Plot
US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Jones) and his team of Marshals are assigned to track down Sheridan (Snipes), a murderer and robber.

Release Year: 1998

Rating: 6.3/10 (36,721 voted)

Critic's Score: 47/100

Director: Stuart Baird

Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr.

Storyline
When a prisoner transport plane carrying Deputy Sam Gerard as an escort crashes, one prisoner, Mark Sheridan helps him rescue some trapped prisoners and then escapes himself. Gerard and his crack team of U.S. Marshals start their pursuit, but the simple fugitive situation soon gets more complicated when Gerard learns that Sheridan is no mere criminal and the story behind his incrimination becomes more and more suspicious. At the same time, Mark Sheridan is out to find out the truth himself while keeping one step ahead of Gerard

Writers: Roy Huggins, John Pogue

Cast:
Tommy Lee Jones - Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard
Wesley Snipes - Mark J. Sheridan / Warren / Roberts
Robert Downey Jr. - Special Agent John Royce
Joe Pantoliano - Deputy Marshal Cosmo Renfro
Daniel Roebuck - Deputy Marshal Bobby Biggs
Tom Wood - Deputy Marshal Noah Newman
LaTanya Richardson - Deputy Marshal Savannah Cooper
Irène Jacob - Marie Bineaux, Mark's Girlfriend
Kate Nelligan - United States Marshal Catherine Walsh
Patrick Malahide - Bertram Lamb, Security Service Director
Rick Snyder - Special Agent Frank Barrows
Michael Paul Chan - Xian Chen, U.N. Cultural Attache of China
Johnny Lee Davenport - Deputy Marshal Henry
Donald Li - Detective Kim
Marc Vann - Deputy Jackson

Taglines: No one has seen anything like it...except for one man

Official Website: Warner Bros. |

Release Date: 6 March 1998

Filming Locations: 444 N. Michigan Avenue, Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $16,863,988 (USA) (8 March 1998) (2817 Screens)

Gross: $57,823,170 (USA) (26 July 1998)

Runtime: 131 min

Trivia:
For shooting the scenes on the plane, director Stuart Baird and production designer Maher Ahmad looked at real prisoner transfer planes but were disappointed to find that they looked just like regular planes. As such, they came up with the design of the plane seen in the film - the feet restraints, the cage door, the mechanical locking system, the open toilet etc.

Goofs:
Continuity: The Chevrolet Caprice used in the film is first shown without the two police style spot lights on it while driving through New York City, then when it arrives at the cemetery, the spotlights are on the car.

Quotes:
[Gerard busts open a bathroom door at the Lorelei building with his gun drawn and finds a terrified elderly man inside]
Sam Gerard: US Marshals, are you in here alone? Are you in here alone?
Elderly Man: Yes!

Speedy, inventive and very entertaining

Rating:

The only reason we have a film called "U.S. Marshals" is the cold fact that somebody was simply dying to see Tommy Lee Jones returning into his Oscar-awarded role as a tough, bold and unhesitating Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard. At first I was thinking "just another foolish sequel" and I have to admit that at one point it more or less even looked like "U.S. Marshals" is basically the same film than "The Fugitive" but only with Wesley Snipes in the shoes of Harrison Ford. But this is the real and the final truth: from what I remember "The Fugitive" was like I never considered it as all that great but since I was definitely on the edge of my seat with "U.S. Marshals" only logical thing would be to assume that this was naturally a better movie.

I tried to avoid "U.S. Marshals" for many years (I've no idea why) but now when I finally saw it I was stunned by it. Interesting detail about this film as well as "The Fugitive" too is the peculiar fact that during the movie audience can't never really decide who's side their sympathies actually are and which one do they want to succeed: the innocent fugitive or Tommy Lee Jones' eminent marshal because clearly they're both equally heroes. "U.S. Marshals" is not a special thriller but it works splendidly as what it is and it doesn't try to be anything it isn't. Tommy Lee Jones is the ultimate star of the movie but Snipes is also pretty excellent as Sheridan. When you think of "U.S. Marshals" the impressive scene where Sheridan jumps onto the roof of a moving subway is already a classic. Still I'm sure that's not necessarily the only scene audience remembers. I don't know what you think but "U.S. Marshals" was a fine experience for me.

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