Opening Narration quotes from The Fugitive

Now six months a fugitive, this is Richard Kimble with a new identity, and for as long as it is safe, a new name: James Lincoln. He thinks of the day when he might find the man with one arm, but now is now, and this is how it is with him. Another journey, another place. Walk neither too fast, nor too slow. Beware the eyes of strangers. Keep moving. The right one, or will it be a mistake? Is this the trap where it will end? Safe, for now. Another room. Windows look out and look in. Get busy. Look closely. Be sure of this: they'll never stop looking. He'll never stop. Not Lieutenant Gerard. .... Ready. A job: What will it be? Make no mistakes. Be ready for the questions, and hope there won't be too many.

Now, ten months after his escape, take Richard Kimble. Unjustly convicted of murder. Put him down in the Missouri hills. A handyman, driving a truck for a local fuel and feed company. Once again, he has changed his identity. He has become Jim Fowler, a stranger in town.

West Virginia. What used to be a town, before the coal mine gave out. A naked relic now, without future, without hope. Another dreary point in time for Richard Kimble. Eight months a fugitive.

Santa Barbara, California. Two hours up the coast from Los Angeles. A harbor town, a fishing town, an early mission town. To Richard Kimble, temporarily using the name Jeff Cooper, it has been a sanctuary, but a fugitive knows that a sanctuary becomes a trap if he stays too long.

A man cannot run forever. Two hours up the coast from Los Angeles, Richard Kimble has found a place he thinks is safe. Here, in the early mission town of Santa Barbara, wearing the name Jeff Cooper, he has begun to put down roots. A man on the run must sooner or later become tied to a town. The look on the face of a girl. The touch of her eyes. But there may always be the doubt. What has he left behind? A footprint? A careless word? A remembered image in the eye of a stranger? A match? What can they track him with? If he is tired enough of running, he will put the doubt aside.

Now, 11 months a fugitive, Richard Kimble emerges from the blackness of hiding into the gray anonymity of another alias: Ray Miller. He thinks of the day when he might find the one-armed man, but for now, Los Angeles, California offers him temporary haven.

California. The Imperial Valley. Richard Kimble, now wearing name of Joseph Walker. Occupation: farm laborer. The California sun is hot, and there is a strange antagonism in the eyes of the other workers. A hatred which he cannot fathom. But one which Richard Kimble tries to ignore in his effort to keep the secret of his identity.

Sierra Point, New Mexico. Resident population: 562. Transient population: 1. Richard Kimble, who currently bears the name Al Fleming. It is now more than a year since the escape.

The freighter, Alaskan Star. Six hours out of Seattle, Washington. Carrying a crew of 14, with accomodations for 12 passengers. One of them, Richard Kimble, now wearing the name Larry Talman. Destination: Alaska, the 49th state. Objective: to earn a large sum of money in a short period of time, and thus underwrite the next phase in the search for his wife's killer.

A ride with a stranger -- a friendly stranger. But a fugitive cannot afford the luxury of friendship. He has to keep his thoughts to himself, weigh every word carefully. ... Drive carefully. Do everything carefully: from the moment you wake until you go to sleep at night -- if you have a place to sleep. One false move, one little quirk of fate .... How long before they know it's Kimble, not Carter? Twelve hours? Ten hours? Six hours?

It doesn't matter anymore who you are, or where. Every town, every city is just like the last: a waypoint on an endless road that goes nowhere. A place to stop running, to think, to hide. Another job, another name. Is that enough? It has to be. It's all you've got. ... They got the wrong man. That hits close to home, remember? They wouldn't believe you either. Tough, but it's no concern of yours. You have to stay clear, stay out of it; you can't afford to take the chance. What is he -- a stranger, a vagrant, a nothing? Just a name: Arthur Tibbetts -- no fixed address. Ask yourself: is he worth the risk?

The place: Utah, the hills above Salt Lake City. The project: to move a mountain. Giant machines and armies of men moving millions of tons of earth to make way for a river. A river which one day will turn the desert into Eden. For Richard Kimble, the mountain offers protection. Here, he is Paul Beaumont, timekeeper, lost among the other workers. Here, he feels he can rest a while. Here, he is safe.

Always, there is the hunter, the hunted and the trap. Traps are of many kinds: of wood, of steel, of words. But this time, the trap is a city. Dr. Richard Kimble, two years a fugitive, is about to enter the trap. Why is Stafford, Indiana a death trap for Richard Kimble? Because here, a thousand people know him. This city is where Richard Kimble lived for 33 years. ... This is the neighbourhood which Richard Kimble knew as a child. This is the house in which he grew up. Now, in a time of desperate trouble for him, a stopping place within a city of danger. A city of danger because here also is the headquarters of police Lieutenant Gerard.

Connecticut. Green trees framing the homes of the wealthy and the near-wealthy. Gracious living with roots deep in the past, and without roots interstate fugitive, Richard Kimble.

Nebraska. A world of wheat, dirt roads. All open to the sky, but still a silent sky. Richard Kimble has found temporary refuge in the remote farming community of Black Moccasin, and even here there are questions.