocent Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) through the Midwest is Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), the determined Deputy U.S. Marshal leading the hunt with his team of trusted pros. Though a snarky master of caustic wit, Gerard is serious about doing his job—and only his job—as established during the memorable scene when Kimble tries to dissuade his persuader by assuring him of his innocence.
Dr. Kimble: I didn’t kill my wife!
Gerard: I don’t care!
While The Fugitive already has all the elements for solid entertainment, Gerard’s playful dynamic with his fellow marshals helps elevate it above the standard chase thriller, whether they’re bantering in the office, correcting him for instantly forgetting a name he just heard, or performing their duty while closing in on a dangerous fugitive.
Gerard’s team was so well-received from the movie that it led to a 1998 sequel, U.S. Marshals, that centers not on Dr. Kimble—who doesn’t appear at all!—but rather Gerard, his fellow marshals, and the Diplomatic Security Service agent seconded to their team as they hunt for yet another fugitive whose innocence or guilt remains in question.
What’d He Wear?
Almost twenty years before Justified, Samuel Gerard set the standard for Deputy U.S. Marshals dressing for the office in a tailored jacket and tie over jeans—business on top, action on the bottom. However, unlike the rotation of suit jackets and sports coats that would be favored by Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Gerard relies on a classic navy blazer with his ties and jeans.
Gerard’s dark navy-blue wool blazer follows the traditional single-breasted design, with notch lapels that roll to two gold-toned shank buttons, each etched with a crest. Metal buttons are considered by many to be a defining characteristic that sets blazers apart from other tailored jackets, a functional and visual reference to the garment’s maritime origins. Gerard’s blazer has a welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, a single vent, and three-button cuffs.
Gerard commands the search inside the laundry facilities of the Chicago Hilton.
The first time Gerard wears his blazer on screen, he layers it over a tan work shirt and scarlet-red button-up sweater. Unlike the blazer’s later appearances, he wears the shirt open-neck—with no tie and the top button undone. The shirt has a front placket, single-button cuffs, and—as we see through the opening of the sweater—two flapped chest pockets.
The scarlet-red cable-knit wool sleeveless sweater has five brown woven leather buttons up the front and ribbed-knit armholes.
During the action-packed sequence that takes the team of U.S. Marshals from Kimble’s abandoned apartment to Cook County Hospital and eventually Chicago’s famous St. Patrick’s Day parade, Gerard layers for the late winter chill in another sweater with his scarf and tie.
Gerard’s shirt is a classic light-blue oxford-cloth button-down (OCBD), the Ivy staple established by Brooks Brothers at the start of the 20th century after president John E. Brooks found inspiration from English polo players securing their collars to the bodies of their shirts. Gerard wears a burgundy, navy, and gold paisley silk tie that unites the blue in his blazer, jeans, shirt, and soft navy wool V-neck sweater with his red scarf.
Gerard’s jacket and tie keep him looking respectable while interviewing leads in search of his suspect.
The simple scarlet-red soft wool scarf is fringed on the ends, worn both inside Gerard’s overcoat and atop its lapels.
For the final act of The Fugitive through the climactic hotel showdown, Gerard wears a pale ecru cotton shirt with a button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs. His burgundy foulard tie is printed with four-square boxes that alternate between stone-colored squares and gray-colored diamonds.
Even in the office, Gerard eschews traditional trousers in favor of blue jeans, likely always in preparation of the unpredictable action that comes with being a Deputy U.S. Marshal in the midst of an active investigation. His mid-blue denim jeans are from Wrangler, the same brand that Kimble wears with his tweed jacket and tie. Though the jeans follow the conventional style with belt loops and five-pocket layout, they can be identified as “Cowboy Cut” Wranglers by the branded tan leather patch over the back-right pocket as well as the “W”-shaped stitch on both back pockets.
Gerard holds up his jeans with a heavy-duty brown leather belt that closes through a brass-toned double-prong buckle, with his Glock pistol holstered in a black leather paddle holster worn in the 5 o’clock position on his waistband, toward the back right for a right-handed draw.
The action-packed life of a Deputy U.S. Marshal calls for adaptational dressing, with a jacket and tie to look appropriate at the office but jeans with a heavy-duty belt for when an investigation calls you out to the wild terrain of… the Chicago Hilton.
Tonally and texturally consistent with his jeans while still relatively appropriate for office-wear, Gerard wears plain-toe derby-laced ankle boots made of black leather that shows a much-worn patina.
While escaping the courthouse in Chicago, Dr. Kimble orchestrates a Batman gambit by telling the officers to watch out for an armed man causing havoc in “a blue topcoat”, clearly alerting them to Gerard in his dark navy wool knee-length overcoat.
Appropriately layered for winter in the Windy City, Gerard’s single-breasted coat has notch lapels, a three-button covered-fly front, three-button cuffs, and a single vent. In addition to the flapped hip pockets, the coat has a welted breast pocket where he often hooks his U.S. Marshals Service badge, though he neglected to do so before chasing Kimble through Chicago City Hall… and thus gets mistaken for a crazed gunman.
Gerard’s tasteful topcoat differentiates him from his fellow marshals when Frederick Sykes (Andreas Katsulas) quips about “a trench coat convention” in his home after Kimble’s break-in.
The chilly weather and the nature of Gerard’s work keeps his wrists mostly covered, but we do get a glimpse of a watch on his left wrist—at least we see a wristwatch’s olive nylon strap with a wide self-keeper. In the follow-up movie, U.S. Marshals, Gerard wears a stainless Hamilton, which feels like an appropriately functional yet attractive choice to fit Gerard’s overall aesthetic.
Gerard’s frequent outfit of a blazer and jeans has been the subject of several requests over the years, specifically from BAMF Style readers Lee and Ryan. Hope you gents enjoyed!
The Gun
Glock pistols had been around for more than a decade by the time Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard drew his Glock 22 in The Fugitive, but these boxy, polymer-framed semi-automatic pistols were still relatively new to celluloid.
Gerard aims his Glock at a fleeing Dr. Kimble in the Chicago City Hall lobby.
Many moviegoers received a misleading primer in Die Hard 2 when John McClane (Bruce Willis) describes the non-existent “Glock 7” as “a porcelain gun made in Germany that doesn’t show up on your airport metal detectors and costs more than you make in a month”… quite a string of inaccuracies for the relatively affordable Austrian-made Glock 17 that, despite its polymer frame, has quite a number of metal parts that would trigger security screenings, including the actual ammunition.
The Glock 22 was introduced in 1990, a full-sized service pistol nearly identical to the older Glock 17 but chambered for the then-new .40 S&W, which had been developed jointly by Smith & Wesson and Winchester in response to the FBI’s request for a round that could mimic the performance of 10mm Auto ammunition but be retrofitted to fit medium-framed 9mm handguns. Smith & Wesson intended for its Model 4006 to be introduced to the market in tandem with the .40 S&W round in January 1990, but Glock narrowly beat Smith & Wesson to the market with the Glock 22 announced a week before the S&W 4006. Like the earlier Glock 17, the Glock 22 is a full-sized, striker-fired semi-automatic pistol that feeds from high-capacity double-stack magazines, with the .40-caliber Glock 22 typically loaded with 15-round magazines.
The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals correctly depicted Glocks as the standard sidearms authorized for the U.S. Marshals Service, even arming Gerard with the appropriate Glock 22 variant chambered in .40 S&W rather than choosing a cosmetically identical 9mm variant (like the Glock 17 or 19) as often done in movie and TV productions. Thus, The Fugitive was the first major screen appearance of the Glock 22, according to IMFDB.
Gerard’s Glock locks open after he empties the magazine during a gunfight with another fugitive… a mission requiring a more informal manner of dress than his usual blazer, tie, and jeans.
One of Tommy Lee Jones’ screen-used Glocks (serial #ZU747) was sold by Heritage Auctions in 2018, confirming that Gerard indeed wielded a .40-caliber Glock 22 on screen. The serial number and the closed-tip guide rod inform us that Gerard’s pistol is a second-generation Glock 22, likely produced in 1991 or 1992 and thus nearly brand-new before it was blank-adapted for the production.
U.S. Marshals would continue Gerard’s Glock usage into something of a Glock commercial, arming the marshal with both his regular Glock 22 as well as a backup Glock 27 (essentially a .40-caliber version of the subcompact Glock 26) in an ankle holster. He even chides DSS Special Agent John Royce (Robert Downey Jr.) about his stainless steel Taurus PT945, urging him to “get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol.”
How to Get the Look
Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive (1993)
Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard maintains a reliable daily “uniform” that blends form, flexibility, and function, dressed up enough for the office in his blazer, OCBD shirts and ties, and a rotation of knitwear, with his trusty Wrangler jeans and well-worn lace-up boots granting him the sartorial latitude to impulsively chase a fugitive through almost any conditions.
- Navy wool single-breasted 2-button blazer with notch lapels, crested gold shank buttons, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
- Light ecru or blue oxford-cloth cotton shirt with button-down collar, front placket, breast pocket, and button cuffs
- Burgundy printed silk tie
- Navy wool V-neck long-sleeved sweater
- Blue denim Wrangler “Cowboy Cut” jeans
- Brown leather belt with brass double-prong buckle
- Black leather plain-toe derby-laced ankle boots
- Charcoal-blue wool single-breasted knee-length overcoat with notch lapels, covered-fly 3-button front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
- Scarlet-red soft wool scarf with fringed ends
- Wristwatch on olive-green nylon strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
Give it up—it’s time to stop running!
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